Crikey....... Lets visit the Hurt Scale

Ice,,,, Literally he best painkiller for me. I borrowed a cryo-cuff. The plug in version supplies light compression and limitless very cold water over a large area around the knee. If topped up with an ice pack. I cant praise it enough..

I LOVE my cryo-cuff. At about 5 weeks PO I went to visit my parents for a few days and when I got back I said to my husband, "I missed you, honey, but I missed my cryo-cuff more." For easy continuous cold, we freeze water bottles and put them in the tank, then switch them out with others in the freezer--minimizes the ice-making needed!

peterb64

Please tell us where you had the surgery. The Surgeon I went to only did knees and and hip replacements too. Original surgeon that did my Rotator Cuff waited till one week before surgery, called me in and told me he could do the surgery but didn't think he would be able to control, my swelling and pain so he sent me to the new surgeon who he happened to go to medical school. The new guy said no problem my pain would be controlled. After Major Surgery I was in excruciating pain. I spent the first night in the Hospital. I was given 5 mg of Norco. No pain pump, nothing else. I got thru the first night with the extra pain shots during the surgery. The next day they wore off. I have NEVER experienced so much PAIN in my entire life!! I called and told then it was not strong enough. They upped it to 10 mg of Norco. But only for 3 weeks. Then I got a 5 mg refill and that was it.He claimed the gov't won't let them dispense meds anymore like they used to. BALONEY!!! I am not a drug seeker. I think patients have the right to have their pain controlled. It is 2 weeks into my 4th month post op. I have a 2" X 6" section that goes down the side of my incision that is constantly numb and my knee is in strong pain every day. Except when icing. it is heavenly. But the moment the ice comes off the pain is right back. Exercise does not help much either. It feels like I have a tourniquet on my knee. I don't want to EVER have to have another surgery. I would never go to him again. I am near Toledo, Ohio USA. Thanks for your info. Glad you sailed right thru.

Im in the UK. Original tkr done privately. Fixed by the state system/ National Health Service.

My original surgeon put me through 2 very painful MUA's and I have it in writing that the problem is my 'chronic pain syndrome' as opposed to his shoddy workmanship.... His solution to the tightness and pain was to insert a thinner cartilage, thereby creating more play. I almost let him do this a few months in, such was my desperation. Thankfully I didnt rush in as this would have just made it worse...

I had to make a fuss to get this sorted. I ended up with the surgeon that performed my first arthoscopy some 26 years ago and Im so glad I did as hes retiring next year.

My other knee is worse than ever, but due to my pain threshold being expanded so much, it doesnt seem quite so bad anymore.

All the best....

can you name doc or where u live im gettin desperate

Morning Rosemary - I needed a revision as according to my new surgeon he found 3 of the 6 parameters a TKR surgeon should look for, to be outside tolerances. i.e The bottom prosthesis wasnt inserted vertically on any plane. Additionally, my kneecap was placed too low so during MUA's and physiotherapy it hit my lower prosthesis around 90 degrees and that too hurt. As such, my ROM remained around 85 and my pain level for the 22 months was around a 7. That 7 hurtz however was 24/7, whereas pre-tkr my knees hurt mostly when in use.

Whilst the leg worked as a leg, im only 55 and wasnt prepared to put up with more pain than I had pre-tkr. I therefore had a choice of put up or shut up. I cant tell you how keen I was to avoid further surgery.... I almost left the hospital pre-op last week. I was scared...... Im now at home and its over. The sun is rising, the dog snoring , coffee smells great and I just have to get through a bit more of that pain thing.....

I also need go get back on my motorbike and static bike for sanity and fitness, neither of which were possible with such limited ROM. Note, Im already talking in the past tense !

I dont wish to sound flippant, but the hardest part of a revision is taking out the original stuff and it sounds like yours are coming free already. You volunteered for a tkr which didnt work out, so all that you hoped for doesnt exist. Indeed, like me it sounds worse after the tkr. On that basis you owe it to yourself to see this through...

A wobbly prosthesis and pain for life, or another month in the 20plus hurtz zone, then it all calms down and you get the result you want. I know its not quite that simple !

Small things like dressing became such a pain, getting in and out of the car was clumsy at best. I was left disabled after my tkr and that wasnt good enough...

I hope you change your mind. Think of it as the biggest purchase you ever made and its not right, so take it back and get a proper one....Exercise your consumer rights...

A bigger problem for me than just the pain is needles and there are many required to get you through a revision. I had to commit to inject myself with blood thinners for 2 weeks post op at home before the hospital would discharge me. My preference would be to spend the next 2 weeks in prison as Mr Bigs b***h than stick needles in myself ! I am so terrified of needles.. My wife however seems to enjoy the task, perhaps more than she should.

Forget anyone else. This is your leg with your pain and your decision... Imagine sending me a message in a few weeks to tell me youve done the revision. Itll hurt whilst you type, but its already on the mend and I guarantee you will smile....... I look forward to hearing from you.....

Final thought - After my tkr the pain was insane. As a newcomer to tkr and that level of pain, I was terrified that it wasnt right (turns out it wasnt, however) and that fear didnt help. Everytime it hurt i was wondering if I was doing more damage. A physio session would be as much mentally draining as physically as I was thinking 'surely this cant be right'

After the revision, it doesnt hurt any less, but you can disregard the fear element as you now know what to expect and concentrate on the goal.... It becomes an exercise in teeth gritting/winning as opposed to being scared to push for fear of further trauma/damage.

I was shouting and swearing at myself during self imposed physio yesterday and will be again in an hour or so..... Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hi again peter,

I'm really interested in Your story because out of all the articles I read here your situation sounds exactly like mine...only thing is your braver than I am.

I feel sick at the thought of going through all that again.

You know so much about the procedure , all I know is last June I got battered and bruised and had pain so bad I cried until I asked for more morphine, I missed all the summer months my life was on hold..I'm getting around now but have pain, soreness, and stiffness every day...surgeon said the x-ray doesent tell him much but my story tells him that my knee is loose...how did you know for sure what your problem was. How can a knee get loose, was it not fitted properly 1st time ? He also said the revision has a 60% chance of improving the situation....those odds are not good I think...I dread the thought of hearing the saw and drills and hammers again too...I was told like you it's a revision or put up with the way I am now...thank you for your kind words of encouragement especially as your only a few days out of op yourself...

I'm so happy for you that you have faced the fear and did it...your home now ànd it's behind you..the sun shining and smell of fresh coffee sounds lovely and summer is o the way....well for me it is I'm living in ireland I'm 60 years of age....you could be living in Australia and be in summer already...I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.

Rose

Hi Rose - Ive missed 2 summers and was looking at missing my third until I was offered this cancellation. I can assure you Im not brave, I just like my summers ! 'Desperate' or stubborn would be far more apt than brave. !

My wife has (literally) just done my daily injection and I had to turn the TV on and loud so I didnt hear the packaging rattling/opening. Im scared to death of moths for goodness sake ! This isnt about brave. Its more about finishing what you started....

Clearly I had no prior experience of tkr, but it just didnt feel right.

My first time on a CPM (bending machine) was an eye opener, as in one position my knee looked straight but didnt feel good. In another it felt better, but looked bent. On top of that it hurt so much on the inside of the knee as it did pre-tkr, despite none of the pain generating bits existing any longer.... I had many clues.

Sounds like you need a second opinion at the very least. Few surgeons will give any guarantees. Your 60% man is covering his backside and understandably so. My new man wants to leave me with 115 degrees and pain free, from 85 and constant pain.. However, he also stated that 'there is nothing like surgery for screwing up a joint' or words to that effect.... If Im pain free in a couple of months, itll be worth it. If I get back on various forms of two wheels it will be a bonus. I have been so miserable, its affected everyone around me. Ive almost stayed in the house for 2 years and had one or two very dark days indeed....Last week, pre-op, I was putting together a list of banks, insurances, utilities etc for my wife, should I not have made it through which was a pretty unpleasant experience... Its been a crazy 2 years and for that reason alone I had to change it... In 3 summers time 60% might look quite appealing.

After my initial surgeon tried to talk me into a thinner cartilage, he referred me to a colleague of his for a second opinion. 6 weeks later (going out of my mind) Im in his office. He wobbled the leg, suggested I leave it for now, then wrote to me and my GP to tell us it 'was satisfactory' ! On a typical consumer survey 'satisfactory' is somewhere near the bottom. How very reassuring......

Two professionals with diametrically opposing views and me in the middle who had to make the call.... I then paid for a second, second opinion. His words of wisdom were to go through with a second MUA, see how it goes and then consider a change of cartilage. I did the second MUA and it made no difference......

Wasnt until I was a little more assertive with the initial butcher/surgeon that he put me onto the man who did my revision last week. New man immediately sent me for full length leg x-rays (potentially embarrassing, you have been warned !) and a CT scan. With all this info to hand he was able to show me in 3D where it all went wrong over a 90 minute consultation. The original surgeon didnt even cut the lower bone at 90 degrees, but stuck in a thicker bed of mortar like a dodgy builder might 'to make good'.

Your family wont ever get it, as your leg (I suspect) looks like any other leg with a silver line down the knee. There is no way they can begin to comprehend how it feels inside. Id be badgering them to get you in front of the right people as you need to feel confident of success. If my original surgeon were the only one left on earth I wouldnt let him near me.

Its a situation Ive not been in before, whereby I had so little control over me/anything with such significant consequences. Its times like this you want it all to go away and for someone to 'get it sorted', press rewind. Unfortunately, that person has to be you or at least start with you..... Find a revisionist. Get the ball rolling. You can pull out any time up to sedation, so absolutely nothing to lose...

To avoid drills etc I had a spinal block and sedation. A friends mother was awake throughout chatting. Now that is what I call brave....

N.B. A friend of mine has had a few ops over the years. He introduces himself to the consultant and then asks how many times he has been sued... In an instant he knows if he is in good company...

Best wishes....

Dont know if we can chat/message without boring everyone else?

Haha!! That's true about boring everyone else, I wish my daughter was here because they're is a way to private message on this but don't know how...just to let you know my daughter is paying for me to go to Dublin for a second opinion have appointment for 1st of May...it's a private sports injury clinic that specialises in knees and hips...can't wait to get some proper answers...my daughter lives in Dublin but my poor husband has to put up with me complaining...I'd say he's sick of the word TKR 😊 you know about things I've never even heard of like cartilages were never mentioned to me...never heard of MUA I wasn't told what my range of motion is ..or what is keeping my prosthesis in place, never heard of full lenght xray... so hopefully the private clinic will do CT scan and the 3D to explain where it went wrong...a lot of info in your last message I'll read it again later...your funny when your talking about the needles...I don't mind needles at all .

Great news. A sports clinic is the perfect place to be.

Read up as much as you can about revisions. Do your homework. You want to leave there with a good understanding as to where you are and are headed. Post queries on here. There is a wealth of knowledge available. Loads more stuff to bore your husband with...

Find out beforehand what to expect from your appointment. Will they do a scan on the day or expect you to come back another day ? I had a few weeks between scans and results/consultation. Can you get a scan locally and have it sent to them ? Just thinking out loud..

By the way, you will be cursing me post-op, but only for a few weeks..

And have a pint at jonny foxs whilst in Dublin...

rosemary iv just had my 2nd KNR

6weeks ago . but im in same situation as you with my other replacement 4years ago it's wobbly

iv got to have it re done i was telling Dr for 3years it wasn't right in so much pain iv had leg brace still use crutches addicted to Pain killers

new consultant last year listen he looked at my knee he just done my other knee early days yet but i really don't want to go through it again and i got husband and daughter (student nurse) telling me to get it done but they really don't know how painful it is and 2nd one's are worse

Morning Jenfid.... My initial TKR was poorly installed to say the least. Im 6 weeks today after the revision. I had read that a revision 'is worse than the original TKR', but can confirm that simply isnt the case. At least it isnt in my case.

Probably shouldnt, but walked (with one crutch and my dog) around a mile yesterday. Took around 45 minutes, knee swelled up and I fell asleep soon after arriving home as was shattered, but the discomfort was no worse than it would have been 6 weeks ago before my revision.

What Im trying to say is that the initial TKR hurt far more than it should for far too long, as it wasnt done properly, whereas my revision looks to be a far better job and is therefore far less painful....

I left hospital 6 weeks ago with around 65 degrees of bend. Im now around 90 and its getting tough as my leg hasnt bent further than that for almost 2 years. My plan is to get to around 110/115 over the next few weeks, which is what the surgeon achieved during the revision.

Dont fear a revision, just find a revision specialist...

Wishing you all the best....