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Wow, it sounds like quite a journey with your knee replacement! I'm glad to hear your A1C levels worked out and you're making progress, even if it's still painful. As for finding reliable medical support, I recommend checking out the Deuk Spine Institute reviews. From what I've seen, their approach seems focused on quality care and support, and reading through the reviews might give you some helpful insights on how they can assist in your recovery journey.Last edited by jacobs; 02-22-2025, 06:35 AM.Leave a comment:
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Thanks Jim for asking. Rehab is going OK.
The bad is - itching all over but mostly on the leg in the general area of the knee. I'm using calamine lotion (I used others but this seems the best for me) and that helps. I am having more pain than I was expecting, not in the joint like before, but in the muscles and tendons, with some occasional throbbing. I was told that some have that (throbbing). I just grin and bear it. My PT supervisor fussed at me a couple of weeks ago about not using the pain pills. I started taking half dose at night before bed and that helps me sleep/rest better - without waking up due to pain. I hope to get off of that after this week
The good news is that my mobility and knee flex/movement is way ahead of schedule. On Monday, 4 weeks after surgery, my knee flex was 125° from straight out - and that was not pushing into the pain area. I asked what the expected target at completion of the 6 weeks rehab, and the answer was "120°". So I am ahead of that by 2 weeks.
I am also down to twice a week rehab and have 2 more weeks after this week, I think.
I am getting there! Thank you for asking.Last edited by leehljp; 02-12-2025, 07:49 AM.Leave a comment:
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SPEAKING OF KNEES...
I just spent the day pulling wrinkles out of carpeting in three rooms of the house. They were small humps about two to four feet long in traffic paths. Due to my arthritic knees, a knee kicker was out of the question, so I rented a power stretcher for the day. Not sure crawling around on the floor assembling and disassembling the various tubes was less strain on the knees, but I wore knee stabilizers and knee pads. Doubling up on the Tylenol and Ibuprofen tonight. The bumps are gone for nw and SWMBO is pleased. "Happy wife, Happy life".Leave a comment:
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When they did the rotator cuff surgery 5 years ago, they installed a 2 or 3 day pump that put pain medication directly into the area. After 3 days I had to withdraw the tube and discard the electric pump. Was prescribed Oxycodone but did not ever use it. Probably could have sold it to some black market but I eventually put into the local drug disposal bin.
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The first week after surgery was painful. MUCH worse than bypass surgery. Then at day 5, I began to have a little more swelling, I was supposed to have Physical Therapy that day but it snowed about 4 inches and 14°F, and I did not trust my wife to drive me 30 miles to PT in that kind of weather, so I called and cancelled that day. On day 7 the knee was swollen even more, and I was back at PT. They took me to a warm up machine and told me to do light exercises. I asked them to look at my knee. He did and went to get the head nurse over PT. She looked at it and went to the adjoining building to get the doctor's primary nurse. She came and looked and called the doctor/surgeon. He came and looked at it and said: "You have a strong latex allergy" (part of the bandage). I never knew that. A prescription was sent to the pharmacy and it took a week to clear that up. The skin was like football leather for several day and I got whelps in several places and it ITCHED!
I had a small bit of relapse this past week. LOML and I both are overly conservative in some areas - We Don't take more medicine than what is absolutely needed. I was given about 40 oxycodone tablets and the same number of tramadol tablets. I was told by the doctor "Don't wait until it hurts to take the med. If mediocre pain - take tramadol; if quite painful, take the oxycodone, AND take one or the other EVERY night for about 3 to 4 weeks until you can move without much pain. Well, I didn't do that. I kept wearing the immobilizer at night to keep from twisting or turning and creating pain. This past Friday, after not being able to do what I did on Wednesday, the PT lady asked: "Are you still using the immobilizer during the day and at night?" I said "Yes." She also asked: Are you taking a Tramadol or oxycodone at night or when it hurts?" Me: "Not if I can help it!". Then she politely and gently lit into me: "The immobilizer is for the first week only". (I was told that at the hospital after the surgery) The immobilizer is not to prevent you from turning or twisting. That will slow down your rehab and increase the time needed to get back to normal. The Tramadol and oxycodone are not for 'when pain hits', but to hold the pain at bay while letting your muscles build back up. Take one or the other at night, every night to get some good solid rest and let your leg/knee be free in the night. If it hurts and throbs during the day, take one, but don't drive if you take one during the day." She told my wife too!
I don't have pain during the day that much - EXCEPT in PT on Mon. AM, Wed. PM and Friday AM. because they push me hard . I can bend my knee to 118° as of last Wednesday. But I don't take meds before PT. I was released to drive this week, but chose not to. I Let LOML drive me, and will next week also, but I will drive to my part time church work on Tuesday and Thursday next week.
The doctor wrote up a release for me to drive this past Monday (two weeks after the surgery) - because when he came into the room, I was setting on the side of the examination table with my left leg hanging down at 90°. He asked me to lift it and let it down and I did. He said most people can't bend their leg at the knee that much for 3 or 4 weeks. He said if you can do this, you can drive. (Of course it was my left leg/knee.)
My left knee was bone on bone. I got a shot from the doctor last May did OK but not excellent; the 2nd shot in September did excellent and it helped me build up my leg muscles - that has helped in rehab after surgery.
AGE and Knee replacement
I was concerned if there was a point in which age would make rehab take too long. I wish I had done it a couple of years ago. I don't know if I want to have the other one done. If I were younger, I probably would. There is still space in my right knee and it has never hurt. I would caution anyone to not wait too long because at some point (and it is different with each individual) age will make it very hard to heal fast enough.Last edited by leehljp; 02-01-2025, 11:37 PM.Leave a comment:
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My wife had both knees replaced last year (one at a time!) and the time post surgery was indeed painful. We had a cooling machine to help with it . I forget the name of the apparatus, but it consisted of an ice and water filled reservoir and a pump with a fitted recirculating wrap for the knee and connecting tubing. It was good for about eight hours on a fill. The osteoarthritis has my knees down to bone on bone contact and I was going to get one of my knees replaced this January, but the orthopedic surgeon talked me out of it since we hadn't exhausted the injection routines yet. Sorta glad I did now . A neighbor a couple of doors down had his one knee replaced due to a bone chip in the joint. He developed a post op infection in the knee, has had the replacement replaced and is still in a wheelchair. He's a few years younger than me (and my wife) and was extremely active prior to the surgeries. Take care and good wshes.Leave a comment:
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Glad you made the move on getting it fixed. My late wife had the knee replacement and had the same experiences with post-op and PT. She worked diligently through the pain to achieve range of motion and it paid off with better recovery and a fully functioning pain-free leg afterwards. A friend of hers had hers done at the same time and didn't make the effort, and the outcome was not satisfactory. Hang in there!Leave a comment:
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