metalheart44

Good luck to TCR today with the TKR, I'm sure your rehab will go well and you will be back on the road soon.

philbob57

Ditto.

TCR Rider

Thanks. Well the deed is done. I'm in recovery as I write this. I haven't seen it yet as it's wrapped in a compression bandage surrounded by ice packs.
The good news is there is absolutely no pain at the monent....of course I still can't feel or move my feet so I can still look forward to that exquisite pot op pain😨🤕
I'm staying in recovery tonight so they can keep an eye on my ICD. Early early stages but so far so good.
Plan on watching the replay of today's vuelta on my I pad before the meds wear off😉

TCR Rider

Thanks

McBTC

Nothing to worry about there– now the therapy... that's altogether another matter.

TCR Rider

PT came last night and got me out of bed but the leg was really still too anesthetized to take a step. Removed the epidural and now reality has raised it's ugly head. Oxy/Tylenol helps but not so much😱 In any event it's 4:20 am and here comes day two. Time to buck up and deal with it.💪

metalheart44

Congratulations, you are on the path to recovery and the time immediately post-surgery can be pretty rough. I personally see no downside to taking whatever dose of meds to make sure your pain is controlled. My doc prescribed Norco with a standing order for dilaudid if needed. I also asked for Toradol to complement the Norco immediately post-surgery and that seemed to help. It is an anti-inflammatory drug and if your doc approves of use for your case it can help. A couple of things to think about: (1) if you have a Foley catheter, it should be removed soon, and I found that slightly unpleasant, but not necessarily painful; (2) it is likely you have a drain in your leg and that can be unpleasant to mildly painful. The nurse did not warn me about the discomfort/pain with the drain removal and I was a bit unnerved by it. I thought it was just a short drain, but it seemed like it was 18 inches long and he just keep pulling this thing out of my leg. The second TKR I was ready for the experience and it was not so bad, but just something to be prepared for.

The path from here forward is only up and after you are into recovery and it no longer hurts to walk downstairs or just walk period, you will wonder why you waited so long to have surgery. For me it was life changing and it has made a significant difference in my overall quality of life and especially in my cycling. But, one thing to remember about the path forward is that it is often not a linear recovery: progress and set-backs seems to be the nature of the game. Finding the sweet spot where you do enough in recovery but not too much to cause swelling is the art of recovering quickly.

Keep us posted often on how things are going. Sleep when you can......

bowzette

Wish you well.

TCR Rider

Sounds like good advice from the voice of experience.👌 They pulled the foley this morning. All I have to say is that I was glad I was under when they put it in. I had three short PT sessions today ouch, ouch and ouch. Seriously though I can see this is going to take some time. From now on I know to schedule my pain meds a half an hour prior to PT. One thing I know is that the body will recover at it's own pace but I plan on rehabbing as aggressively as I can tolerate. The dressing is supposed to come off tomorrow so I'll have a better idea of how much swelling I have. Oh well one day at a time. BTW I don't have a drain in the knee. Sleep is something I really haven't done in two days.

McBTC

You may see the use of absorbable stitches and a skin adhesive... in which event things will look pretty good compared to sutures and staples. The PT is getting to me and it's sort of like putting your head in the noose because the more ROM you want... YIKES. They say you can't hurt yourself but you have to take that on faith. I was at 108° yesterday and that had everyone excited.

FrenchFit 

Does that mean 65 and fat, plus sized? I come up a little short on both counts. I'll get back to you.

TCR Rider

108 sounds good to me at this point. I could only manage a painful 70 deg. yesterday. I'm hell bent on having a successful recovery so pain or more pain I have no choice but to keep on keeping on.😠 I have to schedule my pain men's better and take them before PT. Duh ya think. Once I'm out of the hospital I'll have more control over that.
It really helps hearing from you blokes who have already gone through it or are going through recovery now. Got to keep that self pity at bay........it's a most unattractive emotion and does me no good.🙄

RonH

You're still a couple of months short but you can sneak in and read if you'd like. I see you'll be 65 less than a week before I hit 73.

metalheart44

There are lots of different protocols for surgery and for PT. In my experience with about 6 PTs, they have very different approaches about how to rehab a knee after replacement surgery. Some reject the whole idea that pain is part of th rehab process and others embrace the idea that pain is inevitable. Early on where you are now, I had significant pain for my first knee and very little for my second knee. However, I kept to a regular schedule of pain meds and especially before PT sessions. I may have mentioned the circulating cold/water ice machine before, but using that regularly with elevation helped to keep swelling under control and that improved range of motion. I found an unused drawer slide in my garage, used double-seed tape to attach it to a thin piece of plywood and whenever I was sitting I put my foot on the slide and just moved it back and forth. Kind of like a CPM (continuous passive motion) machine that has gone out of favor in some place, but keeping it in motion did seem to help.

My surgeon used staples and after a week or so those came out and that was a non-event. And, sleeping in the hospital was next to impossible with the blood pressure and other checks they did every 3-4 hours. Then, once you get home the sleep issue does not go away for awhile because it is just hard to find a comfortable position. I kept my leg elevated in bed and it just took awhile to get more than a few hours sleep at night. So, sleep when you can and eventually you get back to a normal pattern.

I am sure you are ready to go home or to the rehab facility and maybe today is the day?
Here is what my leg looked like the day after surgery....

Reynolds 

I'm in!
(Since last year, in fact)

TCR Rider

The dressing was removed yesterday. The Doc used glue rather than staples. Significant swelling in fact the leg looks like a giant kielbasa
At PT yesterday walked a bit further with a walker and did some stairs with a cane. Managed to get the flexion to a painful 80 deg. I'm not getting into rehabso I should be going home later today. We shall see. Posting from my phone and can't seem to get a picture attached to the post but it's not a pretty sight anyway.

McBTC

Best looking I've seen over the last 4+ years... going into week-7. So, no complaints about that from me. But, a lot of swelling still although down by 4 cm across the middle. Big surprise for me is having to deal with shin pain over the last week. Never saw that coming. I think your experience is going to be a lot better than most.

TCR Rider

That knee looks great. If it functions as well as it looks you should be in good shape Mine is a bloated mess but of course its only 3 days post op. I just got home and will meet my therapist tomorrow but I've been doing a bit of walking and ROM work. Got my meds so I'm ready to get at it.

Bald Paul

Well, I guess I can *officially* post here!

I'm getting back into cycling after 40+ years. Currently riding a 'fitness' bike and gradually working on my mileage, but I'm getting to the point where I think a proper road bike would be beneficial - especially with the ability to change hand positions, as I have carpal tunnel syndrome. (I have more than that, but not looking for pity!) So, in two days, I'm going to look at a private seller Trek (2014 model.)

Componentry certainly has changed a bit! I wish they had carbon fiber and ultra lightweight components back when I was younger. They would have helped a great deal during those interval sprints, trying to outrun the Velociraptors! :-)

RonH

Welcome.

RonH

I'm back. No damage or flooding at our house. Lost power after Irma and it came on during the night last night. Happy, happy.
Still no gas or ice at most places.
I drove to the Withlacoochee Trail yesterday just to see how bad it was. There are trees, limbs, leaves, clumps of moss and mud/sand everywhere. It may be a few days before the trail volunteers get out to clean up the mess. They're probably taking care of their own homes.

Any others in the SE going thru cleanup or repairs?

TejanoTrackie 

My heart and sympathy goes out to all of you who have suffered because of Harvey and Irma. I feel blessed that I was unaffected where I live and can enjoy my retirement w/o the stress of losing my valued possessions.

tsurr

in East tennessee all we got was some rain and a little wind, couldn't ride but nothing compared to Fla,Georgia

jppe

I just realized I'm now eligible to participate with the really wise crowd. I even now have a Medicare card. What have I missed?

MidSouthBiker

My Medicare card arrived in the mail this week. So far, I have applied for only Part A, which goes into effect next month. I'm planning retirement the first of the year.