10 days post tkr and pain unbearable

Posted by srm @srm, Jun 20 9:24pm

I am a head and neck cancer group member as well.
Now I have had a tkr 10 days ago. I was not naive going into this new adventure and knew it would be very painful post surgery however, the level of pain I am living with is much greater than expected. I am no stranger to pain (surgery number13). Also, I have a very high pain tolerance. The swelling and bruising is as expected. The incision and staples look good. No indication of infection. The pain is in the knee joint. The dr originally put me on Hydromorphone. It wasn’t even softening the pain a bit. So he now has put me on Tramadol. No difference.
Have been icing and painfully completing all Physio exercises. Basically been doing everything I have been told to do. Movement in joint and leg is as expected etc. I am hardly sleeping and in constant pain. I realize that the first two weeks are supposed to be the worst and then it will slowly improve. I guess my question is what others have experienced in the first few weeks and/or if anyone has any suggestions. Or I am not too proud to hear that I am just being a big wimp and to suck it up. 64 year old male in otherwise good health and not overweight.

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covidstinks2023 | @covidstinks2023 | Jun 23 2:08pm

How are you doing? Still praying for your knee to heal. Blessings....

srm | @srm | Jun 23 2:33pm

In reply to @covidstinks2023 "How are you doing? Still praying for your knee to heal. Blessings...." + (show)

Still no relief.
I do my exercises and walk even though it is excruciatingly painful to do so. Generally become nauseous while doing exercises. This is all new to me. I have always handled pain well.
Hopefully on Tuesday I will get some answers or it will miraculously start to lighten up a bit 🙂
That will be exactly 2 weeks post surgery.
Thanks for your concern 🙂

covidstinks2023 | @covidstinks2023 | Jun 23 3:51pm

In reply to @srm "Still no relief. I do my exercises and walk even though it is excruciatingly painful to..." + (show)

God Bless You. Praying for much needed relief and answers on Tuesday. Hang on and don't give up hope.

joyanna | @joyanna | Jun 23 4:07pm

In reply to @clw19521805 "Awesome ROM after only 2 weeks." + (show)

@clw19521805 I’m so thankful that I have always exercised. I walk a lot and climb stairs. I’ve done this since I was a very young girl. I exercised daily before I had surgery. My surgeon couldn’t believe I had this kind of Rom but when I told him about all the exercises I did in my lifetime he knew I would do real well with my TKR. It hurts at times but not anything that I can’t deal with. Just so thankful I came through it without any problems! So thankful that we have a gym in our basement. Also, I thank God for good doctors. Mine was awesome!

srm | @srm | Jun 23 4:26pm

In reply to @joyanna "@clw19521805 I’m so thankful that I have always exercised. I walk a lot and climb stairs...." + (show)

I sense that you are insinuating that I don’t take care of myself and am now paying the price. That is sort of the irony of all this and nothing could be further from the truth. I too am in excellent physical shape.
Walk over an hour daily, row 30 minutes daily and started the TKR replacement exercises daily for 4 months prior to surgery. I have always maintained an active lifestyle in many ways.
Not overweight at all and never eat processed foods.
The internal medicine specialist at my pre-op appointment stated that I was in excellent shape.
Basically, I really thought I had my body and mind totally prepared for this. I have now received a reality check. Everyone is different regardless of their physical and mental condition.
I am extremely happy that this went so well for you. I believe that this is just a blip in time for me and I will be running a marathon before I know it. Meanwhile, I will just suck it up.

joyanna | @joyanna | Jun 23 5:01pm

In reply to @srm "I sense that you are insinuating that I don’t take care of myself and am now..." + (show)

@srm I would never insinuate that you don’t take care of yourself. This is a very hard surgery. I’m so sorry if I came across that way. I never thought I would do well with this surgery and I was so scared. I was very surprised that my doctor said with my Rom I would do well. I know people personally that had this surgery that had very tough times because of knee infections, etc. I spent hours praying for them. I’m a firm believer in prayer. If I said something to upset you then I’m sorry. I ask for your forgiveness. I will be praying for you to recover and I will keep you in my prayers!

srm | @srm | Jun 23 5:37pm

In reply to @joyanna "@srm I would never insinuate that you don’t take care of yourself. This is a very..." + (show)

Didn’t mean this in a bad way. I truly wasn’t offended. I agree, lifestyle can make a huge difference in our health and recovery. That’s why I work so hard to stay this way. I just wanted to clarify that I have been doing everything within my power to ensure smooth sailing. Just hasn’t worked so far.
Prior to my throat cancer diagnosis in March of 2021, I was in the best health of my life. I was on no medication of any kind. No, I am not a smoker. That’s the first question I get asked. Lol. After a copious amount of radiation and chemo I am happy to say that I have been in remission for 3 years. My main objective was to get my health back in which I have. And then, following an extremely rare radiation induced aneurysm in January of 2022 I had to start all over again. I have exceeded all of my Oncologists expectations. This TKR is surgery number 13 for me and by far the toughest. I believe I just had my expectations set too high. I was also one of the lucky ones whereas my bones were in excellent shape. Therefore, no cement required with knee replacement. 🙂
I appreciate your prayers.
Thank you 🙏

joyanna | @joyanna | Jun 23 6:42pm

In reply to @srm "Didn’t mean this in a bad way. I truly wasn’t offended. I agree, lifestyle can make..." + (show)

@srm I’m really sorry about your cancer. And I pray that you will get better. I really despise cancer and it’s been in my family for years. My sister had it at the age of 46 and passed from breast cancer at 52. My twin brothers had prostate cancer, my husband, too. I had squamous cell on my leg several years ago, just 2 inches from my knee replacement and Basel cell on the other leg. I was very concerned when I had pain that went down my leg from the knee replacement and thought oh no, I talked to my knee surgeon and he said that pain was natural. I even talked to my dermatologist and he said that area looked good and not to worry that it was from the knee replacement. I always laid out in the sun and now we find out years later that it causes skin cancer. I feel so bad for all cancer patients as I know it’s a tough road and I have wished for many years for a cure for cancer! Now, I will tell you that my brother died of Covid in Dec. of 2020 there was no medicine for him to take. He lived 1/1/2 weeks after being diagnosed. He was in great health and worked full time. So I truly understand what you are going through as I have been there with my precious family! I know how painful knee surgery is. I’m so sorry that you are having to go through all that you are going through now. Please know I will be praying for you every day and please update me as you can. I will be praying for your doctors as well to bring you healing. Blessings and God bless you! 🙏🙏🙏

anadarko | @anadarko | Jun 23 9:45pm

Yes, of course, TKR can be very painful, but you should be able to manage the pain with the right meds and dosage. You are not getting what you need or not enough of it. You should ask your Dr. to adjust your pain medication until you get relief.

heyjoe415 | @heyjoe415 | Jun 24 6:37am

Hi srm,

First of all, you are not a wimp. I had both knees replaced in 2022 when I was 67 y/o. Post-op pain is very real.

A TKR is a vey traumatic procedure, even when everything goes well. You mentioned the swelling and bruising, check. Sounds like the incision looks good (well, you know what I mean) and there isn't any apparent infection.

I had a pain med pump for the first 2 to 3 days. It was a diluted nerve block. That helped me get through the worst of it.

The exercises are hard and certainly do hurt, but as your ROM increases, the trigger point for pain is farther out.

What puzzles me is why you have pain at night, interfering with sleep. I didn't have that. I did elevate my operated leg when lying on my back, and put a memory foam pillow between my knees for side sleeping. And I iced my knee as much as possible. You might want to try this stuff if you're not doing it.

I hope that helps. If you are having severe pain though after one week past surgery, I'd go back to the surgeon to check it out.

All the best friend. FWIW I have been very happy with my new knees. I'm active, in the gym everyday, and best of all, pain free in my knees. I hope you get to that place, but it can take some time.

Joe