Tkr 4 1/2 months in ???
Posted , 9 users are following.
hi all, have to ask is anyone near 4 1/2 months into their total knee replacement and still suffering from pain, swelling and stiffness. Also my healing process seems to be slow. Last week my bend finally got to 107 degrees and my stretch 4. Three weeks prior to that it was 105/6. I seem to be getting there, but just wondering if it will get better. I do everything I'm suppose to 1 to 2x a day, feel like I'm consumed with exercises. Can't take nsaids due to other medical issues. Still take those other meds at a low dosage when I exercise. Finally started driving this past week, that was hopeful. I get fearful still of having a accident or falling, I use my stick/ cane only when I go out. It still hurts like h e double "L" when I stretch my knee to as much as I can. I Did hear it can take up to 6 months to a year to fully bend. I just don't know??? I just keep trying to do my best, but some days I go into to that head zone of "what have I done to myself!" Phase. I don't wish this on anyone. Im so glad I have found all of you, u have been a god send. My people, I believe Are just tired of me not being the old me anymore, boy if they could just be me for one day. At least I keep trying to smile, have a good attitude and oh yea a good sense of humor helps. Of all things my teeth started to act up with much pain, has taken over a month and a half to get the proper treatment... Finally had that crown and she found a filling that needed to be done, I said just do It!!! Ahhhhhhh, I've always had good teeth, what's up?!?!? Ok the novacaine is wearing off now... I'll leave it at that. Thanks for any feedback and I pray u all feel better soon! ??????????
1 like, 28 replies
CHICO_MARX Mkhp
Posted
Welcome to the club. Hope this helps...
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/the-tkr-experience-or-wish-i-had-another-kidney-stone--524499
susie07313 Mkhp
Posted
Hi! Read and follow Chico's link below, it has been a godsend to me, even though I am only at 3 and a half weeks. I really feel for you especially the bit about your people not understanding - I have lots of support by my family, but honestly no one really understands what it is like - that's why this forum makes such a difference. Keep positive and hope you feel better.
marie77007 susie07313
Posted
Truely if the next person who visits me or phones me says things like ,,oh gee you should be getting over this by now,,i swear i will bot be responsible for what i so to them,,,
CHICO_MARX marie77007
Posted
Suggestion: Flamethrower. You don't have to be that close to them and their shrieking will be oh so satisfying.
Mkhp marie77007
Posted
i hear you marie, i hear you! im starting to realize that even the best of bestest of friends dont get it. i guess were very fortunate to have this forum of understanding and loving people to keep us all on track, yea for tkr patients
, thanks for reading all my babble, best regards, and more healthy and happy day wishes blowing your way, kathy p.
Mkhp CHICO_MARX
Posted
Mkhp susie07313
Posted
CHICO_MARX Mkhp
Posted
Funny? I'm a Sicilian from Brooklyn...you know, the place made famous for "two taps to the back of head and they'll never find the body 'cause it's in the landfill"? Got crutches or a cane? Take a swing. Walker? Run 'em down. They'll get the message...
We go through a hell of a lot of pain recovering from a TKR. You have to find a way to laugh about it somewhere. Also helps relieve that post-op depression....the laughing, I mean...not the whacking...although that may prove to be cathartic as well...
Mkhp CHICO_MARX
Posted
Thanks chico, I know what u mean by the laughing, I really do try to keep up a good sense of humor thru this whole process. Just every once in a while my head starts zoning out. Just needed an attitude boost me up. Thanks for all your wise words and humor n encouragement.... Praying your on the healthy path. I'm a Long Island girl, born and raised in suffolk county, still go back to see family, boy how things change...... Best, kathy p.
CHICO_MARX Mkhp
Posted
It's pronounced "Lawn Geyeland" and you go back to see la familia...you know, Uncle Carmine and Aunt Nocko?
Norman Cousins' 1979 book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient: Reflections on Healing is still THE classic. Man locked himself away for months watching Candid Camera reruns and Marx Brothers' movies. Cured himself.
Pain hurts...it really, really, really does. I've had 4 kidney stones plus shoulders, knees, hip and back surgeries so I've been down that road more than a few times. However, a lot of people take pain waaaaaay too seriously...letting their mind run away by focusing on the pain. Finally, it's their whole world. Experts tell women in labor to focus on a single point on the ceiling and not on the pain...on the breathing and not on the pain.
If you can learn how to turn your mind away from the pain and onto something else (movie, book, painting a room, doing a puzzle, killing aliens on X-Box...whatever), you really don't notice the pain. It's just there somewhere in all the background noise.
My TKR was the most painful thing I've ever been through...kind of like Steve Corell getting his chest waxed in The 40-Year Old Virgin so I'm not saying that it's not painful and that for some people it borders on intollerable. Just saying that your mind can be as powerful as any drug if you use it. No Pity-Pot crap. Wrestle that pain to the ground and stomp all over it. Do NOT let it get the better of you. Take your meds, apply your ice, use Voltaren Gel. Just don't EVER stop exercising or give up on full flexibility. Vow that you will NOT walk with a limp for the rest of your life...period!
Yes, that might be tough for people of advanced years or with other limiting conditions. My PT said that those people get a different set of goals. But for the rest of us, don't let the pain win...it will be gone before you know it.
Thank you. Please remit $125 for this session..."the doctor" has left the building...
Mkhp CHICO_MARX
Posted
I have so much in my heart i could say. But maybe in anothrr world/life. Just know i just had a go w a relative no less and i was just done. I picked up my emails and miraculously, there u were, with all the words i need to hear. $125, well worth it and more. I think god may have or has great plans for u. Can't find the words. My life is so screwie. One gets to a certain age where so much "stuff" has happened. I will heade your words. I also have had both hips replaced, lower back surgery, was able to skip the stones (awful from what i hear), probably will have other knee done and shoulder (well what else do we have to do?). Keep smiling, very important, but ahhhhhhh, what is "they" say...."we are only human"?. I will keep u close to me/my heart (your words). So much negative crapolah out there. Yes yes yes. I do my best to avoid. THANK YOU....best, kathy p. ????????
CHICO_MARX Mkhp
Posted
...and I still work full time in IT (45 years), had to deal with my daughter's breast cancer for the past 3 years (her mom, my first wife died from it in 1983) and my dear wife's severe clinical depression from brain aneurysm surgery in 2010. We were married only six months when the docs found it by accident...she actually shouldn't be here... Plus Kate is 100% cured of cancer from using a "tincture" of the stuff Clinton said he didn't inhale in the 60's...yeah right. We all did...deeply... In the past 7 years, while all of this was going on, I did the hip, two back surgeries including the fusion and now the TKR. I must have REALLY p*ssed The Big Guy off in a former life... My wife and I thought about going to the local courthouse, going real Old Testament and changing our name to The Job's...what else is there...locusts???
lyn32416 CHICO_MARX
Posted
"The rest of the day will be fine"....Marty Feldman skit. Xxx
roma5763 Mkhp
Posted
Hi, I am 4 and a half months out from double knee replacements. My bend and straight on both are where they should. I do have issues due to the joints put in being a bit larger than my bones and my left has less fat and tissue to pad it. I can only take Tylenol based products due to medical issues. I am still stiff after sitting, standing and first thing in the morning. I use Voltaren gel as an added pain reliever. Using stairs are tricky if there is not a railing but otherwise i feel I'm doing well. Was told it will be a year before you own it. Might need left knee revision then but hoping not. Keep up with excercises..I'm so bad at that now...and massage your knee, helps stiffness and loosen scar tissue. And I was told to have Patience...not a virtue of mine lol! Good luck and stay positive!
Mkhp roma5763
Posted
thanks for the encouraging words roma, i give you sooo much credit for doing both at same time (at this point still i couldnt imagine, makes my eyes cross just thinkin about it). sorry to hear you may need a revision, all i can say is, us TKR people are a strong lot, and what will be will be. oh boy??!! its the patience thing with me as well (i do need to tune some people out, they just dont get it)! i saw a friend over the weekend, that i havent seen since surgery, person made me feel bad that i was still not healed/well completely. i couldnt believe it. i was dumb founded ??? anywho, that's why i have all of you to lean on. per you, yes, i will keep that "positive" dial turned on, everyonce in a while the remote goes kookoo (ha ha).... good luck to you and all the best of health, kathy p. from fla.