I had no idea this would hurt so much. This forum is helping me to understand that I'm doing ok for this stage of recovery. Yesterday, I thought that because my knee felt stiffer than the day before, I must be doing something wrong..or not doing enough. Now I realise what a long process this will be. I sleep so badly. Nowhere is comfortable. I have an almost continuous ache along the outside of my leg and many other intermittent pains, soreness and stinging sensations. Getting in and out of bed, up and down out of chairs and going to the bathroom are all awkward and involve pain and all activities take 5 times longer than they did pre op. I have found the best way to get in and out of bed is to place my good leg under my operated leg at the heel and use it as support to lower/raise my legs to the floor or bed. It's a great technique!
Hi corrine is your medication working properly if not you need to see your doctor a quick tip if you struggle to get in and out of bed use a belt under your foot try and keep it straight it helped me a lot .
I am on day 16 today - In February I had THR and compared to the knee it was a walk in the park - this is more like a hobble down a dark tunnel ....it is a million times more painful and shocking to my body. Night is the worst - I try to ice immediatley before getting into bed - I am in the UK - when I left hospital I was given Gabapentin which was wonderful but I only had a few of those and had to wean myself off taking less and less over a few days. Co-hydracodeine make me feel very unwell which has left me with Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. My Naproxen which I was on for 5 years began to make me feel depressed and breathless so I have stopped taking them. I find that the pain relief supplied by NHS is woefully inadequate after this surgery and should last for at least a month - I am having some good days when I manage to wash my hair and some awful days when I can do nothing except feel sorry for myself. Tomorrow I am going to my GPs surgery nurse to have the stiches looked at and a visit to the physio. Anyway I hope we all have more good days than bad very soon and take comfort from the fact that you are not alone in this
You have been caught up in the same thing 90+% of patients have been........lack of ful disclosure by the medical professionals. Surgeons are so quick to do their thing they fail to discuss the ramifications of the complete process. Sleep disruption was never discussed with me nor was the degree of pain. I had gone through rotator cuff surgery ( both shoulders) and a kidney stone so I thought I knew a little bit about real pain but the intensity and duration of take was never discussed. I remember when I had my 1st rotator cuff repair...a tear that resulted from being broadsides by a guy running a red light......the surgeon told me I would feel and look like in had been hit with an axe. Brutal terminology but correct. With my knee.....Due to being completely eaten up and destroyed by PVNS, a rare tumor of The joints, I had already had 4 surgeries and 30 rounds of radiation before the take. Even with all of the bleeding........bad knee was 4 to 5 inches bigger than the good one and I was bleeding back into the groin and lower abdomen from the knee.........I still I mentally adjusted nor was i educated to what I would experience. My Dr and hospital had a mandatory 2 hr schooling on joint replacement where you received the basic info of how things would progress from 2 days prior to surgery through the hospital stay. You handled a prosthesis and all of the assistive devices but still no discussion of pain and sleepless nights and the need for extra hydration nor the fact th damn knee would take over your life. We had 4 kids and not even the new baby in the house became so all consuming, attention wise. Even after the birth of the kids I was able to go back to work the next day......took my wife a little longer. Again, you need to let your body and brain give you direction through the process
I am 9 weeks post TKR and the first three weeks were pure misery. I would watch the clock to see when I could take another pain pill. I was taking Percocet. After three weeks, I didn't need the pain meds as often and by the end of week 6, I didn't take them at all, however my knee was still very swollen so I take 4 Ibuprofen in the morning and 4 at night and I still ice every day. Until this past week, everything I did would cause my whole leg to swell, but that has drastically improved this past week. I still get an aching feeling in my knee and lower leg but I can deal with that. I am now doing pretty much anything I want to do. I am told that a total recovery can take from one year to 18 months. No the doctors don't tell you this before surgery. My doctor even told me I would be back playing pickleball after 4 weeks which did not happen but I did go back after 8 weeks and played every other day. For me, after I passed week 6, things starting improving at a faster pace. Oh, I slept on my couch for 5 weeks because I could just sit down and raise my leg to the couch. I elevated it every day and night and used ice that whole time. Still use the ice at least once a day. Don't worry about how long it takes you to do something. It takes a long time to get your energy and strenght back. Your body has been through a tremendous amout of trama.
Corrine - I'm with Pat - I'm 9 weeks post op and the first four weeks were hell! I hurt, I was depressed, I was fatigued and just so miserable. I turned a corner at 5 weeks and have been making progress ever since then! I quit taking the pain meds - tramadol and oxycodone after about the 3rd week - and it took me about a week to get over the drugs. I had to get off them because I felt sick and couldn't eat when I was taking them. I switched to Advil which actually worked better than the pain meds for me. Also it takes a while to get the anesthesia out of your system. Sleeping did not improve till about 6 weeks-I slept with a pillow under my knee even tho they said not to. I've got 0 degrees on straightening now so I guess it didn't hurt. What really helped me was exercising in the pool, it sped up my rom for sure. Listen, this surgery is brutal and knocks the wind right out of you but you will get thru it. Everything you feel is NORMAL that's what I had to learn. I can walk fine now with no pain but I get random pains that I chalk up to being normal. I am stiff and sore when I get up I'm the am and if I've been sitting at my desk and then stand up - it takes a minute to work that out. My doc said it will take at least a year but that stiffness and pain will go away. I take Advil two or three times a day and still go to pt for another week or so as I'm trying to strengthen my quads so if I go up and down stairs it doesn't hurt. That and standing up after sitting are my hurdles now. I tried to go back to work at 4 weeks but I couldn't concentrate - so it was about 6 weeks before I could work 1/2 day. I own the company so it worked out for me but I can't imagine trying to go back full time working for someone until about 8 weeks. The bottom line is this is really tough but do everything they tell you then a little more and you will be fine! There is a light at the end of this tunnel! Hugs!
Try some aspirin patches with menthol, so soothing. Use pillows to support your sides and wedges are nice for elevating your TKR leg. My surgeon stressed lots of random foot rotations, which works your calf. But keep that TKR leg as straight as possible initially. Then when you start bending you will still be able to extend fully. You need to be taking aspirin as well as an anti-inflammatory, with your pain meds.
Hey Barb great progress at 9 weeks. I had both knees done about 2 years ago all good. Stay with physical therapy as long as you can. You can continue to gain strength for months. I was in PT for a year but my knees were really bad. Now I'm back for a hip, 6 weeks post op, getting there, seems like I've done this before! Just grateful for what the doctors can do. Good luck work hard.
they had day or evening classes to go to before TKR but I didn't see the notice in the packet beforehand. So I went through it completely ignorant of what it would be like. It is a brutal surgery. I had solid bruising all on the inside of the knee and on both sides of my calf and even upper thigh. At five weeks there is still a bruise on the inside calf but the rest has settled into a dark stain like an uneven suntan. But I have turned a corner and feel like improvement is coming even though slowly.
I'm at 6 weeks post op. It gets better and better as long as you are doing pt. Not sleeping was the hardest part for me. I still can't do much I can only walk for 9 minutes. If i do anything like shopping or anything outside the house for a few hours I have pain and discomfort all night. Yet I see others are walking miles at my stage. My physical therapist says everyone is different and their level of activity before surgery makes a difference. Hang in there Corinne it really does get better and better
Be strong...stay strong. No excuses...do the work!!! The brain can only hold one thought at a time...make that thought anything but pain. Read a book, watch a movie, kill aliens on x-box. Anything. If someone tells you that you should be better, club them repeatedly with your cane or run them down with your walker. Have neither? Grab the first 2x4 you can find. Keep your sense of humor! Lastly...
"Never give up! Never surrender!" - Tim Allen, Galaxy Quest
Well said as usual CHICO MARX !! recovery is an ongoing long term proposition, you can be better than you were before, or at least for a long time. 2 years post op both knees, now I'm applying what I learned to my 6 week old hip. All is good, Tim Allen would be honored.
After 4 days in the hospital and 6 days in a rehab joint, I completely recovered my right hip in six weeks...5 hours a day, 6 days a week...PT, therapy pool and gym. Went back to work with zero pain, full flexion, no meds, no cane...no nuttin'. If you put in the work, you get the results.
At 68, I chose the TKR route right now so I'd have the strength and the will to do the recovery. I was lucky; some people don't get to choose. But you do get to choose how seriously you take the rehab. For me, I refuse to walk with a limp or use a cane the rest of my life...so I do what I have to.
Again, some people aren't that fortunate. Previous injuries, age, other health problems, etc. may be a big factor in a TKR or any recovery. The important thing is that there are no judgments. Everyone's different. Just do what you can for as long as you can. Don't give up until you can look at yourself in the mirror and truthfully say that you did all you could. Then be at peace with it.