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TKR The adventure begins

That's for sure, Susieshoes. Pain and all, I'm still excited to be on this journey. 9 days out, and while it still hurts to bend the knee, I can stand on my knee more sturdily I could than before the surgery. Severe incision pain is beginning to taper off, replaced by muscle aches. While knee is still heavy and akward, I can lift it up from floor to couch or bed without a leg lifter and it gets easier every day. I can walk to the end of the block outside using the walker. I am afraid of falling and am careful with my husband walking along to spot me- but I can walk! Prior to surgery I didn't have to walk far at all until knee locked up with pain.

Before the surgery was I worried I would be the 1 out of 10 who regrets knee surgery. I knew it was going to be a painful recovery and I would be okay with that if I get 20 good years. But what if all the pain didnt result in a much better knee? What if I was in worse pain than before? Today I can see an end in sight. Knee is slowly gaining strength and feels like my knee with a bad sprain. Barring an infection or a fall, I'm going to be walking fine someday.
 
True, it's natural to fear we might be the one who draws the short straw and ends up with regrets about surgery. I remember thinking, "My knees are so bad now... but what if they're WORSE after I've had this operation?" It was a possibility. Maybe still is. My knees are only ten weeks out. Things happen. Still...

From very early on, I realized my new knees are without question stable, stronger and pain-free. By which I mean the arthritis pain is completely gone. Hallelujah! I don't miss that pain at all. And the post-surgical pain, the soft tissue swelling, and the tight tendons, and the stiffness... and also the soreness after exercising them... that pain has been getting less and less with every week since, oh, week six or so. Just today I realized my troublesome left knee (I had both done, and one knee has been lagging the other) wasn't hurting AT ALL while walking around the grocery store. Oh, it got a little sore later. But at that moment, for that half hour, no pain at all. And that was new. And wonderful. Like you said: you'll be walking fine someday!
 
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Had an interesting issue others may identify with. Have been taking percoset since I got home from the hospital 9 days ago. Settled into one every 5 hours and seemed okay in dealing with pain. A couple of days ago started feeling kind of lousy. More woozy and underwater than I had and a little dizzy. My son suggested I might be dehydrated and when I counted up how much I was drinking I though he might be right. I've been increasing how much water I get down for the last few days and the problem seems to have resolved itself. Just something to think about.
 
End of day 10. Still a little swollen and paying for yesterday's excursion. I have been taking it easy. Rest, icing, just walking around the house a little. Did my physical therapy exercises. They seem easy now and loosen me up a little. PT tomorrow. Hope swelling will be down by then so I can see if flexion has improved. It feels like it may have. Abruptly this morning I decided to drop back to 1/2 a percoset every 4 hours instead of one. So far I can't even tell the difference so I must have been ready. All day today pain is no worse than it was. We'll see how tonight goes.
 
Wow, that's quick! You may be one of the lucky few who can come off painkillers early. Still, don't forget that pain takes a variety of forms. For me it wasn't intense pain after the first few weeks but what I call "achy stiffness" that the meds (and eventually plain Tylenol) really helped.

Good thinking by your son about hydration!
 
You may be right, Kneeper. I don't know until I try to get through tonight whether it makes sense to cut back yet. I notice Percoset is basically oxy plus tylenol. Stands to reason that as percoset consumption goes down, tylenol can be added to make up the difference. But I want to ask about that. I'm going to see how I do tonight, then call doctor office tomorrow and discuss tapering off and what they think I should do. Go straight to tylenol or maybe tramadol? I only have enough Oxy for the next 4 days at full doses and I don't want to run into a weekend without needed painkillers.
 
Good thinking to plan ahead with your pain meds. Not a good thing to have to scramble for a prescription when in pain. Not good for you and the drama not good for you support network. Pain control and knees are unpredictable - don't always go in straight line trends. I learned the hard way with a nerve block wearing off too soon for my son's wrist surgery in January.
It sounds like you are making great progress, Jajakio ! Are you walking with crutches or a cane?
 
I'm still on a walker, at least partially. I do not like crutches and with one touchy shoulder I didn't even want to try. Physical therapy says I'm still to stay on walker any time I go outside of the house and I think they are right. I'm using the cane at home (when I remember to use it). I feel pretty sturdy for the most part and physical therapist says I can transfer around the house a little without it as long as I'm slow and careful. I have not wanted to tackle inside stairs but I'm ultra careful going down the single stair off my front porch. I have 12 stairs to my basement office and lack the enthusiasm to try yet but I then again I have little need to be down there until I go back to work. I've been walking to the end of the block on our quiet street every day with my walker and husband'supervision. Walked down to the garden on the walker yesterday. Gingerly made my way across the grass on the walker with my 16 year old son right next me. Bent over and picked a few cucumbers. Was out less than 10 minutes total. Felt exhausted and spent the next hour iced and elevated.
 
@Jajakio, it was almost a month before I could get back to SS and church. My first couple of times back, I took a firm pillow and sat on a back pew when I could put my leg across it. If my back started to hurt, I could even lay down on the pew for a short while. Our church is a small one and we are all family, so there's no judgment there. I suggest when you go back, that you sit somewhere where you can put your leg up on a pillow. That will make a huge difference. I'm sure no one will mind, they'll just be glad to see you!
 
Your walking progress sounds great for so early on. Exhaustion is normal; naps are part of my daily routine. Nice that you you've got a good support team!


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Good idea to talk to your doctor/nurse about your pain meds. It might be that you can taper to something less strong than percocet. That's how my OS set it up.
 
Day 11
Just got back from physical therapy this morning. Knee, leg and even top of foot still swollen from my ill considered Sunday expedition but considerably less swollen than yesterday. Exercises went well. It took a couple of minutes of rocking pedals to get going on bike but I got a solid 5 minutes of very slow revolutions which felt like a good stretch. They are not pushing me too much. After a session I come home and ice and nap for a half hour or so and am not usually more swollen or in more pain than before therapy. Absolutely no pushing or manipulation by them. They explain what they want and let me do it myself. I feel like I could say no if I didn't want to do something but so far no excercise has caused anything more than mild discomfort. 94 ROM today which is down a few points from Friday but I'm satisfied considering whole leg is still a bit swollen. PT is fine with it and says I am in a good place for less than 2 weeks out. Off to nap for a while.
 
That is a GREAT place to be 2 weeks out ! No buts about it. Please take care that you don't join the ODIC club, guard that beautiful ROM !
 
You are right Nensi. I am being careful. The only big setback so far has been going out on Sunday and sitting for a couple of hours without knee elevated. I learned the hard way that was a quick path to extreme swelling a few hours later.

Now I have a whole new learning curve. Prior to surgery it was necessary to pace myself and not get caught a long way from the car or in the middle of an activity I could not easily stop when I reached my limit but usually things did not get any worse after I got off my knee and rested. Now the pain can be manageable at the time and much worse a few hours after the activity. I am still learning a balance between moderate progress and not overdoing and swelling up like a beach ball. I am a hyper person and I knew it was going to be a challenge to be aware of my limits for such a long time. I haven't been sick much and the only other surgery I've ever had was a c-section with my last child. I remember kind of being down for a week or so but just taking a couple of naps a day after that. The pain on this a lot more so I'm having to take it a bit easier.
 
This surgery is definitely a whole different thing than what an average surgery is. I said it's even worse than childbirth. The recovery is slow and not easy and looooong! It's a time when we can lay back and do all those sedentary things we've been wanting to do!
 
Sisters in him, it is definitely worse than childbirth, at least for me. I had my first child in my mid 30s, no drugs or pain control of any kind. It hurt of course but was nowhere near unmanageable. Pain stopped between contractions and I got a chance to get settled. My daughter was born at 9:30 pm after maybe 20 minutes of hard pushing and I got up the next morning, took a shower and told them I was ready to go home. My reaction was " that's what they'very been carrying on about all these years? That's all there is to it?"

Okay, I was cocky and I learned the hard way it can be a lot tougher than that sometimes. But my point is that knee surgery is much worse. My sister warned me that the first two weeks after knee surgery would hurt so bad I would be sorry I did it. Not continually but there have been moments. I'm still sleeping poorly, in pain much of the night and on a good night I will get 4 - 5 uninterrupted hours of sleep. On a bad night maybe 2 - 2 1/2 hours before I wake up. Last night I dozed on the couch in the early evening supposedly watching Netflix with husband but probably fell asleep in 10 minutes into the plot. Went to bed about 11 right after taking pain pills. Slept until 4:45 which is the about the longest I've managed, woke up in pain. I had not been setting alarm for meds because I usually don't sleep over 4 hours. Took pain pills, iced and lay on couch. Dozed from a little before 6 until about 6:45 Went back to my bed with fresh ice and slept until 7:45. Best night I've had in several days.
 
That sounds pretty good. All these naps add up to help out with the total sleeping time. And don't forget, when you're sleeping, you're healing even more! So, sleep away whenever and wherever you can! Unfortunately, as I'm sure you've already heard, bad sleeping is a common complaint. It does eventually get better. As the pain goes down, so do the pain pills. Once I was able to get off of the Oxy, I began to sleep better. I bet you will, too.
 
The sleep gradually gets better, and the pain will also. Knee replacement is definitely a long-haul kind of recovery!
 
Day 12

I finally tackled stairs. I'm sure some of you have done it much sooner but I did not have to. Most of my house is 1 level. Just a single step off front porch. I had been putting off the 12 steps to basement office because it was not absoletely necessary. My PT pointed out yesterday that I've been stepping up on box step 20 times in a row and telling him I was comfortable. It made me think my reluctance is largely psychological.

So this morning (with husband spotting me from below) I walked down 12 steps. It really wasn't much worse than before surgery, hurting but possible. Sat at my desktop computer for 15 minutes then walked back upstairs. Okay. Exhausted and elevated on couch and icing. But now I know I can do it. Baby steps.

Walked to the garden yesterday evening on walker with husband spotting me. Bent over and picked a dozen cucumbers. Sat in outdoor chair and watched my chickens and chatted on the phone with my daughter from 10-15 minutes. Then had to go in and ice and elevate. Baby steps.

Overall I'm pleased with progress. My flexion is around 100 without help. Extension is 0. I'm getting more comfortable walking every day. Only minor problems are achy back and other assorted and ever changing aching parts and still not sleeping well at night. Daytime pain is there but manageable most of the time. Occasional rough stretches but icing and elevating at least half of the day. Nighttime pain can still be rough. Long hot shower sitting on shower bench helped in the middle of the night last night as does taking meds on schedule. But I'm just beginning to realize what a long haul this is going to be even when everything is going reasonably well.
 
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