TKR Questions 8 months from surgery

[benne68]

@Mickimouse Glad to hear that your PT backed of when you told her too. But, she has no right to be aggravated or annoyed with you or to make you feel like you are doing something wrong. It's your body and your recovery, not hers.

Although she used the term scar tissue, what your PT probably means is adhesions. Scar tissue is necessary for healing -- without it, you'd have an open wound. Adhesions occur when internal tissues stick together. This article explains the difference: MUA (Manipulation under Anaesthetic) and Adhesions

The best way to improve your bend is to give your knee more time to heal and for all the internal swelling to go down. Overworking it will increase the swelling and reduce your bend.

We all heal at our own pace. Be patient. Your bend will come.

 

[Mickimouse]

The pain is back in the back of my thigh, ugh……I feel good, then bam, I hurt…..I’m just trying to live life……it has been 2 months plus a week, and I don’t understand how I can’t seem to feel better…. I’m just so depressed. It feels like I will never feel good again….I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel……thank you to all who are giving me advice and support. I can’t believe people have this surgery and not this type of support!

 

[Jockette]

I’m just so depressed. It feels like I will never feel good again

Most of us felt just like this.

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it

Post op blues is feeling depressed, weepy, nervy, shaky, fearful of the future, anxious, overwhelmed by what is happening to you, convinced it's never going to get any better and finally, uttering that most intense of all cries "I wish I never had this done!" It arises out of a variety of...

bonesmart.org

 

[MarkTKR]

Am I behind significantly? ROM 98 flexation, -5 extension.

There is no such thing as "ahead" or "behind" when it comes to recovering from knee replacement surgery. Each of us starts this recovery in a different place and each of us recovers at our own rate.

This is a year-long recovery. I found this chart really helpful in understanding why it takes so long:

At just 7 weeks, it's very likely that you still have a lot of internal swelling -- and that prevents you from bending and straightening your knee! If you are overdoing the exercises, that may be making the swelling worse.

Your knee WILL get better. It just needs time.

In the meantime, we are here to help and support you.

In that chart, item #2 includes ligaments and tendons. As the owner of a ruptured and repaired patella tendon I have to say that 10-12 weeks is the BARE MINIMUM. At 10-12 weeks after my patella tendon repair, I had very little ROM, had lots of strange muscle feelings, I needed canes to walk safely and there was very little I felt I could do.

I am 32 weeks out of my patella tendon repair and just today I was thinking that it is feeling about 80%. Still strange but functional. So 10-12 is kind of a joke I think when it comes to tendons.

I will say that my TKR felt pretty darned good at 3 weeks but I still had swelling and numbness.

 

[Mickimouse]

Oh my I’m having a really hard time now both feet feel like they are on fire and my acillies tendon is hurting in the opposite foot…what is happening I keep having pain in different areas. I am at end the of my rope. What is going on, I can’t stop crying either because every time I turn around there is something else hurting…I’m sure my husband is sick of taking me to doctors, knee, back and now my feet/ankles. I am really losing it……

 

[sistersinhim]

Did you get new shoes when you had your replacement? Your old shoes will be worn down to what your gait was before your surgery. Now, it is different. That might be what is causing all this new pain. Try some good new walking shoes that can mold to your new gait.

 

[Mickimouse]

Yes I did get new shoes sketchers relax fit….. I just don’t know what to do I am so sick of going to doctors

 

[sistersinhim]

I don't blame you, I'd be tired of it, too. I pray that you can get relief really soon.

 

[Mickimouse]

Has anyone have had other issues while healing from tkr? I wish I never had the tkr…..I hurt and it’s going on 11 weeks ……

 

[Jockette]

I had a vision issue pretty much overnight with my surgery. My vision was blurry the day after surgery, but I figured it was because I’d just had surgery the day before, and all that entails. I could still make out the words on my phone, in the hospital, but it got worse instead of clearing up over time. Before surgery I needed glasses for distance, and I could read things fine, just not exceptionally tiny print. Overnight with my surgery my distance was good, but I couldn’t read without my bifocal prescription, which no longer worked for me. We originally thought it was the prescription medication o was taking, but stopping that (at 11 days post op! ) did not correct my vision. So, I had to get my eyes checked and get new glasses, which took several appointments.

Unfortunately, you are going to have pain move around and change and what not. It’s the nature of this recovery for some of us. I’m sorry you’re going through this. It really does get better eventually.

 

[Mickimouse]

Oh I so hope so Jockette……and I am trying to not take the tramadol because I am on the last prescription doctor will give me… I am trying Tylenol but it really doesn’t do anything for me unfortunately again thank you for being here for me! I just wish I can see more progress and pain would subside. Please pray for me!

 

[Jockette]

I will certainly be praying for you!

The most effective way to take Tylenol 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.

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]

Don’t you have a wedding coming up soon? Hopefully it will perk you up, but with the pain you already have, you’re going to have to be very careful. Some wedding activity will be good for you, but don’t hesitate to go to your room to rest. Overdoing it will only make your pain worse. I speak from experience! i could hardly walk the day after my son‘s wedding, and I was 5 months post op, but in our case, it had been a 3 days, out of town, event.

 

[Mickimouse]

I’m wondering if the message I got yesterday has made me so sore? It was a 1/2 hour message……yes wedding this weekend…I haven’t been able to do much today as for walking or stretching, that’s how much pain I am in. I will try the Tylenol how you recommended. I have done nothing but cry all day I feel so hopeless. Hubby will be home from golf soon, I must get it together and stop crying.

 

[Jockette]

Was it a deep tissue massage, or was it a gentle one?

 

[Mickimouse]

I am guessing it was deep tissue, she was working on my butt and side of hip and side of upper thigh on both sides of my body. She said my right side that I have the tkr was tight. She was hitting what seemed to be knots.

 

[Jockette]

Yes, I think that’s what hurts today. That was too much on your freshly (even after 11 weeks) healing soft tissue. If you go again, ask for a very gentle, lymphatic massage.

Tightness is a normal occurrence after this kind of major surgery. Your surgeon did major carpentry work and disturbed every millimeter of soft tissue in this area. You aren't tight because your muscle is underused and needs to be stretched and rehabbed. You're tight because your tissue has been disturbed and is healing...and full healing takes a full year or more.

And isn’t it so frustrating to go do something we think is going to benefit us, to find out it made us feel worse. Been there, done that!

I have learned, since my replacement, that my body is extremely sensitive, and the less I have done to it, the better. I had 2 massages many years ago, to address a back issue, and it took me 3 days to recover from each of those massages! And way back in 2005, my daughter gave me a gift certificate for a massage, after her wedding. I didn’t have any health issues then, and even after that supposedly relaxing massage, I felt awful after it, as soon as I got in the car to come home. I was so confused. I didn’t realize at the time how sensitive my body really was.

Then, maybe 3 years ago, I tried one again, and I asked for a very light massage, and I finally discovered what others said about how relaxing it was!

 

[Mickimouse]

I asked her about the lymphatic message she said she didn’t know how to do that….I have an appointment next Tuesday, I may have to rethink that!

 

[InkedMarie]

I asked her about the lymphatic message she said she didn’t know how to do that….I have an appointment next Tuesday, I may have to rethink that!

I bet if you google for a massage therapist that does lymphatic massage in your area, you can find some.

 

[Mickimouse]

Did anyone have a pain in knee area that came and went and finally went away? That darn pain in back of knee/thigh continues to creep up, especially when I lay on my side…..ugh, I have messaged my doctor but he has not responded. As you can tell I am a mess.