TKR Total Left Knee Replacement

flacie1

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Just got home from my surgery this am. Got to hospital at 6 am and was out the door by 5:15 pm. Got 2 sessions of therapy in. So far the nerve block is still working so my pain is manageable. I was not expecting the pain behind my knee. But I’m so glad to be home. Now the hard work begins. My first therapy session wil be on Monday, but I have exercises to work on in the meantime.

So far I feel really good. I think it helped that I went in expecting the worst, I’m sure that will all change once the nerve block wears off. Lol
 
Congratulations on your new knee! Right now the most important thing for you to do is ice and elevate your knee. Ice behind your knee also. It will help with the swelling and also the pain when the nerve block wears off.
 
I ordered up a 9x24 Elasto Gel cold wrap from Amazon with 2 day ship. You will need that 6x a day!! Get a 3x3 - 9 pack of paper towels and put a pillow on top of it so you can elevate your leg while you ice. You will look forward to the ice once the block wears off. Good luck - keep the faith.
 
Hello and congratulations, @flacie1 ! Right now is not the time for "hard work"; it's the time to ice, elevate, walk around some in between the icing, and recover from the surgery you just went through. Remember, you're in charge of your recovery, and can decide what kind of PT you want, regardless of what a PT may or may not tell you. I'll leave you your own copy of the recovery guidlines; they're very helpful and easy to read. Good luck and please keep us posted on your recovery.

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!)​

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 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 a 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 history before providing advice.
 
Lovestocookandsew said it, no hard work!

Imagine 'working hard' to recover a broken leg or a sprained muscle; you can't, and walking on a broken leg or exercising a sprained muscle are counter-productive, obviously. It's much the same with TKR, you have damage needing healing, not unfitness needing training.

All you need is help retain mobility (not fitness or strength) until healing is complete. This is done with gentle stretching exercises, without pain.
 
Hope all going well ... everyone has said it... your knee needs to heal first! I’ll be 3 weeks on Monday with TKR & have followed this regime & it’s working well.. knee is gradually bending more each day... but have done a lot of icing & resting in between gentle exercises...
 
I am 3 days post op and the pain is so bad. I can’t get comfortable. I keep hoping that relief is just around the corner. Taking my pain meds on schedule and depending on the level of pain. I am resting, elevating and icing all day. I try to get up and move so I’m not just laying around. My thigh is so swollen. I am having a hard time getting out of bed or up from the couch. I cannot do it by myself. My husband will be staying home with me again tomorrow and I have my first PT appt.
 
You're doing all the right things and I'm sorry you're in so much pain. Keep icing and elevating and taking it easy. Sleep whenever you can. It took me a couple of weeks to be able to lift my leg off of the sofa or bed comfortably by myself. Please continue to take it easy (you're not just "laying around", you're healing!). I'm at 15 weeks tomorrow and I'm still icing a few days a week. Take it one step at a time, we're here to support you!
 
Like Steelergal, I also couldn’t lift my leg myself for a couple of weeks. Thankfully my husband was very caring and helpful, so don’t worry about that. You will regain that ability as things heal and settle down.

If you are in a lot of pain tomorrow when the PT comes, take things very easy and don’t let them talk you into anything you don’t think you can do. If it’s an out patient appointment, postpone it until you are feeling better.

Gentle movements and short walks are all you need these very early weeks.

I’ll ask @Jamie to come talk with you about your medication.
 
You are in the hardest of times in this recovery! Please read/listen to what everyone has written...especially all the recovery articles, they are so helpful. PT really isn't essential at first. I had a great PT who only did lymph massages the first few appointments.

I still felt like the pain was only slightly less, even when I kept to the pain medication regimen. Unfortunately (for me) it took about 5 days, before the pain was less. Whereas, many other surgeries of mine, the pain relief was immediate! Do remember this is a long recovery and we all are here to offer sympathies and virtual hugs. :console2:

Blessings during this tough time.:angel:
 
@flacie1 .... tell me what medications you are taking. I'll need to know the name(s) of the med, strength as well as what your schedule is for taking them each day. Until you can get that pain under control, you're much more likely to have swelling and inflammation. That's what we want to avoid.

Be sure and tag me in the post where you provide this information so I can see it quickly. To tag you type the "at" sign (@) and then my username with no space in between ... like this ... @Jamie.
 
@Jamie i am on oxycodone 5 mg. 1-2 pills every 4 hours. If pain is level 7-10 I take 2. If 4-5 I take 1. If between there I take 1-1/2. I’m also on Tylenol 2 extra strength every 6-8 hrs. Dr also has me on 1 baby aspirin in the am and 1 in the evening.
 
I try to get up and move so I’m not just laying around
Please continue to take it easy (you're not just "laying around", you're healing!
:thumb:
When you are icing and elevating and watching telly you are not 'dossing around' you are 'engaging a carefully considered proactively designed heuristically programmed dynamically structured recovery programme'. And that's not even a joke.
 
I’ve only just stopped using my leg lifter to get off the couch/bed & Im 3 weeks post op.... that leg did not want to move!!
But must moving it is now....!!! Definitely follow all the above advice.... your knee needs to heal first & your body recover... it will if you keep up what you are doing... I got up every hour .. walked around the house... had a loo break & then went back to icing!!

Love that carefully structured sentence @Roy Gardiner :rotfl:

Hope the pain subsides for you very quickly... it gets better every day xx
 
@flacie1 I so wanted to check in on you to see how it is going. Sounds like we are just about at the same spot, really. Interestingly, I read an article today, which I will try to relocate. The info was actually partially cited from Oregon's Providence Hospital's TKR Recovery Booklet, etc. Information went into depth about pain control and how confusing, difficult it can be.

So, utilizing MY method and MY experience with pain, the "best" my knee pain has been since surgery would be around a 4/5 at REST. According to whatever creation my hospital's pain management protocol followed, these levels apparently place me in superior pain control, Tylenol worthy. While writhing I tears on my second post-op night, I was asked "how would you rate your pain...is it manageable?" Needless to say, I lost it (another story for another day).

According to the scale, or model used by Providence Hospital, a 4-5 is "painful, annoying, irritating, barely manageable...starting to hurt a lot....at a minimum MODERATE pain."

See what I mean.

I struggle with these scales 'cause they've become an easy way for personnel to "document" that a patient was asked about pain, blah, blah, blah. But what do the scales really tell us?

Not sure I've mentioned this but I am a highly skilled, highly trained Neurological & Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. Hated orthopaedics...it was never my thing. But I know one thing...pain is personal, subjective, descriptive and beyond a number on a scale.

Seems like compassion and common sense are gone sometimes.

I hope you are feeling better.

BTW...I was discharged home on Oxycodone 5 mg every 3-4 hours as needed, along with Enteric Coated Aspirin, 325 mg daily and a stool softener.
 
@tlfiore you are so right about the pain scales. I never know how to rate my pain. It just hurts darn it!

I had my first PT yesterday, it is out of home so that was interesting getting into my truck, I haven’t been anywhere since coming home on Thursday. I’m glad I finally had therapy, I actually felt better after going. I have very little bend to my knee which I need to work on. We tried one exercise that was excruciating and when I asked her to stop she did and we worked on something else. The hardest part of therapy was getting there. Getting comfortable riding in my truck and getting in and out.

I can tell hubby is getting tired of helping me and he’s frustrated. Doesn’t help that our son is also getting sick, and he’s going to have to take him to the dr. I could probably go, but I’m sure it will wear me out. Would it be a bad idea for me to go along to the pediatrician? He is pretty close to home so we wouldn’t be going too far.

I was able to do some work from home yesterday which helped me feel somewhat normal. My boss is really cool about letting me work from home, he can’t survive without me...lol.
 
I have very little bend to my knee which I need to work on.
Working on your bend won't help it. Getting the swelling and inflammation down will. Gentle movements that don't cause pain is the answer for that. Just walking is a good one.
Doesn’t help that our son is also getting sick, and he’s going to have to take him to the dr. I could probably go, but I’m sure it will wear me out.
If I were you, I'd keep away from your son in case he has something catching. You are so soon out of surgery that I'm sure your resistance is down and you could pick up something easily. You don't need to add that to your body who's already concentrating on healing that knee.
 
@sistersinhim thank you for your advice. I’m definitely not pushing it when it comes to bending. I am trying to get and walk as much as I can. I live in a 2 story home and guess where my 1 bathroom is? So every time I have to go potty I have to climb the stairs. Surprisingly they aren’t that daunting. Hubby will be back to work tomorrow and we practiced me doing it unassisted and I feel confident that I will be ok.

I do wonder if I have over done the icing? Seems like a strange question but I can barely stand icing my knee right now. I have many layers of towels between the ice and my knee. I have been using a combo of the hot ice machine and ice packs. I can only stand having the ice on for maybe 15 mins.
 
Officially 1 week post op and I am miserable. I stopped taking the pain meds because of the awesome side effects. So today I am managing my pain with Tylenol and ice. Still have lots of swelling. Icing hurts andicany figure out why. So I just do it for about 10-15 mins a time. Work on my therapy exercises. Then plop back down on the couch and watch my dvr’d stuff.

I was hoping this was going to be easier than it has been. But everyone is different and I just need to let my body do it’s thing. I have been trying to use my cane but I have my walker close by.
 

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