TKR Recovery Progress Stalled

[Jockette]

Oh my, that’s awful! I know a lot of members prefer a spinal, but I have back issues and don’t want any needles in my spine. My surgery was back in 2017, and I requested general, and got it with no argument. I woke up from it fine, though I did have a patch to prevent nausea, which did it’s job well, so maybe that helped me wake up better than a previous time.

I would be very annoyed to expect general than then be denied it at the last minute. Then to not be totally out, that would be unacceptable to me!

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@ Jockette unfortunately I was between a rock and a hard place- my husband is currently stable so I had to do it as we never know when things might go wrong for him.
I do have to say the nursing staff were outstanding, pain relief was taken care of promptly and shoe laces were tied!
Anything that went wrong was down to the doctors - when leaving the hospital the doctor gave me someone else’s discharge papers with all their personal information and which included prescribing drugs that I am allergic to- luckily I wasn’t so drugged that I couldn’t catch their error. If I hadn’t noticed I could have ended up in the emergency room that night.
Still at this stage I am on the recovery side

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

My morning heat pack

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

Anyone use exercise pedals after a tkr? I am not a cyclist but would get one if it was beneficial. Also how would I use it safely while gradually increasing the tension on it?

 

[Scaredycat10]

Anyone use exercise pedals after a tkr? I am not a cyclist but would get one if it was beneficial. Also how would I use it safely while gradually increasing the tension on it?

I bought one [from the S.American River world wide internet shop]for my husband earlier this year as he has mobility problems. The one I have is dual motor with hand held controls so you control the speed. It has auto pedal of varying speeds, and it has 'manual' pedal. The manual cycle doesn't have varying degrees of resistance but I still find it useful.
I find it a handy alternative when I don't want to go to the gym.

 

[Sara61]

I brought the subject up as you suggested, the assistant doctor shrugged his shoulders and waffled that, despite the could be side effects that I was correct in going for the urine tests just in case of an infection...
Regarding a peddler, In 2019 I bought a mini peddler it fits under the table, I used it a couple of times after my TKR, but since then it's sat in a corner covered in dust, I may in the future, dust it off, when this knee is ready to use it again, but unless you are committed, don't go to the expense of buying an expensive one, my last treadmill before I sold it, was very good for hanging clothes on

 

[Sara61]

Your post about your grandfather being a bonesetter is fascinating, did you follow in his footsteps into medical profession?
It must have been so interesting, here we still have in the old villages " Curandeiros" similar to a bone setter, but they use herbs & potions, & witchcraft etc.

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@Sara61 , you know they cover themselves always , never really admit there might be an error in how they communicate with patients.
Regarding the peddler, I came across one which is quite reasonably priced so wanted to know if anyone had benefited from using one after a TKR, it’s one that would fit under a desk, adjustable tension. I did bring up using one with my PT, she just shrugged and suggested visualisation and we know how far that got me
Some people have used stationary/recumbant bikes with great success so I figured it is worth checking out.
As far as following my grandfather into the health profession I didn’t but 3 of his granddaughter’s became nurses. I have used the same techniques only on friends and family members regarding muscular issues and minor dislocations. I used to use accupressure/reflexology along with it , had one little girl who I could make fall asleep just by using gentle acupressure on her feet for about 5 mins.- she was not impressed when she realised! Her mom was very grateful for as long as it lasted. I could totally relax people just by massaging their hands for about 20 minutes but I found it very tiring, seemed to lower my energy while doing it so I had to gradually phase it out.
When you talked about the “Curandeiros”you reminded me of my grandmother, she had a tradition that was passed down in her family, she would go out the night before St. Brigid’s day and gather herbs while barefoot. These herbs were then boiled together in a pot, fresh milk added and all of her children
had to drink it- it was a blood tonic to help them get healthy after a hard winter. It actually made sense when you checked the herbs as a main ingredient was nettles which are full of iron! So it was folklore and tradition combined with a practical herbal knowledge. It was the only tradition that I knew she followed. Everything was also done with Catholic prayers before and after.

 

[Rubyroo]

What is your adorable heat pack’s name?

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

That is Cara, it’s Irish for friend, she was found on a roadside at about 16 months old having obviously already had a litter of pups. They must have kept the pups and thrown her out- we did look for owners for a while but no one came. She is a chihuahua crossed with jack russell and a fair amount of sausage judging by the shape of her. She acted as adoptive mum to the other dog in my photo— he was 8 weeks old when we got him from the ISPCA- he is twice her size but she is the boss!

 

[Sara61]

The Irish & Portuguese have many similarities Cara for instance means Face, or it also in writing we would use it as "Dear Friend " ( Cara Amiga ) what a lovely fitting name for your dog xx
My daschund was named by my husband as both Gabriella & I have named all our previous dogs, as she is "black & tan " he chose the name " Mali " after the French African Country.
Maybe it's me being duh, but I'm having trouble spotting another dog in your picture

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@Sara61 , sorry he is on page 3 of my posts- a brown and white boy by the name of Dana, Irish word for naughty or bold and he lives up to his name! He is a born scruff, mum was a tiny mix and we figured dad was definitely a hunting water dog due to the fact that Dana on his first day here jumped into a pond over 3ft deep and happily paddled his way around. When he came out of the pond he heard our cats for the first time and immediately went into the “point” position all hunting dogs use- funny thing is he adores the cats and just wants to lick them! He is over 4 times the size of his mum and double the size of his adoptive mum.
Photo is Dana,Cara, Cookie, Madra and husband( definitely not the biker he appears to be!)

 

[Catalien45]

Ow. I’m sorry to hear about your experience with the anasthesia! I had the spinal with my initial TKR, no problems. For my cleanout surgery, my Dr used general anasthesia, because he didn’t know how long it would take, depending on what he found once inside. I was kinda dreading that, in the past, general made me really sick. Fortunately, it wasn’t that long, only got sick once.....and, had jello & broth for breakfast the next morning!

I Love the photos of your puppies & your husband. They all look very sweet. He has quite the lawful! Our kitty loves to lay on my tummy. Quite warming, like you say.

 

[Sks1997]

Oh my! I can’t imagine being awake for such a traumatic surgery. I guess all the movement gives a lot of insight as to why we have so many areas of pain after surgery!
Do you mean that if you chose to have a general anesthetic that you would have to wait 2 yrs? I don’t know anyone in my area who has been awake for their knee surgery and I’ve seen lots of people that had knee surgery when I was a nurse. That is terrible that you would have to wait and also that you didn’t get to choose!

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@Catalien45 ,Sks1997, thank you for you messages. Regarding having to wait 2 years to get the general anaesthetic -because there is a long waiting list for the surgery if I refused to go through with it on the admission day I would end up back at the end of the list, I couldn’t do that because of my husband- it was a case of biting the bullet and facing my fears. It was an error in communication by the last doctor I saw prior to agreeing to have the surgery done- I was suppose to have been given a choice at the time but he let me believe it would be general anaesthetic while instead he put me forward for a spinal.
I had genuine fears due to past events, I was once held down and forced to have a spinal tap by a junior doctor and a nurse after I had withdrawn my consent, while there was no basis at all for the test. I was in agony for hours afterwards and have had spinal issues since.On another occasion I was also present while a doctor walked in and told a young mother that she would never walk again as in his words “the needle slipped” during her spinal- this was on a ward, no curtain drawn for privacy, just a by the way you are now paralysed. You never forget things like that but I am surprised and a little proud that I went through with it anyway.
The anaesthesiologist was so apologetic after he had to do the spinal twice- he kept patting my arm and my head asking if I was ok during the entire surgery. I actually felt sorry for himOnce I couldn’t feel anything I didn’t care -in fact I was very curious. At the end of the surgery because they knew I was wide awake the junior doctor held my leg up for me and demonstrated my complete range of motion for me- just glad I was numb!
Yes hubby and his lapful of fur babies- no room for the 3 cats as well
They give him lots of love and a motivation to get up in the mornings even on the bad days.

 

[Catalien45]

You’re very brave. I can only imagine the fear of having a spinal after your past experiences. My only apprehension with a spinal was that I would not be unconscious, but, I was totally out. Our son had surgery for an anal fissure near the time of my surgery. He had the spinal only, was wide awake..... he was fine with that, and fascinated with the surgery! Also, he’d been in so much pain prior to the surgery, and on a VERY restricted diet, so he was anxious to get it done. He lives in Germany, their medical system is a little different from what we are used to here in the states.

Aren’t our little furry family members so very special? I bet it could get pretty lively if your kitties decided to jump on the lap too... Miss Felicity likes to lay on my tummy at night; we love mysteries, & are currently watching the entire Hercule Poiroit series on Brit Box. We listened to most of his stories on audio several years ago when we we doing hours of sanding in our woodworking business. She will generally doze off, purring away. And my tummy is nice & warm.
Hope you have a good day today, and that your recovery is going well. And enjoy those little furry members of your family, they must bring you & your husband a lot of joy, humor & love.

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@Catalien45 Hope your son is doing well now. It’s true what you say regarding our furry friends, they really are special. Our 3 cats live in outdoor houses, couldn’t have them in the house as they like to knock things over and as my husband makes small scale dioramas there just would be too much damage. Two of the cats, sisters are about 8 now but act like kittens, they follow my husband around while he is outside and knock each other out of the way for pets-the moment he sits down they are on his lap.
Number 3 cat arrived the week before my surgery, really skinny , very young , obviously had lost a litter of kittens- so we took her to the vet to be checked out, she would only be about 12 months old.
The two sisters are called Tae(tea) and Brioscai(biscuits) ; the new little monster is called Saoirse(freedom)

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

Still slowly increasing my exercise but made a bit a mistake while cutting my toenails- I nipped a tiny bit of skin by accident which has now decided to get infected- of course it’s on my operated leg
It got infected within 24 hours and it is so sore even a sheet on it is painful- I had to stop wearing shoes due to the pressure on it so am now wearing comfortable slipper socks with roomy toes in the house.
The last thing you want is to get any kind of infection that may potentially travel to your operated knee.
Learn from my mistake- get someone else to cut your toenails for a while, you would be far less likely to have this happen.
I have gotten antibiotics and antibiotic cream for the toe so everything should come right.

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

Ok been reading about various people on here having difficulty using stairs and problems lifting their foot. I was thinking how I am doing well with my crutch going up and down stairs with no difficulty.
Until now……middle of the night, feeling confident after things going so well the last few days, decided not to use my crutch when leaving dogs out for their pees. Big mistake! One of my dogs has epilepsy and had a small episode while going down some steps into the garden, very dangerous for him. I immediately go to lift him up the steps and because of the position I was in I went up leading with my bad leg- Big mistake! Talk about seeing stars!
I got him back inside onto a level area and he came out of his fit none the worse for it.
So much for feeling confident-so much for not using my crutch at night
Learn from me, don’t do anything as foolish as I just did.
Remember- Up with the Good, Down with the bad.

 

[Carol Anna]

Ouch!!! I feel your pain!!! Hope you recover quickly and have no lasting pain from your unfortunate incident. Glad your dog came out of it none the worse.