TKR Twelve hours post op

Marilyn7

new member
Joined
Jan 9, 2021
Messages
9
Age
65
Country
United States United States
Gender
Female
I had a left tkr about twelve hours ago. Surprisingly I am doing really good at this point. They gave me a knee nerve block which will last until tomorrow sometime. I think that is making a big difference. I’ve been up walking and using the bathroom with a pain level of only 3-4. I took a low dose pain pill twice today. Mainly because they said they don’t want the pain to get ahead of me. So I’m quite happy today, however I think tomorrow is going to be a whole different story. I will let you know.
 
@Marilyn7 Congratulations on your new knee :flwrysmile: Even though your pain is under control now do elevate and ice your leg. That will help reduce any swelling and stiffness in addition to helping with any pain you have. I hope your healing and recuperation goes smoothly!
 
Welcome to the Recovery side!

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.

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 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.
 
Being happy tomorrow is quite possible and good. You may be on your way home, it's all done and dusted.
You sound like you are recovering like me, just accept it might sting a bit on occasion, but keep taking as much pain medication as you can, lots of icing and elevation, but no PT other than gentle exercises.
99.9% of the time I almost enjoyed my recovery (twice☺️)
 
Glad to have you here on Bonsmart! Be sure and read the articles. They will help you have the best recovery without a whole lot of swelling and pain.
 
WOW!! Your doing great!! Glad your pain level is low 3-4 I am sure the block has an awful lot to do with that. I have had some replacements where its been that way for me but not all the time. I had my 7th TKR Dec.31st 3 weeks ago. I would be beyond happy if my pain would drop to a 5 or even a 6. So far I am averaging a 7 there are some days its pushing towards an 8 even more so if I do too much and there are some that its closer to a 6. Keep in mind this is a long road recovery wise and also keep in mind no two people heal the same way. Some therapist truly believe the harder they push you the faster you will heal, sorry but that is pure BS. If you overdo it your knee will let you know in no uncertain terms. Daily activities will get you back to normal just have to have patience.
 
Thank you everyone for your well wishes and advice. I came home today. I’m still doing good. I think may still be having some help from the block. My knee is stiff and sore but that is to be expected. How often and how long should I ice? I am exhausted and hope I can sleep tonight since in the hospital last night was impossible to sleep. So many interruptions. So good to be home. I’m also going to the two pills of pain med that I’m allowed . I only took one last night but my knee seemed to hurt more at night. Also, I kept moving it to try and find a comfortable position. It felt good when on my back but I can’t sleep on my back. Hope I can find a comfortable position tonight. Also I’m so tired it might make it easier to sleep. Physical therapy comes tomorrow but think it will be mainly just an evaluation.
I’m sorry Nfenske that your having so much pain. Everyone is different so please don’t get discouraged. Hopefully soon you will start to feel better. Sometimes it just happens all of a sudden. When I had an Achilles’ tendon repair that was what happened to me. I was getting so discouraged and then all of a sudden the tide changed and I started really improving and pain became much less. Hope that happens to you. Hang in there you will turn the corner.
 
Congrats on your new knee. You are doing well and I hope you continue to do so. As you have already found out, ice as much was possible. Make sure you evelevate your leg so your toes are 'above your nose' This way your swelling will continue to diminish.
 
It felt good when on my back but I can’t sleep on my back. Hope I can find a comfortable position tonight
I was never a back sleeper until I had this partial done. The only comfortable position for me was on my back, with my legs elevated on the foam wedge the hospital sent home with me. I also had an adjustable bed at the time, and I’d raise the head up just a little bit.
 
I was never a back sleeper, but TKR, and THR made it necessary for a little bit of time for each. With my knee I couldn't sleep anywhere but my recliner for the first 6 weeks.
 
I iced the whole time I was laying or sitting down. This was hours at a time all day and all night. When my ice melted and the water became warmer, my knee would start aching. Ice is a wonderful pain reliever! I even used it on a broken ankle and cracked ribs! You can not over ice unless you don't have a cloth between your leg and the ice pack. That keeps your skin from getting freezer burnt.
 
Thank you all for your input. I am trying to ice almost continually and that is helping. I am sometimes able to sleep for a little bit on my back but still try and get on my side. Friday night I was so exhausted I did sleep a big part of the night but intermittent. I had to take pain med once during the night. Last night was a little more difficult I guess I wasn’t exhausted as the night before. It would take a bit to get comfortable and then if my knee felt ok I didn’t want to move because I would be in pain again. But after awhile you get tired of being in same position. On the whole I’ve been very lucky and doing pretty good but it is definitely an up and down process. Will try and ice more at night. Thank you for your ideas.
 
I’ve been home 1 week now and coming along. The nights are still definitely rough.I’ve been trying to ice more frequently and it does help. The days have ups and downs. Some days I feel like I’m really doing well then the next day seems like a step back. My pt said it’s important to try and work on straightening my leg. He said bending will come but however straight you are able to get your leg at 3-4 weeks will be it. Does anyone know if this is true? Also has anyone else used a zero degree knee foam? They want me to use it five hours a day, which I haven’t been able to do yet. Your supposed to use it an hour at a time but the most I can do is thirty minutes. It is very painful but I keep trying to push myself as I want to be e able to straighten my knee. If anyone has had any experience with this please let me know.
 
He said bending will come but however straight you are able to get your leg at 3-4 weeks will be it. Does anyone know if this is true?
This is not true. ROM, both bend and extension, can continue way past a year, and even longer. Mine did. I even continued to see improvement in my third year post op. I really don’t understand why some medical personnel believe this.

I just googled the zero degree knee foam and I can see why it’s painful for you. Keeping your knee straight for a set length of time only causes pain, as you have found, at this early stage of recovery. Doing anything that causes pain is counterproductive. Walking is good for extension, especially concentrating on heel to toe steps, but don’t walk to excess, and over time as you heal, and as your swelling goes down, your entire ROM will improve by default.

Don’t push yourself to do anything painful, it’s not necessary. Many members have had wonderful recoveries by treating their knee gently.
 
Our surgeries were a day apart!! Sounds like your doing as well as can be expected! I’ve always preferred heat over ice but from this site knew the advice is overwhelmingly use ice so I asked for ice pack on the way from recovery to my room. It’s so huge in this surgery.
I will be watching watching your post.
 
My knee was still at +4 degrees of extension @Marilyn7, but at 2 years I'm at -1. The whole myth about "only so long to get ROM" is a lie and we have countless members here that can attest to that. You don't need to use a torture device to get your ROM, that ROM is hiding behind all of the swelling, and that kind of device is only going to make the swelling worse and limit your ROM even more. The BoneSmart approach is much gentler on your knee, but will still give you the best recovery you can get. Hope you will join those of us that chose not to suffer pain for no gain, the harder you push, the more swelling, the less ROM.
 
My extension lagged behind my bend. It was about 8 months before I was straight. The easier way I worked on it was to walk with a longer stride, heel to toe.

You aren't even two weeks out of recovery and the last thing you should be worrying about is ROM. Your #1 job is to heal. As long as your knee is swollen your ROM will be worse. Working hard to try to improve ROM has a reverse effect and causes more swelling worsening your ROM. Don't sweat it, you have years to still improve it.
 
Thank you both for the input. It makes me feel so much better to know that I don’t have to torture myself in order to get a straight knee. I like the walking tip .
 
No torture necessary, just add time and gentle activities, and out comes a fully functional knee @Marilyn7.
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
65,181
Messages
1,597,074
BoneSmarties
39,365
Latest member
Dave4562
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom