Yet another knee surgery thread

[Teacher Terry]

They were treated like children. One couldn’t get her medications when she needed them. She has severe restless leg syndrome and has to be able to adjust her medications to how she is feeling. They both were miserable.

 

[Chuckanut]

The hospital I was in was great. They woke me up several times at night but it was all for my own safety. After all a TKR is a brutal heavy duty surgery. It pays to be on the safe side.

I came home the next day for several reasons. One is o had setup my home for recovery so in many ways it was more convenient. Also, less chance of getting hit by some drive-by infection.

 

[NW-Bound]

The people that I know that went to a Rehab facility for a week before coming home regretted it. They said never again. Glad you are doing well!

My mother had a surgery that should not be that major. She complained of pain, in order to be sent to Rehab. She said she wanted to get her money's worth. When I saw her, she was enjoying it like a mini vacation.

I had a much more serious surgery, and spent only 3 nights in the hospital. Maybe it was only 2 nights. My memory was fuzzy. I recovered so well that the surgeon wanted to send me home ASAP.

I may be wrong, but I think surgeons are evaluated on how well their patients do. I liked the fact that they thought I was well enough to be on my own, and did not need pampering care.

 

[Moemg]

In this area a lot of the Ortho surgeons send people to rehab if they live alone .My Mother went to rehab , They do PT daily and sometimes twice a day .Last year when I was so sick I had PT at home for three weeks and then I went to an outpatient rehab for four months for 2 1/2 hour sessions . It was hard but they gave me my life back .

 

[W2R]

OK, Chuckanut has been kind enough to update his knee thread today already, I will do the same.

Today, the Home Health nurse came over and then Physical Therapy did also, again. F was here for both appointments which I greatly appreciated. Both the Home Health nurse and the Physical Therapy lady are nice, knowledgeable, and compassionate. It still isn't easy to go through recovery from knee surgery, but having a terrific team assisting me helps.

1) Home Health:
The nurse changed my dressing and I was pleased to see how healthy the surgical site looked, not red or inflamed. She said my knee on the surgical side has swelled to 4x the size of the other knee, and I need to do more icing and elevating and use the compression hose more consistently. I hate them and have been blowing them off, but will be more obedient now.​

2) Physical Therapy:
I have been able to walk more and put more weight on my surgical knee, and I am doing pretty well with PT exercises too. I got one more degree in range of motion, despite the swelling. It is still very difficult for me to get on and off of my bed unassisted, so that is my PT goal for the week. They might as well have assigned climbing Mt. Everest (grump, grump! ). But I'll suspend my disbelief about it even being doable, and at least try. PT is scheduled to be back Wednesday, and Friday, and will continue to return countless times in the following weeks I'm sure.​

I am in awe that Chuckanut was able to recover in bed like he did. Sounds easy, wouldn't have been for me.

Tomorrow it will be one week since my total knee replacement surgery.

 

[omni550]

Thanks for the update, W2R. (When I don't see an update from you in this thread, I'm always wondering how you are doing.)

Sounds like things are progressing great for 6 days post-surgery. And your recovery team, including F, sounds fantastic.

A bit more compliance on the compression hose can only help.

omni

 

[YakGrl]

You are doing great W2R! So happy for you. Please look on Amazon at "bed assist rail" options. I have used this for my mother and it helps with getting in and out of bed.

 

[Moemg]

Sounds like things are going great and Frank is being wonderful .

 

[2soon2tell]

W2R,

I'm glad your PT and recovery are going well.

I've had three total shoulder replacement surgeries. Some wiseass therapist told me that pain is your body's way of letting you know you're still alive.
Yeah right.

 

[aaronc879]

W2R,

I'm glad your PT and recovery are going well.

I've had three total shoulder replacement surgeries. Some wiseass therapist told me that pain is your body's way of letting you know you're still alive.
Yeah right.

How many shoulders do you have?

 

[2soon2tell]

Same shoulder had to be replaced three times due to complications with the implants.

 

[aaronc879]

Same shoulder had to be replaced three times due to complications with the implants.

I'm sorry you went thru that. That had to be very unpleasant.

 

[W2R]

It is still very difficult for me to get on and off of my bed unassisted, so that is my PT goal for the week. They might as well have assigned climbing Mt. Everest (grump, grump! ). But I'll suspend my disbelief about it even being doable, and at least try.

Despite my misgivings, I tried, and I DID IT!!!! My dear F was there to rescue me if I got stuck, but I didn't need any rescuing.

I used my $10 leg lifter from Amazon (a metal loop covered with cloth). Just beforehand, we watched a youtube video demonstrating how such a leg lifter is used.

I will do it with F in the room 3-4 more times before I have the confidence to do it alone. Still, I DID IT! All by myself with just F observing for safety reasons. What a relief to have that impossible-seeming challenge behind me.

Wore my compression hose for 22 of the past 24 hours. I still hate them but will begrudgingly admit that my knee seems a tiny bit less swollen today.

 

[aja8888]

Despite my misgivings, I tried, and I DID IT!!!! My dear F was there to rescue me if I got stuck, but I didn't need any rescuing.

I used my $10 leg lifter from Amazon (a metal loop covered with cloth). Just beforehand, we watched a youtube video demonstrating how such a leg lifter is used.

I will do it with F in the room 3-4 more times before I have the confidence to do it alone. Still, I DID IT! All by myself with just F observing for safety reasons. What a relief to have that impossible-seeming challenge behind me.

Wore my compression hose for 22 of the past 24 hours. I still hate them but will begrudgingly admit that my knee seems a tiny bit less swollen today.

Great job!! Next time, post a video of your leg lifter in action for us!

 

[W2R]

Great job!! Next time, post a video of your leg lifter in action for us!

Here you go! This is a four minute youtube done by physical therapists, showing a similar leg lifter in action. All it is missing is W2R and Frank.

 

[Moemg]

Despite my misgivings, I tried, and I DID IT!!!! My dear F was there to rescue me if I got stuck, but I didn't need any rescuing.

I used my $10 leg lifter from Amazon (a metal loop covered with cloth). Just beforehand, we watched a youtube video demonstrating how such a leg lifter is used.

I will do it with F in the room 3-4 more times before I have the confidence to do it alone. Still, I DID IT! All by myself with just F observing for safety reasons. What a relief to have that impossible-seeming challenge behind me.

Wore my compression hose for 22 of the past 24 hours. I still hate them but will begrudgingly admit that my knee seems a tiny bit less swollen today.

I am so glad you did it .No one dislikes PT more than me but they do give you the push forward that we all need .You are doing great . Maybe Frank should be a life coach ?

 

[omni550]

Despite my misgivings, I tried, and I DID IT!!!! My dear F was there to rescue me if I got stuck, but I didn't need any rescuing.

I used my $10 leg lifter from Amazon (a metal loop covered with cloth). Just beforehand, we watched a youtube video demonstrating how such a leg lifter is used.

I will do it with F in the room 3-4 more times before I have the confidence to do it alone. Still, I DID IT! All by myself with just F observing for safety reasons. What a relief to have that impossible-seeming challenge behind me.

Wore my compression hose for 22 of the past 24 hours. I still hate them but will begrudgingly admit that my knee seems a tiny bit less swollen today.

Glad to hear you've mastered getting in and out of bed. Truly great progress towards your independence, W2R!

omni

 

[stephenson]

Hi,

I have been very impressed with the knowledge and support provided on www.bonesmart.org ... three groups ... knee, hip and shoulder replacements.

 

[Buckeye]

The PT guy was pretty good. He didn't try to push me too far for today, and rather than saying "you must do 50 reps of this exercise every day", he said "your goal is 50 reps every day but do what you feel you can reasonably do". He liked what I did to stand up (putting my lift chair upwards, and then pushing myself up the rest of the way using the armrests), and he liked my walker technique. He had me walk around inside the house and we covered all but one room before my stamina gave out. He said I did more than he thought I'd be able to do, given how little I could do for the last few months before surgery.

The only thing he said that was upsetting, was that I shouldn't ice for more than 20 minutes at a time and only a few times a day if that. I told him how helpful icing is to me. F was listening to all this and said that pretty much the guy was saying, "our company policy is to not encourage icing" but that also, subtly "I don't actually agree and you gotta do what you gotta do". I hope that F's interpretation was correct because I am going to continue icing. I draw the line at quitting icing. Given how helpful it has been for me, and how much it helps my range of motion, I'd be nuts to cut back on it like that.

Anyway, he gave me exercises to work on, and tomorrow I have PT again since they want to get at least two PT sessions done for the week. He is sending a subordinate in to do the sessions with me tomorrow. He says I should get up and move around every hour, even if it is just to walk 6 feet and back, and I see the reasoning and suppose I could do that.

My mother received the same 20 minute limit recommendation (but not for TKR, specifically). Actually, it was 20 minutes icing, 20 minutes off. The premise is there is actually healing taking place as the tissue come back up to temp. I don't think the cycles were to be limited, but that there should be 20 minute ice on/ice off cycling.

 

[stephenson]

Wrt the 20 min icing ... most TKR recipients i know ice a LOT ... some bought or rented an icing machine.

I can’t comment specifically on TKR, but hip replacement advice is for minimum of 30-40 minutes. As often as possible.

Please take a look at bonesmart.org ...

 

[aja8888]

Wrt the 20 min icing ... most TKR recipients i know ice a LOT ... some bought or rented an icing machine.

I can’t comment specifically on TKR, but hip replacement advice is for minimum of 30-40 minutes. As often as possible.

Please take a look at bonesmart.org ...

Thanks for the link above, I may be looking at "another" total hip replacement later this year. Same doc...Stefan Kreuzer (Houston). I'll know by next week.

 

[Calico]

Despite my misgivings, I tried, and I DID IT!!!! My dear F was there to rescue me if I got stuck, but I didn't need any rescuing.

I used my $10 leg lifter from Amazon (a metal loop covered with cloth). Just beforehand, we watched a youtube video demonstrating how such a leg lifter is used.

I will do it with F in the room 3-4 more times before I have the confidence to do it alone. Still, I DID IT! All by myself with just F observing for safety reasons. What a relief to have that impossible-seeming challenge behind me.

Wore my compression hose for 22 of the past 24 hours. I still hate them but will begrudgingly admit that my knee seems a tiny bit less swollen today.

Hooray!!

Good for you! That must have provided a real morale boost, in addition to the practical benefits and the added bit of independence it enabled. I firmly believe in celebrating the incremental victories after an injury or operation. So often we want to go from 0-60 overnight, and forget to mark the many small improvements along the way.

 

[W2R]

Still celebrating baby steps towards recovery.

My range of motion as measured by my PT increased dramatically yesterday, from awful (69 degrees) to a much better 82 degrees. Once it gets to 90 degrees I can shift from home PT to PT at their facility.

I did my own laundry all by myself yesterday, and put it all away! Carefully, making sure not to twist my knee, and with rest periods every few minutes. But I did it.

The energy drain of the first week seems to be improving a lot, too. Trying to be careful not to overdo, as I build my stamina back up a bit.

 

[pacergal]

Sounds like you are doing well, keep celebrating. Each step forward, back to "normal" with no pain in your new knee!

 

[SumDay]

So glad things are going well for W2R and Chuckanut!

Here's my 6 week post-op update:

Cane, walker and ice machine are now in storage in the basement. I do keep a spare in my car, just in case I have to park far away.

I adjusted my indoor exercise bike a little, and can get "all the way around" with my new knee. I actually rode my street recumbent bike up the street to get the mail today. I obviously was making a terrible face when I was doing it because a neighbor asked if I needed help.

I am also struggling with stamina. I started taking Iron and B12 in hopes of a boost. Nothing earth shattering yet.

W2R, I remember how hard getting in and out of bed was for me too. By the time I got up, I needed a nap. Then the shower really exhausted me, so I was pretty much done for the day. Right about four weeks I noticed that becoming easier. My PT told me to do the leg raises as much as possible each day. I hated those, but it got better.

I'm back at yoga, walking and riding one bike or the other, so I have ended my outpatient PT sessions. My pain is minimal - I take a couple of Tylenol at night, just for sleep insurance.

Hang in there everyone!