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TKR Susie-Q's 2nd TKR Recovery Thread

My PT also asked me yesterday about when I might feel like going back to work or if I'd talked to my boss. I have been thinking about that lately too but know I need to start back very slowly and cannot just jump into a 4 hour shift on my feet. I reached out to my boss yesterday and told her I am thinking about it. She asked if I'd like to work for an hour and a half tomorrow to help start a blanket class. (hand-knit chunky-knit blankets that people work on at big tables). I could sit on a stool to help and walk around as much or as little as I want. I think it's a good start and I can gauge how I feel. I realized my little shopping trip the other day was at least an hour and a half on my feet, that's why I was tired after. Most of my shopping previously was in and out of shops and then back to the car to sit or maybe 30-45 min of grocery stopping and then back to the car. This will be a good test.
 
Sounds ok like you have a plan and need to stick to the time so you don't over do it. I make blankets via crochet, knit, or quilting for Project Linus.
 
I'm going to document this for any who might be going through the same thing.

Sleeping is fine but getting comfortable and moving around in the bed is a painful exercise in futility these days. Everything starts fine, I'm comfortable on my left side with a pillow between my legs, left knee is flat against the bed and comfortable. I'm using my tablet for Words With Friends before I roll over and actually go to sleep. Then I set things aside, roll over onto my stomach, facing left, legs slightly bent and comfortable. I fall asleep very quickly. Then comes the time to shift, whether I'm awake for it or not I have to switch to either on my right side or on my back or back to my left side. Somewhere around the 3rd position change and The Knee is stiff and sore (probably from being involuntarily bent for awhile) and my lower back and hips are squealing in pain. If I'm on either side I've got to position my pillow in between my knees for maximum comfort. Fall back asleep and repeat. By morning I'm so sore and worn out I'm basically waiting for the clock so I can get up. I try to use my core and stomach muscles as much as I can, this does help a bit but the lower back is still sharply painful. By then my back is hurting so much that sleeping on my stomach doesn't work anymore. I've gotten up to pee a few times, often just to try and work the kinks out of my back and knee. I don't go to bed taking any meds but have occasionally taken some Advil/Tylenol in the middle of the night, which necessitates a trip to the kitchen for a snack to eat with it so I won't upset my stomach.

Is anyone else dealing with this? Sleeping is fine (if I could just stay in one position) but moving around is sucking, big time. My shoulders are aching too now from the constant adjustment. We have a CA king sleep number bed with a 3 inch memory foam topper on it and flannel sheets (our main floor bedroom gets cold this time of year). The topper and sheets might be causing more friction when turning than a normal bed but usually it's very comfy and cozy. Anyway, I just wanted to see if anyone else is dealing with the same sleeping issues. I don't remember this happening with my first knee, I only remember not sleeping well until I was off the opioids at 6 weeks.
 
Hi there! I wanted to chime in about sleeping. I tried sleeping one night a few weeks ago without my ice machine and I just couldn't. I have been using it faithfully (barring a few attempts not to) at night, all night, since surgery. I've been able to resume somewhat of a normal workout and life schedule, but my knee is still stiff and painful daily.
I don't know how long it will be until I don't need it, but the ice is facilitating my recovery so I am glad to have it.
 
I'm having less trouble sleeping through the night though I do wake at least 2x each night fighting to change from one comfortable position into another comfortable position. Typically, I start on my right side and flip to my left. I am on my back for a very brief time as I gather the energy to get my right leg in a position to move it. I'm able to lift my leg pretty freely but in the middle of the might have found that the covers "corral" the leg. I've had times when I tried to move too fast and the leg doesn't follow because it's trapped and the pain is sufficient to give me an experience to avoid. I don't have the overall soreness that you have @Susie-Q, it's really just The Knee and once in a while The Ankle (which has a plate and screws). In general, I have maintenance insomnia which means I fall asleep quickly and wake around 3am for an unintentional two hour exploration/planning session of all the things going on in my world. I have a prescribed sleep aid that helps. :)
 
I only have 2 sleep positions due to pains in other parts of my body. I start out on my Rt side with the Rt leg out straight with a slight bend and other leg bent and resting on the curve of my C-shaped body pillow. When the “knee” gets tired of that position, I lay on my back with lower legs propped on bottom of body pillow. I really like to sleep on my stomach and have been afraid to try that.
I am blessed that I have been sleeping pretty well since the first month. That was not the case on my PKR in 2016. It was a few months before I could get a good night sleep.
I am taking a Norco before bed along with an Aleve usually. The Norcos don’t make me drowsy at all but do help with pain. I suspect my doc won’t give me any more Norcos as I am about 3 Mon out and pain is controlled pretty well.
I tend to have trouble falling asleep even before the TKR. I do lots of reading before I fall asleep!
 
Of course after I typed all of that I seemed to have turned a corner, thankfully! Today was the first day I woke with no soreness and very little stiffness in The Knee and minimal pain shifting during the night. This is after working for an hour and a half yesterday, walking the dog, making ginger chicken thighs on the smoker (lots of in and out to the patio). No extra pain from working on my feet, which is good. I'm hoping things will continue to improve. Patience and time, people! Patience and time......

I sometimes have that 3am wakefulness too, @hawk2go , with the mind racing. Thankfully it doesn't happen every night.
 
That's excellent!!!!
 
Another positive thing I noticed the other day. We have a gentle slope on our driveway to the sidewalk and it's about the length of a car plus a bit more. With my old knee I had to take tiny baby steps because of the pain of being bone on bone as I walked down the driveway to either leave or get the rolling garbage cans. This time I was able to walk down with a full stride, putting full weight on each leg and NO PAIN. It was a revelation! No more arthritis for me! (at least in my knees)
 
Such great news. The pain of deterioration - gone, the pain of recovery - sliding into the rearview, walking downslope pain free - priceless!
 
And back down the rollercoaster we go! Back to lower back pain and knee stiffness this morning. The other night must have been a fluke or I didn't move around very much. Ah, well, this too shall pass! It's still early days yet, only 10 weeks....
 
Because I didn't schedule my appointments quick enough, I don't have PT with my usual therapist until Dec 1st. There was a cancellation this week and I have one this morning with a different therapist. We'll see how this goes; will she have the same MO as my current one? Will she expect me to do more than I can? We shall see.......
 
I wish I would've reached out to my PA or surgeon early on. My pain seemed to be so bad. I was taking Tylenol and Advil every 6 hours (alternating) like you, but then only 1 oxy every 4 hours. It was not cutting the pain, but the instructions on my bottle said "take 1 every 4 hours." I should've asked to have more. The first 10 days were horrible. I bet 2 oxy every 3 hours would've helped tremendously. Now I know for the next one.

I agree, TV early on is too much to handle. I just laid in my bed and slept the first 10 days. Even now, 3.5 weeks in, I struggle with a lot of stimuli. The television noise gets to me after a while and I have to go to the quiet bedroom and read or just lay with my eyes closed.

This surgery is harder than I ever imagined. No amount of researching and hearing others' advice actually prepared me for this. You can only understand if you've been through it.
 
I have also enjoyed reading all about your recovery! Your pain levels were very similar to mine and sometimes I felt like I was unusual until I read your posts. You helped me feel "normal." Thank you!
 
@Susie-Q This is probably too late, but if you haven't seen the PT yet, ask him/her what to do about your back! When I complained about back problems to mine, he took some time out of the session to do some soft tissue and what I can only describe as acupressure -- it made a huge difference.
 
BarabooProud said:
I have also enjoyed reading all about your recovery! Your pain levels were very similar to mine and sometimes I felt like I was unusual until I read your posts. You helped me feel "normal." Thank you!
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Glad I could help! Sometimes I think I'm too wordy and go on too much but if it helps someone, then great! I'm sorry you were not able to get help with your pain early on. Those first few days were hell!

benne68 said:
ask him/her what to do about your back!
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Yeah, I should have. The problem is after waking up and moving around, the back pain pretty much goes away and I forget about it! I also should have asked her about my husband's knee. He thinks he might have torn his meniscus a week or so ago when he stupidly tried running a little bit with the dog. You'd think he had a knee replacement with all his complaining about it. He may need to make an appointment with my doc to at least find out what is going on and get X-rays and an MRI. I told him he's finally understanding a little of what I've been going through for the past 12+ years with my knees......

PT was fine, her massaging was a little vigorous around the knee, especially around the IT band, which is still tight (understandably). She said she knows things are still healing in there by the warmth The Knee still has. We pretty much did the same things as I'd do with my regular gal as it's all in the notes on the computer. No lasting effects and the knee feels pretty good today. 111 ROM so just creeping along slowly. She didn't really push it too hard, I might have been able to get another degree or two if I'd moved my knee on my own but I wasn't worried about it. I went both up and down the big flight of stairs to get to the PT office. Down is getting a little bit easier, not as easy as going up but better than it's been.

I'm working again tonight for an hour and 15 min. My boss is being really nice about asking me for tiny micro-shifts to get used to standing and working again. It's nice to feel useful!
 
All good stuff! Micro shifts at work should be the new normal, imho. :)

I am also more comfortable sleeping at night and have even ditched the pillow between the knees, mostly.

Susie-Q said:
He may need to make an appointment with my doc to at least find out what is going on and get X-rays and an MRI.
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You may know this - they have to do the xray for insurance, but my meniscus damage was only identified on the MRI.
 
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