I hope you did this just once!
TKR Pheebs52 Recovery Discovery Journey May 22
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KarriB
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I had never read anything by Hannah either, but The Nightingale seems to be very different from her other books.
knit2tog
senior
It sounds like you are doing great!
OP
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Pheebs52
big-cheese
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Pheebs52
big-cheese
Day Five: Song Title, "Oh, What a Night!" Egads! My worst fears were realized in the swelling department and I can only attribute it to the few *ahem* extras yesterday....stairs and a few new movements. The PT was gentle, never touched my knee, but we just did too much. This resulted in my first sleepless night, on the sofa, leg propped up with ice all night long and even the Oxy wasn't much help; pffft! Needless to say, today will be lower key than a zombie at rest.
Oh no, poor you!
came over "to the other side" to read your recovery report, since you are approximately a week ahead of me. I hope this next night is better for you as sleep, deep sleep, oh geez, any sleep, is so crucial to healing. I was sorry to read about that horrific pain incident you had. I do hope the specialty clinic I am going to has better control and quick responses. My DH ( dear husband) said the other day: "you seem to be more sensitive to pain than anyone I know." He might be right, although part of the culture here is to 'grin and bear it'. You know what I mean?
Sending you healing vibes: ~*~*~*~*~~~
(no smilie for that I guess)
came over "to the other side" to read your recovery report, since you are approximately a week ahead of me. I hope this next night is better for you as sleep, deep sleep, oh geez, any sleep, is so crucial to healing. I was sorry to read about that horrific pain incident you had. I do hope the specialty clinic I am going to has better control and quick responses. My DH ( dear husband) said the other day: "you seem to be more sensitive to pain than anyone I know." He might be right, although part of the culture here is to 'grin and bear it'. You know what I mean?
Sending you healing vibes: ~*~*~*~*~~~
(no smilie for that I guess)
Oh no, those steps must have caught up with you last night. Sleep anywhere and anytime you can. It all adds up. And sleep is healing, so get all you can!
Jennszoo
post-grad
It sneaks up so fast - that overdoing it. I was coasting along at 5w and bam! Hit with the pain from overdoing it, despite being so careful up until now. Just give it extra tlc, lots of ice, elevation & rest, keep on your meds and this too shall pass. I just posted how excited I was to be back to a night of "discomfort" vs pain.
OP
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Pheebs52
big-cheese
@VW54, tonight will definitely be a better one because it really doesn't get much worse than last night; hah! Don't be alarmed by my saga of off the chart pain in the recovery room. I honestly believe (hope?) that it was rather unusual. Most people here seem to have the exact same procedure, spinal with sedation, and have no difficulty at all when the numbness begins to wear off because their IV narcotic is delivered at the right time. Mine was not.
@sistersinhim, the stairs, though seemingly fairly easy at the time, may have been the culprit, but I suspect it was just all too much and had a cumulative effect. You know I am babying this knee today and will sleep wherever and whenever I can.
@Jennszoo, it's so hard to know how much is *enough* if not experiencing pain while doing, isn't it? In your case, though 5 weeks seems like a long time, it really isn't when we look at the big picture. Heck, it's not even halfway to the much hailed milestone of 12 weeks, so yeah, your knee is definitely still fragile; pffft! You made me smile (not unusual when you stated you'd be happy to get back to a night of discomfort versus pain; yep! Here's to basic discomfort!
@sistersinhim, the stairs, though seemingly fairly easy at the time, may have been the culprit, but I suspect it was just all too much and had a cumulative effect. You know I am babying this knee today and will sleep wherever and whenever I can.
@Jennszoo, it's so hard to know how much is *enough* if not experiencing pain while doing, isn't it? In your case, though 5 weeks seems like a long time, it really isn't when we look at the big picture. Heck, it's not even halfway to the much hailed milestone of 12 weeks, so yeah, your knee is definitely still fragile; pffft! You made me smile (not unusual when you stated you'd be happy to get back to a night of discomfort versus pain; yep! Here's to basic discomfort!
KarriB
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One way to gauge how much is too much is to compare your actvities with the Activity progression for TKRs. Even though I didn't know about BS until a year or more after after my TKR, when I think back my first month followed the chart very closely.
KarriB
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My actvity or lack of it was just a necessity. I had seen my dad go through two TKRs and my best friend one. They both spent the majority of their first month resting, icing, elevating with mod stretches because both quit PT after two weeks. I knew going in what my days would look like, plus I just don't like pain. My OS told me 12 weeks before returning to work, thus that was already in my head. But my second month was spent fighting an infection, recovering from a second surgery and wearing an imbolizer, so that time frame is different from most everybody because I was hospitalized for 11 days and then housebound again.
jaschembra
post-grad
Yes, you'll know when you've done too much and unfortunately, it doesn't happen until later!
Another good thing to remember, don't be drugged up when PT is there - we can tend to do way too much at that point. It happened to me one time during my home PT - I remember my sister was watching and she said, are you sure you want to do that? Hmmmmm. Yep, it wasn't a good night and I learned my lesson. Don't hang your head in shame. It happens to the best of us.
Another good thing to remember, don't be drugged up when PT is there - we can tend to do way too much at that point. It happened to me one time during my home PT - I remember my sister was watching and she said, are you sure you want to do that? Hmmmmm. Yep, it wasn't a good night and I learned my lesson. Don't hang your head in shame. It happens to the best of us.
Most of the time we only do it once!
KarriB
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Yes, it happens to quite a few TKRs, so,don't feel too bad. At just 4-5 days post op you're better off to send hubby for a pint of that ice cream while you're elevating that knee. You're probably realizing TKR is nothing like THR. My dad is the only one I know that says THR was harder than 2 TKRs (he fell off a ladder breaking the ball off his femur).
OP
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Pheebs52
big-cheese
@sistersinhim, I sure hope it's only once!
@KarriB, I have found similarities between THR and TKR but a different set of frustrations. In some ways, due to no physician imposed restrictions, I do have more *freedom* (to mess up) than I did with THR. When I had THR, the bending and sleeping restrictions were for the first 13 weeks and the dreaded TEDS as well. I had a very slow recovery from THR, but, I had some nerve damage, so was unable to progress as rapidly as I had hoped. So far, the jury is still out for me as to which is worse, but I think TKR might just take the cake on the pain scale, at least in the early weeks. Sounds like your Dad had a very messy THR!
@KarriB, I have found similarities between THR and TKR but a different set of frustrations. In some ways, due to no physician imposed restrictions, I do have more *freedom* (to mess up) than I did with THR. When I had THR, the bending and sleeping restrictions were for the first 13 weeks and the dreaded TEDS as well. I had a very slow recovery from THR, but, I had some nerve damage, so was unable to progress as rapidly as I had hoped. So far, the jury is still out for me as to which is worse, but I think TKR might just take the cake on the pain scale, at least in the early weeks. Sounds like your Dad had a very messy THR!
KarriB
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My dad wasn't a good patient in the hospital or a home with the THR because it wasn't planned and he wasn't supposed to be climbing a ladder. The docs gave him morphine just to move him. Once we got him to elevate (my mother told on him to the OS) he did much better, but had a seroma after a few weeks that required another night in the hospital. He's great now and just as active as ever.
