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MUA Oct 2017 TKR - Hematoma - MUA - Finally past 90!<

@funkymuse, you are your worst enemy and a worry wort! Everything you mention is perfectly normal for such a short time from your surgery. The very best you can do your yourself is your ADL, ice, elevating, meds and relaxing! Being stress out increases pain. Just look towards your recovery time next year when all that pain will be a distant memory!
 
I've been found out!!! WORRY WORT!!! :snork:
It's the truth! Thanks so much for your words of support.... "One day at a time" needs to be written on my forehead!!!

Today the knee is feeling fairly decent. Had a VERY restless night. Every night after I lay here for several hours, leg up, with the ice machine going, my body wakes up around 2am and DEMANDS movement but the little walks around the house just don't do it! So for about an hour, I'm moving about, stretching, feeling totally aggravated because I'm still real tired and the house is cold, but my body and my TIGHT neck won't let me rest. It's like a need for DEEP muscle activity. This morning I sat in a chair in the living room and ate some beef chunks and a banana, (I've been so hungry lately for strong food..), read for awhile, did a little bit of knee bending and elevating and then finally got tired again and went back to bed. Rested for several hours with a few Living Room Walks inbetween and then sat here for 2 hours with the ice machine. I feel a nap will be in order today.
I have my 2nd surgery Post Op and stiches removal next Tues and then my first REAL PT next WED which I'm a bit nervous about. But I know what to do and say thanks to all of you! :thumb:
 
@funkymuse - remember I told you that you don't need to quote a post in order to reply to it. Just go down to the bottom of the page and start typing.
How to use the quote feature

If you just want to address part of a post, you can quote just that part - the article tells you how to do it.
 
@Celle - completely forgot that you posted that to me! I've got a 'recovery knee / medicated brain!' Seriously I've found that my memory is not too good on this Oxycodone!
 
funkymuse said:
"One day at a time" needs to be written on my forehead!!!
Click to expand...
It's no good there because you'll only see it when you look in the mirror and then you won't be able to read it because it will be back to front!

[Bonesmart.org] Oct 2017 TKR - Hematoma - MUA - Finally past 90!<
 
That getting up in the middle of the night pattern is totally normal. I got used to sleeping in 2 phases. But I didn't walk around much. If you're walking around and exercising for an hour that might get the knee a bit angry.
By 4 weeks I didn't use ice overnight. I would use it right up until I was dozing off and then I'd drop it off. when I woke up overnight I'd put some back on for a while.
I napped every day. Loved having the luxury to do it. :)
 
Short Report:
Since I've been able to get around the house a little in the last 2 weeks, just walking around the house and doing a few heel slides and extension stretches causes the band around my knee to cinch up.... this makes me wonder how next Wed is going to fair at the PT appointment! I'm going to tell him straight up if my knee feels swollen and tight.
I took some time to really massage my thigh below the knee today. Even now almost 4 weeks out, the deep muscles are sore to the touch! Amazing... pretty intense surgery.
Also the area on top of knee, where my kneecap is supposed to be is VERY hard and the skin feels rubbery. I can barely make out where my kneecap is but only if I search for it with my hands.

Hope you all are having a great day... I'm excited because I've got a guy coming over with a used recumbent exercise bike!
:upright:
 
@Josephine :snork:

@kneeper - did you still elevate through the night after you took off the ice? Part of my issue is needing to get into a different position to save my back!!!
 
funkymuse said:
I took some time to really massage my thigh below the knee today. Even now almost 4 weeks out, the deep muscles are sore to the touch! Amazing... pretty intense surgery.
Click to expand...
You really don't need to massage your knee, unless you feel that it helps. Leave it alone and don't keep touching the places that are sore.

Your body and your knee know what they're doing. Mother Nature has been doing her job of healing wounds without our interference for thousands of years She knows what she's doing!

And yes, it is pretty intense surgery - it's one of the most major surgeries and it does cause a lot of trauma. That's why you can't bounce back quickly from it.
 
I was fairly desperate to sleep on my side as I get uncomfortable on my back too. Even in the hospital I had the aides help get me on my side for a little while at a time--at first it was for something like 10 minutes.

For the first few weeks I did have a pillow system for elevating overnight. Gradually I did less elevating overnight--maybe down to one pillow--as I spent little bits of time on my side, using a pillow to take the pressure off the knee.
 
@Celle - No.. I don't massage knee... only the big thigh muscles way above my knee and that helps with circulation and sure makes those muscles feel better. I do apply arnica cream on the knee area because the Doc told me to but that's it and it actually does feel better. I really don't have any horrible painful spots around the knee area.. only one really where they had put in the drain.

@kneeper - thank you.. good ideas!
 
funkymuse said:
Since I've been able to get around the house a little in the last 2 weeks, just walking around the house and doing a few heel slides and extension stretches causes the band around my knee to cinch up.... this makes me wonder how next Wed is going to fair at the PT appointment! I'm going to tell him straight up if my knee feels swollen and tight.
Click to expand...
You are already doing PT with what you are doing around the house. I wouldn't bother going to PT unless you are required to.
 
Had my right knee done on 11/01. Discharged on 11 four everything was going great until my right leg sustained a very very painful hematoma. We thought it was a clot so I got a CT scan to check that out and thankfully I don’t have a clot but this is just as painful. So my surgeon three days ago he said they on my back elevate nice until the hematoma clear should be a day or so so it’s not cleared yet. I’m typically on xerlta and my doctors team started a small dose of Xarelto too early. I’m 11 days postop and miserable with pain taking pain meds every four hours trying to deal. I have the same problem when I put my foot on the ground and blood rushes down through there. ...tears and cussing I’m actually 50/50 is peeing in a bedpan next to the bed which is embarrassing but necessary for the time being...


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oh @Gchhuff !!! I am so grateful you reached out to me! Where is your Hematoma? Mine was on top of my knee cap about the size of the rim of a good sized coffee cup!!! They finally went in on 10/31 - two weeks after my TKR and took it off. It really set my PT progress back!
 
Hello All... been a few days since I posted as I get so many of my answers from reading other threads. :) One thing which I mentioned before and continue to struggle with is standing in the kitchen for any length of time trying to whip up a quick meal! Oh my gosh! The swelling and stiffness come on like a fast moving train! As long as I stay moving.. walking about the house, some gentle knee flexion and extension, icing and elevating, etc., I'm ok.. but to stand at the bathroom sink to brush and floss my teeth or to stand in the kitchen doing a bit of cooking.. YIKES.....
:groan:

I hope by doing these simple things that seem to instigate swelling that I'm not slowing down my healing progress! Would love to hear experiences in regards to the standing in one place swelling!

Also I found a nice used recumbent bike and yesterday I did about 2 minutes of forward/backward peddling.. I feel my knee liked this alot! Today I will do it again.

And in following many others suggestions on this forum, I plan on slowly increasing my outside walking. I've done 10 min every other day for a couple of days and so will slowly increase from there.

Tomorrow I get my stitches removed from the Hematoma surgery and hope to be able to take a sauna! I have one of those home model far-infared saunas.

It's been a gloomy rainy week here in the NW and more is coming so I'm going to work very hard today NOT to fall into the awful dark depression that has been hitting me day after day.

Oh one thing I'd like an opinion on is what do some of you think about my actual post op time frame in terms of the fact that I had a 2nd surgery on Oct 31st - (hematoma removal and MUA) ? Should I be thinking that I'm actually only approximately 2 weeks post op?

Onward we all go following the rainbow toward the pot of gold knee recovery! :SUNsmile:
 
It was many, many months before I could stand in place for more than a minute or so without pain and swelling. My old knee still won't let me stand for long in a line or at the countertop. So, your reaction is perfectly normal.

With your having more surgery and a MUA on Oct. 31, that sets your recovery back to that day, so yes, you are basically 2 weeks out. I would go back and follow those daily activity guidelines for 2 weeks:
https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/activity-progression-for-tkrs.14334/#post-323819
 
Thanks you sistersinhim. This will help me be more patient and gentler with myself and my knee.

Even though standing one place causes pain and swelling, there are times we have to do it! So.. how did you handle it, if I may ask? Just finish up as quick as possible and get to moving again?
 
funkymuse said:
Even though standing one place causes pain and swelling, there are times we have to do it! So.. how did you handle it, if I may ask?
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I put a stool in the kitchen, so I could sit down while doing things there. It was several months before I could stand at the sink to peel vegetables, but I could do it while sitting on my stool.

Once I started doing supermarket shopping again, I chose a quiet time of day, so that the checkout lines would be short. Standing in line hurt the knee for quite a long time, even when I could comfortably walk around the supermarket.
 
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