Knee replacement

[Bird]

Congratulations! Glad all went well. I'm not sure what the "partial" is compared to the total replacement. I didn't have a computer while I was in the hospital, so I didn't get online nearly as soon as you have.:laughing:

 

[WVBill]

Sounds like you're doing very well.
Already off the IV and pain meds!
Congratulations! :thumbsup:

 

[jinman]

Excellent!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[hawkeye08]

Awesome! Glad it went well.

 

[sodamo]

I'm home. Came home yesterday. Have to say got great treatment from Hawaiian Airlines.
So here I am doint my exercise, taking , meds, doing a lot of walking, and realizing I'm not muck good for anything LOL. As I mentally review all I could be doing, my answers to self follow a pattern: No, No, H**L No.... I called a friend this morning and told her I figured out what she did after surgery - NOTHING!!! she did advice to stay up on my pain meds or I won't even think of doing anything LOL

Tomorrow, friends are lending me an excercise bike.

They kept telling me how great I was doing in therapy, then this morning I realized the walk from my bedroom to the kitchen was longer than my PT walk. See my Dr next week to get staples out.

Liking this partial knee so far less pain than before replacement.

 

[Mike Costello]

Glad you're home and doing Ok. Be patient and it will all work out well for you. Keep the knee moving as per your PT. Pain management is important also because it speeds recovery. Good luck, Mike.

 

[sodamo]

Perhaps I'm nuts, or maybe the meds LOL, but I have the perception that there is improvement every day.

 

[Bird]

Perhaps I'm nuts, or maybe the meds LOL, but I have the perception that there is improvement every day.

Yep, I'd expect a little bit of improvement each day.

 

[WVBill]

Yep, I'd expect a little bit of improvement each day.

+1. From my experience.
It gets better every day and shortly you'll be able to take less and less pain meds but find you can keep doing more and more of the PT.

Sounds like you're doing fine.:thumbsup:

 

[Mike Costello]

Exactly right--the need for pain meds goes down a little each day. it's a good sign everything is proceeding nicely.

 

[texbaylea]

Well it is time for me to get active on here.

I had my surgery on Monday the 27th and progressed fairly well. Convinced the "powers that be" that I really would do better to go to in-patient therapy so transferred on Friday. That was therapy 4 hrs a day, everyday. Did develop an infection by Tuesday and was put on an general oral antibiotic until they could characterize the offending organism.

The PT did not slow down even though I had a fair amount of swelling. By Wednesday I was walking more than 800 feet with a walker. The infection was identified as a staph. I was put on Dynaphen every 6 hours. They would not release me until they had completely identified the staph. The Pt did not slow down, just used more ice packs.

By the following Friday I was ready to come home and I think that the staff was too! but the Doctor held off until he was sure I would not have to be given IV antibiotic. It was just before lunch when I was given clearance to come home.

I did not keep a computer there like I did for my hip surgery since I could not get a good connection in my room therefore I had a huge stack of messages to work through. Also had some additional supplies to order in. I have slacked off a little bit on the exercises but will start out-patient therapy next week.

We also have a Boxer, a brindle male but he seems to know not to jump up on me. We have owned and bred Boxers since the 70s. Did a lot of showing at one time but had stopped that when we could not move around well enough to train them properly. Boxers are very intuitive dogs and seem to know how to treat humans that have some handicap.

Our son is here now assisting us and usually is up before me and lets the dog out of his crate. Then I get a cold hose under the covers checking on me. We started crating him when my wife and I were getting up frequently at night. A brindle Boxer is invisible at night on dark carpet and the sudden contact of a cold nose on your backside at night is NOT enjoyable.

I think that I am doing well but still have a fair amount of pain.

Vernon

 

[Bird]

A brindle Boxer is invisible at night on dark carpet and the sudden contact of a cold nose on your backside at night is NOT enjoyable.

It's probably been 60 years since I first heard the story of the little boy who showed up at his country school one morning with blood and feathers on his clothes. The teacher asked him why he had all those feathers on him and he said he'd been dressing chickens most of the night. Naturally she asked why again and he said, "Pa heard something outside last night right after he went to bed, so he grabbed his shotgun and went to see what it was. The trap door on his long johns was open and when he bent over and stuck his head in the chicken house, old Tige coldnosed him and he shot 40 hens."

For a true story though, my younger brother was a police officer in Anchorage in the early '70s and acquired one of the biggest German Shepherds I ever saw. They soon learned that if that dog wanted out at night, he just quietly went to the bed and put his nose in my brother's ear. My brother's wife said the first time that happened, my brother almost tore the bed apart.:laughing:

 

[Grandad4]

Bird, just passing through this thread and caught your story. Thanks! Made my evening!

Grandad

 

[dooleysm]

I'm glad things are working out for you knee replacement guys. Those pain pills sure are magic. I remember counting the minutes until it was time for the next dose right after my surgery. Even with them I had quite a bit of discomfort. After I got off them for a few days I went back to get my staples out and being kind of a baby about that kind of thing I popped 2 pills before my wife drove me into town. Those 2 pills knocked me out cold. That made me realize how powerful they are and what kind of pain I would have had to deal with without them post-surgery.

They gave me a very nice warm, pleasant feeling before they knocked me out. It's pretty easy for me to see how someone could get addicted to them.

 

[Bird]

I think that I am doing well but still have a fair amount of pain.

Vernon, that's probably normal at this point. I took a total of 79 hydrocodone pills over a period of 35 days (1 to 4 a day as needed), then 2 Aleve pills twice a day for a week, before I stopped all the pain medication.

 

[sodamo]

Just back from Dr appnt. Except for being admonished to keep leg elevated (ankle was swollen), I did good. Dr happy with both my straight and bent position. Cleared to change from walker to cane. PT upped to 2x 15 minutes/ day on bike and 2x 15 minutes/day purposeful walk. Meandering about the house doesn't count, but no extended standing and remember to elevate leg. No change to meds, be sure to continue aspirin 2x daily. To be honest, I'm really surprised how good I'm doing and feel only 8 days out.

 

[Bird]

Glad to hear good news, David.

 

[WVBill]

... PT upped to 2x 15 minutes/ day on bike and 2x 15 minutes/day purposeful walk. Meandering about the house doesn't count, .....

You're doing well, David.
So your all your PT is "unsupervised"?
I was given a script for supervised PT for 8 weeks after surgery. For the first 2 weeks, until I was given the OK to drive, the Physical Terrorist came to the house and put me through about 30 minutes of directed exercises focused on the knee. After I could drive, I went to a PT in town for an hour twice a week. Her office was connected to the Golds Gym and we did about 20 minutes of exercise focused on the knee in her office and then a 40 minute circuit on the machines, recumbent bike and eliptical.
For me, having the supervised PT was very beneficial - without it, I probably would have "fallen off the wagon" and wouldn't have the good outcome of the surgeries that I do.

 

[dmccarty]

It's probably been 60 years since I first heard the story of the little boy who showed up at his country school one morning with blood and feathers on his clothes. The teacher asked him why he had all those feathers on him and he said he'd been dressing chickens most of the night. Naturally she asked why again and he said, "Pa heard something outside last night right after he went to bed, so he grabbed his shotgun and went to see what it was. The trap door on his long johns was open and when he bent over and stuck his head in the chicken house, old Tige coldnosed him and he shot 40 hens."

For a true story though, my younger brother was a police officer in Anchorage in the early '70s and acquired one of the biggest German Shepherds I ever saw. They soon learned that if that dog wanted out at night, he just quietly went to the bed and put his nose in my brother's ear. My brother's wife said the first time that happened, my brother almost tore the bed apart.:laughing:

I about spewed my lunch on those two....



Glad to see that everyone is recovering nicely. Though that Staf infection is scary stuff.

Sounds like Vernon is turning into the Bionic Man.... :laughing:
<Insert Bionic Man Music>

Later,
Dan