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PKR ShedEnd's road to recovery<

650mg Tylenol will be useless! The only dose that works at all is 1,000mg every 6 hours.

Can you not engage the help of your GP to get a prescription of Tramadol. You really shouldn't need the oxycodone any more.
 
Unfortunately no. My GP made it clear he wouldn’t be involved in the management after the surgery. He wasn’t even happy that my OS wanted him to certify me for the operation.

I’m sure if I go back to the OS about the pain he will add the Tramadol back in. But it will require me to go through the pain to prove it.
 
Well, thank goodness for a high pain tolerance. As expected, the Tylenol didn’t do anything for the pain. But the bright side is that I discovered that the pain I’m currently experiencing isn’t that bad and I’m able to adequately manage it with just icing and elevation. I wouldn’t have believed that I’d be only a week out of fairly major surgery with absolutely no pain meds, but here I am.

I took my first shower today, and it did feel quite divine while being absolutely exhausting at the same time. I’m just very thankful that I shaved my head 20 years ago - it has made keeping myself clean much easier over the past week.

Spending much more of my time out of bed rsther than in it now. Sat in our front room much of the morning, drinking tea and listening to our LP collection. Nice change of pace and scenery!

So, all in all, I’m having a pretty good day!
 
Add me to the ODIC - while I enjoyed the change of pace and scenery, it was a bit much getting up from the sofa every 20 minutes to flip a record. Knee was much more sore last night than before. Still managing without the pain meds though.

My wife came to my rescue last night, and showed me a couple tips that allowed me to sleep on my side. Yeah, it is a 5 minute process of adjusting blankets and pillows, and maneuvering the leg to just the right spot every time you want to roll over to the other side, but by goodness it gave my back a good bit of relief. I must have had a backlog of sleep as I napped for about 3 hours yesterday afternoon and then slept for about 9 hours last night.

And the absolute best thing about getting off the pain meds: no opioids = no opioid induced constipation. My bowels have finally gotten back to normal!

Every day is better than the last!
 
Another good day today. Spent most of the time watching rugby/football/hockey, but spent it sitting on the sofa rather than lying in bed. Got up when I felt like it, and when I was sitting I was stretching out my knee both extending and flexing (just keeping the knee moving). I was able to extend to 0 and flex to around 70 without any pain or tightness.

Biggest thing that is bothering me right now is the incision. I was quite out of it when they explained exactly what it is, so I can’t give exact names. But it is just a strip of tape running the length of the incision- no staples or stitches. Last couple of days it has started feeling more and more tight on my skin, and today it began itching something horrible. PT said she was supposed to remove it on day 14 (this Wednesday) but would look at it tomorrow. She said if there is signs of irritation she’d take it off then. I hope she does...
 
I was in the same boat as you. Groggy when they explained the incisions. They took mine off and it was surgical glue and dissolving stitches. I had the MAKO PKR and I had a set of actual stitches above and below my knee.
 
@ShedEnd, what you describe is exactly what I had. The bandage is kind of a flexible foam with a clear waterproof tape covering. Like @bowhunter8, I had PKR and the outer part of my incision was glued. So much easier and nicer looking scar than if stapled or stitched.

The stitches above and below the incision line were where the location probes for the computer were attached to the thigh and shin bones. Those were the only stitches I had and they can out on their own (dissolved).

I was told to remove the bandage cover myself at roughly 10 days or so. Can’t recall exactly anymore.

Once you remove it and the incision is completely healed (no scabs), try rubbing vitamin E oil into it. Or you can try the Active Scar Shield product available via BoneSmart. ACTIVE Hydrogel
I’ve not personally tried it, but others have and they speak very highly of it. You can put it directly on the healing scar (it has antibacterial properties I understand) and it helps to promote better healing and minimize appearance of the scar.
 
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Had a visit by the PT today, and she took off the tape. Pretty obvious that my skin was reacting to the tape. PT said this wasn’t too uncommon, and once the tape was off it would clear up in a day or two. Feeling better already!
 
A bit premature on my feeling better statement. The irritation from the bandage was much worse than I thought. Basically any skin that was under that tape developed a really bad, blistering rash. It stings, itches, and burns all at the same time, and it has made moving around really difficult. It’s much worse when I first stand up, and will eventually dissipate after a while. I’m going back to the doctor tomorrow to have him look at it...
 
That’s good that your doctor will look at it tomorrow.

Early in this recovery if it isn’t one thing, it’s something else. :badspidy:
 
I’m really fed up with my doctor. Finally got in touch with his assistant who asked for pictures of the knee. Sent pictures showing how inflamed the skin was and how the blisters were seeping all around the incision. Heard back (through my PT, as she seems to be the only one interested in actually talking to me) that his instructions were to not put anything on it and leave it open to the air. Said it was simply an allergic reaction.

Not sure if I can (or should) post the pics here...
 
I think it’s fine to post a picture if you want to. @Josephine might like to see it.
 
I bet your surgeon would think differently if it was his knee with “just an allergic reaction.” It’s not “just” to the person it’s happening to.

Would you like to change your thread title to call attention to this?
 
That didn't work either. Not sure how to upload a picture here...
 
Here we go!

[Bonesmart.org] ShedEnd's road to recovery<


Steristrips were added by the PT who removed the tape. She put those on because at the time we thought the incision was still seeping a bit, but I'm fairly convinced now that it wasn't incision that was seeping, but the blisters from the rash.
 
Wow! When did the reaction start? Is this the only bandage you’ve had since surgery?
 
No, I had a tape strip covering the whole incision from the date of surgery. You can roughly see the area that it covered in the darker portions of the irritated areas around the incision (the area slightly wider than the Steri-strips that are in the picture). I really started to feel the irritation on day 8 after the surgery and the PT removed the tape on day 11.

OS original instructions were to leave the tape on until day 12-14 but when the PT saw how irritated it was she went ahead and removed the tape. She put the Steri-strips on because we thought the incision was still seeping from those areas, but I'm convinced now it wasn't seepage from the incision but rather from the blisters on the skin from the irritation.

The picture below was taken the day after the dressing from the operation was removed, day 3 or so after surgery. You can see the tape on incision.

[Bonesmart.org] ShedEnd's road to recovery<
 
Nice looking leg and therapy dog! No sutures or staples? I have an area on the back of my thigh that I am watching too. I think it is where the adhesive tape secured my catheter? Mine is raw

[Bonesmart.org] ShedEnd's road to recovery<
 
@ShedEnd have you got glue on your wound? It looks shiny and glistening.

Anyway, that first photo looks awful ! It's a raging erythema caused by a sensitivity of your skin to medical adhesives. You need to have those Steri-strips off and the wound cleaned of any spray or whatever it is you have on there. It also needs to be exposed to the clean fresh air to dry and heal. Don't leave it as it is.

You're also pretty nearly 2 weeks out so the wound should be good and healed by now.
 
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