THR Newly bionic Woman Checking I

[Thru and Thru]

Is it possible that pain can actually increase over time? I try not to overdo it, rest, elevate, ice, etc. plus do the excercises my PT gave me but it seems like my pain level today is much worse today than yesterday. I also have problems with swelling, especially my knee, is that normal?

While I'm writing, I tried to find how to tag someone but for the life of me I can't find it!!!

Thanks for all your good words!

 

[C Mac]

Welcome to the other side and let's tag Josephine for you. Would you tell her what medications you are taking -- how much and how often so she can better assess if that is part of your increase/change in pain level today.

For tagging you type the @ sign and then the user name of the person you are trying to call too. You will see a small box pop up with the options of users as you fill in the letters of the person's name and you can click on the correct name when you see it to autofill -- or just keep typing the letters manually.

Swelling in the knee is a common complaint after THR surgery and you can ice your knee if that feels good, but elevating and periodic walks in the house will also help to alleviate that swelling in time. Do take it easy with the PT exercises, I'm not sure what they have you doing but you are very early out from your surgery. It's ok to spend most of your time resting with a few walks to the bathroom and back.

Take care,
Cardie

 

[Josephine]

Look at this How to tag another member; how to answer when someone tags you.

Any time you want to learn how to do something new, chances are that you will find instructions in here "How To Use This Forum" which is under the Office tab at the top of the page.

 

[Josephine]

I have some questions to ask you:
1. what medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mgs) and how often?
2. how often are you icing your hip?
3. how often and how high are you elevating your leg?
4. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and PT?

 

[Maeve]

I'm trying to get my head around my meds so I can have some control about what I take and when.
Nurses like to keep the power here and so aren't keen to spell it out. I have however been able to find out the followin:
My OS has prescribed
oxycontin (which is slow release) 10mg at 8am and 8 pm
Endone 5 or 10 mg 4 hourly( only on demand) max 8 tablets a day
Tramadol 100 mg on demand
Panadol 2 tabs on demand.
Extracting that info is like pulling teeth but I wanted to control my meds. Take the stronger Endone before physio for example so I can work hard. Take only Panadol for example if I wake in the night and it's 2 hours only since the oxycontin.
Before last night when I insisted that the Dr's directions be made known to me they were just selected at the whim of the nurse it seems.
What part of it's my body and I should make the decision on what to take and when ( within the OS liar of suitable meds) do nursing staff not understand!?

 

[C Mac]

Maeve did you mean for this post to be in your own post-op thread??

Maeve let's tag Josephine so that she can speak more directly to your medications.

While you are waiting if it is any reassurance, usually the OS and his team has a particular pain protocol that they have devised over time and experience with their patients post-op and you may want to go with it with the exception of any time that you are having break-through pain that is not being managed by the medications that you are taking. At your stage of recovery you don't want to scale back and then hit a wall of pain that takes a long time to get on the other side of.

Did you bring your smart phone with you? I hear from a bunch of other post-op folks that there is a fun game called Pocket Frogs that many of them like to play and have played while resting after surgery.

Take care,
Cardie

 

[LeftBrain]

My doctor recommended two 650 mg tablets of generic acetaminophen from the supermarket daily, once in the AM and again in the PM. This is working well for me.

 

[Thru and Thru]

Josephine, thanks for your response!

For pain I take Norco, 10 mg hydrocodone and 325 mg acetominophen, up to nine pills a day max. Right now I'm still taking 2 of those every four hours or a little bit longer during the day time and one at night, so a total of seven pills per day. I'm hoping to knock those down to one every four hours but right now I just can't do it yet, even at the rate I'm taking them now I'm still in so much pain once I get moving!

Besides fixing myself a cup of coffee, sandwich, etc. I don't do any housework yet. I do my PT exercises regularly, I take a walk around the house with a walker every couple of hours in addition to my bathroom trips, getting ready in the morning and ready for bed at night. My house is 2-story so I also maneuver up and down the stairs two or three times a day. Overall I spend most of my day in a recliner in the living room with my leg propped up on a pillow, it's pretty high but not up over my heart high, and I ice the hip maybe five or six times a day.

Overall I think I'm moving around plenty for being one week post-op but by the end of the day I'm completely exhausted plus it's difficult to sleep because my hip hurts so much overnight and I can't get comfortable. My doc did not give me any restrictions on sleeping positions so I do sleep on my left side with a pillow between my knees but that gets very painful after a while.

Josephine

 

[zauberflöte]

Thru and Thru I hear your frustration! I'm no expert on meds, but can your stomach handle taking those 2 spare pills, at night when you say it hurts? Also other people have said that icing and elevating at night has made a difference for them. You are only one week out --- yay one week out!!!!!!!! and I think that others have said that they were still taking max dosages long beyond that. I say again, I'm NO expert-- I haven't btdt yet, but wisdom here says, if it hurts, give it medication
As to the exhausted-- did you check out the article in the library about energy drain? I am practising anticipating being 1000% more tired than I already am LOL so I won't set any expectations at all! Except to have happy-nap attacks!

 

[sharonslp]

T&T, the exhaustion is not only normal, it's healthy. It's your body's way of making sure you get plenty of rest and sleep. Don't fight it....sleep as often and as long as your body lets you. Why are you just taking one pain pill at night? As Chris points out, you could add the other two pills in at night....two before you go to sleep, and then the one more in the middle of the night if you need it.

For my surgeries, I alternated vicodin with tramadol, round the clock and it worked out well. Everybody is different with meds, so you have to find the combos and dosages that work for you.

Sleeping on your side can take a while. Just because the doc says it's okay doesn't mean it will work. Play around with plenty of pillows to support your weight, not just between your legs, but behind your back and butt too. But reality says you might need to stay on your back for a couple weeks more. (I know...no one seems to like sleeping on their back).

Day by day....this will get easier. You'll be amazed at the difference in just a couple of weeks.

Sharon

 

[C Mac]

I don't do any housework yet.

T & T,

That's good!! You have plenty of time to get back to that grind, now's the time to rest and stroll around the house.

I, also, used to get up at some point during the night for a bathroom break, fresh ice pack and to take a pain pill. I think that my night time pain meds were actually the last to go in attempt to make sure that I could sleep comfortably.

I agree, that some time sleeping on your back might help for a bit longer too.

Take care,
Cardie

 

[Josephine]

For pain I take Norco 10 mg hydrocodone and 325 mg acetaminophen, up to nine pills a day max. Right now I'm still taking 2 of those every four hours or a little bit longer during the day time and one at night, so a total of seven pills per day.

Don't go longer, do it by the book - or as written on the box. Your doctor wrote the prescription and he knows what he's doing so do it!

I'm hoping to knock those down to one every four hours but right now I just can't do it yet, even at the rate I'm taking them now I'm still in so much pain once I get moving!

Absolutely the wrong thing to do. Do NOT stint on your pain meds right now. Do I really need to remind you that you are only 9 days post op? Stick with what your doctor has prescribed which, I'll warrant, is at least 1 Norco every 4 hours (6 tablets) which means you can take 2 up to three of those times. By weeks 3 or 4, then you can start reducing but now now.

it's difficult to sleep because my hip hurts so much overnight and I can't get comfortable. My doc did not give me any restrictions on sleeping positions so I do sleep on my left side with a pillow between my knees but that gets very painful after a while.

I suggest you take two tablets before you retire and if you wake up in pain during the night, you can take another one.

I don't do any housework yet. I do my PT exercises regularly, I take a walk around the house with a walker every couple of hours in addition to my bathroom trips, getting ready in the morning and ready for bed at night. My house is 2-story so I also maneuver up and down the stairs two or three times a day. Overall I spend most of my day in a recliner in the living room with my leg propped up on a pillow, it's pretty high but not up over my heart high, and I ice the hip maybe five or six times a day.

Very good. Perfect.

by the end of the day I'm completely exhausted

As a matter of idle interest, did you ever read the articles I left for you? (in post #7) Because if you had, you would have read an article called "Energy drain for THR". I suggest you go back and read it.

 

[Maeve]

Hi Thru and Thru. I'm "stalking " you as you are 4 days in front of me....AND home!
As the days move on I realise how true the bonesmart mantra is!
Meds are an issue with me and @Josephine's firm advice to people makes sense. C Mac is very encouraging. I'm grateful to them both. I am determined however to cut back as soon as possible but realise now that the PT regime here is impossible without. I have an hour's PT in the gym each morning, and as a gym goer pre op, i can tell you the workout here is tough. Then there's an hour in the afternoon of PT in the pool. Boy do my muscles feel it! The Physio in the pool told me it will be hard for me as the OS has lengthened the leg by 3 cms and stretched the required nerves and muscles.
So today's a new day. One hour until my first workout. No oxycontin today. One endone pre PT then 2x panadol, another endone after PT at 2 pm in the pool and hopefully only panadol till bedtime. Think I'll try this plan while I have such a definite routine here. Of course home will be another story! Have a good day.

 

[Thru and Thru]

Thanks for all your responses! Maeve, it sounds like you're doing great but that is one tough PT schedule, yikes!!! Currently, my therapist comes to the house three times a week for an hour or so. While he is here he mainly stretches and massages my leg to loosen it up, my thigh still feels like a semi truck ran over it and it's just so tight, I know that's the reason for most of my pain. He has given me a set of exercises to do throughout the day and I do them faithfully, it hurts the most when I first start out, once the leg loosens up a bit it gets a little better.

Regarding the meds, I followed all your advice last night and took one pain pill around 8:00 PM, went to bed at 10:00 PM and when I woke up the first time trying to move around in bed I took another pill. With that I went back to sleep very quickly and slept right through the rest of the night for the first time. Josephine, I know what you're saying, take the meds as ordered but here in the US we're more or less indoctrinated against addiction to pain pills so every time I take one of these I alomost feel guilty! My therapist is telling me exactly the same thing you are and I have given in for now, when my leg hurts I will take a pill!!!

 

[bottomshollow]

We are not addicted because we take pain pills when we are in pain. And we do not become addicted. Sometimes a person's body will become dependent---but it just takes weaning off over a period of a few weeks to take care of that. Most of us don't have that problem. We just naturally taper off as our pain levels decrease until we are just taking over the counter drugs and then with luck nothing!!! So STOP worrying about addiction and take those meds like you should until your pain levels decrease. Pain is counterproductive to healing----and healing is what you want a lot of right now!

Take care and keep us posted. We care.

 

[Liveringer]

Thru and Thru Haven't heard from you in a week or so. How are doing?

 

[zauberflöte]

that's right! I hope you are doing very well there, Thru and Thru

 

[Thru and Thru]

Sorry, I haven't been online much this week. My recovery is coming along quite well I think, I'm moving around much better by now and need less and less pain meds. My home PT ended yesterday, now I need to wait two weeks until I go see my surgeon for my first post-op visit where he will determine if I need more outpatient PT.

By now I go for short walks aound my neighborhood several times a day using a walker, always focusing on walking as straight as I can but I still need quite a bit of support from the walker. Around the house I can walk ok with just a cane but don't trust myself with it outside yet. I find the two most difficult things for me right now are to sit in a normal chair with my leg down, it hurts like crazy and I can only sit for short periods of time; the other is sleeping at night. I still can't seem to get comfortable and wake up every hour on the hour, every time I move it seems and it's very frustrating.

The other night my husband took me out to dinner at a local restaurant very close by for the first time but it turned out to be a huge mistake, I just couldn't sit in my chair that long and we ended up taking most of our dinner home, the whole affair totally wore me out!

 

[zauberflöte]

Thru and Thru so glad to hear from you! great that you're walking outside, sorry the sitting and sleeping are not so hot. This too shall pass....sooner rather than later I will hope!

 

[acbelmar]

Hi Thru and Thru,
I was only a week out and I went to Costco with my sister. I leaned on the shopping cart but I must have looked bad because a man came up and asked me what did I have done! When I told him HR a week ago, he was amazed and said he wasn't able to leave his house and shop for 3 weeks. Well...I was the dumb one!! It wiped me out and because I rushed things I am 10 weeks out and taking things very slow! I suffer with muscle cramps and spasms and I believe for me it was because of too much strain on my healing muscles and nerves. I too tried to go off meds..I am back on them at a reduced rate but I believe I need them to do the activity I need to do. You are addicted when you take drugs to feel high , not to relieve pain. We are programmed to be cautious of meds but when you have major surgery..and this one is major..you need them!! Good luck with your healing!!!