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TKR Second TKR Done, but still not very patient

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Day 3 continued ... during the day whenever I nodded off, had horrible dreams of people all with hideously performed bodies and faces. Pain still continuing. Decided to change from Fentanyl to Tramadol in PCA.

Sunday 24 August ... Day 4 ... Still feeling "off". Leg still a log. PT talking to me about going to rehab because this knee was just getting too stiff. I had no motivation or anything because I felt so bad. I knew I had to eat and tried to eat something at every meal, but today the whole scenario of yesterday played out again with absolutely having to go to bathroom after eating, but no result. Would usually end up being relieved by passing some gas. Hospital gives Colloxyl and Senna with medications. (Apologies I have been off line again for a while). Some sense dawned today and I realised I had been having gallbladder attacks. Very uncomfortable. PT almost standing still at the one spot with no increases. PT very concerned about it getting too stiff. Will put me on the CPM tomorrow.

Monday 25 August ... Day 5 ... Eureka ... that felt a bit better. Was put on CPM today. What an interesting contraption that is. Managed to get to 5 extension and 60 flexion - but this cannot be repeated out of the CPM. Afterwards though, I was so stiff. Pain is well controlled now. Have Panadol 500mg 2 x 4 times a day, Targenin slow release 2 x (I think) and Endone for breakthrough pain. Discovered two fracture blisters on edge of incision - they are huge. Doctors are happy to leave them and watch them and hope they are absorbed back into the body. Had a couple of good periods of sleep tonight.

Tuesday 26 August ... Day 6 ... Felt so good after yesterday's success have not had any coloxyl/senna since yesterday. Big mistake. Managed a reasonable walk with walker and PT today. On CPM again - up to 80 flexion and still 5 extension. Doc took me off Clexane and put me on aspirin already because he said the horrible colours of my leg were mainly caused by the blood thinners.

I have been surprised by the fact this this leg does not want to be elevated and likes to be down more than anything - or flat on the bed. Raising it in elevation seems to aggravate it.

I think half the problem is that I have been so down (had Day 5 blues as well) and feeling so ill and "off" that my body did not seem to have time to start to heal the knee. At least pain is under control.

Wednesday 27 August ... Day 7 ... Only a couple more mild gallbladder attacks and success again in the bathroom. Am starting to feel a bit stronger. On CPM machine again today with the goal to work up to 90. Managed to get to 85 and realised my leg had slipped down the machine as flexion had increased and was now bending from the shin somewhere, so had to stop it. The pain was intense where it stopped and I couldn't get my leg out of the machine and the staff couldn't "find" the PT (whatever happened to pagers). Thankfully PT had turned up and the pain was over. Met OS in corridor while having a walk and he said he was keen to get me home and I cold go home tomorrow IF PT signed me off.

Thursday 28 August ... Day 8 ... HOME ... PT was around bright and early and went for a longer walk. I can manage to walk with the walker, but have to be so conscious of heel -toe action. Leg still really likes to either be flat or down while sitting. Still a LOG. can barely slide it sideways across bed and there is no way I can raise it up off the bed. Still PT is content to let me go home.
 
Day 8 ... home. settled straight into recliner and started to elevate and ice. Had to stop the elevating after a while because the leg does not like it at all. Happened to glance down and noticed something different ... one of the fracture blisters had ruptured and the bottom half of the incision covering was all brown, gunky and obviously wet. I thought I would deal with this by having a mild anxiety attack. Luckily darling daughter was with me. Rang my GP surgery and will go in tomorrow for them to check it. They advised Meaghan to take off soiled dressing and reapply another, which she did very capably. Noticed that the entire incision almost had been leaking at some point. I am so paranoid about getting an infection in the knee. I do not want any other procedures for a very long time. Anyway, my support has left and am about to spend the night by myself. It will be interesting to see how I go.

I hope I haven't bored you all to sleep by now. I will get back on tomorrow and try to get in touch with as many of you as possible.

Hope all other 21 August TKR-ers are doing much better and just travelling smoothly through recovery.
 
Hello Ellen
@NetballKnees

Glad that you are home and it was good that Meaghan was there to help you redress the site & that you will be seeing your GP tomorrow. You are right to be concerned about infection developing.

Hope that you are able to have a comfortable sleep tonight.

Thinking of you,
Cathie
 
@NetballKnees What an awful time you have had! Hubby's first knee the leg was like a log for a week or so. He had a few blisters too but not on the incision. He had more pain with his second knee. I hope they get everything worked out and you can get on to a normal recovery! Keep us posted!
 
Hi, Ellen!! Glad you are back. I had my 2nd partial on the 26th so you are not quite a week ahead of me. Please come visit on my thread. Congratulations on your visit from the Poop Fairy, he managed to find my house, too.
 
Hi Ellen, so pleased that you have been up to posting on here, and I so hope that your recovery goes smoothly from here on. I am off to France in the caravan for most of September tomorrow, I may or may not get wifi where I'm going. I've found that I can sometimes read the posts on here, but not write, so if you don't hear from me for a while, don't worry, I haven't given up on you, I'm just out of signal range. I will try to check in whenever I can, keep positive and cheerful, lots of love Lyn xxx
 
Good Afternoon from Dublin & Good Night to you in Australia,

You are finishing day 9 and at home for your second day. Hope that you were able to get the blisters sorted out at your GP's today, as you were concerned about avoiding infection.

Take care and thinking of you,
Cathie :flwrysmile:
 
Hello again all and especially to my regular visitors. I am so appreciative of your care and concern. I still have the concentration span of a flea, but promise to get to you all individually over the weekend.

Night 8 and Day 9 ... First night at home. Slept surprisingly well. Off to bed at 10.30am, managed to lift my right leg over the left with the amazing foam leg lifter the OT department at the hospital made for me, settled on my side (how wonderful that felt) and slept until 12.30 when nature called. My gosh that is a performance now again - find foam leg lifter in bed, hook over heel, lift leg back, sit up, lower leg down to floor, grab walker, into bathroom, back out of bathroom, sit on edge of bed, do a few leg swings while there, hook leg lifter around heel again, lift log onto bed, this time tried other side ... (this is with pillows under legs) slept until 3.30am - call of nature again - repeat all the above ... back to sleep and woke at about 7.00. Quite successful I thought.
Managed breakfast and fed the animals. Settled into recliner with ice packs. Matthew arrived to take me to GPs for check on fracture blisters. Ooops ... could not get into his car. Tried every which way, short of him picking me up and shoving me in the cargo space. Back inside, rang GP explained and cancelled appointment. The second Matthew left, Meaghan rang and said she had taken time off work and would meet me at GPs. Explained to her, she rang GP back, made another appointment and came to get me in my car (which she is using while I can't), which was much easier to get into. Doctor took me into nurses' room. Nurse carefully removed Meaghan's beautiful dressing, removed steri-strips and cleaned up the ruptured fracture blister. The second blister ruptured during the clean-up and they discovered there were 4 more forming in between those two. Nurse rang OS' office. Of course he was unavailable, but staff there advised to do what she had done, cover it again and I have an appointment with him on Monday. I must say here that those fracture blisters are ugly little (or should say, big) things. I also must say that the Nurse and Meaghan were waaaay too happy with all the gunk, cleaning and lifting of dead skin.
Meaghan took me home, made me lunch and sat with me for a while and then went back to work.
Iced and elevated and napped. Late afternoon David came over with Sebastian (bliss) and Sebastian gladly sat beside me and we talked and read and played games while David did some tidying up, fed the animals and different things. Home alone again tonight, but feeling a bit better about things. Hope I can sleep as well tonight, but as we all know with knee recovery - nothing is guaranteed.
Have a good day / evening Bonesmarties. I will check in again soon. Love and Hugs ... Ellen
 
Oh Ellen - you are sounding much better. I think I have truly forgotten how hard recovery is at first. I am also away and won't have much time to post but do try and read. Wifi sketchy here. You are in my thoughts and prayers and are truly my Bonesmart role model. I will not forget you have been there for me from my first post! I am getting a little nervous now! All the best to you! Xoxoxo
 
@NetballKnees Glad you got in to get the blisters taken care of. Hubby still has dark spots from his blisters, and it has been 13 weeks. Peeing is good, means the swelling is going down, also (as someone else pointed out to me) keeps you from getting too stiff from laying down too long. Have a pain free day!
 
Hi Ellen,
@NetballKnees ,
Your diary of day 8 and 9 was very interesting to read, and hand on heart, I felt so sorry for ups when you couldn't get into Mathew's car.

But, Meaghan again came to your rescue when she took time off from work and was able to get you into your own car and to your GP appointment.

With what you describe with the number of old & new fracture blisters, it is important that Meaghan and the nurse could provide debridement and re-dress the area, to avoid possible infection.

Hope that you have/had a good nights' sleep.

Take care,
Cathie :flwrysmile:
 
Ellen, it was wonderful to see your posts and know you were done with the surgery. I am sorry your road has been rocky so far. You are an amazing woman and look how you are dealing with being at home alone evenings and nights. I hope your blisters go away soon so you do not have to deal with them while you recover. My first leg was not the most responsive either when I think about it but my hospital gave me a strap that I could put around the bottom of the foot and hold in my hands (it was long enough) and move the leg into bed or even in the bed at first. You are doing it with just the other leg.

From what you posted regarding what your OS said about this knee, it is definitely a good thing you had it done since it was so bad,

Many hugs and good thoughts going your way. Lee:flwrysmile::puppysmooze::puppysmooze:
 
Just catching up on your story. I'm sorry you've had to deal with that blister problem. I'm glad you were able to get in with the GP and get them looked at. Healing wishes.
 
Just checking in from France to say a quick "hello" and hope that you are healing well and that each day gets a bit easier. Thinking of you xxx Lyn
 
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