Lounge Doctor

Revision TKR Tibia fracture after TKR

Hi @CatieViv. Thank you so much for sharing. There’s a flaw in the entire medical system, I think I can safely say. Unlike your situation, I’ve met with both surgeons. The first available date for surgery is at HSS. I’m a little disappointed that my surgeon hasn’t called to even check up on me. ‍So I wait …
 
If I'm figuring this correctly your surgery is scheduled for the 21st. Correct? Of course your nervous, scared, etc, its all part of it. Yes the timing with Christmas isn't ideal, but the next week I would think would be worse. But IDK. The hospital will be fully staffed, that's a given.

Has it been mentioned to you how long you may stay in the hospital? Sometimes surgeons have different protocols than with TKR surgeries. (I know my surgeon certainly does.) You've mentioned a long car ride - how long of a car ride? And hopefully the car is one where you & your new revision can stretch out in the backseat. That's really important. You need to have some pillows, blankets, crackers and water in the car also. They will medicate you prior to leaving the hospital.

Don't think I'm nuts but music is wonderful to calm you and relax you. Both pre & post surgery. Would it be out of the question for you & your husband to go to the city with your animals several days prior to your surgery. Stay in your apartment & make it home base. Then post surgery stay there several days, or however long you want then go home? Its just a thought.

We are here for you.
 
Hi again, @eaglemom, Thank you again for checking in, your advice, and words of encouragement. Yes, my surgery at HSS is scheduled for the 21st. I go for pre-op next week.

I would never think you're nuts for recommending music as a calming influence. I come from a musical family and it's an integral part of my life.

I have thought about recovering in NYC, at least for the first couple of weeks, but it's not the best option for me. I can't bring my three cats to my apartment. You know, cats. Tney'd freak out and I won't have the ability to care for them if that does happen. One of my cats is an elderly little lady that needs medicine twice a day. From experience, she'll be off her food from the sheer fact of being transported and will be difficult to medicate. I have their care covered by friends for several days when I'm in the hospital.

The car ride is two hours from my apartment to my house, but during a holiday rush could be, who knows? It's taken me as long as four hours to get to NYC or back in certain instances. The hospital assures me that I'll be medicated and comfortable enough to travel. They want me to stand and walk every hour or so, for about five to ten minutes, so if anyone sees me walking with my walker along a major highway in the days before Christmas, stop and say hello! I'm kidding, but this does concern me, as does the weather, the traffic, etc. etc.

The surgeon's office tells me that they do revisions at the end of the day after the regular TKRs and that I'll be in the hospital for one to two nights. If it's one night, that means being discharged on the Friday before Christmas. Not great. Friday traffic out of NYC is hellish enough. Add to that the rush to leave for the holiday and you have a nightmare. If it's a Friday discharge, I will ask to stay in until Saturday, or I can stay the night at my apartment. I'm concerned about the nerve block wearing off before I get home though. I remember doing a lot of moaning, shivering, crying, and cursing in the early days after the original TKR. (What me, dramatic? Nah!) I don't want to disrupt my neighbors in NY.

Thanks for the advice of equipping my car with pillows, blankets, crackers, etc. I hadn't thought of that. I had also not thought about lying down in the back seat. The hospital said they will brace my knee for the car ride and give me aspirins in case I can't walk as often as they advise during the trip.

Oh my gosh! Just thinking about it makes me queasy. Three weeks from today. I don't know how to do emojis on this forum on my computer, so just imagine the little vomiting one. Oof!

Thank you, again! I know you're there for me. I appreciate you and others on this forum more than I can express.
 
Hi @CatieViv, I'm a little confused by the thread of this forum and am not certain if I replied to you before or not. I don't want to be remiss at all. Thank you for your comment. Wow! A year between seeing your surgeon and your surgery! I hope you are well and recovered and that the memory of any pain is just that, a memory.

I go for pre-op next week and I have a load of questions, including my travel post surgery.

Thank you again for your comment. I appreciate it so much.
 
Hi @BoningUp - yes both times you've done it correctly!!! This is your own post op thread and when you @ anybody they will see your reply!
 
BoningUp said:
. I can't bring my three cats to my apartment. You know, cats. Tney'd freak out and I won't have the ability to care for them if that does happen. One of my cats is an elderly little lady that needs medicine twice a day. From experience, she'll be off her food from the sheer fact of being transported and will be difficult to medicate. I have their care covered by friends for several days when I'm in the hospital.
Click to expand...
Could your friends also care for them longer so you could stay there for a couple of weeks? I'd hate the thought of you having to travel for that long of a time, too.
 
I'm glad to hear you've settled on a surgery date and that you like your surgeon at HSS. My suggestion would be that you stay as long as possible in the hospital, both because it will help you gain strength for the trip home and because of the holiday congestion on the roads (or snow, if that happens). If they could release you on Christmas Day, that would be perfect. Businesses are closed and most people would be where they are going on that day.

Hopefully, they'll give you some type of pain medication after surgery stronger than aspirin. You'll want that option, if at all possible. You'll be on blood thinners of some type to prevent clots and aspirin is not usually prescribed when that's the case. I'd ask about this.

You've been told correctly that your knee should be VERY strong and stable immediately after surgery. The cement used for knee replacements actually sets up and hardens into the bone while you are still in surgery. So you should have a completely different (and better!) feel to your knee when you stand for the first time.

I'm sorry you have to go through this and that your first TKR had problems. You're wise to focus on looking forward than trying to guess what may have happened with the first surgery. Hopefully, this all will become just a distant memory very soon. Hang in there and don't hesitate to post if something pops up that concerns you. ((((HUGS)))
 
Praying for the best outcome for you. I agree with everyone. If you can get your friends to look after your babies for a few extra days, that would help you avoid the Christmas rush. And just in case the weather doesn't cooperate!

As for my recovery, I am doing well. Pain is much better. I am slowly able to do more. I saw my OS , actually his resident, last week and he is quite pleased with my progress. I never told him I didn't do the home exercises!
 
Good luck with the surgery and car trip. The car trip after surgery makes it a little scarier but I know a lot of people do that and it works out fine. Do spend some time on fitting the car out to be comfortable. Anything you can do to make the ride better.
 
I'm touching base and checking in on how your doing. Please try to not over think this - easier said than done, I know. It was an excellent suggestion seeing if you could be discharged on the 25th. I would think traffic would be minimum to nonexistent.

Report in.
 
Hi. I’m not sure where to place this follow up post so I hope by it’s ok here. Hoping all had a wonderful holiday and will have 366 days of health and happiness in 2024.

To follow up, I had my TKR revision surgery on 12/21 at HSS in NYC. It was a very different experience than my initial surgery in May, just eight months earlier. I am 10 days post-op and I can only say I wish I had had the second experience the first time around. Although my leg is braced, my surgeon doesn’t want me to bend it yet, the pain and swelling are so much less than with the original surgery. I think that the pain I have had on these past 10 days is so much easier to manage than the pain I had even on the best day in the eight months following the first surgery. The brace is encumbering and frustrating because it slips down my leg onto my foot, but I can certainly deal with that considering all the pain and suffering I felt the first time. I have received one home PT visit this far. They couldn’t do much since the surgeon want my leg to stay straight, but I can and am doIng quad sets, glute squeezes (I forget the name of the exercise), ankle pumps and passive stretching exercises. I meet with the surgeon this coming week when I assume he’ll remove the staples and give me the go ahead to rehab the leg. After the first surgery (I’m still questioning what went wrong), I had thought I’d never fix the other knee. At this point though, after the revision, I see how effective TKR can be. I hope I reach a point of full range of motion this time around. I look forward to the coming days and weeks, to getting stronger, and to resuming my life. I wish the same for all who are facing and who have had TKR. Happy New Year, everyone!
 
I’m so glad this revision is already so much better than your last experience!

Here‘s a refresher course:

I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Just keep in mind all people are different, as are the approaches to this recovery and rehab. The key is, “Find what works for you.“ Your doctors, PTs and BoneSmart are available to help, but you are the final judge as to the recovery approach you choose.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines

1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary

2. Control discomfort:
rest​
ice​
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​
​
If you want to use something to help heal the incision, ​
BoneSmart recommends hypochlorous solution. Members in the US can purchase ACTIVE Antimicrobial Hydrogel through BoneSmart at a discount. Similar products should be available in the UK and other countries.​

3. Do what you want to do BUT
​
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.​
​
​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
​

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this

6. Access to these pages on the website
​

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
Your experience supports our belief that it is so very important to have an excellent and experienced surgeon for joint replacements. I’m so glad you were able to get to HSS.
 
Hi Jamie,

Thank you for your good wishes. I don’t want to cast aspersions on the surgeon who did my initial TKR. My first surgeon has an impeccable reputation at a major university hospital on the East coast. He was the fifth surgeon with whom I had consulted, over the course of a decade and he came recommended to me by another surgeon I researched and trusted. I had the utmost faith in him and, if I learned anything at all from this horrendous experience it’s that mistakes/accidents can happen to the best of us. Idk, and perhaps will never know what happened to make my replacement fail. I’ve heard “it happens” from several surgeons. That gives me little consolation. I’ve heard it can be human error, implant failure, failure of my own bones to fuse with the implant. Again, no definitive answers and little consolation for me as my other knee is just as bad as my surgical one and will need replacing when I’m ready, physically and mentally. I didn’t choose a surgeon on blind faith. I researched, read every review, interviewed patients. I did my due diligence. For whatever reason, I was unlucky - and it cost me the loss of almost a year of my life. The pain was so intolerable every day that I couldn’t get to see or play with my baby grands, see my ailing mom, live my life! I am angry and I am sad. I don’t want to dwell on what I’ve lost. So many others have fared more poorly than I. Instead, it’s a new day, a new year and I look forward to it all. Wishing you and everyone a happy and healthy New Year.
 
@sistersinhim Thank you so much!!!! I’m looking forward to taking this new knee for a whirl on the dance floor! Happy, healthy New Year!!!
 
@Jockette Thank you! This information, which I have consulted often in my TKR and revision journey, is always helpful! I’m compiling a list of questions for my post op surgical appointment and will cull from the info to help me get answers to my myriad of questions. Happy and healthy New Year!
 
Aw, thank you! I can’t wait to dance. I’m going to learn salsa and bachata. It makes me laugh every time I write that or tell someone. See you, as they say, on the dance floor!!!
 
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