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Mako Robotic Arm TKR Day Two
Was discharged before 11AM making my entire stay under 24 hours. Lucky that the roads were clear and we made it home in a bit under 3 hours. However the vibrations from the road threw my knee into pain mode and I had to take the narcotic drugs before the time, by an hour. Interesting effect that I did not anticipate - a national freeway and no bumps I would have thought twice about before. Was able to walk up two flights of stairs, and using walker do a bit of moving around. I now realize how important it is to stay on top of the pain because if you wait to feel something, it will be too late and the pain will spring up like a baby dragon. So it now will be strict schedule for me at least for a week. Anyone else have that experience?
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@saeternes: you know that the constipation is caused by the Oxycodone. I was told to take OTC laxatives if it becomes bothersome. Check with your doctor’s office if you think you need permission.
@ellerbracke Yes I did know and I am taking both stool softeners and laxatives that were prescribed. However they don't seem to do much good. I'm down to 5 now for the drugs unless pre-exercise, in which case I may take 7.5 before or 5 before and 2.5 after.
Hope the digestive help will work soon. It also doesn’t help, if you are usually an active person, that now you are forced to be more sedentary. For me it was a combination of drugs and sitting. Do you have in-home PT right now? Just asking because you mentioned checking out rehab exercises on the internet.
Fortunately a bit of bowel action, although the word "action" is not exactly right. I start therapy next Tuesday, no in-home therapy. I am working hard at doing the exercises the therapist in the hospital gave me. I added those from the web only because I cannot do much on the leg raise, so I decided a few more wouldn't hurt. Yes, I have been very active most of my life, working out 4-5 times a week with bike and weights until adding more about 6 weeks before surgery. I also played soccer for years. Extension is not too much of a problem and I can pull my leg back beyond 90 deg flexion but it will not stay there. I have no problem getting my socks on - the hospital therapist told me that many people do not have the flexibility in their lower backs. He also told me to keep using the walker even though I feel I can walk without it, because people give it up too soon and end up subtly favoring the damaged knee, which develops into gait problems. Anyone heard this?
@saeternes : good news on the digestive front. You seem to be doing well, in spite of being without in-home therapy. I gave up walker simply because I did not feel that I needed it for balance, indoors. I had had arthroscopic surgery on that same knee a year prior to TKR, so both pain/rehab was a “been there, done that”. Well, not quite. TKR took longer, hurt more. But the basic exercises all get back to the basics: repetition, and proper form.
As far as the knee’s range of motion at this point - it is good whatever you can do right now. Would you like to hear extremes? Day after surgery the PT measured - after session - 105 degrees. And, to really blow everyone away, I had 0 extension after 4 MONTHS. Hope that gives you something to chuckle about, when grading progress.
Re. Socks: a bother, but not a problem. Glad you figured out the best way to put them on. September here in SC was still quite warm and humid, so my main complaint was the heat generated by the compression socks.
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1 ReactionNot sure how to “unlike” it. Did not mean to hit the little heart symbol. Butterfingers.
@ellerbracke simply click the heart symbol again to unlike your like.
@ellerbracke my dr asks all his patients to use battery powered Vacu-Ease at night and when sitting longer than 20 min so I can avoid the compression stockings. They charge up for 18 hours pretty quickly. He wants is to use them for six weeks. I think the little whoosh sound actually puts me to sleep!
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1 ReactionObviously I did not mean to like my own post! Finger accidentally hit the little heart!
Yes - sort of. I actually developed gait problems twice. The first time it was due to my TKR leg not being fully extended, so my PT forbade me walking for exercise. I substituted swimming and stationary bike. The second time, about 8 months after the surgery, I again had major gait problems. Turns out that the TKR leg is longer by 1/3”. Custom orthotics took care of that. I’m pretty sure with your precision surgery that should not be a problem. My PT showed me how one can fairly easily see if one’s gait is off: wear fairly tight clothing, walk normally toward a mirror, and pay attention to how close your arms swing at the sides. The “space” between my left arm and body was about 1” more than on the right side. Anyway, I’ll leave you alone now for a while, and will look forward to progress reports.
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