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TKR Swollen 9 months post op<

Right now..pain meds are your best friends!! At first I tried being "brave" about the pain, didn't take the meds on time, and suffered for it. My OS insisted I take all the pain meds on time as prescribed for as long as I needed. This surgery is a BIG deal and can be very frustrating, and has a very long healing process so anything that can give comfort is necessary. Good luck and we are all here for you:loveshwr:
 
cannygirl said:
OxyContin that I am cutting in half to reduce the meds.
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I’ve just looked up what I am doing and find that I shouldn’t be cutting up a Slow release OxyContin as it stops it being slow release! I will now have to request lower dose Slow release to come down. ‘Big sigh’ I feel such a pratt but on a positive note - today I might feel better as I have had a whole tablet:heehee:.
I am so glad I found you kind folk, I don’t feel so alone or judged.
 
^I'm glad you checked on that!
 
Well here I am at day 32. I think the pain is subsiding but it also seem to be changing in quality. From feeling really deep within - ‘bone pain’ it now seems to have flashes of stabbing pain (almost taking my breath away) mainly around my knee cap. Is this normal? I feel that although I haven’t got much energy, I am doing more and sleeping better.
 
cannygirl said:
it now seems to have flashes of stabbing pain (almost taking my breath away) mainly around my knee cap. Is this normal?
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It sounds as if your having "zingers". That's what we call those sudden flashed of pain. They're little electric shocks, sent out by the nerves that were cut during surgery, as they try to re-connect or make new pathways.
They can be quite sharp, but they will decrease as time passes.
 
Post-op pain does change along the way. Many describe intermittent stabbing pains in the joint. I had a few just south of my kneecap, and some people have more of these and in other locations. It's normal to have all kinds of pains happen during the course of recovery: swollen pain, movement pain, jabbing pains, mysterious pains. Most are simply your healing knee's way of expressing itself.

Sometimes a stabbing pain is described when nerves in your skin are reconnecting. Those pains occur for a short period, days or weeks, and then stop --although if other nerves get the same idea, they occur all over again.
 
I also wonder about another probably unrelated pain: I have heel pain when walking on the leg where the knee replacement took place...any other folk experienced this?
 
It's such early days. You're going to get all sort of pains that come and go, as your body adjusts.
 
Having looked at other threads, I realise this may not be unusual..but I am having the problem in bare feet or slippers, not so much when in my outdoor supportive boots. Should I go to my physio?
 
I had no pain but rather a numbness under my heel. PT thought that it could have come from the femoral nerve block. It is either going away or I'm just getting used to it.:sigh: @SusieShoes "...and some people have more of these and in other locations" I think I've had some of those as sympathy pains in the unoperated leg. :heehee:
 
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You might want to wear your shoes indoors for a while.
 
Wow - so obvious! I’m probably hyper-concerned about any limb pain![emoji848]


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Today seems to have been a blip in my progress. I was out this morning at church and by the time I got home again, my knee was so painful that for the 1st time in about 5 days, I had to take a fast release pill to bring things back to manageable. I guess it is a reminder that I’m not quie there yet!
 
At one month out, you’ll get some of that. Five steps forward, then a step or two back. Sometimes you’ll know the reason, but often you don’t. Your knee is doing its thing and not you’re not always in on the goings on. As long as you keep the pain under control and your knee settles back down easily, you know you’re doing well. :)
 
Mmm. Today I went to the gym and worked on the stationary bicycle for 15 minuets and after the first couple felt really good, even did 5 minuets on the cross-trainer. I have got stiffer and more painful during the day and now need to up my meds. How do I judge before I do too much? Is it trial and error? I am so disappointed, I thought my next move might be a real cycle ride but maybe that is too early. Does anyone have any advice for me?


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Perhaps it was doing all the minuets :wink: :heehee: (Sorry, I couldn't resist the temptation)
Seriously, take a day off to recover and then go back and do 10 minutes on the stationary for a couple of visits and then work up by adding 5 minutes.
 
cannygirl said:
I was out this morning at church and by the time I got home again, my knee was so painful that for the 1st time in about 5 days, I had to take a fast release pill to bring things back to manageable. I guess it is a reminder that I’m not quite there yet!
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It was really too soon to go back to church.
remember this?
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.​

cannygirl said:
Today I went to the gym and worked on the stationary bicycle for 15 minuets and after the first couple felt really good, even did 5 minuets on the cross-trainer. I have got stiffer and more painful during the day and now need to up my meds. How do I judge before I do too much?
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You did too much, for sure - see a and b, above. Don't make the same mistake again.

In any case, it's not exercising that gets you your ROM (Range of Motion) - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself.

You're really trying to rush your recovery too much.
It's only just over a month since you had this major surgery and complete recovery takes a full year. It's a marathon, not a sprint. You need to allow your knee time to heal.

Read this article again and check what the level of your activity should be - it's much less than you are doing:
Activity progression for TKRs
 
Oh dear as I look at my thread, I see the same comments recurring- “you are trying to rush”...”doing to much”...”nature will heal etc. I go next week for my follow-up and assessment for hip surgery. Part of me wants to get all this painful stuff over asap and then work on recovery for the rest of the year. The other is tired of pain, restriction, exercises ... Thank you all for your patience
 
We so hope for you to have a more comfortable and rewarding recovery. There's going to be some pain, of course, but we have found the BoneSmart way of less formal exercise early in recovery leads to less pain and more function for most of us.

It's tempting to think that if we just exercise harder and more we can get all the painful stuff over with sooner. It doesn't work that way. The hard work of recovery is patience. It's so hard to be patient. Especially so when PTs and other people are telling us we have to "work through the pain." As if there has to be more pain for more progress. That's simply not true.

I hope you can give yourself, and your knee, a break from the exercises and just treat yourselves to some rest, reading, conversation, or whatever else soothes your spirit. And lots of elevation and icing along the way. :friends:
 
Remember that just the process of getting to the gym is activity. :)
 
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