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Revision TKR Woohoo I'm starting to feel better!

Ah thank you Kneeper. You are so kind and supportive. I may have overdone it. I just can't seem to find the right level or amount. I am still confused. Doesn't help being sleep deprived either x
 
Hiya NanaMoon! I had that happen to me yesterday. My knee felt kinda good yesterday morning. I took it easy, iced and elevated anyway & then around 1pm, it got swollen and tight and stiff and painful. One of the great bonesmarties here reminded me to not try and figure out 'why' things like that happen, but to just accept them. Boo. I guess our knees are like petulant kids sometimes and just decide to act up for the sake of doing so. All we can do is keep trying to follow the mantra the best we can and hope that tomorrow will be better.

It is tough to figure out what is enough and what is too much. You're still so early in. Aside from going to PT and trips to the kitchen, the bathroom & a couple laps around the house, I think you should be parking your tush on the couch with an ice pack and the remote control! :-)

I hope you are finding some restful sleep tonight my friend. Being overtired makes everything seem worse. Believe me, I know. ((hugs))
 
Ah thanks DogLoverx3 it's nearly 3 am I'm going to turn all lights off. Electrical appliances inc mobile phone and imagine I'm somewhere warm instead of here ha ha ! Chat tomorrow xxx hugs xxx
 
Geez just watching that jumping emoticon I out on the last message wears me out just looking at it ha ha xxxx
 
@NanaMoon .... I think you're going at this sleep thing all wrong. You're trying way too hard to force your body into a "regular" pattern of sleep and awake cycles. For many people, they just don't have that for a while after surgery. For whatever reason, your body may only be able to do short bursts of sleep right now. You need to go with that and quit fighting sleep when you're tired. You are doing yourself more harm than good when you "force" your body to do anything. Instead try listening to your body and doing what it's telling you.

That means, take a nap when you're sleepy. If you wake up during the night and it's because of pain, it menas you need more pain medication. If you really cannot get back to sleep for whatever reason, get up and grab your walker for a few circles around the house. Sometimes just that little bit of exercise will make you more comfortable when you go back to bed. Make sure you are icing through the night too. It can make you more comfortable along with the pain meds.

Your regular sleep pattern will return, but it may be on vacation for a while. Most people begin to sleep 5-8 hours at night by the second month or so. This is completely normal!!! What's not normal is trying to stay up when your body tells you it needs to sleep. During sleep is the time that your body heals the most.
 
Well, you've heard it from the best NanaMoon, I guess you should put naps back in the rotation :spin: (<rotation, get it? hahahahaha). Honestly, I got better rest during my 'naps' than I did over night. No clue why that is, but Jamie is right (as usual), we should grap sleep whenever we can.

Since we're not able to do jumping jacks like the crazy emoticon (yet), I guess we better listen. Good idea to turn everything off though so there are no distractions. I always found though that the more I tried to sleep, the less sleep I got. I wish I knew why I was finally able to sleep for a bit last night. I did go to bed with an iced gel pak on my knee though which I normally don't do and even got up to switch it out to another one when I woke up in pain a couple hours later. Maybe it was that. Or the Tylenol PM. Or the 3 martinis. Oh wait, I haven't had a drink since surgery. Darn :martini:

And yes, every day, in every way, we'll get a little bit better! :dancy::dancy::dancy::dancy:

xoxoxo
 
DogLoverx3 said:
Or the Tylenol PM. Or the 3 martinis.
Click to expand...
Whoops....you had me going there for a moment!!! No drinking when on pain meds or Tylenol!!!! Whew....glad it was just a joke!:whistle:
 
:heehee: sorry Jamie, just my lame humor. Happy Hour used to be my favorite past time, so it's a running joke that I can't drink. I may be irresponsible in many many ways, but I would never mix alcohol with pain meds. Eek!
 
Kar1963 Thank you soooooo much for the Erick Brown app. Only downloaded it this morning. Gave it a try. I was very up tight this morning. My goodness this has relaxed me and I feel so much better. Once again bless you and a massive thank you xxxx
 
Jamie you really made me think and you are right. I am winding myself up and making it a massive issue when, in actual fact there is no need. I downloaded an app kar1963 suggested for sleep hypnosis. My golly it so worked. I took about half an hour this morning listening and it has made me calm and relaxed it's lovely x thanks again Jamie take care. I hope that you are ok?
 
DogLoverx3. That app deep sleep hypnosis by Erick Brown is amazing. kar1963 suggested it to me. I tried it this morning. I have to say I was very sceptical. However, it worked I dozed off not long and woke up calm and relaxed. Absolutely lovely. Jamie's right I am making this sleep thing an unnecessary issue. Hopefully now I may have something that'll help x
 
Hello again @Nana moon 27 and @DogLoverx3 - I have been following your posts, in between doing a bit of last minute retail therapy and the final bits before I go in for my knee op next week - and I so feel for you both. Being unable to sleep is the pits and when you are tired it affects everything you think and do.
Obviously I haven't had the surgery yet - so no experience there, but I have had trouble sleeping for a couple of years - it seems to come and go. Weeks of poor sleep and then weeks of normal sleep. At first it drove me nuts - I would be literally clock watching and getting more and more frustrated. My husband could snore for Great Britain and can drop off to sleep anywhere, which didn't help. So there I was with ear plugs in, tired and seething .... Finally I resolved that beating myself up about it wasn't helping, and if I was tired and scratchy in the afternoon - I would go back to bed for an afternoon nap - and boy do I enjoy those afternoon naps! The sleep seems somehow lighter and more refreshing.
Reading all the posts on here, I figure my sleep will be decidedly patchy post-op, so I have decided to have my own Dogwheels mantra: Husband is banished until I am much better and sleeping normally. All rest is good rest, whether I can sleep or not. If I cant sleep now, I will try to do so the moment that I feel I can ... even if inconvenient to others. I will use the wakeful night time hours to think lovely thoughts; plan what I can do once I have recovered; go for a nocturnal wander and listen to music (or perhaps listen to that App you were talking about Nanamoon?)
I chat to lots of old folk who live in the same retirement complex as my Mum - they have no issues sleeping. They have a 'Martini' attitude: 'Any time, any place, anywhere'. They regularly drop off and make no bones about it. They have got to the age where there are no rights or wrongs; they are less able to remain awake when tired than a younger person, and so they just go with the flow.
Interestingly, my daughter told me that 100s of years ago it was quite normal to sleep in 2 shorter sessions with a gap in between. People would get up during this break and eat or chat with others whose sleep rhythm coincided - there were even special prayers that were said in this 'gap' - then they would toddle off to bed for their next dollop of sleep. The concept of 'sleeping through the night' is relatively new.
Just realised I have had a bit of a ramble there - sorry!
Hope you both get some well deserved ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's and that your knees behave a bit better today.
Take care
 
Hi dogwheels lovely to hear from you x Thanks for your post it was nice to read x I am sleeping in the spare room with every thing I need to hand! My husband can sleep easily. That app I would highly recommend for post operative relaxation. Wish I'd downloaded it earlier. The other thing is we are all individuals and no two recoveries are the same! So I hope that you will be one if these lucky oeople who sail through the whole thing x good luck to you! Chat to you later xxx
 
Hi DogLoverx3. I hope your day has been ok. I've been a bit better today. Allowed myself naps and exercised gently. Gonna put that sleep app on in a bit see if it'll work it's magic again. Chat soon take care Nana Moon x
I think reading dogwheels post about the older people in her moms complex made me think again.
Hi to everyone else too. Thanks for your posts and comments it's great to be part of such a friendly helpful network x
 
I'm so glad you've had a better day today!! Also glad you've been able to nap. I promise you that sleep is on the horizon! I was able to sleep for a few hours last night as well, so at the very least know that sleep gets a bit easier as time goes on. I still wake up every hour or so, but actually was able to sleep for 2.5 hours straight at one point last night! :)

My day is busy and I'm tired and sore, but it's not as bad as I feared. I need to stop worrying/whining about things and just deal with them. :). I hope that sleep app works it's magic for you. xoxo
 
I'm ever so glad your day was not as bad as you had thought thank goodness! I did think about you working today. DogLoverx3 if you want to have a moan or a whine you have one! You are working hard so early into your recovery so no one can blame you if you do! I'm going to put the sleep app on right now. It's 12.15 am over here so this is a good time to do it! Have you noticed anytime you get almost comfortable you need to pee! One of the many mysteries of life ha ha! Night night xxxx
 
OMG! Always! I finally get the pillows just right, my leg up, my ice pack balanced just so, my covers situated perfectly and then yes, I have to pee. SO Annoying. :gaah:

Well, I'm finally home. My knee is the size of a melon and I'm sure it's going to punish me big time tomorrow, but I know I deserve it. I just need to get thru 11am tomorrow and then I am going to come home, pass out with my ice machine and not do a darn thing for 2 days. This is just too much for me and I need to say NO to any jobs that come up for next week. Anyway, things did go well at the open house tonight and my client was very happy. Sadly there was not one chair I could sit in there! They were all either too low or didn't have arms so i could kinda push my way up. I ended up sitting on the steps a couple times to ice as there was a railing at least. All I needed was to have to have my client come help my lame butt up off a low chair. :blush:

I've got my leg propped up on 4 pillows with a frosty gel pack around it, I'm in my sweat pants and t shirt watching TiVo with my pups and pretty darn happy about it. :puppysmooze: I'll just fudge anything that isn't perfect for tomorrow morning. I've reached my limit. One of my servers followed me home tonight to help me unload and reload my car too. So nice of her!!!!

I hope you had a terrific day NannaMoon! I hope that sleep app works for you!

nitey nite xoxoxo
 
Hi DogLoverx3

I managed a few hours tonight. It's 3.50am. That app is working! No pain tonight and I still feel tired! I'm glad your job went ok? At least you did some damage limitation by trying to ice etc. Anyway, you enjoy your TiVo with those cute pups and chill for a bit. Good for you, you got through your day in one piece x nighty night xoxoxo
 
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