Revision TKR Never give up, keep trying, don't settle - that's me, Bonnie

[Pumpkin]

Bonnieeeeee,
Slow down!
Call your GP for meds!
Thank you Josephine for bringing all this overdoing to Bonnie's attention.
this should be you Bonnie, you are not ready for this , yet.

 

[turtle68]

But we all know, it's hard to keep Bonnie down, but please, please take it easy.

Dorothy

 

[RunA42K]

I'm pre op and just floating around being Nosey and come across your thread, I can't believe what happened to you it's terrible. I'm so sorry for you I'm laying on top of my bed with my wife and 4 terriers yes 4, 2x Lakeland terriers... 1 x patterdale terrier and a cross shitzu/ yorkie ??? I've always had dogs and lost 3 in my life time all lived to a ripe old age and as yours died at home. Glad I didn't have to take them to the vets to go. Bless you Bonnie thinking of you . Foxy.xx

Thank you so much @Foxmyster1967, I'm glad you found me. I have my dogs with me wherever I am too, bed included. My Molly fell into our swimming pool and drowned just before we had to leave for the hospital. It took me a long time before I could tell that because I felt like I should have been there with her like I ALWAYS was, but I was taking a shower with that stuff they give you, my husband let her out. I never saw her again, I didn't want that to be my last picture in my head. Instead I remember how I kissed her goodnight, the night before and told her I loved her and would see her in the morning. That morning never came. My husband took care of her while I was in surgery. I had asked him to leave to take her to the vet for cremation. My husband returned when my surgery was done. So TKR was extra hard for me. Later ended up with surgery again to remove scar tissue, but still ended up with a revision 4 weeks ago. All I could think about was if my Gracie and Lucy would still be here when I came home from the hospital. They were and have been taking good care of me every day!

I see you are new. Have you stared a thread? If not please do and tell us your story, so we can help you out too. It feels so good when strangers take the time to tell you that they care. So bless you too! xx

 

[patbike]

I definitely could not hang my foot and ankle off the edge of the bed for more than a minute or two and that was with no weight. some of these things just take time. when you are ready, I think riding a bike will be very enjoyable as you can do it fairly passively with just a nice smooth rotation and then gradually increase the intensity/resistance.

 

[RunA42K]

I definitely could not hang my foot and ankle off the edge of the bed for more than a minute or two and that was with no weight. when you are ready, I think riding a bike will be very enjoyable as you can do it fairly passively with just a nice smooth rotation and then gradually increase the intensity/resistance.

Yep @patbike that foot hanging is a killer alright. My first TKR I never had to do it, I saw other people doing it. My extension was never a problem, but this time I need a little work. And yes...as soon as I can pedal I just want to ride nice and easy every day and the weather here in Houston is conducive to biking most all of the year.

 

[Jamie]

Well, dear friend Bonnie........you have 'fessed up and I'm pretty sure you know that Momma Hen will return and tell you that you're overdoing things. I'll let her talk with you about most of your answers.

But....I do have a couple of suggestions. On the leg hang, in my opinion it's too soon to be using a 3 pound weight on your ankle. Try this exercise at home with no weight and see how it works. You should feel discomfort maybe, but not real pain. At the most, I think you should be using a 1 pound weight. After all, you're only FOUR weeks out from your surgery!!!

Also, you are cutting yourself way too short on pain meds. The truth teller is that shin pain when you are at rest. That's pain, clear and simple!!! It needs treatment. I suggest you get with your GP and get on a regular schedule of the Tramadol. There should be no problem getting refills for it as it's not considered a "controlled" drug.

 

[Jamie]

Oh, and just as an example....at about your stage I was taking one 50mg Tramadol and 1 Extra Strength Tylenol every 4 hours. If I had more pain, I would sometimes take another Tramadol before the next dose was due. I did that for a couple of months, and was gradually able to spread out the meds to 6 hours....then longer between doses.

 

[RunA42K]

@Jamie now after you pointing out that my shin pain "is real pain" it makes sense now. I have been looking at it like it is not my knee, it's my shin...something different. Long stems, maybe, but I felt like that was something I'd have to tolerate for awhile since it was not my knee I just looked at it separately. You are right, I'll take more pain meds. I'll have to get an appt. with my GP next week. I've just taken my 3rd Norco of the day at 8pm. My knee is killing me now from being up, baking cornbread, and cleaning up all the black eyed pea dinner. I took decorations off the tree until I couldn't take it anymore. The rest will have to wait till tomorrow. If I wake up at midnight, I'll take another pain pill.

 

[Jamie]

Ummmmm......"I took decorations off the tree until I couldn't take it anymore."?????? Bonnnnieeeeee.......repeat to yourself...."I'm ONE MONTH OUT....one month out." Ya gotta get some patience. I know it's tough when you want to be better NOW.

I'm sending you my biggest, bestest ((((HUG))))). Let yourself slow down. This recovery is temporary. You'll get there. And it will be sweet to do these things that you've been denied for so long. But your wonderful body needs to be able to do its job and heal. It only has so much energy to give. When you push the activity, you're taking precious energy away from the healing process.

I know you know this stuff. It's always hard to see this stuff when it's YOUR recovery and not someone else's.

Okay....here's another (((((HUG)))))).....now go take a nap!

 

[Oldie]

Bonnie, like Jamie just told you, I was shocked by how much you are doing. Please slow down! Fixing dinner and cleaning up at 4 weeks, its too soon!
Also why not try the tramadol? That's all I took together with tylenol and it worked fine for me.

 

[RunA42K]

But we all know, it's hard to keep Bonnie down, but please, please take it easy.
Dorothy

The grocery store that I was referring to was Costco Dorothy. You know how big they are. I wanted fresh mango, I hadn't had any for a month. I planned out my route through the store to get several things without having to do any back tracking. Then I drove to the other side of the freeway and parked by Macy's men's store to walk to what I thought was the closet entrance to the a Fossil store. I ended up having to walk to the middle of the mall almost to Godiva Chocolates. I am sure you know where I am talking about at Willowbrook. I did bite off more than I could chew. I got my watch band made smaller and couldn't wait to get back to my car...of course I had to walk all the way back! Very slowly and calculated steps, I moved way to the right close to the stores cause I was walking so slow that people would get behind me and get disgusted! Lesson learned!!

 

[turtle68]

Yes, I remember similar situations for me at about the same stage you are in and at the same places. It took me until about 9 weeks out to learn that I could only do one little thing on the list, and doing Costco is still a big field trip, and I always managed to park at the wrong end of the mall. I wasn't driving at your stage so I couldn't do a whole lot of running around. Out Patient PT at one week 3 times a week kept me worn out. Jim would drop me off and go walk Meyer Park. I know it's hard to not be bored but I watched a lot of movies, read a lot, and slept a lot.

 

[RunA42K]

I think where I get into the problem Dorothy is the fact that I can drive 'because' I am doing so much better than the first TKR. That fact that my recovery has been sooo good, it's gives me a false sense that I am further along than I really am.

 

[Pumpkin]

Bonnie,
Just because you can, does not mean you should.
Please take it slow and easy, you are on your way to the recovery you have been hoping for since your TKR.

 

[kneeper]

Fixing dinner AND cleaning up? Are you on your own or are there some family members who should be helping?

 

[RunA42K]

@kneeper...it's not as bad as it sounds. Once I got the black eyed peas in the pot and simmering, that was it. They cooked about 8 hours. So I made cornbread much later in the day which was about 30 minutes on my feet.
My husband is here and he's ALWAYS telling me to get off my feet, but there are something's I just have to do myself. When I was un decorating the tree he kept after me to stop it and put my feet up, and finally I did. Cleaning up dinner...like I said...somethings I just want to do myself because I wanted to freeze the left overs in individual serving containers so I said hands off cause I knew what I wanted to do. But really, that is the first time in over one month that I cooked anything, or cleaned up! I've actually been getting served all my meals while I am resting. Tonight, he told me, "Don't get up! If you want anything, tell me!"

 

[Campervan]

 

[Campervan]

Slow and Steady Bonnie

 

[kneeper]

True, some things are harder to instruct others to do than others but work on that delegating. Sounds like your husband is looking after you.

 

[RunA42K]

I emailed my OS's PA this morning telling about my shin pain and I asked for some Tramadol since @Jamie mentioned that they might be more apt to to give since it was not considered a controlled substance. She replied and asked me if I was still icing the painful areas. I told her yes, multiple times a day. She did call me in Tramadol 50mg saying take one every 6 hours. I know that I can take that every 4 hours though. So I was wondering...depending on how this does, if there is no big change, what if I alternated Tramadol and Norco every 4 hours?

I also told her that my knee was swollen from doing too much and that after bring at 105 ROM I was now stuck at 100 for a week. She said to keep working on my ROM so I would not lose ground. My goal for the weekend, starting today (Friday) is getting the swelling to go down. My Physical Therapist told me to "ice, heat, stretch" repeat all day all weekend. I've been doing it and even got out the wedge pillow so I am elevating too.

So any input on the pain meds and getting the swelling down would be much appreciated.