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Week 3 Recovery Progress

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cassie811

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Nov 15, 2009
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Hello All! I am in my third week of recovery after TKR on my left knee on October 30. I just finished my home PT and will start with an outpatient PT group next week. At this point, I feel like I am doing okay. I get in at least two exercise sessions a day. Most of my pain occurs at night when it seems like my knee gets rock hard at which time I try to massage and ice. I tend to elevate the left leg at night for comfort.
I ice as much as I can take. I am now using the cane and do a bit of walking around the house throughout the day. I use my stairs (13 steps) in my exercise routine.
I do have a question. How does cold weather affect the KR? Can I expect to have to warm my knee up with a heating pad on those chilly days?
 
Hi Cassie and Welcome, I live in the UK so you can imagine how it is here, colddddd. I tend to just start off easy when I exercise to warm my knees up.
Then ice, ice and more ice. Good luck with your recovery, you sound like you are doing well. X
 
Hi Cassie, I'm 2 weeks post op tomorrow and working hard on improving my ROM. I'm curious as to what yours is at 3 weeks. I find the morning the worst as far as feeling stiff is concerned - takes a while to get it going.
 
Hi, Cassie. Welcome to BoneSmart. So glad you joined us!

You didn't mention any pain medication....what are you taking? It sounds to me like you are undermedicated at night. It's quite common to have nighttime pain and usually folks need to take something to sleep for several months following surgery. It can be prescription meds or something over-the-counter, but you probably do need something. That discomfort you're feeling is really a form of pain.
 
The cold will very likely affect your knee but only in terms of aching and stiffness. That needs medicating as Jamie has said. I wouldn't think you'd actually need to warm it up! :hehe: Makes it sound like a car engine!

btw - welcome to the BoneSmart family!
 
My @home PT listed me at 103 on my paperwork referral for outpatient PT. Is there a way for us to self measure? Or is this information you can only get from a therapist? Thanks
 
Hi Jamie I am currently taking Hydrocodone (Norco) 10-325 MG. Kaiser is my healthcare provider and I can tell you it is HARD to get them to dose out anthing stronger. They tried Percocet but they did nothing at all. So I take 2 every 4-6 hours depending on how I feel or if I am in not in a lot of pain I take 1. The night pain seems to be a bit more powerful than the pain meds :) but I will just it a day at a time.
 
Hi Jamie I am currently taking Hydrocodone (Norco) 10-325 MG. Kaiser is my healthcare provider and I can tell you it is HARD to get them to dose out anthing stronger. They tried Percocet but they did nothing at all. So I take 2 every 4-6 hours depending on how I feel or if I am in not in a lot of pain I take 1. The night pain seems to be a bit more powerful than the pain meds :) but I will just it a day at a time.

Cassie, I am glad to see you are on a schedule for pain meds at this early stage. I too took hydrocodone, but mine were 500 mg....a little stronger. I was on the same schedule as you.

Why don't you give your doctor a call and explain the nighttime problem. Maybe he could give you something a little stronger just for nighttime. If not, just be sure you are icing all night long. I used the big gel packs (2 of them so I could ice all around my knee) and changed them once during the night. I always kept 2 extra in the freezer so I'd NEVER run out of ice.

You might also try Benedryl to help you sleep. It doesn't really do anything for pain, but my doctor's nurse recommended it to help me sleep more soundly. You can take 1-2 capsules at bedtime along with your pain meds.
 
Hey Cassie welcome i stil say we have a built in radar system in our knees now can tell when its raining before going outside mine is stiff to im just keeping up with the massages and hope that works........glad your doing ok tho post anytime......)
 
Wow Dawnie, you live somewhere I hope to travel to one day. Okay you are right so it is brrrrr cold there. I just told my hubby that I am putting my foot down and set the thermo to crank up the heat for at least an hour in the morning! LOL
 
Cassie,
I'm at 7 weeks and it seems for me that the first 10-15 steps is stiff for me when I get up after sitting for any length of time. After that things seem to loosen up. So now I'm in the habit of when I first stand up I do a couple of shallow knee bends just to get the creakies out before I head off anywhere walking. It does sound like you're doing quite well though! I'm only at 94 degrees for bending so far, and I was super happy to achieve that!

Gale
RTKR 10/5/09
 
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