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Bilateral TKR ParamedicGirl on the "other side"

Congratulations on being on the otherside . Remember ice and elevation and pain management help relieve most of the pain !! Not all. Rest when you can . You will notice soon that all the bone on bone crunching and cracking will be gone ! Just like that . Best wishes.
 
PT said he had to be careful how he wrote his notes today. Apparently I am 90 degree ROM on both legs and the fact that I can walk down the hall is very good, but not so good for being able to transfer me to an acute inpatient rehab. Vicodin every 4 hours, and Toradol (spelling?) every 8, or is 12 hours via my IV. Lyrica and Celebrex for nerve and other pain. I couldn't feel the ice through all my dressings, but today they took them off and I have been icing and loving it.

Every time I fall asleep, someone wakes me up...ll.
 
So happy to hear you are doing great! Each day gets better. Remember the mantra. One tip to help elevating put the end of the hospital bed up as high as it goes, use pillows to keep legs straight and the swelling will go down faster. Remember the ice.
 
I will have to remember about plopping! My fear is waking up in pain. Had a discussion with hospital nurse and she charted it already. I can deal with pain as I try to walk or whatever, but I don't do well when it is sudden like that.

It sounds like you are doing well! I have to admit that I couldn't deal with a BTKR so I am glad my doc doesn't do them!

You know the mantras....so keep it up!:flwrysmile::flwrysmile::flwrysmile:
 
sounds like you're doing well. :)
 
Pain Management is the shortfall with me. Vicodin is all they will give me and it barely touches the pain. I have asked for something else...Dilaudid, something, and their answer is "they just don't give it". Do I, as a patient, have a right to adequate pain management?? What can I do? Do I have to call the surgeon's office myself?
 
What a lame answer. "they" who? Vicodin imho is totally inadequate for the first days after surgery. Even oxcodone would be better. Does your OS come to see you in the hospital? He should and I'd take it up with him then. But the nurses should be communicating with him too. :(
 
I had a pain pump in the hospital. I can't imagine just using Vicodin alone for both knees! Call your drs. Office and complain. He probably wrote for more but they are not offering it to you. Hope you get some relief soon. Oh call patient representative in hospital they can help you. First, talk to floor charge nurse find out what the physician ordered. Then if nothing else is ordered, tell her to call your dr. Because you are in pain!
 
Good for you! I remember those times getting up to go to the bathroom. You are motivated because you have to go to the bathroom. It sounds like your pain meds are more under control and you are staying ahead of the pain, that is what I did and it works very well. I assume they are icing your knees continuously too. I had drains in both knees and that helped so much with swelling and also gave me back my own blood which made me stronger. Not sure if you have that happening. I understand when you get up and start moving you want to keep going - that is exactly how I felt too. Just keep me going. Let us know your plans when you know if you are going to rehab hospital or home. I went to rehab for 9 days and it made me stronger and I needed to be able to climb stairs to get into my house so that was important for me. Take care and be gentle with yourself. You have been through a lot the past few days. Emotionally it is over and now you are on the healing side - this is the side of patience, healing, resting, icing, medications, and trying to do what you can without pain. God Bless you and I will keep you in my prayers for your recovery. Kim
 
I hope you are doing ok haven' t seen a post in 2 days. Did they give you better pain management? I hope they did. Will keep you in my prayers.
 
Hi , @ParamedicGirl , hope today found you with adequate pain control. I don't know how they can expect you to heal when you are in pain!:skep: Please let us know how you are doing when you can. I have to trust that it gets better and will be so worth it....soon!
 
Well, I was transferred to an acute inpatient faciliity but not the one I wanted which created some stress in and of itelf. As I mentioned before, pain managment was little addressed by the former facility and only by vicodin, although on my last night there one of the nurses had some pity for me and went to bat for 2 mg dilaudid. Oh what blessed relief!

So far the facility I am in now is nice; certainly not updated but it doesn't affect their care. I have PT 3 times a day, 2 physical, 1 occupational. They give a long lasting pain med twice a day, and I can have the short acting pain med every 3-4 hours, and typically they try to give it before PT. My ROM was 70 in both legs yesterday, but I'll pay more attention to the overall measurements today. I had been given 15 mgs of XX and I was STONED...lol. This morning I just received 10 mg. We'll see how that works.

Dressings look clean, swelling comes and goes, I had a fever last night, so had blood cultures drawn...and labs again this monring for my INR. I'm beginning to feel like a pin cushion. '
At 11:30 p.m., I had a mini meltdown and called a friend. I could't call Mark as I knew he would long be asleep.
 
[Bonesmart.org] ParamedicGirl on the "other side"
@ParamedicGirl. I see that things are a bit rough at the moment. Good pain management is a real necessity to get off to a good start with this recovery. Also lots of icing and elevation---insist on it. Don't allow any of the PT to be painful---remember the mantras:

- rest, elevate, ice and take your pain meds by the clock
- if it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physiotherapist - to do it to you
- if your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again
- if you won't die if it's not done, don't do it
- never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can go to sleep!

It's going to be tough for the next few weeks, but it WILL get BETTER----I promise you. And you will feel much much better once you can be at home--just because you're home.

Take care and keep us posted. We care.
 
I am 5 days post op and I feel as if I am reaching an emotional wall. I have much better pain control at this rehab. Transferring out of bed and of course gaining range of motion just plain ol' hurts, no matter the pain meds. I cannot transfer myself at all and the nurses have to swing my legs around for me the to (painfully) bend my knees to get my feet under me and stand. The whole joint feels unbelievably tight. I get ice after PT but I think I need to ask for it more throughout the day.

I am looking for the post op articles again, but am I normal? (ok, THAT'S relative!...lol) or am I lagging behind?

Feeling sorry for myself....
 
I am glad to see your pain is being managed better. It is important in this recovery. I would ask for more ice! I was lucky they provided me with an ice machine in the hospital and I used it almost all day and night! Once you get your swelling down you will be able to move so much better. To me sounds like you are doing very well! Hang in there it gets a little better each day!
 
I'm so glad you're getting better pain control. Not a problem that you still need help getting your legs up and down off the bed--I was getting help at that point too. Gradually it will come. :console2:
 
Nevermind the pain, tightness is one of the most complained about sensations in this process. And it goes on and on and will test your patience even months from now. My leg also felt like heavy deadweight.

When I worked as paramedic, I took pride in my pain relief strategies. Of course little doses IV q 5 minutes can give perfect titrated relief. I too was given only vicodin. Your ortho and mine must be buddies. Oh, big deal, they upped it from 5/500 to 7.5/500 on day one. Except I had to wait hours for the hospital system to process the new order in order to get my puny 7.5 vicodin, and that was day 1!! One night the nurse said, "You know, there's also a standing order for demerol if you want." She agreed to give that IM every 4 hours alternating with vicodin q4H. Dr. Ortho comes in in the morning and says, "We need to wean you off the demerol." You'd think with 100s of thousands of people in the US having joint replacement every year they'd have the medication options down to a science and of course patient-guided. They all seem to fear we'll end up on street corners dealing drugs if they're not careful!!!

Are you normal? There is a wide range of normal here, including the fact we all worry that what we're experiencing is not normal and there must be something wrong! Who has TKR and says, "That wasn't as bad as I thought?" Most of us feel ripped off that we weren't told how hard it would be.

Keep posting (and whining). We're here!
 
Although I thought today was starting off "bad", it actually hasn't been too bad. I asked PT if there was "gentle" approach that we could use today. She said there was and while it wasn't completely discomfort free, I didn't need to sleep it off when I returned to my room AND I wasn't too sore for the afternoon session and so could put my all into it as well. I also iced more often today, before and after PT and a couple more times just on my own. My ROM is 90-3/4 on both legs. Straight leg lifts or partial leg lifts continue to be quite painful and near impossible. I am confident I will be much improved over this week. Interesting how different therapy encourages a different outlook.

I have a couple photos to upload and need to learn how.
 
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