JackieS
junior member
Hi -
I've been lurking this forum since about December and thought it was time to get my feet wet. I'm 52 and my LTKR is three weeks old today (5/14/08).
Since I live alone and this was a planned thing, I really set up my apartment -- my kitchen looked like a grocery store! I stocked up on canned goods, juices which didn't need refrigeration, Ensure if my appetite was lacking, frozen meals and more. I bought a raised toilet seat, set up a bed in the living room where my television and stereo are, made arrangements for my cat to be boarded ... I thought I had all bases covered.
I chose an OS who, while he doesn't exclusively do knee replacements, has a good reputation in the field. He was also the OS of a friend and highly recommended. In my first visit, he took x-rays which showed bone on bone, spurs and all. I had an arthroscopy on the same knee three years ago in which almost all of my cartilage was removed and the knee had just gone downhill since that time. That OS had told me that he was buying me a year until TKR. I squeezed three out of it with a lot of pain.
During that first visit with the new OS in the winter, we had a long talk. Wow, not only was he recommended, but I liked him! He was informative, knowledgeable, caring, and pleasant. Cool! He told me when I had a date in mind, just give him six weeks notice to get it all set up and I decided mid-May, and kept the ball rolling. Even though he told me he wanted me to go to a rehab facility after the operation because he was worried about me being alone, I still liked him.
The operation went off without a hitch. I was a 7:30 AM operation. I recall being more angry that the hospital didn't bring me my bag to my room and I was without eyeglasses for five hours before I could see than issues with pain. They had me get up with a walker and sit in a chair that evening. After being the the chair about a half-hour, I asked to go back to my bed due to pain. The hospital therapist actually snapped at me that I hadn't sat all that long.
In the morning I was told I would have PT at 9:30. Instead, at 9:00 they wheeled me to a different place for a doppler test (blood clots). The woman running it didn't tell me any results but looked disturbed. I got wheeled back to my room around 11 passing the PT. I said something to him about missing the PT appointment and he just mumbled, "Yeah, we got the results."
Then my doctor and the hospital's doctor who deals with such things came along. I had a blood clot in the calf of my left leg (the TKR one). No PT for me in the hospital, Coumadin, no getting out of bed even. Sigh. I certainly hadn't planned for that. I ended up running a slight fever and getting sick on top of it all.
By the 4th day in the hospital (when I was originally planning to go to rehab after three) I practically begged my doctor to let me get out of bed so I could use a real bathroom. He said okay, and call for assistance. Well, I called for assistance once and she annoyed me (have I mentioned I'm fiercely independent?). Her assistance was hovering almost underfoot! The hardest thing was dealing with the huge mechanized IV rack. All I really wanted her to do was to unplug that, follow me with it, plug it back in when I was back. After that, I didn't call anyone again when I had to go.
On the 6th day, they took the IV off. Yay! On the 7th day, although my leg still seemed to weigh about 500 pounds, I came out of the bathroom to find my OS in my room. He watched me get back into the bed. "Do you want to go to rehab or go home?" "HOME! Home, please, home!" He thought I had enough control to manage and they still couldn't do any rigorous PT due to the blood clot, so home it was.
Now I've been home two weeks dealing with visiting nurses drawing blood for the Coumadin , visiting PT. My out-patient PT started this week. I've pretty much stopped using my pain pills with the exception of PT. My extension is almost perfect while my bend is 92. My staples were out last weekand I was x-rayed. Neato - a perfectly straight leg with a bionic knee ... or titanium, anyway.
I'm walking without aids around the apartment, one crutch out in the real world. I'm not ready to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I have my ups and downs, but the knee itself didn't go anywhere near as horrible as I had it in my imagination pre-surgery. When I get down or it hurts, I remind myself that I didn't think I'd be doing this well this soon -- my PT (visiting and out-patient) and OS are all thrilled with my progress. Sometimes it's hard to be as thrilled from this viewpoint, but it's going smoother than I had thought it would.
The Coumadin is a major pain, though. I gave away all of my stocked up cranberry juices. Sigh.
This forum, even as a lurker, has been informative and supportive during my pre-op and since I've been home. Thank you!
I've been lurking this forum since about December and thought it was time to get my feet wet. I'm 52 and my LTKR is three weeks old today (5/14/08).
Since I live alone and this was a planned thing, I really set up my apartment -- my kitchen looked like a grocery store! I stocked up on canned goods, juices which didn't need refrigeration, Ensure if my appetite was lacking, frozen meals and more. I bought a raised toilet seat, set up a bed in the living room where my television and stereo are, made arrangements for my cat to be boarded ... I thought I had all bases covered.
I chose an OS who, while he doesn't exclusively do knee replacements, has a good reputation in the field. He was also the OS of a friend and highly recommended. In my first visit, he took x-rays which showed bone on bone, spurs and all. I had an arthroscopy on the same knee three years ago in which almost all of my cartilage was removed and the knee had just gone downhill since that time. That OS had told me that he was buying me a year until TKR. I squeezed three out of it with a lot of pain.
During that first visit with the new OS in the winter, we had a long talk. Wow, not only was he recommended, but I liked him! He was informative, knowledgeable, caring, and pleasant. Cool! He told me when I had a date in mind, just give him six weeks notice to get it all set up and I decided mid-May, and kept the ball rolling. Even though he told me he wanted me to go to a rehab facility after the operation because he was worried about me being alone, I still liked him.
The operation went off without a hitch. I was a 7:30 AM operation. I recall being more angry that the hospital didn't bring me my bag to my room and I was without eyeglasses for five hours before I could see than issues with pain. They had me get up with a walker and sit in a chair that evening. After being the the chair about a half-hour, I asked to go back to my bed due to pain. The hospital therapist actually snapped at me that I hadn't sat all that long.
In the morning I was told I would have PT at 9:30. Instead, at 9:00 they wheeled me to a different place for a doppler test (blood clots). The woman running it didn't tell me any results but looked disturbed. I got wheeled back to my room around 11 passing the PT. I said something to him about missing the PT appointment and he just mumbled, "Yeah, we got the results."
Then my doctor and the hospital's doctor who deals with such things came along. I had a blood clot in the calf of my left leg (the TKR one). No PT for me in the hospital, Coumadin, no getting out of bed even. Sigh. I certainly hadn't planned for that. I ended up running a slight fever and getting sick on top of it all.
By the 4th day in the hospital (when I was originally planning to go to rehab after three) I practically begged my doctor to let me get out of bed so I could use a real bathroom. He said okay, and call for assistance. Well, I called for assistance once and she annoyed me (have I mentioned I'm fiercely independent?). Her assistance was hovering almost underfoot! The hardest thing was dealing with the huge mechanized IV rack. All I really wanted her to do was to unplug that, follow me with it, plug it back in when I was back. After that, I didn't call anyone again when I had to go.
On the 6th day, they took the IV off. Yay! On the 7th day, although my leg still seemed to weigh about 500 pounds, I came out of the bathroom to find my OS in my room. He watched me get back into the bed. "Do you want to go to rehab or go home?" "HOME! Home, please, home!" He thought I had enough control to manage and they still couldn't do any rigorous PT due to the blood clot, so home it was.
Now I've been home two weeks dealing with visiting nurses drawing blood for the Coumadin , visiting PT. My out-patient PT started this week. I've pretty much stopped using my pain pills with the exception of PT. My extension is almost perfect while my bend is 92. My staples were out last weekand I was x-rayed. Neato - a perfectly straight leg with a bionic knee ... or titanium, anyway.
I'm walking without aids around the apartment, one crutch out in the real world. I'm not ready to leap tall buildings in a single bound. I have my ups and downs, but the knee itself didn't go anywhere near as horrible as I had it in my imagination pre-surgery. When I get down or it hurts, I remind myself that I didn't think I'd be doing this well this soon -- my PT (visiting and out-patient) and OS are all thrilled with my progress. Sometimes it's hard to be as thrilled from this viewpoint, but it's going smoother than I had thought it would.
The Coumadin is a major pain, though. I gave away all of my stocked up cranberry juices. Sigh.
This forum, even as a lurker, has been informative and supportive during my pre-op and since I've been home. Thank you!
United States
