Tomorrow is the day.

[Kimgrif]

My RTKR is tomorrow. I'm *very* nervous, but am anxious to get my life back. I'll post again when I'm able, I won't have access (that I am aware of at this time) while I'm in the hospital.

See you on the other side!

 

[beachcomber]

All the best to you! We'll be thinking of you and anxiously waiting to hear from you again! Just keep your eye on the prize. No one says it is easy--- but you sure hear a lot of people here saying it is SO worth it!

 

[schoust]

Hi Kim I was exactly were you are seven day's ago today and my advice is to try and get a good night's sleep and relax. These two things are tough to do at this time but they are a must! I was very,very nervouse but once I got to the Hospital in the A.m. things started to move at a very fast pace in fact it was so fast that it was over before I new it started! Lol!! Relax it will all be Ok. Let us know how everything turns out....
Ralph

 

[JenniferG]

Happy healing Kim. Fear and excitement a close cousins. Call it excited! I am for you. look forward to hearing back after. Jen

 

[NLVCa]

Good luck Kim!

No one has said it is easy. I'm now 10 days post op and finding out how true those words are.

We all have to keep the end result in mind rather than focusing on the immediate.

Vern

 

[Michele]

Hi Kim

Just wanted to wish you luck for tomorrow, I can't speak from experience but from what I have heard from a number of friends and friends of friends the TKR is the best thing that has happened to them.
Good Luck, keep smiling, I am sure that all will go well and you will see a positive future.

Kind regards
Michele

 

[Sandy R]

Kim... good luck and smooth sailing. I'll be where you are next month. And, I know I'll be nervous and anxious, too.

 

[Nursepair]

Kim, good luck tomorrow. I will be thinking of you. Don't worry, it is wonderful (in future weeks) to be out of pain in your knee joint!!

Make sure you take the Stool Softeners!! If you don't believe me read some of Patti's posts back in January/February!!

Take care. Sue

 

[Gretchendz]

Best wishes...and for sure what Sue said about the stool softeners

 

[Josephine]

We'll be rooting for you, Kim! God bless!

 

[Linda2]

Kim--I will be wishing the best for you. Along with those stool softeners, drink a lot of water--it helps the stool softeners. You will be posting on the other side before you know it.

 

[ttlncsc]

Hello Kim,

God's speed, good health, good heeling....look forward to seeing you post following the surgery. Take care, Tom

 

[Kimgrif]

I'm home as of this afternoon. I'm all looped up on painkillers though so won't be typing much tonight. Surgery was great, they made sure I was OUT. I don't even remember getting the spinal.

The cpm machine at the hospital was broken, but not in such a way that the nurses could tell. I kept telling them something was wrong and they just kept telling me it was fine...finally the foot rest fell OFF the thing. then they realized there was a problem. for extension, one pass it would be nothing, the next pass would be so high I was clawing to get out of it. same with flexion. so, the foot pedal was turning in such a way that they couldn't SEE it malfunctioning, therefor wouldn't believe me.

the PT hasn't been too bad, I've been working hard. my rom is bad at the moment (like at 60), but I haven't had much ice on it at all since surgery (compression wraps instead). Now i'm home and have the kodiak on it and this is sheer heaven. oh my word! I love this thing!

I think i pulled a muscle in my hip today though after my last session with the cpm machine caused so much swelling that it made my leg too heavy. at my morning PT I was able to do all 10 leg lifts. at afternoon PT, i couldn't do one and I think I pulled my hip muscle in the process of trying. therapist told me to go home and do NOTHING the rest of the day. no exercises, no cpm (with my home machine), just to relax and rest. I have outpatient therapy tomorrow.

 

[stwalker]

Keep up the good work. It sounds like you are doing all the right things and are really motivated. That's what it takes to get better. There will be good days and bad days. If you get discouraged just come here and let everyone give you pep talks. That's what I do and it works. Good luck on your recovery.

Sue

 

[gloucesterman]

God Bless you Kim, Glad to hear you are in such good spirits!! I only hope I feel the same way after mine on the 4th..... Nervously waiting the day.
Real Happy you are doing well!
gloucesterman

 

[Linda2]

Glad to see you here on the other side. Don't you just love it when the hospital folks won't listen to you! I had 60 flexion on the day I came home from the hospital. it was 111 three weeks later, so there's hope to improve it. Keep plugging away.

 

[carolinagirl]

Welcome home Kim,
Just hang in there. Everyday there is improvement, even if it is a little at the time, but its improvement and healing!
You are on your way to your new life without that awful pain!
Take care and keep up the good work.

 

[Kimgrif]

what simply amazes me, and continues to do so, is that there is absolutely NO knee pain when I walk. You know what I'm talking about. The pre-surgery "simply walking" pain that you have learned to live with. That pain is GONE. There is the muscular and incisional pain, of course, but that will go away with time and work, but the bone pain is gone. It's such a FREEING feeling. I can't describe it.

Those of you who are still waiting and are anxious, there's nothing anyone can say that will make you less anxious, I know. I've been there. But right now I'm not even a week out and would go have the left knee done without hesitation should it come to it.

I must wrap this session up, the Percoset is starting to settle in. I'm trying to wean back on them when I can, taking only a half dose if I don't anticipate doing anything big in the next 3-4 hours.

Oh, and the stool softeners? They read them off on my discharge medication list, but didn't GIVE me any, so...*gulp* I'm putting BeneFiber into everything I drink until I can get hold of my doctor! LOL

 

[JenniferG]

Kim I'm sorry but I have to ask. You are 5-6 days post KR and trying to wean off pain meds?! I know we all want to be careful when it comes to heavy duty narcotics but if there is a time in your life the use of drugs is acceptable it is with bone pain, cut sawed, pounded, glued, and now walk on it bone pain none the less. They work way better whne you take them on a dosing schedule before pain sets in. If you take them after you start hurting more, it takes longer to feel better and less effective. With a full dose at this stage you will PT better & sleep better. Trust me, and many of us who tried to do less. You'll be better for it. Plus you never know when Josephine might whip out the chart! (love ya Jo!)

 

[ship4]

Kim,
As far as a stool softener, go to the grocery or drug store and pick up Colace. That is the general stool softner. It is a pill you take like a vitamin in the AM. I am still on my meds and still taking the stool softener.
Best,
Crystal