PKR Petuniafish's 2009 Recovery Thread

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petuniafish

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Please don't chastise me for this. Already doing shock and guilt.
Had an Oxford partial done 4/21. Had my two week post-op check and was doing
fantastically. Walking without a cane. Exercising regularly and but still resting it a lot.
Yesterday missed a slippery spot in my driveway and went straight down both knees bent. Full weight on them.
Hurt a lot afterwards. Some swelling. No cuts or bruises on either knee.
Today it clicks when I pull my leg back. More pain on movement but not too bad.
Know I have to call my OS. But so discouraged. If I messed this up I am in terrible trouble with my job.
Tomorrow I was to start light duty work, leg elevated, a few hours a day.
I can't tell my boss I *may* have screwed this up again. They have been tolerating my 3 arthroscopies for a year now.
So upset with myself. I was over-doing it. My husband barely talking to me.

Nancy
PS. Jo, Could this just be a muscle/ligament thing? I know you can't tell me. Is it possible at this early date that I could have loosened my prosthesis with the jarring?
 
Nancy, So sorry, Dont be so upset with yourself things happen ,are you iceing and elevateing today? My prayers are with you
 
Honey, the chances of you loosening your implants at any stage are so unlikely it's not worth the bother of calculating the odds! What's it going to knock against to loosen it? The impact of you fall would land on the outside of the bones and not anywhere on the implants. So now you've got some bruises and aches and pains. They might even take a couple of weeks to heal up, but I can promise you that your new knee is fine. You may be sore in the morning but you'll soon be okay again and I'd be very surprised if your return to work if affected.

And why is your husband not talking to you? Was it your fault there was a slippery spot? That's called an accident and could have just as easily happened to him!

Get in your favourite chair, put some ice on the sore spots and settle down with your favourite movie and a nice chunk of chocolate! And stop worrying!!
 
Jo and Too Young,

I could kiss you both!
Thank you so much for explaining Jo. The pain is mostly in the bursa, had huge bakers cyst pre-op. I really whacked my self hard into a kneeling position and was sure somehow I could have loosened the implant. Thank you very much for the reassurance.

My husband is mad because he thinks I do too much, and karma got me with the fall on the driveway. I stop when I have pain. He's wants this to be successful like all our friends, companions do. Now as I him read your response he is much more reassured. I told him karma found me good friends like you. Thanks so much. You have been an angel to me and everyone else on this board.

Nancy
 
Hi Nancy,

Sorry you had a fall, but Jo is right, my OS told me also the implants are so strong, it would take an almighty blow directly on them to do any damage, by that I got the message we couldn't even inflict that blow ourselves.

Best wishes for your continued successful recovery.
 
Nancy....so glad you are okay except for the bruised body and pride. Tell hubby to lighten up. I'm sure he's just worried about you. Please, please continue to ice and elevate and rest until the pain lessens. And then, do try not to push too hard. Your body will heal at it's own pace and any extra pushing you do (to the point of tiredness or pain) only delays that natural healing process.
[Bonesmart.org] Petuniafish's 2009 Recovery Thread
Oh, and go out and have a few VERY cross words with your driveway!!! It will make you feel better.
 
My PT told me nothing would happen to my new knee unless it was hit by a truck. I think you are OK. I would be sick to death with worry myself. You are not alone.
 
Oh Nancy so very sorry, I think they are right though..You had a lil set back, and thats it, just move forward and be carefull. The greatest person in the world may not get what we get...You feel a lil better and its something you havent had for so long and you wanna go go go ..but take care of yourself and let us know how you feel......praying for ya...........Kim
 
I'll chime in with everyone else. My doctor said I could not hurt this knee now. And see, this is why I insist we're bionic. This knee that's been the thorn in my side for almost 30 years is now rock solid? You might have pulled something else out of whack. That will heal. But you certainly didn't do any damage to your new knee.
 
Nancy,
So sorry about your fall. Lilke Jo said it was an accident. I ususally have a huge fall every year. Almost 1 year since my new hip, but I assure you, if it happens it will not be on purpose!!!

Glad your hubby has calmed down and don't worry if you did not have any chocolate on hand, I just ate some for you.
feeel better
judy
 
Nancy,
So sorry you took a spill. Just start icing and tomorrow you may feel like you have been beaten!!! I understand though, you were really trucking right through the recovery with knee!!! That is for sure!! So maybe it was just a little nudge from up above warning you it was time to slow down a bit. I will keep my fingers crossed that you come out of this little set back fast.
 
Phew! Now THAT was one scare you certainly didn't need, Nancy! I think your husband was probably a lot more upset at himself...especially since you fell in your own driveway! By now you've no doubt been icing like crazy! Please take care of yourself and not be so hard on yourself! Hope you're feeling better and that you'll be up and around and back to yourself in no time! :)
 
Nancy,

That sounded pretty frightening, and the thing we all want to try and avoid, but it is very reassuring to hear from 'those-who-know' that the actual knee cannot be damaged like that. Phew!

I too have had a good dose of chocolate on your behalf, just in case you had none in the house. (We always have some - my family know I'm an addict, so if they can't think of anything else to give me as a present for any occasion, chocolate is always very acceptable. Got to be the dark sort, though.)

I hope that by the time you read this, which should be after you've had some sleep, your knee will feel much more comfortable.
 
Thanks so much everyone.
Really appreciate your reassurance. I was sure since it is so new I had caused it to slip out of place. Feel a bit better this morning having stayed down most of yesterday with ice and ibuprofen.
Big day- back to work. They will let me elevate and ice and go home if I need it. I want everyone to notice on my face how much happier I feel without that awful pre surgery pain. This pain is nothing compared to that. Hubby is happy again and apologetic. He was just worried.
Thanks once again. :)
Happy Nancy
 
Nancy -- hope your first day at work was OK. And it's true -- I'm sure everyone told you how different you look now. all my friends said the same thing when I went back to the gym. You're probably going to be too tired to even read these posts for a few days...so just try to get as muchr est as you can...
 
PKR 4/21/09/
Last week returned to work- disastrous. First 6 hours were OK, but then because our hospital census was low, everybody went home. Except me, who had loads of catch up work. Anyone else could have helped, but like any workplace they all wanted OUT. Besides there is always some resentment when someone else has time off- even for surgery. Except these are all nurses, all about the same age, all starting to fall apart and needing time off here and there. There are many "Type A personalities" in a surgical unit. Me too I fear. It's a good thing for surgical patients surgical nurses are the way we are (Jo is the kind exception). Nurses sometimes feel burdened-overtime and taking call. Get cranky.

No wonder my needing more time off was met with lots of grumbling. But jeez, it was just 20 days!

I called my charge nurse at home, crying as I could not keep up after 6 hours, and the pain! I needed another nurse to come back in- patients were starting to swarm in. She GROANED' "why can't you keep up?". I replied as nicely as possible, "because I just had a freakin PKR 20 days ago!" She groaned again when I said I couldn't come in for the rest of the week.

Nice lady generally. But she is having orthodontic braces put on her teeth and is having 'pain.' I could wrap a CPM around her. Let's talk about pain.

Would not be trying work so early in the game but like many worried about job, insurance etc. I am fortunate that they will let me try just 4 hours today.

It's going to be alright today, know it. And if it doesn't, it doesn't. It will be hard to talk nice to Ms. Teeth Braces, boss. Other than this everything is going marvelously. Exercise, pain level(I got a TENS unit btw- love it!) all generally good. Know there will be rough patches as you've all attested to, and will be hanging out here for a long time ahead.

One thing I am so grateful for is having epilepsy!. I sleep like a baby with all the meds take. Know for many good hard sleep is difficult.

Gratitude to everyone. Will tell you how it goes.

Nancy
 
Nancy,
I do believe you need to pace yourself. I know this is difficult with patients wanting something from you all the time. I do think it is wise you are going in for a half day for a week or 2 and work your time up to a full day. It took me a good 9 weeks after BTKR last June, before I was on my own caring for 9 children between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM. 6 of them were preschool age and the other 3 were school age children. I did just fine 9 weeks post op. I was tired at the end of the day, but it was a good kind of tired. I would ice mid day if I needed it......
Pace yourself is my best advice! I am sure it is a good feeling on a personal level to be back at work.....
Best,
 
Nancy, you are doing a great job of keeping a positive spin on your situation. Crystal is right that you MUST pace yourself or you won't be good to anyone. Little Miss Braces will just have to deal with it. Would it help if your surgeon prepared a document that outlined what work schedule and duties you should be on right now and as you go forward? I know they have to do things like that frequently for people (especially worman's comp cases), so the doctor should be used to putting something like that together for you.

Be strong....people who simply have no clue will try to get you back to full activity level before you are ready. You may have to explain the facts of life many times to many people. Some may never get it. But right now....YOU are the most important person in this equation!!
 
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