I had a partial knee replacement almost a week ago but in a lot of pain with swelling

Oh no I'm so sorry you had to go through that I had to have liquid morphine while I was in the hospital the pain got so bad at one point I'm hoping I don't need to use it again I've already been a complete wreck over the past two days with the swelling being so bad that I can barely bend my knee now thanks for the information

Hey there see this is exactly the reason why I decided to ask and posted up about it I know it's early days atm but I wasn't given no real information I didn't even know what surgery they did in the end until my physiotherapist told me the day after whenever I tried asking about anything they would avoid eye contact and wouldn't answer anything straight and now I know why which is why I came here to see if all this swelling is normal as well as the pain stiffness and all the other stuff and to see what I can do about it

CPM machine? ROM? Bloody hell tramadol I won't be able to have those somehow I'm now off codeine hospital only gave me a week's worth and I'm now back on Co codamol so I'm hoping I shall be OK with those else I may need to get a phone call with my doctor and go back on the liquid codeine due to not being able to swallow tablets,/capsules

CPM machine is a continuous passive motion machine, you strap your leg into it and it bends and straightens your leg to what ever degrees you have set it to. It works out about £10 a day I used it for 2 weeks and it was excellent. I used to leave it in all night even managed to sleep with it on. ROM just means range of movement.  As for the tramadol I was taking cosines before the op so it wasn't enough if I wanted to bend my knee so Tramadol is the next drug up I suppose. 

Atm I'm on gabapentin Co codamol again now and I'm also back on ibuprofen I have no idea on how everyone even copes with all this but I feel like I'm not especially right now and feel a little angry with my surgeon and everyone at the hospital involved in care they didn't inform me as to what was going to happen let alone how I would feel after surgery I didn't even know until after the day of surgery what surgery they decided to do and even then it was told by a physiotherapist and on top of it all I have no idea what I have whether it's stitches or something else feels like I was kind of cheated out of all the important information

Surely you were told what operation you were going to have!! You have to consent for a start where they tell you what you are going to have done, the risks and complications you might have during and after surgery before you sign to give them the go ahead. I know what you mean about not realising what to expect post op I was told different things from different people which was very confusing. I should imagine you'll have clips in to close the wound they usually stay in for 10 to 14 days again you should have been told all this when you were discharged. Gabapentin is a good drug to be on deals with all the nerve pain I suppose

Hi Sharon  Unfortunately I don't think anyone would go through with this operation (or a total) if they knew in advance what would happen! It is a brutal operation and unless you have gone through it (and I don't mean the very few who sail through) no one has any idea what it is like. At ten days I emailed my surgeon in the middle of the night I was so distressed and in so much pain and everything was so hot. I thought something was wrong. He phoned me the next day in between his surgeries to say it was all normal and would settle down. Whatever you are feeling right now is normal ugh!!!!

As for your stitches or something else, it might well be staples, these look awful but do the same job. At 2 weeks I had them taken out and bending got a little bit better.

?You possibly were cheated out of all the information they should have given you. I actually went private and had no better information than you. I think as I said the operation is considered so mundane now that we don't get all the information we would like.

I can only say what you had going on before must have been bad to consider a replacement and, although that would have only got worse, your new knee will get better - albeit in time.

When I went to my pre op assessment I was told I can gave PKR and was told about all the risks involved that was it but on the day of surgery they then oh we are going to use a Scopic thingy and see what damage has been done first and then make a decision to see if we shall go ahead with PKR oh just remove the debris blah blah but it was only on the 27th Friday that I'm like no idea what has been still not seen my surgeon so I asked the physio if she could find out what I had done so she said she would find my operation notes and find out so she found them and told me but being constantly drugged up my brain hasn't been working properly so I then remembered an hour or so later about not knowing if I got stitches or clips or whatever so I asked a nurse who then came back and said I can't find your operation notes so I'm still clueless

The reason I had a PKR in the first place was down to have severe OA in both knees I have this but my story gets worse because I was originally diagnosed over 4 years if it was as bad as they claimed "your knees are as bad as a 70 year old woman's" at the age of 38years old at the time then surely they should have done something back then all I was offered then was simple keyhole surgery to take away the debris trouble I have now though is I still got to recover from this surgery and yet go through the whole process all over again with the left knee

Oh dear that is Young! That explains a six year old son! I have the same and for about five years but I'm 62. So like you I will have to go through the same again with my left knee. Currently my left knee is far far worse than the recovery pain of the new knee, so there is light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't think like  this 6 weeks ago, it's time that's helped as well as exercise. The left will have to be sooner than later or it will hold back the new one I think. Not a pleasant thought for the new year!

Fair enough to honest I don't know all the details of my operation all I know is I had a total knee replacement. I know what you mean about being drugged up everything is a complete blur. I can remember the staff getting me out of bed for the first time the whole room closed in on me so I was quickly put back in. They had another go later but I collapsed on the commode.....how embarrassing!! As for clips or stitches it doesn't really matter have you got an appointment to have them removed? 

I know how that is I was asked by my surgeon which knee out of the 2 is worse I said according to the MRI you have in front of you it's the left one that's the worst but get most of my pain in my right he said OK well I shall operate on the right knee then I thought I knew pain who on earth was I kidding I ended up in more pain than what I can handle I've been so lost in pain and crying constantly my boyfriend must think I turned into a baby or something thank heavens he's around for a little while though he has to go back to work next week and I shall be on my own so I need to try and organise something for my son to get to school it's a 10 minute walk for someone without mobility problems to get to the bus stop atm we can't drive and then it would be another 10 minutes walk from the bus stop to the school gates so I don't think I can do it

Yeah I got to go in on the 10th so I'm presuming they will be taking them out then not looking forward to that bit as I have a bad feeling that will hurt and I'm already in enough pain!!!

I had clips most of them came out pain free there were just a few of the little darlings that were difficult to remove. I was biting down on my hoodie the nurse taking them out said I could swear if I wanted to. It sounded like I had tourettes after that lol you'll be fine it's quite a relief once they are out feels like you can bend your knee more and the good thing is you can get in the shower without a bin bag wrapped round your leg keeping the wound dry 

Lol tourettes I think I'm probably going to be the same regardless to if they give me permission just hope they come out easy without yanking my knee out well any further than it already has been lol

Sharon I was dreading having the staples out but honestly I only felt 2 coming out and that wasn't too bad. The whole staples out thing was much better than I could have imagined. So don't worry about that at all.

Has your son got a school friend who's mum could help you out? I think it will be at least a month before you are up to it. 

I was still having bouts of crying at six weeks so don't beat yourself up about that. Your body has been through a lot and hormones play up too. Not to mention the absolutely awful pain and feeling sorry for ourselves. All in all it is definitely hell but it will get better. I thought I had made a big mistake until about week ten when things got better (only problem is the left knee has got much worse taking all the weight for the new one while it repairs ) But now  after 4 months I'm glad I had it done and you will too eventually.