New Zealand
Try riding in the back seat, as others have described. It really does make the journey a bit more bearable.
MUA Ruby's Tuesday--July 11th, 2017<
- Thread starter Ruby9297
- Start date
OP
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Ruby9297
senior
Pheebs52
big-cheese
(((Ruby))) like you, I had a lot of swelling and muscle spasms the first two weeks. It's dreadful. Unlike you, I had 10mg of Oxycodone every 4 hours and found it offered significant pain relief. Like you, I found massage on my leg worked wonders, and though DH was almost always willing, he isn't always available, so I purchased a massage roller tool on Amazon; works like a charm! Like you, I had a lousy experience with Home PT, but I decided to go for Outpatient PT at the suggestion of my OS at 2 weeks post-op. I feel very fortunate to have been referred to such a good therapist and I hope you can find the same when you are more able to get around. For now, just do the few exercises suggested here. There's plenty of time for real PT if you choose to go that route in a few weeks.
Right now, you are at your most vulnerable, in the midst of the darkest stage of this recovery journey. Thankfully, it doesn't last! Truly, it does not, and each day you are recovering whether or not you know it. Your body knows what it's doing. Many here, self included, saw big improvements in the third week, especially in regard to pain. My swelling went down substantially during that week and hopefully, yours will as well, or maybe even before. Once my swelling went down, I found heat to be very soothing on my quad and hamstrings, but it cannot be applied to your knee or incision. So, I'd have ice on my knee and shin, and heat on my thigh, a veritable potpourri of natural pain relief.
I found distraction works very well when things were at their worst, so find something, anything really, that keeps your mind focused elsewhere, far, far away from that blasted knee. For me, it was reading, coming here, watching travel videos, and researching possible retirement locations. For you, it'll be something else, but I know you can find something that will work.
Hang in there, and when you feel you cannot, we'll all pitch in and grab a hand. Better days are coming.
Right now, you are at your most vulnerable, in the midst of the darkest stage of this recovery journey. Thankfully, it doesn't last! Truly, it does not, and each day you are recovering whether or not you know it. Your body knows what it's doing. Many here, self included, saw big improvements in the third week, especially in regard to pain. My swelling went down substantially during that week and hopefully, yours will as well, or maybe even before. Once my swelling went down, I found heat to be very soothing on my quad and hamstrings, but it cannot be applied to your knee or incision. So, I'd have ice on my knee and shin, and heat on my thigh, a veritable potpourri of natural pain relief.
I found distraction works very well when things were at their worst, so find something, anything really, that keeps your mind focused elsewhere, far, far away from that blasted knee. For me, it was reading, coming here, watching travel videos, and researching possible retirement locations. For you, it'll be something else, but I know you can find something that will work.
Hang in there, and when you feel you cannot, we'll all pitch in and grab a hand. Better days are coming.
Jajakio
graduate
Ruby. I'm so sorry you are aching badly. I had my surgery July 7 so we are both pretty new. First time I went to physical therapy I thought getting into and out of the car was worse than the therapy. I have a small toyota and a big van. We have largely been using the small car. PT showed me how to push passenger seat back as far as it would go and then lay backrest all the way back flat. Put your butt in first, then scoot/ lay back while pulling legs in. Then sit backrest up. Still isn't easy but lowering backrest makes a bigger difference than I expected it would. Time should help too. I went to PT today on my 11th day and it's finally starting to get a little easier to get in and out. Hoping things get better for you soon.
liam2015
post-grad
hi ruby...i am so sorry for all the pain you're having. i saw on one of your posts you mentioned the Lounge Doctor. i finally ordered mine quite late in recovery but i sure wish i had ordered it sooner. i am going into my 12th week post op and use it at least once a day for elevating as i still have swelling which prevents my knee from bending as much as it should. it is so much easier than using the pillows and according to the information the site provides with it, it's good for anyone after a day of work, not just surgical patients. i also have pain and stiffness being a passenger in the car, or sitting with my leg down, even still. it's not as bad as in the first few weeks. actually i was a homebody, only going out to surgeon appointments at the 10 day mark, then the 6 week mark (then weekly to the surgeon until 2 weeks ago). take care of yourself, pamper yourself, and let others pamper you for now until you get stronger. it really does get better.
OP
OP
Ruby9297
senior
becticu
graduate
Hi @Ruby9297, I am so sorry for what you are experiencing. I love how our group circles around each other in support. They have lifted me many a day when I just couldn't see clearly.
I had my left knee March 22 and the right knee June 5. If you look back in my thread after the second surgery in a June I posted a picture of my left knee and my right knee both at the 11 day mark. It was impressive. The difference was scary. I woke up in much more pain and swelling on the right. My PT used kinesic taping to help reduce the swelling. Amazingly enough it really did. In that picture I was taped.
I had to ride in the back seat till week five. I found it much easier to put my bum in first and then get legs in. I rested that leg on a pillow and rode like I was the Queen of Sheba!
I've had many dark days since March. There were days that I couldn't look at a day at a time and not even an hour. Sometimes I felt like I had to get through this minute. On the dark days I kept a gratitude journal and wrote down at least five things I was thankful for.
Sleep and pain control were difficult as well. Also in my thread a posted a couple of Utube links for meditation and pain relief. One night my pain level was a 6-7 and I had taken all the drugs I could. My listening to that I was actually able to bring my pain down to like a 1. I found them very helpful for sleep.
I also had bad muscle cramps. My OS gave me Flexeril and Robaxin. Both are muscle relaxers. The flexeril makes me very sleepy and is much stronger but I can't take it daily as I would sleep all the time. I would use that before PT and Robaxin the rest of the time. I took them regularly like my pain meds.
This is one of the hardest surgeries to recover from. You will start to see light in a few weeks. I know it's so hard to go through and feel like you never get better, but I promise it does. Have you seen the movie Groundhogs Day? I said many a time I feel like I must be living in Punxsutawney! If you haven't seen it, Netflix it, that might pass some time!
Keep looking up, it will get easier and better but it just takes time. Keep posting and let us help support you!
I had my left knee March 22 and the right knee June 5. If you look back in my thread after the second surgery in a June I posted a picture of my left knee and my right knee both at the 11 day mark. It was impressive. The difference was scary. I woke up in much more pain and swelling on the right. My PT used kinesic taping to help reduce the swelling. Amazingly enough it really did. In that picture I was taped.
I had to ride in the back seat till week five. I found it much easier to put my bum in first and then get legs in. I rested that leg on a pillow and rode like I was the Queen of Sheba!
I've had many dark days since March. There were days that I couldn't look at a day at a time and not even an hour. Sometimes I felt like I had to get through this minute. On the dark days I kept a gratitude journal and wrote down at least five things I was thankful for.
Sleep and pain control were difficult as well. Also in my thread a posted a couple of Utube links for meditation and pain relief. One night my pain level was a 6-7 and I had taken all the drugs I could. My listening to that I was actually able to bring my pain down to like a 1. I found them very helpful for sleep.
I also had bad muscle cramps. My OS gave me Flexeril and Robaxin. Both are muscle relaxers. The flexeril makes me very sleepy and is much stronger but I can't take it daily as I would sleep all the time. I would use that before PT and Robaxin the rest of the time. I took them regularly like my pain meds.
This is one of the hardest surgeries to recover from. You will start to see light in a few weeks. I know it's so hard to go through and feel like you never get better, but I promise it does. Have you seen the movie Groundhogs Day? I said many a time I feel like I must be living in Punxsutawney! If you haven't seen it, Netflix it, that might pass some time!
Keep looking up, it will get easier and better but it just takes time. Keep posting and let us help support you!
MyAussieGirl
supremo
Looks in on you. Sounds like a rough time. I love the tips and advise given all I will add is 
Do you feel the love, Ruby ?
It's all flowing towards you, along with bit and pieces of golden advice. It might be overwhelming at times but when you are at your wits end, one of them will help you through. Our battered knees need time to heal.
Keep us up to date, and if I can just add one idea - start a list of things you are grateful for or which are gong well. It helps to note your accomplishment so it is tangible for your when your get down.
It's all flowing towards you, along with bit and pieces of golden advice. It might be overwhelming at times but when you are at your wits end, one of them will help you through. Our battered knees need time to heal.
Keep us up to date, and if I can just add one idea - start a list of things you are grateful for or which are gong well. It helps to note your accomplishment so it is tangible for your when your get down.
I think you'll be very happy with your Lounge Doctor. I've heard lots of good things about it. I hope you can get that swelling and pain down!
Pheebs52
big-cheese
Hi Ruby, just checking in on you this morning.
I know you're up, but perhaps not about or plugged-in as yet. One thing you can count on besides a hefty dose of support is "Today will be different!" Yep, they all are, in one way or another. Sometimes, each hour is different.....perhaps nature's way of alleviating boredom.
I know you're up, but perhaps not about or plugged-in as yet. One thing you can count on besides a hefty dose of support is "Today will be different!" Yep, they all are, in one way or another. Sometimes, each hour is different.....perhaps nature's way of alleviating boredom.
Josephine
NURSE DIRECTOR EMERITA
Actually, unless your surgeon doesn't use a tourniquet, there is very little blood loss in a TKR. Often less than 300gms
I really don't know why PTs do that because it's anatomically ABnormal for us to lay with our leg dead straight for more than a few minutes at a time. Even in a healthy leg, it can cause pain and aching. Add swelling and post-op pain and you have a veritable nightmare situation on your hands. Read this Elevation is the key to controlling pain and swelling. It really is essential that we have comfortable elevation to control the swelling.
Because people don't describe it as that. What it actually is, is just a manifestation of post-op pain. Did you read the recovery articles Celle left you in post #3? Because it sort of appears to me that you haven't. But then you were in hospital at that time, so perhaps you missed them. Please do go back and read them all now.
OP
OP
Ruby9297
senior
Hi Everyone,
I am utterly overwhelmed by the outpouring of loving support! I have just got up (again) to get some coffee, feed cats, etc. I spent the past night in total misery because the pain was off the charts, and the new medication my surgeon called in for me, Percoset and Valium, did nothing to help! I tossed and turned, desperate to find a position that I could sleep in with some relative comfort.
I was on the verge of tears, and was about to give up when I remembered a couple of things. 1st: when I took my shower yesterday's morning, the hot water eased the pain from a 6-7 to a 2-3. (Thank you to whichever one of you it was who suggested heat and a hot water bottle--this jogged my memory) 2nd. I had pain just like this: muscle/nerve/excruciating, not really responding to narcotics twice before: after orthopedic surgery on my arm/wrist for a rare bone disease: Kienbock's disease, and after breast cancer surgery to remove both breasts and then again some months later for the breast reconstruction surgery. In all cases the surgeon had cut through muscles, nerves, every fiber of my being, you name it,and this had caused extreme painful reactions that did not respond to pain medication, except stuff like morphine or duiladid, and they won't let me have that at home. But the pain did respond to deep tissue massage and heat therapy. I can only assume that a TKR is very much the same in this.
I did not want to wake up my husband (who does a pretty good massage) because he is visibly exhausted by taking care of me, plus taking care of what I normally do around the house, which I think is much more than he realized. I'm not trying to be high-maintenance, but I know I am right now and I can't help it. I'm a very independent person, whose nature it is to take care of others. So I carefully, and as quietly as possible, got myself out of bed without help. (No easy feat with our bed being 32inches from the floor) Got my Walker, which was on the other side of the bedroom where my husband had put it, and got myself to the bathroom. I used a washcloth in hot water and placed it on the areas of my thigh and calf that were hurting so much, and noticed an instant improvement.. After doing this for about 40 minutes, I then went out to the kitchen and pulled some gel ice packs out of the freezer and started to slowly microwave them until they got hot. Bill was awake by this time and helped me. Bill helped me into the recliner this time, and I was able to settle in with the heating pads strategically placed on the most painful areas of calf and thigh, and actually get some sleep. I went into detail with this because so much emphasis goes into telling us to use ice, ice, ice. And I believe in ice--I have 2 ice machines, plus a freezer full of gel packs ready to go. But there is also a place for heat as well, especially after the first 48-72 of trauma to soft tissue. And there is not as much emphasis placed on this. I am sitting in bed right now with newly-heated gel packs, a cup of coffee, and a pain level of 3-4, which is down from łb a 8-9 when I first got up to redo them. I wiki continue o use ice and heat intermittently today to try to manage my pain, and I will bring it up to the physical therapist whose coming today--whoever that will be. I get a different nurse and PT every time and I don't like that. But I thought I'd share.
Again, the support you have all provided truly got me through an extremely difficult few days, and last night which was proving to get the better of me. I only hope I can pay it forward by being able to offer the same level of support to any of you, or newer people who find this site. A joint replacement is no joke! My state of mind is so much better with a lower level of pain. Thank you from the bottom of my heart![emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️
Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart Forum
I am utterly overwhelmed by the outpouring of loving support! I have just got up (again) to get some coffee, feed cats, etc. I spent the past night in total misery because the pain was off the charts, and the new medication my surgeon called in for me, Percoset and Valium, did nothing to help! I tossed and turned, desperate to find a position that I could sleep in with some relative comfort.
I was on the verge of tears, and was about to give up when I remembered a couple of things. 1st: when I took my shower yesterday's morning, the hot water eased the pain from a 6-7 to a 2-3. (Thank you to whichever one of you it was who suggested heat and a hot water bottle--this jogged my memory) 2nd. I had pain just like this: muscle/nerve/excruciating, not really responding to narcotics twice before: after orthopedic surgery on my arm/wrist for a rare bone disease: Kienbock's disease, and after breast cancer surgery to remove both breasts and then again some months later for the breast reconstruction surgery. In all cases the surgeon had cut through muscles, nerves, every fiber of my being, you name it,and this had caused extreme painful reactions that did not respond to pain medication, except stuff like morphine or duiladid, and they won't let me have that at home. But the pain did respond to deep tissue massage and heat therapy. I can only assume that a TKR is very much the same in this.
I did not want to wake up my husband (who does a pretty good massage) because he is visibly exhausted by taking care of me, plus taking care of what I normally do around the house, which I think is much more than he realized. I'm not trying to be high-maintenance, but I know I am right now and I can't help it. I'm a very independent person, whose nature it is to take care of others. So I carefully, and as quietly as possible, got myself out of bed without help. (No easy feat with our bed being 32inches from the floor) Got my Walker, which was on the other side of the bedroom where my husband had put it, and got myself to the bathroom. I used a washcloth in hot water and placed it on the areas of my thigh and calf that were hurting so much, and noticed an instant improvement.. After doing this for about 40 minutes, I then went out to the kitchen and pulled some gel ice packs out of the freezer and started to slowly microwave them until they got hot. Bill was awake by this time and helped me. Bill helped me into the recliner this time, and I was able to settle in with the heating pads strategically placed on the most painful areas of calf and thigh, and actually get some sleep. I went into detail with this because so much emphasis goes into telling us to use ice, ice, ice. And I believe in ice--I have 2 ice machines, plus a freezer full of gel packs ready to go. But there is also a place for heat as well, especially after the first 48-72 of trauma to soft tissue. And there is not as much emphasis placed on this. I am sitting in bed right now with newly-heated gel packs, a cup of coffee, and a pain level of 3-4, which is down from łb a 8-9 when I first got up to redo them. I wiki continue o use ice and heat intermittently today to try to manage my pain, and I will bring it up to the physical therapist whose coming today--whoever that will be. I get a different nurse and PT every time and I don't like that. But I thought I'd share.
Again, the support you have all provided truly got me through an extremely difficult few days, and last night which was proving to get the better of me. I only hope I can pay it forward by being able to offer the same level of support to any of you, or newer people who find this site. A joint replacement is no joke! My state of mind is so much better with a lower level of pain. Thank you from the bottom of my heart![emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️
Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart Forum
OP
OP
Ruby9297
senior
Yes, Josephine. I'm open to any and all advice!
Sent from my iPad
LTKR scheduled on July 11th, 2017 [emoji51]
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liam2015
post-grad
i'm so glad you found relief with the heated bags on the areas you were having so much pain. i take a "magic bag" heated in microwave to bed with me at night to keep me warm because the ice pack makes me feel cold all over lol. one day at a time and before you know it, you will be noticing improvements. 
OP
OP
Ruby9297
senior
Hi Josephine-I reread the section on managing post-op pain, and I think my main problem is that I am seeng a different PT and home health nurse every day. Each of them comes with a slightly different skill set and philosophy, but none of them actually know ME because it's their first time meeting me. I will be bringing this up with my insurance company when I get the chance. They need to assign one nurse and one PT for the duration of a patient's home visits. The other problem is they're not communicating properly with each other about me. I am in pain, on narcotics, and vulnerable, so I am not always my best advocate. My husband missed the last two visits that he normally sits in on because his car broke down on Wednesday evening and he was out at the mechanic's dealing with all of that mess and expense.
Sent from my iPad
LTKR scheduled on July 11th, 2017 [emoji51]
Last edited by a moderator:
When I went to pain management after my 2nd kneecap removal, I was to use ice, then heat, then ice, then heat, etc. This is supposed to confuse the nerves and make them stop hurting. Of course, you never put heat directly on the knee until it is totally healed. Otherwise, it will cause swelling.
Glad to hear that you are getting a handle on it, Ruby. That in itself will go a long way to boost your husband's spirits and fatigue as well. Worry about not being able to help a loved one in pain is terrible.
I found the muscle type pain as bad or worse than the knee early on. I'm so glad to read that the heat on the thigh worked for you. I would have ice on the knee and a heating pad on the hamstrings....
