Second TKR done and I am home!
Tomorrow, I will have survived the first (dreaded) week of my second total knee replacement. I had some major issues with pain management and subsequent lack of sleep in the hospital (my pain level never got below a 5 after the first 24 hours after surgery, but they would not give me more or different pain meds because my blood pressure was low... they wouldn't even look at the computer records to see that my blood pressure is ALWAYS low (104 over 60-something is typical for me) and that having it drop to low 90s over 50-something was common during my previous hospital stays). Once I got home (well, I stayed with my mom for three days), I was able to add half a Vicodin to my next two doses of pain meds and finally "get ahead of" the pain.
I came home to my own house late yesterday afternoon, and it was wonderful to sleep most of the night in my own bed. I am still using the walker on the main level, and the knee is obviously still extremely wonbly, but have to use crutches to get up the stairs to the kitchen (and have even more stairs to get to the bedrooms) because my steps are not deep enough to feel steady using the walker to go up and down. I have just been avoiding the stairs as much as possible (have a cooler sitting by my LaZBoy in the family room and am limited to foods that can be put in do trainers that can be carried in a plastic grocery bag back downstairs.
The incision has leaked some blood under the plastic dressing, and the whole general incision area is a bit red, so I am keeping a close eye on it because they don't have the results back from the second MRSA swab they did last Wednesday.
The swelling is significant today, but the pain level is better today, and Gus is behaving himself around me, so for now everything is going well (as well as it can be 6 days post-op, anyway). i'm still taking two oxycodone 5mg for most doses, so my times of coherence are still limited, though, LOL.
I am REALLY looking forward to having no pain in either knee again! It has been MANY years since I have been able to say that!
Thanks for all the positive thoughts and inquiries!
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Glad surgerys over and your home. When I had knee surgery a friend landed me a thing kinda like an electri**** pack, I can't remember what it was called, lol. It was a cooler, add ice and small amount of water. Then the pack wrapped around my knee and the ice water ran thru it. WAY better than ice packs that get hot and you have to get up for a new one.
good luck to you!
