TKR Susie-Q's 2nd TKR Recovery Thread

[TRICKKNEEMCGEE]

@Susie-Q
I think you are doing great. I am just shy of 5 weeks post Left TKA. I stopped taking my oxy during the day at day 3. I took one at night until week 3. It all depends how you feel. I stopped needing a cane at day 4 but still used it outdoors for precaution. I think a lot of this recovery and medication thing is trial and error. Wishing u the best

 

[Susie-Q]

I say no sleepiness and then immediately after I finished typing that I took a nap on the couch! So I guess I'm not invincible after all!

@TRICKKNEEMCGEE I could never have stopped my oxy that quickly but as we know, everyone is different. I probably don't need my walker anymore but then I won't be able to use my cute pink and purple walker bag to carry my stuff!

Wondering if I should take one of my daytime doses and cut it down to half and see what happens. I can always add back more if I need to. I think I'll try that tomorrow and maybe try 1 tablet tonight every 3 hours instead of 1.5

Slow, steady decline......

Also, my left leg is now full of wonderful purple colors, mostly on the back of my leg.... I am not sure how to post a picture on here via my phone. I'm using my laptop to navigate and post on this site. tomorrow my waterproof antibacterial dressing comes off. (removal by me)

 

[Jockette]

There is nothing wrong with using a walker, especially with a cute pink and purple walker bag to carry your stuff! It is a tool to give you support and confidence. (Note to self, make a new pretty walker bag to replace the generic denim one I made for my surgery 4 years ago!)

 

[Susie-Q]

Nope! I still need the walker. I don't know what I was thinking.

I'm a little worried about my husband. He's so morose. Since my daughter has been sick he's had to add in taking care of the animals and walking the dog as well as taking care of me. He won't sit and talk to me or watch tv with me. He does what needs to be done and leaves the room. He's normally very chatty and talks constantly. I made a comment a few days ago that could he please take a break from giving me the blow by blow of current politics and now he won't talk to me at all. I know he's tired. I don't nag or ask for anything outrageous and I thank him constantly for all his help. All the things he's doing, warming up food and bringing it to me, bringing me my coffee (I make it), doing dishes, walking the dog, feeding the animals, cleaning the cat box, watering my patio pots are all things I would be doing on a regular basis every day but somehow it's very overwhelming for him. He helps with getting me ice bags, setting up the ice machine, putting on my TED socks. I don't really need him at each pill time during the night unless frozen water bottles need changing or the hose gets caught on the pillow at the end of the ned. He often sleeps through those nightly med times. He can't use work as an excuse as he's off work until Wed. Lots of people do all of this stuff AND they work full time. No offense to you guys but you don't know how good you have it if your wife does all the domestic duties all the time. Granted, he's very handy and can fix/build almost anything so I do appreciate he can do all of that stuff and we don't have to call someone out to fix stuff. I think it might have been better if my daughter hadn't gotten sick so she would still be on animal duty. (we have two cats and a dog, BTW). I even asked him, a bit jokingly, today, "So, what's happening in the world of politics today?" He said he hasn't been following it and that he wasn't going to fall for that trap and left the room. (we've been married 30 years)

Anyway, thank you for listening. I don't want to complain to my friends or family. Sometimes it's nice to tell strangers, especially those who know all about what going through a TKR means.

 

[Susie-Q]

Well, the truth has come out. He's mad. He says he's not mad at me but that the rest of the family has let him down. My daughter is sick, how is that her fault? She feels like **** and is staying in her bedroom. My son isn't here but should be back tonight. I told him he's taking it out on me by not talking to me and being a jerk. He tossed an ice pack at my leg as he was going out the door to walk the dog. Wow, who'd have thought that doing all the jobs that I used to do on a daily basis could be so hard on him??????? What if our kids didn't live at home? He'd have to do all of this stuff anyway! (taking care of me). I mentioned that the dishes need to get done as we are running out of mugs (there are dishes in the sink from 2 days ago) "yeah, I'll get right on that".

Wow, I did all of these jobs, with a bad knee, up until a week ago. I would ask for help (which is hard for me) but rarely got it. These are just tasks that are required to run a household, not rocket science! dishes, laundry, meals (he's not even cooking, just heating up), animal duties. I used to do them ALL!!! Every day, leading up to my surgery, with a bad, painful knee!!!! I can't even point this all out or he'll really get mad.

 

[Susie-Q]

More info.....he's not sleeping. That's why all of this has gotten so overwhelming. He has anxiety, takes meds for it and sees someone. Everything ties back to our kids and the fact that they are not out of the house yet (complicated) and so he doesn't think he can retire in the next couple of years. This retiring consumes him and he will be much better off when he does. We are still, for the most part, supporting these kids so he can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and it depresses him. I told him he's got to get some sleep, even if it means taking some Tylenol PM. I don't really need him at night anymore as long as frozen bottles are ready in the kitchen fridge. I've got to get up anyway to go to the bathroom and stretch my stiff knee. Once he's able to get some sleep he'll be much better.

 

[Susie-Q]

It's actually tomorrow that my bandage comes off. I'm trying to decide whether to take a shower today or not. I've cut my oxy down to 1/2 a pill every 3 hours. Seems to be fine so far. I'm still not sure how/when to cut back on the many times I have to wake up at night to take oxy/Tylenol or oxy/Advil.

 

[Susie-Q]

Day 8 (?) Today is shower day and removal of the bandage (according to my post-op instructions). I figured I would shower first with the bandage on since it's waterproof. If I take it off and find that the incision isn't completely closed, then I'll have to wrap it in Sarah wrap and put a bandage on it which will make showering much more difficult.

Feeling pretty good but still taking things slow. Taking 1/2 an oxy every 3 hrs during the day and took 1 every 3 hours overnight. REALLY getting tired of waking up every 3 hours. I'm sleeping pretty well but have to jolt awake to take pills, pee, etc.

I was also able to lay in bed this morning and remove the ice machine wrap after 6am and be comfortable moving my leg around on top of the body pillow. I long for the time when I can sleep on my side with the body pillow supporting my leg. (I was a stomach sleeper before, that's long gone too ) I was able to the first day or so when my knee was still very numb then couldn't when all the feeling and pain came back. Now that it's much more under control and has faded a lot, I'm looking forward to a position change. I'm on my butt and back on the recliner and on my back in bed. It's getting old.....

I'm also realizing I probably shouldn't go to my son's gig on Friday. He's in a funk band (called Dysfunkshun) and they are playing in Edmonds at Anthony's restaurant, which is a big deal. They are hosting a jazz festival of sorts. They've been playing in bars and clubs up until the pandemic when they had to stop for over a year. I want to go (Friday is my birthday, too) but am realizing that the 30 min drive over and back, how am I going to prop up my leg, go to the bathroom, take pills, etc, it's just too much. It's a nice restaurant. My original plan was to have surgery on Aug 23rd but I ended up not being able to schedule it then because it got all booked up. 10 days post-op is probably too early to try something like this. What do you all think? I welcome all opinions.

 

[Jockette]

You are right, that’s too much activity for 10 days post op. Stay home and give your knee the best opportunity in which to heal. Ask if someone can take pictures for you, or a video. I’m sorry you’ll be missing it, but you may be in a lot of pain if you go, and that can be hard to get back under control.

 

[beesknee]

Time to give your kids a six month move out notice. You did more than your part. Plenty of work to had out there right now.

Save your marriage and save your knee!

 

[Susie-Q]

Day 9:

The bandage came off without too much fanfare. Some of the adhesive stuck to my leg and I was worried my leg would stick to my pants and pjs. I cleaned it up as best as I could (without touching the incision) with some alcohol prep pads. Hubby thought we should put some large bandaids over the incision even though it's closed and dry. I agreed in case some of the rough parts try to catch on my pj pants. Took a shower. I could have taken it standing and not sitting on the shower chair but I opted on the side of caution and used the chair. Still early days.

I'm trying to figure out how to stretch out my pain pills so I don't have to keep taking something ever 3 hours. It's a pain at night to get up at midnight, 3am and 6am. So last night I tried skipping the midnight dose, I took a whole oxy at 9pm and made it to around 2:20am before I was uncomfortable. Got up to change my frozen water bottles in the ice machine, pee and take another oxy, Tylenol and Advil. Managed to sleep until 6-7 and then took off the ice machine pad. It's easier to move my leg around without dragging that hose with it.

Hubby is back at work today (working from home). Daughter took the dog to work with her. I got my self up and got my own coffee and breakfast. Hubby just got up and got me another cup of coffee and a little more to eat. Monotony is the name of the game today and the foreseeable future. Ugh... I know this, I've been through it before, but somehow I've forgotten that part. My job is to rest and heal and that takes time. My best friend is coming today to bring me lunch and bring a dinner. It will be nice to see her.

Here are some pictures of my leg and all the pretty bruising. I have a couple more of my incision but it's saying the files are too large so I'm going to have to get my son to help me make them smaller.

 

[kneeper]

Definitely use the shower chair for a while. Even when I could stand for a bit, I found it helpful to have the bench in case I got tired.
I think you're on the right track with the pain meds--paying attention to how long the pain meds hold and timing your before bed medication well. But it is quite early in the process so you may not be able to stretch much yet. I just experimented with it.

I never kept my ice machine on when moving around--unless I've read that wrong, that sounds a little dangerous.

 

[Sisterpat]

Stay home! There will be other opportunities. Too early in the game for that kind of venturing. You don’t want to set yourself back. There are things you can do while letting the healing happen: read, watch movies, learn a language Life doesn’t have to be boring. Be creative.

 

[Susie-Q]

Definitely use the shower chair for a while. Even when I could stand for a bit, I found it helpful to have the bench in case I got tired.
I think you're on the right track with the pain meds--paying attention to how long the pain meds hold and timing your before bed medication well. But it is quite early in the process so you may not be able to stretch much yet. I just experimented with it.

I never kept my ice machine on when moving around--unless I've read that wrong, that sounds a little dangerous.

What I meant was moving my leg around in bed. It's much more hindered when I've got the ice machine strapped on. Sometimes you just want a little freedom to move that leg a bit under the blanket, especially now that mine isn't hurting as much as it was in the beginning. I'm sleeping on top of my comforter and sheet with my leg propped up on a body pillow length-wise and another memory foam pillow with a length-wise channel to lay my leg. (so two pillows total) Then I've got a light-weight fleece blanket on top of me. When the leg has the ice machine strapped to it, I really can't move it much and I get stiff from all the inactivity.

I'm back to 1 oxy but every 4 hours for now. If I time my pills for midnight, 4am then 8am, it will eliminate at least one time of having to wake up in the middle of the night. I need to be consistent. All this jumping around, halving pills and changing time differences and I won't be able to see what works and what doesn't. I've still got 35 pills left before I need another refill.

 

[Susie-Q]

Stay home! There will be other opportunities. Too early in the game for that kind of venturing. You don’t want to set yourself back. There are things you can do while letting the healing happen: read, watch movies, learn a language Life doesn’t have to be boring. Be creative.

I knew I would regret going. It's too soon. Even the car ride there alone (probably 30 min) would be painful.

 

[Susie-Q]

For those that are interested, here is the before and after I took the bandage off. One thing that is weird is down in the middle of my shin there are two separate little spots where they sutured up a tiny area. This is not connected to my main incision. Does anyone know what that was for? I can ask my doc at my follow up next week. I'm just curious.

That waterproof, antibacterial bandage had almost a rubbery quality to it. It definitely was stuck to my leg!

 

[Sisterpat]

You likely had robotic surgery? I did, too. That small incision is from the robotic “array” which they insert. Sometimes, for me, it was more tender than the longer, knee incision.

 

[Susie-Q]

Yes, I did have the robotic surgery. Thanks for clearing that up, @Sisterpat ! Mine doesn't hurt at all (yet) but I guess time will tell.

 

[Sisterpat]

You’d think the surgeon would warn us about the extra incision, wouldn’t you? Mine didn’t either.

 

[kneeper]

Definitely use the shower chair for a while. Even when I could stand for a bit, I found it helpful to have the bench in case I got tired.
I think you're on the right track with the pain meds--paying attention to how long the pain meds hold and timing your before bed medication well. But it is quite early in the process so you may not be able to stretch much yet. I just experimented with it.

I never kept my ice machine on when moving around--unless I've read that wrong, that sounds a little dangerous.

What I meant was moving my leg around in bed. It's much more hindered when I've got the ice machine strapped on. Sometimes you just want a little freedom to move that leg a bit under the blanket, especially now that mine isn't hurting as much as it was in the beginning. I'm sleeping on top of my comforter and sheet with my leg propped up on a body pillow length-wise and another memory foam pillow with a length-wise channel to lay my leg. (so two pillows total) Then I've got a light-weight fleece blanket on top of me. When the leg has the ice machine strapped to it, I really can't move it much and I get stiff from all the inactivity.

Ok, got it. Yes, it can get tricky trying to have all the pillows and covers and still move!