36 hours to go

Hi Miner Martin,

Firstly, good luck.

?Secondly, you'll get shedloads of advice on here, and more importantly from the hospital team caring for your recovery BUT in addition to all that, including how and when to do your exercises, is a little gem.

When your dressing is removed, and your incision line has been cleared of infection try a get hold of a massage therapist who is good at deep tissue massage and get that person to work on your operated knee BOTH the incision line and the area around it.

?The purpose of this is to prevent scar tissue from forming within the knee. If scar tissue gets a grip it will impede your recovery by virtue of restricting your ability to exercise. Then of course later in the recovery process you may have to learn to walk again, practice now if you are able to ........... heel first, then ball, then toe. do it in an exaggerated way for now till you get the feel of it. Heel, ball toe; heel, ball toe. You should feel it working on your knee.

?Don't forget, all the time you are exercising and when you need it, keep up your pain relief medication, whatever it is.

John

Best of luck Martin.  I had both knees TKR about 5 weeks ago, and I agree with a lot of what people say bar 1 thing.  You do need to push yourself.  You, and only you, know what you are capable of and don’t leave a shred of it in the bag.  PMA all the way.   

I have done 2 days in the office last week and will return fully this Wednesday when legally permitted to drive again.  

Am I sore when I’m up and about for full days in the office?  Hell yes, but no where near as bad as I was was before these new knees.  None of us are strangers to pain.  Everyone is indeed different and I agreed with not bench marking yourself with anyone.  But I do think you need to push yourself.  

Good luck ??????

Good luck! X

Wow - well done you - you sound super organised and ready for the 'get go' !

So wished I had found this forum before my surgery...I had no preparation for it - more's the pity as I feel I would have benefitted from at least strengthening all the necessary muscles before hand......I wasn't advised to do this either and I had plenty of time as took ages to get the op date !

Anyway, I am done 5 months post op and well on the way to recovery and am no youngster....it's a long haul and you must listen to your own body.....don't be rushed or pushed by PT or anyone,,,,,,recover at your own pace and be patient and take your meds!

Good luck and I wish you well with your recovery and look forward to hearing how you get on......you are in the right place for any aftercare questions that's for sure...a great forum for reassurance and a wealth of knowledge for those who have experienced it.....listen to Chico....my guru....he has excellent advice.....

Best wishes x

Great attitude!  You will do well because of it. Good luck!

In hospital now. All booked in,  all checks/tests Etc done and surgeon been to visit. Sat in gown and paper pants now just waiting to go. Scheduled for about 2 hours time so will try and post when I get back on ward if I can.

Here we are the morning of day 1 Post-op and doing great. Apologies for not posting earlier but just didnt get the time.

Yesterday went well and was taken down to theatre about 11.40 am. Introduced to everyone and the spinal was administered, no problem whatsoever and the worst thing was the "cold spray" that they put on you before the needle. Nothing at all to worry about.

Chose to stay awake throughout and that was all ok. Lots of banging, sawing, hammering and drilling going on but couldn't feel anything, in fact it was quite surreal on the odd times that you could see your foot/leg up in the air and being pulled about but could not feel anything at all.

surgey last approx one hour then in recovery room for 10 minutes just chatting.

Back onto ward then, about 1.40pm and there was coffee, biscuits and sandwiches waiting which was just what I wanted as my last meal had been at 6.00 pm the day previous.

feelings started to come back the legs quite quickly and could move my feet and legs. Physio came a few times but said that they could not get me out of bed until I could "clench my buttocks".

out of bed about 5 o'clock ish and just sat in chai and showed how to use walking frame. 

Had dinner and just sat in chair just chatting to other patients in my ward, 4 bed room and visitors from six till eight. Numerous visits to toilet walking with frame, accompanied by a nurse. Had to pee in a bottle every time as they measure all liquids going in and out.

back into bed about 10.30pm and was encourag to try and get some sleep. This didn't happen as we were all still chatting then through the night there were all the usual checks done every hour or so and there was medication rounds every four hours. Also because of all the liquids taken in it had to com out which meant about six accompanied walk to the toilet.

Morning came and everything on the ward sprang to life about six with coffee, buscuits, medicines and the usual checks of blood pressure, temp, stats etc. More blood taken as well.

a quick trip to X-Ray and then time for breakfast. Surgeon visited and said everything had gone perfectly, the X-Rays were good and I am making good progress. Just waiting for a day with physio and results from blood test and then it will be up to physio/doctor to decide wether I stop in for another night, which is usual, or wether I might be able to get out later today. 

So waiting for physio now and will try and post another update soon, and maybe some photos.

 

You are doing brilliant Martin! I had my TKR 3 weeks ago and today I return to hospital for the Physio class. I think I’m doing well - but we will see!

Martin, be proud of yourself! I hope everything continues to go well. MM 🙃

Had first physio session. It was a killer. Definitely bumped the pain up and now all four of us in our ward are on stronger pain medication. Got to do some more physio tomorrow but should be able to go home in the afternoon. 

They didn't let me out til I could do stairs and it was easy but only one leg at a time...using the hand rail with one crutch and holding the other - ha !

Another day arived after what I can only describe as the most painful day/night that I have had in my life. Pain is mainly in the thigh area with some in the knee as well, and really stiff. All four of us on this ward had same surgery same morning and we are all exactly the same. Some are blaming the physio but I'm not so sure because when he came all we really did was to go through the exercises that we are to start when we get home on the bed and in a chair. The ones we did were very 'mild' with just five sets of five each and only as far with each as YOU wanted to go. I think that it is the case that, and it certainly is with me, that because the day before there was a certain amount of painkiller in the leg/knee from the spinal etc so because of this I had overdone the walking about etc. Also with me, and against all that I had read here on the forum, I took the minimum or no pain relief when it was offered as I did not feel I needed it. The majority of advice on here says take your relief,as prescribed, even if you feel you don't need it, as it is much better to get ahead of the pain than to try and catch it up when it is too late. Lesson well and truly learned and I will now listen to all of you who have been through this and know what you are advising about. Maxed up on the relief for last twelve hours with plenty of ice as well and only walking to use the toilet etc.Got to see physio again after breakfast to start crutches, stairs etc and if they think we can manage hopefully we can go home .SO anyone reading this remember don't think you know best,listen to those that have been through this and are kind enough to spend their time passing their valuable knowledge onto us newcomers. I will keep posting updates.

Hi all. Another update. Physio came after breakfast and was still icing on the bed at the time. Checked my rom on bed with heel slides and don't think he was very impressed. Moved to the chair and tried it, I was really struggling and managed to get to what he said was 78. This was a little more than he had measured on his first visit yesterday where I had managed 76, but much more painful. He mentioned that in order to get discharged from the hospital that I needed to get it to 90. He then brought a PCM for me to use on the bed. This was set up and started. Did about 70 mins on it gradually increasing it from an initial 63 up to the 90 mark which was quite painful at each increase but gradually eased after several cycles at each No. i had also been given very strong pain relief on starting on the machine. I then moved back to the chair and managed to reach a ROM high enough that he was satisfied with. I was then given crutches and demonstrated that I did know how, and could, use them for walking and managing stairs ( because I had used them after previous sur

Sorry about that. Continued...

Surgeries. He was then happy to allow me home. I know from reading other posts that you shouldn't force your ROM but was desperate to get home after such a rough couple of days. I am home now taking my meds and icing and when I go back to see him in two weeks I won't allow myself to be pushed as he can't realy keep me in there.

Everything seems much better at home. Doing as much as you can etc. Gonna rest it for a few days with only the lightest of exercise as I am sure I will be suffering from this extra exertion. I will then do all my exercise and get there correctly taking as long as it takes. So pleased to be home!!