TKR Total Left Knee Replacement

@flacie1 tomorrow is 9 weeks post op for me. Still having issues sleeping, but greatful I can get it in 3 to 4 hour chunks. I am currently scheduled to return to work middle December, so I don't need my brain yet.

For hubby, I found if I said, I know what I want, I can walk you through how to make it..worked for both of us! He is still doing all grocery shopping and cooking...yes I have a keeper husband :yes!: !

BS and my TKR is teaching me patience....hang in there and keep posting!
 
I am very blessed to still have my parents. I am young though, 48, my parents are in their mid 70’s and I think get along pretty well. They live about 45 mins away. I wish they were closer but I guess it’s better than being hours apart.

Today is day 15 P.O., I’m off the pain meds and I don’t feel like my pain is ever high enough to warrant taking a pill. I’m managing with Tylenol every 6 hours. Don’t get me wrong, I’m in pain and struggle nightly with getting comfortable to sleep. I miss side sleeping. I don’t think I can manage that one yet. I’m using my polar cube a lot these past few days to help with the pain and swelling. I get around pretty good in the house using either my cane or my walker. Today is a Veterans Day assembly at my sons school, so I am going to try to go, if I get uncomfortable DH will bring me home. I just don’t know what to wear....I usually wear blue jeans but I seriously doubt I’d be comfortable in them just yet, so I’m guessing a pair of cotton pants are in order. I have a pair from LL Bean that I can wear. I’ll feel self conscious in them but comfort over anything else.

This morning when DH was getting ready to leave to take our son to school the dog went nuts and jumped on the couch, didn’t hit my knee but got me in the calf. I’m ok but this dog....ugh sometimes I want to strangle him. He’s lucky he’s cute. I don’t know why he has to go nuts, he’s not being left alone, I’m here and not going anywhere.

Need to work on my stretching and strength exercises. I know the quad will wake up eventually and I see more and more progress with my abilities every day. Just that weight bearing is very sketchy right now.
 
I miss side sleeping. I don’t think I can manage that one yet.

I'm a side or stomach sleeper so I loathed sleeping on my back, but it was the only option for the longest time. I think about 6 weeks I was finally able to sleep some on my side. I'm 12 weeks now and can sleep on either side fairly comfortably but I still use a pillow between my knees. I also sometimes wake up on my stomach, it gets easier, it just takes some time. Last night I surprised myself and completely flipped from one side to the other without flailing, something I haven't been able to do thus far
 
I think it was about 6 weeks for me too. The pillow between my knees never felt right. Suddenly I could sleep on my side again.
 
Another fun side effect, dry skin. Wow. I’ve never been so dry. I put some lotion on today and freaked myself out a bit, as I was rubbing it on my calf it was tender. Made me start worrying about blood clots. I texted my mom, she’s a nurse, she made me feel better about it. But still a bit unsettling because I know what a risk blood clots are at this stage.

Went to the Veterans Day assembly at my son’s school and I am beat. Got home and wound up taking a nap for about 30 min. It was a nice program and so neat that my dad could be there, he’s an Army vet. It was difficult sitting through the program but I made it. By the time I got home the pain behind my knee was intense. So to the couch I went and iced the back and front of the knee.
 
I am amazed you were able to get to your son's school at only 2 weeks out. Wow. All I was able to do was stay in the house and do my daily activities. You did the right thing by coming home and icing. I hope it helped.
 
@sistersinhim it was nice getting out, but I’m paying for it. Up at 2:00 am an unable to get comfortable, I’m now down on the couch icing again. Praying for sleep.
 
Are you also elevating your knee above your heart? That will help to get the swelling down. That swelling adds to the pain.

I pray you feel better really quickly.
 
I only use 1 pillow to elevate as more are uncomfortable. I’ve tried many different pillows and combinations of pillows and more than 1 is too much.
 
@flacie1 You sound like you are really making some great strides. It is wonderful that you are managing without narcotic pain relief. I've never been a huge Tylenol fan; however for whatever reason, Tylenol works wonders with this TKR pain. Attempting to get in a comfortable position seems impossible at times. I find elevation, rest and icing are my best friends. I try icing as much as possible because icing seems to help when other things fail.

I am happy you are getting around so well but please take it easy and slow. Hugs!
 
Last edited:
@tlfiore i haven’t seen you ppst In a few days, I was wondering how you were doing. Yes ice is my best friend, if I’m not up I’m icing. DH and I are out and about running errands and heading to the grocery store.
 
@flacie1 HELLO my friend! Yes, I've been somewhat out-of-commission the past few days but I just posted an update under my recovery thread.

You are so kind & thoughtful for thinking about me! Thank you! I've thought about you with well wishes every single day.

Please keep posting! I enjoy reading your updates!
 
Just got home from running errands and going to the grocery store. I couldn’t wait to get back home. I had been ordering groceries online and DH has been picking it up but I miss going and picking out my own stuff. I’m now sitting on the couch, leg elevated and ice on. I would have preferred going earlier to avoid the crowd but it’s done and I can relax the rest of the day.
 
@flacie1 , I have just been catching up on the past few days posts! I'm "old-ish" and I am also blessed to still have my parents in my life. We live about 5 hours away so visits don't happen often, but we do keep up by phone! They are 88 and 86, doing quite well for themselves! My dad just recently stopped driving himself, because of eyesight, but I have a sister who lives 10 minutes away from them and she helps with those type of things...

You do seem to be progressing quite well! My set backs started as I returned to work full time, around 8-9 weeks. I am doing well on the weekends and can even walk part of my usual routine, about 25 minutes now....and no setbacks! Yay! we just keep doing what the knee allows us to do, right!? I go to PT 1x /week and every 3rd time is a massage instead of exercises. Last week we added a few different exercises that woke me up in the middle of the night 2 nights straight, but I don't know which exercise (s) it was because nothing hurt during PT! :what:

Oh well life is good glad to hear you're I & E now (so am I). Happy weekend!:happyfeet:
 
I only use 1 pillow to elevate as more are uncomfortable. I’ve tried many different pillows and combinations of pillows and more than 1 is too much.
Do you have a recliner that you can lay back with your foot on that pillow. That should help get your knee higher.
 
You can only do the best you can to elevate without extra pain.
 
My calf really hurts. Is this normal...I make myself crazy about blood clots and any pain makes me crazy.
 
Been up since 3:00. Can’t fall back to sleep. Thinking of heading down to the couch to ice and maybe get some sleep, but that would entail waking DH, who is on the couch.
 
I shifted from the bed to the recliner for about 2-3 weeks. Do you have a spare bed your husband could sleep in? You need to sleep as much as you can, whenever and wherever you can.
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

  • mendogal
    Staff member since November 10, 2023

Forum statistics

Threads
65,179
Messages
1,597,053
BoneSmarties
39,363
Latest member
HikerWalker
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom