TKR Puffin is soaring into the sky

[puffin]

Thanks so much for everyone's comments and suggestions

I don't think that I have a urinary tract infection - however I do seem to be prone to excessive fluid retention/release especially if there is a major site of inflammation in my body. The staff noticed this on surgery day - the plan was to avoid using a catheter wher possible so my bladder was emptied under sterile conditions in the OR - however by the time I got to recovery I was complaining about a "need to go" feeling which the staff thought that I must be imagining it and used some sort of ultrasound scan and found that in 5-10 minutes over 500ml had built up. I have noticed that I seem to get aa sudden increase in fluid around 1-2 hours after taking morphine

I have a couple of questions - can anyone help?

1. Does anyone know how long it takes for the scar/staples to stop bleeding? Is it unusual that mine is still bleeding? The blackish-red area under the plastic bubble dressing expands every day
2. Does anyone know how long before the muscles/nerves will heal to allow me to lift my leg? - finding it tough that I still cannot get out of ned myself

 

[My way]

Good morning, How are things going today? I hope it's getting a little better.

 

[Hopper]

Hi Puffin - how are you doing?

 

[puffin]

A rather strange day - trying to decide whether my knee is at all better or not

On the one hand I seem to be able to do some new stuff today
- managed to get myself up from the bed (but sadly cannot get myself back in again as I cannot lift my own leg
- managed to walk around 25 metres on crutches for the first time
- the stretching programme seemed a little easier
- even got more sleep last night - 2 sleep periods of 2 hours and 3 hours which seems amazing

However on the negative side the pain seemed worse even though I was taking meds on time
- I seem to have a lot of deep bone pain
- the staples hurt
- the hematoma hurts but may be reducing in size
- the wound is still bleeding

So a mixed day - not sure what to make of it all .............

 

[My way]

I've been checking all day to see how things are going. You seem to be doing well with the mobility!
I don't want to sound like a nag but I think you should get that bleeding or oozing checked out. I'm no expert however I was a nurse in my former life. It may be just a pocket of old blood but it should be looked at. Why not call your OS or GP? Please!

 

[puffin]

I am in a bit of a pickle as at the moment I cannot get out of the house to see a doctor or nurse as I am trapped upstairs

I think it may be to do with the large amounts of Pradaxa I am taking for blood clots - also there is one particular staple that pulls when I do my excercises

Josephine - I wonder if you have time to answer the following question - is it problematic that my wound is still oozing? Not sure if it is blood or other fluid being discoloured by the the dried blood in the bubble dressing

 

[scaredinCA]

Do you have anyone who could look at your wound for you? Could they take a peek under the bandage and tell you what they see? I wish you could been seen by a doctor asap.

 

[Hopper]

Call your surgeons office perhaps? Just some advice from them could really help you.
I do hope you get some help.

 

[DAJ]

puffin i do help things will get better quickly and you an recover at your own pace now. Well done

 

[My way]

Hi, How goes the battle?

 

[leejaa]

Puffin, do they have anything like a home visit by a nurse at least to take a look at your knee and change the dressing. Also, what about contacting your doctor and seeing if he would look at it on line if you took some pictures and emailed them to him. Tele medicine is the way of the future so you could try to get at least some opinions from him if he would look at the pictures. Not being able to come down if I went upstairs to the bedroom was my biggest fear so I set up my recovery including setting up a single bed in the living room just to make myself feel better and it did work out for me. I hope things improve even more for you, you have had such a long road.

 

[new knee in June]

My dearest puffin,
I hope you are feeling better i was just reading my discharge papers and one of the things it said was if you
Are leaking through the bandage call the doctor. Don,t you have a nurse that comes to your house.
Please call today.......thinking of you.....big hugs coming your way
Diana

 

[My way]

Hey there, I hope things are getting better.

 

[Hopper]

Hi puffin - how are you doing?

 

[puffin]

Been and up and down few days. A low point was when husband accidently hit my knee with the walker giving me some new bruises.

On the plus point I was told that i didn't need to do anything about the blood stained dressing as they wanted me to leave it completely alone as there was an infection risk concern given that I had had so many dressing changes during my stay in the hospital. Unless the bleeding starts to come through the bubble wrap I am to leave alone until my District Nurse appointment next week. Also on a positive note the bleeding seems to have stopped now

I am however struggling with walking and stair climbing. I seem to struggle to bear weight on the bad knee - partly I seem to be getting a lot of pain when I walk from the tourniquet bruises/hematoma. I also have a lot of "deep bone" pain. It feels like the broken leg and bone marrow oedema that I suffered after the original accident - so perhaps it is caused by the long steel stems being hammered into my leg.

The exercises are going OK - although I still cannot do straight leg lifts. I think my ROM will also improve once I get the staples removed as they are really driving me nuts at the moment

 

[scaredinCA]

Are you able to go down stairs yet? Are you feeling better in general?

 

[puffin]

I have done the stairs once (but not by myself) - going down was very painful and scary given problems I have bearing weight on the bad leg owing to the bruise/hemtoma pain and the bone pain - although coming up again was much easier.

I don't think it is something I could do everyday

 

[My way]

I'm so happy to hear from you. I think some of us were starting to get a bit worried. It's great the oozing has stopped. I can imagine the stairs are very scary. I only have 7 to deal with and I'm not sure how that's going to go after my OP.Should be interesting to say the least. How is the swelling? I hope it's not too bad. You will feel so much better after the staples come out. When I had the staples removed after my last abdominal surgery, I felt like someone had let the seam of a very tight dress out about an inch. Ahhh bliss! Take care and keep us posted!
Wanda

 

[DAJ]

great that your home and able to do it your way, I find i two am very tired and try to nap whenever i feel it coming on. Leg surgery is major stuff and it will take months till we feel near to ourselves again. today i managed to go upstairs 14 of them, to lie down on my own bed. so happy. take it easy

 

[scaredinCA]

When going down stairs, I would have someone go slowly in front of you. That way if you started to fall or lose your grip on handrail, etc, they would be there to catch you and help you get balanced again.