Bilateral PKR One Year Update

[SherrieT]

Sorry if tmi
OT came in. Thank goodness for drugs. Only help was walker and grab rails.
swung my knees over to side of bed, stood up using bed to push up from to walker, “walked” to bathroom and sat down on toilet. Peed then took socks off, took paper panties off and put real panties, Capri length gym pants and socks back on. PT and seeing surgeon is next for today. Stairs are only thing left. Was told if I am good enough to do flight of stairs then a weekend release is looking more and more possible.
Pride comes before the fall so I’m fully expecting that knees will kick me in butt before too long.

Pain meds make me jibber jabber so thank you for being patient with my ramblings

 

[Jockette]

Did you take off the socks yourself? No way could I do that so soon!

When I was in the hospital my whole leg was wrapped, so they didn’t make me do any bending and no measuring. They only had me walking, and only a little.

I was very happy with my hospital experience. It was the best part of my recovery!

 

[jboles]

Taking off your socks is a real accomplishment. That first bathroom trip for me was the realization that I can do this, I will be okay again. Stay ahead of the pain and and like others have said stay in control of what PT does.

 

[SherrieT]

Cheated a bit taking socks off. Just pulled on toe and they came off.
PT hasn’t touched my knees. Just practicing daily living things

 

[Jockette]

Well you still did great, I couldn’t even reach my foot for quite a while!

 

[lovetocookandsew]

So glad to hear the surgery is over, and you are doing great. While I don't remember my details, I don't believe I was doing as well so soon. Keep us posted on how you do.

 

[Eeek]

Wow. I am impressed. Glad everything went well.

 

[sistersinhim]

What a wonderful, uplifting post you have! You are doing amazingly well! I bet you get to go home tomorrow or Sunday at the latest!

 

[SherrieT]

Drugs shot into knee has worn off so pain has also gone up. I had been taking half dose of dilaudid but they’ve upt it to full dose. 4 mg every 4 hours and then 50-100 mg of tramadol every 8 hour also

Right is 8/100 and lefty is 5/100. More than I could have hoped for. Wouldn’t it be nice if block lasted until everything healed? My luck the poop fairy will decide to finally pay a visit before meds kick in. Thank you all of the good wished. I’m dipping big time into my “good thoughts bucket”

 

[sistersinhim]

Oh my, I hope they can get that pain level down. I agree, it'd be great if the knees would stay numb the whole time! It's not unusual for one knee to be worse than the other. The OS probably had to do a lot more work to the right one.

 

[LuckyKY]

You are doing great!

 

[SherrieT]

Yesterday was a bit rough but they got my additional pain controlled quickly and it was good after that. I am being discharged tomorrow and Theyve promised I’ll be home in time for Super Bowl.

Today is first shower!! Only 1 PT session so I’ll be walking the halls as much as possible and spending more time in chair.
I’m getting enough sleep. And being able to sleep on my side is such a blessing. It’s a bit painful getting there but once I’m there I’m good for a couple of hours. Power naps are great. I think all those months of waking up in the night in pain was good preparation for this.

They had some difficulty setting up my home therapy, again issues with my insurance in Rhode Island. But the patient coordinator was able to get everything straightened out without me having to do anything.

The care I’ve received here at Brigham and Womens Faulkner Hospital has been incredible. I just know the reason I’m doing so well in these early day is because of
1. Skill of my surgeon
2. Incredible pain management
3. PT that is gentle but effective
3. The care I have received from hospital staff
4. The support from all of you

 

[Jockette]

Instead of home PT insurance companies should send someone out 2/3 times a week to do household chores for you: washing dishes, vacuuming, etc. That would be much more helpful!

 

[MSgirl]

SherrieT, what a wonderful update! You are a rock star!

 

[SherrieT]

Very excited to be discharged today. Will be going right home, I was told that I’m doing well enough that there is no reason I need in-patient rehab. My home pt starts Tuesday. My operation and hospital experience has been so much more than I could have dreamed of.
I’m just worried about how much the prescriptions I’m going with are going to cost. My insurance website has a drug pricing tool and for the Dilaudid and Tramadol it just comes up “pricing not available” which, to me, is double speak for “scary high”. I know the one I’ll be on the longest, Xarelto, is on the high side.

It is still so weird to me that I feel so normal, until I move my legs. New knees themselves feel very strong and I’ve been blessed with a goood recovery.

I’ll try to keep up the posts. I know when I was pre-op I wanted to read every thing I could about recoveries. So this is my chance to give back to this wonderful community

 

[Rickochet]

With such a great attitude you will be in the full recovery mode very quickly! We have a tremendous resource with this awesome group. Don't hold back from asking for suggestions as everyone is ready to help. Good luck & prayers lifted up for you... Please keep us posted.

 

[Pumpkin]

SherriT,
Generally speaking the two pain medications you will be taking are usually reasonably priced. You are right about Xarelto, it is expensive.

 

[golfgal56]

SherriT: Drug prices will depend on your insurance. I see that you're in the same boat as me, not quite at the Medicare stage, so check your insurance coverage, you must have an individual out-of-pocket yearly maximum. My insurance does, and with all the pre-op workups, doctor and hospital charges I had for my RTKR in October last year, I hit my maximum easily. Then everything after that was covered until year's end, including all my post-op prescriptions, in-home and outside PT, plus a few non-TKR related prescriptions that I had. Check your policy for your out-of-pocket max amount. Good luck and healing vibes to your knees!

 

[SherrieT]

@golfgal56 I hit my my deductible with tests and half of my max out of pocket so I m sure I hit that max as soon as I walked in the hospital doors. The insurance web site and app does not like my iPad or iPhone so I can’t check how the prescription portion fits in there. They are very clever at getting every penny they can from you

 

[Jockette]

Maybe they don’t list the prices because they fluctuate?