Knee Infection* The girl with the two fake knees

I had a wound vac but it just fell out on day two. It's just to drain excess fluid, not necessarily for infection.
 
Yippee! I remember how happy I was when I had that visitor! Good 4 u! Keep up the good work.
 
I actually like the wound vac. From what they told me, it helps the incision seal itself from deep within. I don't have staples, which I prefer, but we'll see how this goes...maybe I'll prefer wound vacs from now on! I have no drainage from mine, so that's good!!

Trying to stay on top of the pain. Set my alarm for every 4 hours so I can take it and go to the bathroom. My visiting nurse comes today and I'm going to talk to her about better pain control.

Hope all is well in Sunday morning!!!

Jen
 
Good for you, keeping pain at bay. I set an alarm too for two weeks. Then started some trial and error cutting down on pain pills. At least the opiates. But I had a very comfortable first two weeks, and I'm quite sure it was religiously taking something every four hours did that. I hope you also have a relatively painless first couple weeks.
 
Nothing like your own bed

LTKR 11 May 2016
 
Glad you are home. Very wise to stay on top of pain control. Hopefully the nurse will get you a medication regimen that works for you.

Sending healing prayers your way.


Shelia
RTKR - 8/23/16
LTKR - 9/20/2016
 
Well, no nurse today, but Monday, which is fine by me! Going to see how much help she can provide me in recovery. I know I definitely need an ice machine. I'm keeping up with the ice packs, but something more consistent would be better. My knee is still pretty swollen and sore and it needs more ice! I've been doing a few heel slides, quad sets, and easy exercises, but only very minimally if I can tolerate them and nowhere near as many as PT said to do! I do like to practice mild bending at times too. But, don't want my knee to be even angrier at me than it already is so I'm taking it slow and listening to my knee! I don't think my pain is well-controlled, but I'm not sure. I know it's going to hurt after surgery, but I can't tell if I'm just tolerating the pain like I always do or if I need help with it. I've doubled the dosage of my painkillers 2 times in the last 24 hours and that seems to help, but I still have breakthrough pain. Will address this tomorrow with my os and the nurse.

I think I'm at the point where I feel I'm not doing as well as I should, but then I remember I had surgery less than 5 days ago! It's been so long since I've had surgery on my knee, I forgot how much it sucks at times!!! I'll just keep on keepin' on!!!

Hope everyone else is comfortable and hopeful in their own recovery!! Thank you for your continued support and guidance. I appreciate it more than you can ever know!

Jen
 
I think I'm at the point where I feel I'm not doing as well as I should, but then I remember I had surgery less than 5 days ago! It's been so long since I've had surgery on my knee, I forgot how much it sucks at times!!! I'll just keep on keepin' on!!!
It's easy to feel that way, Jen, but just be patient with your knee and let it progress at its own speed.

You are very likely to find that recovery from a TKR takes a lot longer than recovery from other knee surgeries, so be prepared to exercise extreme patience.
 
Yes, agreed. A TKR is a whole new ballgame in terms of pain, and recovery. Be patient and make sure you have good pain control. You are very early in this, so don't give yourself any timelines.
 
Giving your knee time to heal is very important and will pay off in the future. I did not exercises at home except getting up to the bathroom and kitchen and back to my 'nest' for the first few weeks. Getting your pain meds sorted out right now is very important so make sure your OS is contacted.
 
Remember the Bonesmart way. Less exercise means more healing less pain!
 
Sounds like you're doing everything right, glad you have a plan for discussing pain meds.
 
Had my first Visiting Nurses' home visit today. It went pretty well! I've never had one before and it's weird to be on this side of home visitation as that's what I usually do! I was declared healthy and the focus will be on healing, managing my pain and swelling, and getting the DME that I need. The wound vac will come off on Wednesday! Can't wait to see what my incision looks like! PT wil come in tomorrow, but I won't be able to do too much until I get the swelling under control.

Doing ok today. Just trying to manage the pain and maybe get some dozing in. We'll see! Hope all my fellow Bonesmarties are doing well!!!

Jen
 
It sounds like your pain management may not be quite where it should be? Make sure you take your meds as prescribed don't take less, it is still too soon, do you have a lot of bandages on your leg? Is this why the ice packs are not working??

I hope the pain and swelling get better soon!!!
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Suz
Thanks Clara. I'm not sure why the pain isn't under control. Hopefully I'll have more options tomorrow. I do think having an ice machine will help tremendously.

I have noticed that I am having way more pain on the tuberosity because he took the screws out of it and placed a stem in there. So, that was not a level of pain I was expecting! Ouch.

Back to playing "Find and identify the random bruise!"

Jen
 
Bless Your Heart Jen. Boy, I remember those early days of recovery. You feel certain no one on earth has ever felt what you're feeling. The ice machine will ease your recovery pain. I kept my knee under ice pretty much 24/7 for at least 6wks post-op, lol! I'm pretty sure it relieved my pain at least as much as the narcotics did. That or I froze the pain out of existence, lol!

Also, the BoneSmart mantra's.. hands down they, (and this forum), kept me from losing my mind in my initial weeks post-op!

We're here for you so feel free to rant, rave,.. whatever you need to do while your knee recovers itself. And it will recover, I promise-!

Screen Shot 2016-06-14 at 11.58.32 PM.png
 
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We're here to hold your hand through your recovery! And boy, do we understand!
 
Jen, I hope I do half as well as you afterwards...hope you can get an ice machine...I scored two on Craigslist this week. One for each knee if I need them....
Hang in there girl...awesome blessings coming your way!!

Lene'
 

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