TKR One year after surgery

[KarriB]

Congratulations on the rotation! A little cheating is ok! I lifted my hip a little bit to get around, but only had to do that a few times and the rotation became easy. If you can bike you shouldn't need an MUA.

 

[Laurenkate]

Thanks everyone; I was very pleased and surprised about the rotation. After thinking about it this afternoon, I think this (threat of an MUA) is like the instructions on the toaster which warns people not use it while taking a bath. In order to get people to listen, and to follow instructions, the medical profession has to scare everyone to death or assume they are talking to people who don't understand anything. This is also a way to cover their backsides in case they are sued by disgruntled patients.

It's sort of like the instructions given before surgery which over emphasized after showering and using the wipes to keep infection rates down, you have to put on clean pj's, sleep in clean sheets, and put on clean clothes in the morning. That's all well and good but doesn't make a lot of sense. Most people's cars aren't sterile, the waiting rooms & bathrooms in the hospital aren't sterile. It does make sense though when you read that most people only wash their linens 4 times a year. So maybe the medical people have to assume the worst about everybody and go from there. At least this is my theory for tonight.

Anyway, thanks again for encouragement and reminder that I don't have to have an MUA.

 

[KarriB]

Seriously, FOUR times a year??!! Guess I'm a freak, because mine are washed/changed weekly at least and in warm weather twice a week.

 

[Laurenkate]

@KarriB - Yes; icky, huh? Maybe the survey was just done at colleges.

Two more questions. This is the end of the 5th week for me and am thinking about dropping a dose of pain medication in the middle of the day. My p.t. is scheduled mid-morning and the doctor indicated the medications stays in the blood system for 4 hours. If I take the 8 a.m. medication, it'll get me through p.t. Not being able to drive is becoming a little bit of a problem and if I drop the mid-day dose, I can get a quick errand or two done early afternoon.

Did you start weaning back on your own or waited until the doctor suggested it?

Not being able to sleep on my side has been the worst part of this recovery. Was finally able to do it last night once I figured out how to position a pillow between my legs. I forgot to ask the doctor about this but do you know of any problem if I sleep with my operated leg on the bottom instead of the top (can't sleep on my right side because of acid reflux). It gets a little uncomfortable after a couple of hours but it's wonderful to not have to sleep sitting up all night!

 

[Celle]

The time to start weaning off pain medications is when you find you are forgetting to take a dose until it's overdue and you are not feeling an increase in pain.

Maybe you could start by spreading out the doses a bit first.
However you do it, don't rush the process. It should take a couple of weeks at least.
Weaning off pain medication


I can't see an problem with lying on your operated side for a while, as long as it doesn't hurt, you keep a pillow between your legs, and you don't put the weight of your top leg onto your knee joint.

 

[KarriB]

My experience with pain meds was exactly as Celle suggested, I began to forget my mid afternoon dose. PT was always in the morning.
At 3-4 weeks I began sleeping on my right side with my left leg placed over my RTKR. It only worked for a few hours, but it was pure bliss.

 

[dadman35]

Yes nausea meds worked for me with the oxy. I have a compound problem of hyatle hernia and they switched my acid med so I still have to be very cautious about what I eat.


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[agarrett]

I have slept with operated leg on bottom while on my side. Same issues with any position nothing works for too long. I am more cautious on where the top leg goes but more for comfort. Good luck, finding the best sleep position is something we all dream of.


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[Spex10]

Great news everyone -it will happen! I still find it wonderful that I can now sleep in whatever position I feel like. I've never taken that for granted after the weeks struggling to get even reasonably comfortable.

 

[Laurenkate]

Could someone change my thread title to "Beginning Week 6 Recovery" please? Thank you.

Thanks for info about weaning off pain medication. It's gotten to the point where I feel like all I'm doing is taking it and have been forgetting a dose here and a dose there. Not going to give it up entirely (especially on p.t. days) until I see the doctor again in a month.

Great news about sleeping on my side. One good thing about surgeries like this - it makes you appreciate the real "luxuries" in life like sleeping in your favorite position. I'm still sleeping in the guest room so my poor husband can sleep at night; he said sometimes he's not sure I'm actually in the bed in the mornings because all he can see is piles of pillows and comforters that I use to get into comfortable positions at night.

Had my second p.t. session this morning and was actually able to do rotations on the bike without cheating! The therapist seemed pleased with my progress in 3 days so that was encouraging. May be icing all day and hard therapy is a good reason to not fix dinner tonight, right? Thank goodness for take-out and delivery!

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

[Celle]

I've changed your thread title for you.

Congratulations on the full rotation on the bike. That's great!
Don't let the PT sessions be too exacting, though. Just a little, gentle exercise is sufficient.

Yes, of course you deserve a break from getting dinner - it's a bit early to be doing that every day anyway. Hooray for takeout!

 

[KarriB]

If you're doing the cooking, make sure someone else is doing the cleaning up at this point.

 

[Laurenkate]

Oh...that's another good thing about this surgery. I did a lot of cooking beforehand (we like soup) so for the past week, I basically thaw stuff and put it together for dinner. (My husband does the shopping which has also been a hoot; he's normally very laid back but has been ranting about the price of toilet paper ever since my surgery). Anyway, he does the clean up now and has figured out why simple dinners are the way to go - much less clean-up.

I'm still not doing much - about 20 minutes of "cleaning" (ha) every few days and wiping down the bathroom with alcohol every other day. Could get use to that too.

Celle - thanks for changing thread title.

 

[Laurenkate]

Hope everyone had a good to tolerable weekend. My pt sessions are on Monday (ick) and Thursday mornings. I like the therapists but they aren't the most personable people and don't like to answer "what if" questions. The p.t. is uncomfortable and it's not something to look forward to but it does help and they seem pleased with my progress and range of motion.

If you went to p.t., did you go for a set amount of time or until you reached a set goal of, say, 135 degrees ROM? This is going to get expensive very quickly and since my husband accidentally cut down the money tree last year, I was wondering what your experience has been.

Also, I've started cutting back on the oxycodone and have had a hard time sleeping since doing so. Perhaps it's a coincidence but has this happened to you? Tylenol PM hasn't helped much; any suggestions?

 

[Celle]

If you aren't comfortable with PT, you can stop going at any time you choose. You are in charge of your knee and you are the only one who has the right to say what will happen to it. You won't sabotage your knee's recovery if you stop going to this PT outfit.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

In any case, you don't need to do a lot of PT in order to rehab your knee. Walking is the best exercise of all and you do that every day. You can do these exercises at home, by yourself, and regulate the amount you do, so that you are not uncomfortable or in pain.
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Extension: how to estimate it and ways to improve it

There is no need to rush to get ROM, since it can continue to increase for a year or more.
Don't listen to any tales of only having a certain amount of time to achieve ROM - they're a myth.
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR

Since you can already do a rotation on the bike, your ROM is already very good for your stage of recovery.

Some PT therapists are very helpful and considerate and they are worth staying with, but it doesn't sound as if the ones you have are as good as that.
The choice is yours!

 

[KarriB]

If you're having a hard time sleeping you can try keeping the nighttime dose the same as it's been and cutting back through the day.

 

[Red's Mom]

I agree with Celle and Karri. I took the full dose of pain medication at night for quite awhile. After very active days I still sometimes need my tramadol to settle in for ghetto night. You'll do just fine if you drop out of physical therapy but that's your choice of course


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[Laurenkate]

Oh dear, didn't explain about p.t. very well. I don't look forward to it but am always pleasantly surprised that it isn't as bad as my imagination. The therapists are good, never push me and are very considerate of everyone's pain level; they just aren't particularly forthcoming or friendly. It's satisfying to know that I've done what they've asked and have surprised myself doing so without dissolving into a puddle of fat & tears. If it keeps going the way it has for another 3 weeks, hopefully, everyone will decide more formal p.t. or the dreaded MUA isn't "necessary".

We are able to use a gym at the local university which is another reason not to spend unnecessary money on p.t. If I didn't like the doctor so much, I wouldn't care about his opinion because ROM does takes its own time - but also hope he'll operate on my other knee when necessary. He doesn't seem to be a prima donna like some of them, but you never know.

Celle, agree with you about walking. Yesterday was the first time I walked the dog since before Christmas; we were only out for about 15 minutes and walked fairly slowly; it was surprising how tiring it was afterwards.

Red's Mom & KarriB - thanks for letting me know you continued the medication at night for a while. It's harder to handle things (especially pain) after a night of tossing and turning, isn't it?

Thanks again for the advice and letting my whine. People who haven't had a replacement really don't understand it at all; a friend asked me today why I needed to elevate and ice my leg so much because, after all, "surgery was 6 weeks ago; you should be fine by now".

 

[KarriB]

My dad and best friend both quit PT two weeks after their TKRs because their insurance didn't cover it. They both felt they they could do the same things at home without the cost. Out of all three of us, my dad had two of the easiest recoveries I've seen on two weeks of PT.

 

[Laurenkate]

My dad and best friend both quit PT two weeks after their TKRs because their insurance didn't cover it. They both felt they they could do the same things at home without the cost. Out of all three of us, my dad had tw of the easiest recoveries I've seen on two weeks of PT.

That's one good thing about my insurance; I can always say i'm not coming back to pt because I don't want to use up all the allowance (30 sessions annually) so early in the year.

This has been quite the day. My husband couldn't come home from work to walk the dog; my knee felt fairly loose this morning and I needed to walk so off we went for my first dog walk since October. It took about 30 minutes to "walk" two blocks and was tired when we got home but decided I was on a roll. Ran a very quick errand, parked, walked into the store, couldn't find what I wanted so then went to the bookstore. At that point, hobbled in there and that's when my knee said "it's time to go home and get some ice on me. Right now!" Wonder if there is an ice machine which could be charged in the car....if not, someone needs to invent it.

Am I being overly optimistic to think I'll be able to make a 10 hour road trip in July? Winning the lottery would certainly come in handy because it would be nice to have a very small rec vehicle when recovering from a replacement.