Will I feel better? I am 68 yrs old, and 10 weeks post-TKR (also known as the Dragon). My ROM has always been pretty good and is now 122. A week after surgery it was 115 so I guess that's some improvement. But I STILL have some pain and am taking tramadol or Advil. The tramadol helps the "hot spots" on the outside of the knee, but causes constipation more than Advil. With Advil I have to take it with a couple of crackers and it doesn't do as much and I still often get a stomach ache. Ugh.
Not only is this surgery a pain in the knee, it is a pain in the butt and the constant struggle can get very depressing. That is why I joined this forum. My experience so far is there are good days (rare) and then the Dragon shows up and says, NO WAY, and you have several bad days, and the Dragon says GOOD! I normally feel crappy and I am/was a healthy thin non-crappy feeling person before this surgery. I had bone and bone caused by arthritis and thought I should have this surgery before things got too bad.
My highly rated doctor told me there'd be two weeks where it's quite rough and then you slowly begin to get better. NOT. My knee feels like there's a tennis ball in there wanting to come out and play. I complained again about pain to my doctor in January and she prescribed a 6-day steroid pack methylprednisolone for the swelling. It did seem to help with the swelling but not for long; the Dragon wouldn't have me smiling.
I have noticed that I hurt more during and after physical therapy and am tempted to stop that, even though it's supposed to be so helpful. I don't know about you but I hate having my painful knee pushed down really hard until I almost cry. I stick with it because I don't want to fail in my recovery and this is what my doctor wants me to do.
I haven't even gotten to the interrupted sleep and awful fatigue. I am worried I will feel like this for another six months. I am close to looking into getting a therapist, the mental kind. If only I had the money for one, but hey, Medicare doesn't cover this like they cover a TKR.
Sorry so long, but Leonard Cohen didn't write "Hallelujah" in a day.
Not only is this surgery a pain in the knee, it is a pain in the butt and the constant struggle can get very depressing. That is why I joined this forum. My experience so far is there are good days (rare) and then the Dragon shows up and says, NO WAY, and you have several bad days, and the Dragon says GOOD! I normally feel crappy and I am/was a healthy thin non-crappy feeling person before this surgery. I had bone and bone caused by arthritis and thought I should have this surgery before things got too bad.
My highly rated doctor told me there'd be two weeks where it's quite rough and then you slowly begin to get better. NOT. My knee feels like there's a tennis ball in there wanting to come out and play. I complained again about pain to my doctor in January and she prescribed a 6-day steroid pack methylprednisolone for the swelling. It did seem to help with the swelling but not for long; the Dragon wouldn't have me smiling.
I have noticed that I hurt more during and after physical therapy and am tempted to stop that, even though it's supposed to be so helpful. I don't know about you but I hate having my painful knee pushed down really hard until I almost cry. I stick with it because I don't want to fail in my recovery and this is what my doctor wants me to do.
I haven't even gotten to the interrupted sleep and awful fatigue. I am worried I will feel like this for another six months. I am close to looking into getting a therapist, the mental kind. If only I had the money for one, but hey, Medicare doesn't cover this like they cover a TKR.
Sorry so long, but Leonard Cohen didn't write "Hallelujah" in a day.