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TKR Recovery Progress Stalled

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Sara61 said:
I feel so normal now reading your threads and seeing that you too are awake silly hours of the night, although I'm early days ( day 5) and a long way to go, I'm not sure yet if this recovery is any easier than my first 2 years ago, as they say different knees different issues.
I hope they are able to sort you out soon. Love the pictures of your little dog.. I have a daschund whom as I write is glued to my non operated side under the duvet :puppysmooze:
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You're by no means the only silly o'clocker. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in nearly two months. I think lack of activity is one of my problems, that and the 'night ache', which is subsiding.

I was up at 3,30am. but did manage 4 hrs sleep and a chat with an American friend. I take what I can.
 
Good Morning, I do hope Mr. Sandyman was good to you last night and sprinkled sleepy dust all over you as I didn't see you online at the silly hours.
I'm still having to lie flat on my back with leg straight, it is still so swollen it doesn't want to bend so sleeping on my side is out of the question its really uncomfortable :nah:when were you able to bend the knee sufficiently to sleep sidewards?
I resorted to freeing my legs at 5am, I'm just not going to wear them at night so constricting, I think from my past posts on BS that it was about the same time in 2019 I did the same, one feels almost naughty :heehee:

I still have two cousins living just outside of Dublin, infact Olwyn is the chairperson of the Dublin Samaritans and recently initiated the project of The Forest of Hope. I'm so really proud of her, she is the daughter of my mother's sister Sadie Green, Sadie sadly no longer with us, but Sadie was very well known in the fashion world in Dublin, I modeled for her at a fashion show in Dublin when I was just 16 years old, those days I was very skinny and lanky haha. The 2nd photo is Olwyn holding the board
 

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Good morning @Sara61 ! Yes I slept last night pretty well considering I got no sleep the night before - i find if you don’t sleep for over 24 hours it really improves your chances of a good nights sleep the night after:dead:
The compression stockings are the worst, I couldn’t wear the thigh high ones as they cut off my circulation so ended up with knee high ones that didnt fit- i ended up folding them at the top or folding them under my foot, all in all not the correct way to wear them. Here you are required to wear them until the OS tells you to take them off, in my case 7 weeks. I didn’t know that wearing compression stockings incorrectly can cause nerve issues , folding them at the top doubles the compression and folding them under your foot mean’s the compression is in the wrong place. These were stockings fitted at the hospital! By the time I took them off my skin was itchy, scaly, the leg temperature was so low it couldn’t be monitored by a thermometer, it took over 24 hours for it to go from white to mottled pink.
I think you are doing the right thing removing the stockings at night.
I recognise Dermot Gavin in the photos, love his style of gardening, so adventurous! I have a few of his books, nice inspiration.
I have to say the Samaritans are an outstanding organisation and Ireland as a country owes them a great debt. The work they do has helped so many.
My only claim to fame was winning Irish Retail Salesperson of the Year many many moons ago. Oh and I come from a long line of Bonesetters- basically the doctors of the poor, no money ever changed hands as it was believed that your “ability/skill” would leave you if you took money. I can remember people coming to my grandfather for back problems, dislocations etc and giving him bacon, or a chicken or even eggs. He never asked for payment, the person gave him whatever they wanted to so even someone who was very poor could be treated.
 
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Hello all!
I have just had the best morning than I have had in the past 3 weeks:yes!:
Exercised and did stretches for ROM, did a 10 minute walk with a crutch, used a TENS machine to do electrical muscle stimulation on my quads, did a 5 minute walk without a crutch, iced and did a little bit of tidying up and prepping for dinner tonight- all of this before noon! I feel like doing the happy dance:happydance:
The Gabapentin is definitely working. I am taking things easy this afternoon as I know I don’t want to overdue things. I will be icing and elevating. Everything this morning was done in the BoneSmart way, slow and steady,
 
What a great update! So glad you are turning a corner on this recovery. Easy does it works every time!
 
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Hopefully it all went well but it is possible she just doesn’t feel like being online yet. I know I spent several days just getting used to my new circumstances, being online was just a step too far at the beginning.
 
@Sara61 Most docs in this area don’t require you to wear the compression hose. When I worked in hospital, we put them on every person going to surgery. When they were walking well after surgery, the stockings came off. My doc didn’t want me lying on my side for 6 wks. I might have done it before that because it is my preferred sleep position.

Loved the story about the “bonesetters” and your grandfather!
 
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@Sks1997 Thank you, my grandfather was really good at what he did, my mother has the ability but doesn’t practice it, it seems to only go to one person in a generation. The best way of describing it would be a tactile understanding of the body and what fits where, he would close his eyes and concentrate as he gently moved the injured body part until he felt where he needed to apply pressure to put something back in place. He would use bandages etc afterwards if it seemed like it might pop out again. I remember watching him use an old 2 penny coin, large coin about 2” in diameter, strapped on the wrist after dislocation. It was fascinating to watch.
 
Well another update-
So far so good with the Gabapentin, I am still exercising and stretching every morning, walking 10 minutes with crutches, walking 5 minutes without crutches, using EMS on my quads , icing, elevating and resting. I have gradually increased repetitions and have started doing a shorter session in the afternoon with fewer repetitions so far including another 10 minute walk with crutches. I am going at a much slower rate than I did in the beginning as there is no way I want to go back to the same level of pain I was at. The improvements are small but at least they are happening.
Nighttime I have just given up on trying to sleep in my normal position, on my side, instead I sleep on my back with two pillows under the covers, one between my legs standing on its side going from my knee down beyond my foot and the other pillow on its side down the outside of my leg. They stop me rolling onto my side in my sleep and by having the pillow between my legs going beyond my foot it creates a kind of tent so the duvet isn’t to heavy on it. It seems to work for me for the moment. Sleepwise I get about 4 hours then awake once more, take an oxynorm 5mg and get about another 3-4 hours if I am lucky. Before starting the Gabapentin I was lucky if I got an hour a night.
I don’t think I will go back to PT- being told to try visualisation was a bit much- I don’t think she really knew what she was talking about
 
As they say "baby steps" better to do it slowly and correctly x
Sleeping is so important for us to heal, but so difficult for so many of us, like you I'm a side sleeper, sleeping on my back is uncomfortable and for the life of me cannot find a correct position for the leg and invariably I wake after a brief snooze as my leg is hurting like billio.
What on earth is visualisation?
Might try your pillow idea, as my duvet too feels heavy xx
Hope Mr. Sandyman has made his call - sweet dreams !
 
@Sara61 My PT wanted me to close my eyes and picture myself walking to activate my quads - it’s a bit like wishing you might win the lottery or grow wings, the OS when I told her just rolled her eyes and the student doctor attending tried really hard not to laugh. The kicker was that there was no need to activate my quads, the OS said they were activated they just needed strengthening.:giggle:
Hope Mr. Sandman has headed down your way , he was done with me by 3.30 am, still can’t complain I got just over 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Sweet Dreams!
 
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Yes, he sprinkled his magic but like you, it's intermittent ( we are on the same time zone ) I fell asleep at about 10pm woke up at midnight ( almost as if my body is on pill routine) , then after my usual jaunt to the bathroom, medication back to sleep till 2ish and so forth.
Feeling a tad annoyed this morning as reading thru BoneSmart ( as one does in the early hours) I discovered that weakening of the bladder is a side effect of the Epidural anesthesia, very common, so had this be explained by the anesthesiologist I would have saved myself 150€ on unnecessary tests at the hospital thinking I had an infection :gaah: I think I am going to bring this up today with the surgeons assistant.
 
@Sara61 I would absolutely bring this up on your visit- they really dont give out all the information we need.
In my case I turned up to the hospital expecting a general anaesthetic only to be told I was having an epidural- there was no way in :censored: I would have agreed to that due traumatic incidents in my past- I had to go through with the epidural in spite of my own feelings on the matter due to my husband’s current condition and it would have taken another 2 years to be done by general anaesthetic. TheAnaesthesiologist then missed the correct placement and had to do it again- he also didn’t use enough local anaesthetic each time and didnt use enough of the drug to make you sleepy- I was awake for all of it :yikes:. Not in pain but hearing everything- its a bit like being on a dodgem funfair ride- lots of being roughly pushed around and bouncing. The extra special prize at the end of it was that he overdid the epidural and I was numb for over 12 hours, nearly had a burst bladder because they never put in a catheter. So much pee:eeeuw:
Ended up having to have 2 beds completely stripped because the catheters they did put in failed- you wouldn’t know until you touched the sheets…..
Oh lord thats a lot of oversharing- comes with being awake since 3.38am :dead:
 
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