TKR Rex's RTKR Big Adventure<

[Josephine]

Since apps weren't available when I had my knees done, I kept a note book and wrote it down! I also created a schedule (different for each knee!) and had that on hand as an aide-mémoire !

 

[Rex919]

Lol, old school pen and paper! Yes in the old days I used such instruments. What I like about Medisafe, the app I use, is data entry is easy and the alerts. If I am napping it wakes me. It also has all kinds of tools to link with your pharmacy but that seems like it would be more useful for people that are on maintenance drugs.

Today's update.... I am now home alone. My GF is leaving on a business trip in the morning so I moved backed to my house, nice to be home but I will miss the company.

Of course having my big screen to watch the 200 channels of nothing is nice.

My swelling is going down and my pain levels are dropping as well. Well except the trip to the grocery store. I hadn't been home in three weeks so I ended up with a full basket. The shopping cart started as a tool to move around the store but at some point it became real work...lol silly me. But once home and rest, ice, and elevate it settled down.

 

[Josephine]

In the UK, we can ask for a employee to help us round the store, push the kart and even put it in the car for us. I've used them regularly. We also have 'mart-karts', electric scooters which we can use free of charge and then, when one gets to the check-out, ask for a porter to come get your shopping and take it to your car. Do your stores not have similar facilities?

Besides which, you're only 3½ weeks out and should be going to the store yet anyway. Did you read this article in your set of recovery articles? (post #2). Have you read any of those articles? I ask because I'm just doing a check around to see what members have or haven't read!

I also left you my questions in an earlier post but you seem to have missed them. Will you be answering them so I can offer you my advice? If you prefer not to, that's perfectly okay but please just let me know so I can delete them.

 

[Rex919]

First off..... OMG I should have bought this wedge pillow from day 1!
Yes, I have read most of the articles, some of them while quite medicated,.
Grocery store, yes all of the services are available. It was suppose to be a bread, milk and get out of the house for a short time trip. Not the way it turned out, chalk it up to stubbornness which I paid for.
As for as your questions .... I intend on completing them, however my computer died and I am living on my phone until new one gets here at about the end of the week.

 

[Josephine]

Okay, no worries.

 

[SusieShoes]

I laughed when you said you could watch 200 channels of nothing. I got hooked on Westerns during my recovery. I hadn’t watched any since I was a teen, or maybe younger. Turns out the ones I thought were good weren’t all that watchable anymore, but some were really great shows! Excellent writing and acting. I had a good time reacquainting myself with the Western as a TV genre.

And my foam wedge was the last, the very last, recovery aid I gave up. It was a workhorse. Got my money’s worth out of it and more. Glad you found one that works for you!

 

[Jockette]

At almost 9 months post op I am still sleeping with my leg on my wedge every night. I love it. It relaxes my whole leg and keeps me still all night, so less irritation for the knee as I’m not tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable position for it.

 

[Rex919]

Well 3 weeks to the day from my surgery. 6am and sleep still has not come. This has not been a good night. I know it will get better but that does not help right now. Anyway just stop by to commiserate and read about some other peoples bumpy road. It does help.

 

[SusieShoes]

You have my complete sympathy. Really. Disrupted sleep was the number one most annoying thing about this surgery and recovery. The pain went away faster. The energy came back faster. The sleeplessness drove both me and my husband crazy. I don’t know what makes us happier now: my wonderful new active knees... or that we can finally, at long last, sleep through the night.

 

[Rex919]

@Josephine I logged in with my new computer to answer your questions but it appears you have removed them.

So 4 week mark. Walking several times a day, pain during the day is manageable with Tylenol and the occasional Norco. Night time is a different matter, sleep is still hard to come by. I am taking a 20 mg Oxycontin for time released effect and usually one 10 mg oxycodone during the night. ROM is fluctuating but good days are around 95 degrees flexion and -5 degrees extension. Which maybe 0 but I still have a Bakers Cyst I am dealing with. OS said he didn't remove it because it would have entailed extra time and a rear incision and he is confident over time it will go away on its own.

 

[Josephine]

Probably because I somehow got the idea that you had declined them. Sorry about that. Here they are again then

It would be very helpful if you would answer each one individually - numbered as I have done - in as much detail as you can then I'll come back as see where you are ....

1. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't forget to factor in other forms of pain such as soreness, burning, stabbing, throbbing, aching, swelling and stiffness).

2. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

3. how swollen is your leg compared to these?

4. what is your ROM - that's flexion (bend) and extension (straightness)

5. are you icing your knee at all? If so, how often and for how long?

6. are you elevating your leg. If so how often and for how long?

7. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

8. are you doing any exercises at home? If so what and how often?
This is the most crucial question so please help me by using the format I have left as an example
(which means please make a list and not an essay!)

Exercises done at home
- how many sessions you do each day
- enter exercise by name then number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

Anything done at PT
- how many times a week
- enter exercise by name then number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

 

[Rex919]

@Josephine

1. 4 3 knee + 1 for foot and ankle pain from previous surgeries and neuropathy

2. Oxycontin 20 mg, oxycodone 10mg, gabapentin 300mg, Norco 10/325 from pre surgery. Presently I am taking 1 Oxycontin about midnight, 1-2 oxycodone during the night. I am taking 1000mg of Tylenol every 6 hours with the night time doses being Tylenol PM. Gabapentin 3 times a day. When needed I am taking Norco during the day for break through pain, this has been diminishing as I have not taken any the last 2 days.
The pain at night is a sleep issue with more meds needed then.

3. slight swelling

4. Flexion 95, extension -5

5. icing regularly and often, typically 45-60 minutes every other hour.

6. elevating on same schedule as icing, plus most of the day, any time I am not up and moving it is elevated.

7. I live by myself, so I am preparing my own meals, much of it just involves microwaving food already prepared for me. about one load of laundry a day. I go upstairs, one story about 6 times a day.

8. Heel slides x6 every time before I get up from resting position to loosen knee
straight leg raises x10 - x3 a day
chair flexion stretches x10 - x3 a day

I start outpatient PT in 2 days.

 

[Josephine]

1. 4 3 knee + 1 for foot and ankle pain from previous surgeries and neuropathy

Not bad for 4 weeks out

2.
Norco 10/325 from pre surgery
1 Oxycontin 20mg about midnight
1-2 oxycodone 10mg during the night
Tylenol 1000mg every 6 hours with the night time doses being Tylenol PM
Gabapentin 3 times a day.
When needed I am taking Norco during the day for break through pain, this has been diminishing as I have not taken any the last 2 days.
The pain at night is a sleep issue with more meds needed then.

All good

3. slight swelling

Okay

4. Flexion 95, extension -5

VERY good!

5. icing regularly and often, typically 45-60 minutes every other hour
6. elevating on same schedule as icing, plus most of the day, any time I am not up and moving it is elevated.

Also good

7. I live by myself, so I am preparing my own meals, much of it just involves microwaving food already prepared for me. about one load of laundry a day. I go upstairs, one story about 6 times a day.

Fine

Heel slides x6 every time before I get up from resting position to loosen knee - that would be about right provided you're not doing this more than half a dozen times a day!
chair flexion stretches x10 - x3 a day - you mean like heel slides? You only need to do these once. This is redundant so don't do them! Because you are doing 9 reps a day which is unnecessary
straight leg raises x10 - x3 a day - actually, once you can do an SLR, you don't need to do them anymore!

I start outpatient PT in 2 days - do yourself a favour and don't! Your ROM is great, your pain management and swelling are excellent. The last thing you need right now is more exercising!

 

[Rex919]

I went to P/T today, which turned out to by more an evaluation appt more then anything else. Just another insurance hoop to jump through. Evaluation will be submitted and then Ins. company will/will not approve X amount of visits.

Once again anyone who thinks health care in America works, doesn't use it. It is a mess! I say that and I am lucky because I have a very good plan through my union. But I still have to jump through all the hoops to get appropriate care. OK, I will step off my soapbox.

So the PT tech measured my ROM as 100 flexion and -2 extension. We talked about different exercises including ones I can do in the pool at my gym. He printed out exercises for me to continue working on in between PT appts. He then put my on a bike for 10 minutes. I have to say yes, I am sore and tired but it feels like my knee is moving free-er for lack of a better way to explain it. It will take a week or so to get approval from the insurance company and then it may actually be after the holidays before I start sessions. My plan is to continue doing exercises and listening to my knee as far as how much to push it.

I drove today for the first time, I saw my OP yesterday. We adjusted meds and he approved me to drive and have sex. A topic that maybe be too much information but I can't be the only one on this board that it is important aspect of recovery.

 

[Josephine]

I went to P/T today, which turned out to by more an evaluation appt more then anything else. Just another insurance hoop to jump through. Once again anyone who thinks health care in America works, doesn't use it. It is a mess!

Not at all! This has been the protocol in the UK for years. It seems to work very well for us.

ROM as 100 flexion and -2 extension

That is most excellent! Congratulations!

and have sex. A topic that maybe be too much information but I can't be the only one on this board that it is important aspect of recovery.

Not at all! There is no topic barred on this forum. We even have a Library article about it! Sex talking about sex after hip surgery