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Revision TKR Totally recovered at last!

That's OK. Shall we write some more new mantras?
I'll start with "Your knee is the boss. Listen to it." and "Be kind to your knee and kind to yourself."

However, we'd better not take this thread off topic any further. :wink:
 
Hi newlibionic,
Good luck with your return to work tomorrow. Regarding sleeping - the only way I could sleep is on my back with a few pillows stacked under my knee, with a pillow under each arm so that I don't roll over. I try to sleep on my side every night because I miss it so much but still can't do it. It works for maybe 10 minutes then the knee lets me know this won't work. I also wish my OS had done both knees. I had to wait 2 years to build up the courage to go back for the 2nd knee!
 
I tried all suggestions for sleeping in my bed to no avail. I'm just going to sleep in my comfy recliner. My first day at a new job went well. I had a lot of computer learning classes to do. I sat for periods of time and then got up and walked around a little. I think I actually feel better on my feet than sitting! I wasn't able to elevate my leg at all so I did get a decent amount of swelling. I took a tramadol in the middle of the afternoon to decrease some of the achiness. I am a medical professional so when I start doing direct patient care I never take anything that could affect my alertness. I am on Diclofenic to decrease inflammation from too much therapy. After I went through all the problems with my stomach I have to be very careful with anything that could affect it.
 
Hi newlybionic,
I wish I would have had a recliner to sleep I for the first 2 months - sounds real comfortable. Glad you got your first day back at work under your belt. I remember my knee being very angry with me when I went back to work, hence the swelling but it eventually passed.
 
I had some good extra time before having to work, but since I'm new I have to go straight into fulltime. Fortunately for me 32 hours is enough. 30 hours when I'm working with patients, 3 days 10 hours a day. That will be almost consistently on my feet. I have ice on now for more than an hour and I'll keep it on until the pack defrosts!
 
10 hours! That's a long day.
Do make sure that you do almost nothing else on work days. Come home and rest, ice, elevate.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I didn't sleep well last night and felt exhausted all day at work. My calf and knee are really swollen but I'm not in a lot of pain. I just wish I could elevate it at work but it's not possible. My new job is very interesting and I'm learning a lot. I'm going into a new speciality in nursing. I'll be 61 in 2 more days. This will keep me active until I hope there will be,a grandchild born. Then all bets are off! I hoping I'll sleep better tonight. Back to work in the morning!
 
Does anyone else have this problem? The bottom half of my incision is almost invisible but the tope half is a reddish purple color on the incision. It looks like someone draw it on.

Once again I'm going up late with my achy knees. Eventually I'll just collapse!! Lol.
 
newlybionic said:
Does anyone else have this problem? The bottom half of my incision is almost invisible but the tope half is a reddish purple color on the incision...
Click to expand...


Definitely! The incision scar from my first TKR changed color all the time- like a mood ring, ha ha. That knee is one year old now and an inch and a half or so near the top of the scar is still somewhat wide and purplish. My OS thinks it will fade eventually, however I notice he changed up his incision closure method when he replaced my other knee. That incision looks awesome and appears to be healing much faster.
 
Yep! Only my scar is opposite of yours - very faint on the top half and some purple areas on the bottom. My PT says it should eventually fade.


TKR 08/26/15

Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
I now have made it through 3 days at work. My knee swells up which I understand but the lower part of my leg swells to the point of being painful! I have ice on my knee and my leg is elevated. It took a few hours last evening but the swelling did go down. Has anyone else experienced anything like this. My ankle and foot was even swollen so much I could feel it in my sneaker. I'm just aching through my entire leg.
 
Day 3 of my return to work also and my foot is swollen up huge. It doesn't hurt it's just totally fat foot and looks disgusting. My knee is a little swollen but not painful. So you are not the only one!


TKR 08/26/15

Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
Yes, my ankle really swells if I don't elevate at work. What worked for me was an armless chair on wheels that I plop a pillow on and prop my leg up on. It rolls with my desk chair.
 
In fortunately I don't have a time or place to elevate my leg at all at work. My knee calf is so swollen too. It's hard as a rock!! I feel like my leg weighs 100 lbs! Some of the swelling is normal for me since it notice my other leg is slghly swollen. O the joys of old age coming towards me!! I have off tomorrow so I'm going to look for some compression socks to help. The elastic stockings from the hospital are up and not my thigh so I'm not fighting to get the on. I'm sitting with my leg elevated now and my leg is getting smaller.
 
Once again no sleep. My knee is much more achy today. My shin is also very painful and stiff and I'm not sure why that's happening. I have a MRI scheduled on my other knee on Saturday. That one seems to occasionally seems like all the parts get out of place and it's extremely hard to walk because it wants to give out. I really can't do anything about it right now because I just started a new job. With everything I went through withe the TKR I am also so afraid to go through that again. The pain was just unbearable. Every pain med made me so sick and then the aspirin I was taking twice a day caused abdominal pain even though I used the coated ones. Add constipation and the depression and I was just miserable. At 2 months out the GI Doctor thought I might have developed an ulcer. Fortunately with medications and stopping the aspirin my stomach slowly got better. I should be happy with having a new job but I'm just very depressed. I see the doctor Tuesday for the MRI results and also for a checkup on the surgical leg which was starting to lose ROM and had increased pain. I feel like I can't win!
 
@Josephine I am experiencing a lot of pain on the front of my shins from knee to ankle. I read your info on that pain and it was probably due to the swelling of my legs when I was at work this week. The swelling has gone down but the pain is getting worse. I had wanted to go out to get some support hos but it's very painful to walk. Has anyone else had this happened? I'm closing in on 4 months out and at times I just don't know if I'll ever feel better.
 
Good Luck with the compression hose. I tried wearing the thigh-high version at work after my first TKR, unfortunately my knee would swell as my shift progressed, causing the stockings to feel overly restrictive. So I switched to the knee-high version but those hurt, too! Don't worry, this difficult phase of recovery won't last forever.
 
Don't use support hose - the very worst thing you can do as your calves - compartments - are already under pressure
 
Josephine said:
Don't use support hose - the very worst thing you can do as your calves - compartments - are already under pressure
Click to expand...
Well, there you go! I'll add that both times I tried to wear the stockings to work I ended up rolling them down to my ankle - just too uncomfortable!
 
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