Revision TKR Sondrals’ Revision

sondrals

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I had surgery August 22nd, spent one night in the hospital and was released mid afternoon the next day.

In the hospital I was praised for being up and using my walker (supervised) to the bathroom so soon. PT came and said I was doing amazing. OT signed off on me going home immediately.

I’m home now and have been for about a day now. This is REALLY hard. I’m so used to doing everything myself that it drives me nuts to have my mom and boyfriend waiting on me.

I really don’t have a lot of pain, I just feel a deep soreness and tightness, especially in the muscles behind my knee and my upper thigh area.

A couple concerns:

The hospital didn’t get me in my cpm machine until the day after surgery so worried that might set me back

I was sent home in an immobilizer brace and told I have to wear it for 2 weeks... until my first post-op appointment. I’m not seeing many people having had one after. I’m worried it will hinder my movement because it keeps my leg straight.

I don’t feel like I’m walking as well as others are at this point. Or maybe my expectations for myself are too high? I’ve been icing and doing my exercises 3 times a day as prescribed and using my cpm 3 times a day (I really like it because it shows me that my knee can bend just I don’t have the muscle control myself to do it yet. And most the time I’m able to catch a nap while using it.)

My butt hurts, like hurts hurts. I’m so tired of sitting on it. What can I do??

Anyway thanks for listening guys.
 
Welcome, Sondrals, and congratulations on your new knee! Someone with actual expertise will be along to give you articles and answer your questions. From my own experience (TKR on May 15th) I'll say that it's easy to worry those first few days and want to do things to make the healing go faster, but the best thing you can do is just rest and ice (constantly!) and elevate. A lot of people never use a cpm and get along splendidly, so I wouldn't worry about that one day you missed. Mostly your knee just wants to rest and heal! As for your butt, maybe you should just lie down and elevate your leg rather than sit? That's probably best anyway! Best wishes to you and your recovery!!
 
Welcome to Recovery!

I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs

Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling

Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery

Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
Hi @sondrals and welcome to the recovery side! I am another person recovering from a TKR at home. Mine was on August 13th.

It's hard letting others do things for you, I know. But they know you genuinely need help, so let them help you. Glad you are not having a lot of pain! My thigh and muscles behind the knee feel sore too. Some of us even find it helpful to ice behind the knee. Be sure to put a cloth between the ice machine's cold, and your skin, just to be safe.

As for the CPM machine, I only got to use it once at the hospital for maybe a half hour or hour. I thought they would let me take it home, but nope! LOL Oh well. I am doing fine without it.

I don't know anything about the immobilizer brace but hopefully it will help.

It's very difficult to compare our recovery to that of others; each recovery involves a different knee, different surgeon, and different situation.

I completely agree with Indygo's post above.... rest, elevate, and ice are the most important things now. I have been sleeping a lot since my TKR surgery 11 days ago, and sleep really seems to help me too.

As for your butt hurting, if you have a home health nurse maybe mention it to her? I know that at some point they put a pad on my butt (which didn't hurt) at the hospital, but then took it off before I came home. Maybe that was to prevent butt aches but honestly I am no nurse and have no idea. They also put pads on my heels, which didn't hurt either, but they didn't take them off at the hospital so I just threw them away when I got home.

The important thing is that you are home and recovering! As time goes by, you will feel better and things will be looking up. People here at Bonesmart are helpful.
 
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Welcome to recovery!
Many surgeons no longer use the CPM. If yours has you using that and a brace, then it might be something specific to your repair. My husband's heart surgeon who did his cardiac bypass surgery said "Every heart is a snowflake" meaning that each was very different. I'm learning that knees are that way too. Just trust that you picked a good surgeon who knows their business.

As for your bum, maybe add a soft pillow to your nest? I spent much of my first 2 weeks laying in bed with my foot on pillows watching streaming on the tv. Do you have multiple options for places to elevate your foot? Just changing positions and location ought to help.
 
Many years ago, after a serious car accident, neighbours were coming to visit bringing flowers and chocolates and one turned up with a donut ring cushion. She told me that I might think it was a strange present but she had been in a similar situation some years previously and it was a life saviour for her.
Last year, with 2 hip replacements and a TKR in waiting I invested in a donut ring for myself. It really does help to take the pressure from your butt. They are not too expensive either. Might be worth a try
 
I never used a CPM machine and was actually put in a brace in week 2 for an entire week due to a glue reaction, so they removed the glue and wanted me to keep my leg straight for a week. I'm now almost to week 7 and doing pretty well, they say. Although, my impatience is the problem. I had arthroscopy on my left knee at the same time of RTKR, and I think that is slowing me down a bit because it's starting to be my "bad" leg now. This recovery has been more of a mind game than I anticipated!
 
Don’t worry about the delay in using the CPM. Many of us never used one at all. Try to shift your weight to one side or another using a pillow underneath you on one side or the other. Sometimes just a small shift in weight will help.
 
Update: 6 days post op

Had my first physical therapy appointment yesterday. I am absolutely thrilled with how it went. She said at no point will they ever push or force my knee. They are there to help, so they might put a hand on the bottom of my foot to keep me from losing ground during heel slides but they want me doing all the work. She also answered a lot of questions regarding some of the noises my knee is making, why I have to wear an immobilizer brace for two weeks (my doctor is super conservative and makes everyone). I got to do the stair machine and actually walked without my brace which is a bit nerve wracking. Right now my range of motion is 0/82, which I guess is pretty good.

Got my first shower today, also nerve wracking.

Have a little pain from time to time, took half a pain pill and that seems to take care of it.

Overall I think I’m doing ok. Now if only my bf and mom could stop annoying each other.
 
Sounds like you have a good PT. You’re doing well. That first shower probably felt good.
 
Update 2: second day of physical therapy, hit -1/97. Pretty big improvement in just two days. I’m still using my walker but they have me using just walking poles at physical therapy and working on re-learning how to walk. Learning heel-toe again. I have to make it to 105 to use the bicycle so hoping to maybe reach that next week.

Still insecure about waking think it’s going to take a bit to get my confidence back there.
 
Still insecure about waking think it’s going to take a bit to get my confidence back there.
I get this. I couldn't do as much gait training as I would have liked after the first knee because the other one is still so terrible. I'm wondering how long it will take me to learn to walk normally. And how long it will take my brain to accept the idea that both legs can do stairs together instead of one footing it.
 
@luvcats my other knee is bad as well so I don’t completely trust it either. Physical Therapy has me practice walking heel-toe and making sure I’m keeping my foot straight. I have a tendency to rotate my foot inwards
 
Sondrals, my PT is having me practice walking heel-toe too. It's hard to change habits like that! Or at least it is for me. I was walking "flat foot, tippy toe, flat foot, tippy toe" for ages since my right knee wouldn't bear any weight.
 
Yup heel toe, even in the pool! I walk on the outside of my feet - bad habit I picked up in my teens/20s due to major ankle pain. Might be where all my knee & back issues stem from. Was resolved with surgery in my late 20s but walking weird for about 10 years did a lot of hidden damage. Ahh youth & its innocence...naivete...stupidity?
:doh:
 
This is the kind of thing PT can be really helpful with.
 
My mom and bf got into a fight last night and my mom left so I have no one to really “take care” of me because of course this happened after my bf went back to work after taking 10 days off for my surgery. I’m so disappointed and hurt by what’s happened.
 
Oh no, I'm so sorry!! Prayers that they can set aside their differences &/or you can find a friend to help.
:praying:
 

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