PKR Please reply

[Jockette]

I wish i could just find an answer to the question “if my knee is infected, would i have pain all the time?”.

Infections have all kinds of different symptoms. Try not to worry about an infection. As flashlight said, you still have lots of healing to do.

At 4 months you are 1/3 through the healing process, so pain at times is par for the course, even at this stage, depending on lots of things, too much activity, moving in a way that your knee doesn’t like yet, etc.

 

[Layla]

I’m scared. I just cannot CANNOT think about how i could het through revision surgery.

Please try not to project. I realize it's easy to say and I understand you're worried, but without confirmation of a complication try to put it out of your mind and realize that if something unfavorable occurs, you'll deal with it and get through it.

I hope you have a good week. Today marks four months since surgery.
Happy Anniversary...wishing you peace of mind.

 

[Stewydog]

@Jockette @Flashlight thank you soo much for your replies. Jockette you actually had a PKR? Thats very interesting. It sounds like I was also fooled. Every article i read made a PKR sound like it wasn’t even a major surgery. Because of that i assumed i should push myself to do everything i could. Ive always moved ALOT so my legs are pretty strong. I guess because of that i could definitely get up the steps and down on the 3rd day using my right knee. As I’ve said, i did everything i normally did. Mowing, cleaning, etc. yes it would hurt but i assumed that was helping to strengthen my muscles. I see in one of your posts that doing too much too soon can backfire. By that do you mean i might have hurt muscles or “stuff” inside my knee? They have xrayed and the implant is in good shape. Tell me more please. Would your knee hurt some of the time each day as you healed? Mine might feel pretty good in the morning and then be quite sore by afternoon even though I’ve just walked around the house doing housework.
Flashlight it was what i thought was a minor thing. But of course i was out. She said my legs were in stirrups for an hour. I was very clear i’d had a knee replacement so i assumed they would treat it gently. I can’t imagine what they could have done to cause it to hurt later.

 

[Stewydog]

I have no idea what the knee compartment is called so I don’t know the exact name. Looking down at my leg it was the left side. All of you please forgive me for not answering quickly. I have been left in another century when it comes to tech.
I’m always missing texts and calls. I don’t even know where my cell is half the time!!! Leave it on the car, other rooms, under pillows

 

[JusticeRider]

There are very gew articles on PKR but the ones i jave seen say 4-6 weeks out and you’ll be doing regular activities. I

Stewydog, this just infuriates me! I was given similar expectations, and it is wildly inaccurate. Like Jockette, I had a patellofemoral PKR, mine was in August this year. I am on my way to getting better and eventually I believe I will be really glad I had the surgery. But I have come to realize that will only happen over the course of a year or even a bit longer. Not at all what I was given to expect going into this.

I too had a major setback a few months ago, doing too much because I was feeling good and assumed I could. (Your description of ‘pinching’ pain sounds very familiar, by the way!) Expectations are so important. I have much more peace about this now that I’ve managed to reset my point of view and settle in for the long haul. I am a very active, athletic, motivated person, and I have had to dial things waaaaay back.

I think it is really important that you rule out infection. But I also think you unknowingly really upset your knee in a big way doing way more than it was ready for. The reaction may have been delayed but your knee is screaming at you now. It’s not your fault but your healing has probably taken a big step back from all that activity. And the gyn procedure probably had your knee locked in the same difficult position for a whole hour…that would definitely upset an already stressed knee!

You may have to start over a bit in your recovery process. The surgery was an assault on your body and all that activity was further abuse. Now your knee needs to be treated gently and carefully. If you haven’t read all the great recovery guidelines here, I encourage you to do so. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that for most of us PKR’s this recovery is no easier than a TKR. And for those who experience significant setbacks, it takes even more patience and diligence to get back on track.

Good luck, Stewydog! I am pulling for you.

 

[Jockette]

I agree with everything @JusticeRider said,

Every article i read made a PKR sound like it wasn’t even a major surgery.

That’s what I found, also. It seemed like a minor procedure.

Looking down at my leg it was the left side.

Since it’s your right leg, I would say you had a medial PKR. Lateral would be in the outside of your knee, and a Patellofemora, like I have, is in the middle, involving the patella.

 

[Jockette]

I see in one of your posts that doing too much too soon can backfire. By that do you mean i might have hurt muscles or “stuff” inside my knee? They have xrayed and the implant is in good shape. Tell me more please.

You wouldn’t have damaged the implant, but doing more than you are healed to do can delay the healing your body is trying to do.

 

[Stewydog]

My feeling is my knee is either infected or I am literally starting my recovery over again. I don’t think I’ve ever done the proper things. I was doing everything I would normally do in a day from the second day forward. I took my pain meds for about a week and then stopped taking them thinking that the sooner I got used to walking through the pain the better off I would be. I was climbing steps with both legs from the beginning and even though it hurt a bit I thought that that was strengthening my muscles! I realized too now that I was not elevating my leg properly at all. I think there’s been very few times that I’ve actually elevated it correctly up until recently. I have anti-inflammatories, meloxicam to be exact, that I have never taken. Do y’all think I should go ahead and take one each morning until this inflammation is under control? Right now I don’t take anything until I start to feel the pain. Is it too late to ice and elevate my leg? I truly Have no idea what taking it easy is so give me some guidelines on that

 

[Stewydog]

I haven’t elevated my knee in a month probably because I figured it was too late and that it would be useless.

 

[benne68]

I haven’t elevated my knee in a month probably because I figured it was too late and that it would be useless.

It's never too late to take care of your knee. I'm more than a year post-op and I STILL elevate and ice on days when I've done a lot. Icing and elevating help reduce inflammation and pain.

Your knee is telling you that it needs more time to heal. If it was me, I'd start icing and elevating and taking my meds on a regular schedule. Don't expect results immediately. It will likely take several weeks for the R&R approach to make a difference.

 

[Jockette]

Is it too late to ice and elevate my leg?

At “only” 4 months into a recovery that takes a year, it is not too late to do things to help you heal better.

I have a foam wedge and use it to elevate my legs any time I am sleeping. When I’m sitting in the living room relaxing, my legs are always up on an ottoman. Here is our article from the Recovery Guidlelines:

Elevation: Doing It the Right Way

Updated June 11, 2024 by Jockette Proper elevation is one of the best ways to help with pain and swelling following either hip, knee, or ankle surgery. Many people elevate improperly, which can dramatically lower the effectiveness. In the weeks following your surgery, make sure you elevate...

bonesmart.org

Right now I don’t take anything until I start to feel the pain.

If Tylenol doesn’t bother you, the most effective way to take it is 2 x 500 mg tablets every 6 hours, to a total of 4,000 mg (4 doses) in 24 hours. You need to take it regularly, to keep up the levels in your bloodstream. If you just take the odd dose now and then, it's far less effective. I took it like this for months in my recovery.

Check all other medications you're taking, to make sure there is no Tylenol/Acetaminophen/Paracetamol in them. If there is, scale back one or two of your regular Tylenol doses, so you stay within that safe 24 hour limit of 4,000 mg.

 

[Jockette]

You might want to go back and read over the Recovery Guidelines again, you’ll find them in Post #4, on page 1 of this thread. There are a lot of good articles and they don’t take long to read. They will give you a better idea of things to help your recovery, and answer some questions that you might not actually of wondered about yet. While the list can look intimidating and long, the articles are fairly short, so they don’t take long to read. At least read the ones that interest you, and check the list from time to time when a question comes up. And, you can always continue to ask questions here.

 

[Stewydog]

I’d thought I had read all of the recovery articles that pertain to my questions but I’ll go back and look again. I guess the thing I find so confusing is since I’m four months along I felt like I was supposed to be past the stage where I was elevating and icing and taking ibuprofen every day. And as I looked at the elevation article above I realized that I did not properly elevate my leg and knee except for possibly five times in the whole recovery period so far. Remember i just joined Bonesmart and I was just following the very basic guidelines that the surgeon gives you when you go home which is not nearly enough. He never told me how to properly elevate. He never emphasized that I should take the anti-inflammatory with food if it was upsetting my stomach because I needed an anti-inflammatory. And of course the worst thing was just giving me the impression that I was supposed to push push push which is what I did

 

[JusticeRider]

Stewydog, it might help to think about it like a reset to your recovery. Try treating your knee like it’s brand new. Instead of thinking that it shouldn’t need this or that because it’s 4 months along, try giving it all the things now that it actually should have gotten before. Elevate and ice it properly for 45-60 minutes at least 4 times a day. Take your anti inflammatory and Tylenol. Rest as much as you’re able. If something hurts, don’t do it! You’ve been treating your sliced and diced knee like it’s perfectly normal and that hasn’t worked very well. You need to treat it like an injured knee that requires care and healing, because that’s what it is.

 

[Stewydog]

Ok. Thats a great way to look at it. I’m just starting over!!!

 

[Stewydog]

I read somewhere in the middle of this journey that doing too much could backfire. I didn’t see how that could be true if my knee felt good. Now i see. I had no idea how much energy it takes your body to heal. Sometimes my husband will glue something together for me and he’ll put a big brace thing (not the right term) and tell me not to even slightly touch it or move it for several days while the glue sets. Thats the care my knee also needed.

 

[Jockette]

Sometimes my husband will glue something together for me and he’ll put a big brace thing (not the right term) and tell me not to even slightly touch it or move it for several days while the glue sets. Thats the care my knee also needed.

That’s a wonderful analogy of this recovery!

 

[Stewydog]

I just wish I’d been told this by the surgeons office. Instead of starting over at four months I bet I’d be well on my way. That is extremely frustrating and makes me angry that they give you so little information

 

[benne68]

I had no idea how much energy it takes your body to heal

I think this is a surprise to most of us. I found the fatigue overwhelming and -- for a long time -- thought there was something else wrong me!

they give you so little information

Many of us say the same thing. I think that why BoneSmart is so important -- we not only have reliable information, our members share their stories to help "normalize" the process. I know this forum was a huge support for me going through my TKR last year.

 

[JusticeRider]

I just wish I’d been told this by the surgeons office. Instead of starting over at four months I bet I’d be well on my way. That is extremely frustrating and makes me angry that they give you so little information

I feel exactly the same way! I would have been lost without BoneSmart. Most of of us are completely unequipped for this recovery by our surgeons. It’s like they give you this brand new boat and then just drop you out at sea all alone. It’s really too bad you lost that time, Stewydog. But at least you are here now and have a community for support and guidance. There is so much knowledge and experience here, as well as a whole bunch of shoulders to cry on!