Out with the OLD, In with the NEW!

Al Launier

Member
Messages
1,683
Location
Bedford, NH
Traded in my old right knee for a new one this past Monday morning, May 6th. Pleasantly surprised & soooooo lucky to find myself in a private room. Hospital food is not what it used to be, so much better & nurses very attentive! Surgery went well; prosthesis a good fit; surprised to find a blood clot in calf during discharge process; rehab is going well.

Experienced "Pain from Hell" Tuesday night-Wednesday morning - had to be given multiple shots of morphine to get pain under control. So glad that is behind me - never experienced anything like that before. Able to handle current level of pain, about 3-4/10.

After surgery, experienced excessive pain in calf. Despite several mentions of this, was told it was "not uncommon" to have this. During discharge I mentioned this calf pain again & nurse decided to have an Ultrasound test of calf. Sure enough, a clot was found. Pandemonium! What to do: discharge, keep overnight, new meds??? What a time to discover this!

Decision made to stop the Coumadin & CPM machine & go to Xarelto as a more aggressive clot medication & send me home. Rx for Xarelto & other pain meds phoned in to local pharmacy. Went to pharmacy to pick up on way home. No Xarelto in stock. Tried (3) other pharmacies before a source found with Xarelto in stock. Then had to transfer Rx authorization from original pharmacy to new pharmacy. Time consuming process. Was given water at pharmacy to take the Xarelto ASAP. Found out I should have been given food with this med. Had to stop twice on way home to vomit. Finally arrived home, took food, took meds, went to bed. Done!

Visiting nurse arrived on Friday am & this afternoon. Visiting PT arrived Saturday am & yesterday. Everything looking good. Started using only one crutch Sunday May12. Occasionally walk w/o crutches, but stairs require crutches. Can't put full weight burden on new knee yet when ascending/descending stairs. Medication required for both pain & for blood clot in calf - probably will for quite some time. Committed to physical therapy.

Things are looking good, just have to stay focused on rehab, both at home & pending follow-up outpatient rehab with local facility. Overall, according to visiting nurse & PT, I'm 2-3 weeks ahead of where I normally should be with rehab.
 
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Good to hear things are going in the right direction, Al. :thumb: Sounds like you're doing all the right things, although don't in too much of a hurry...you can set yourself back pretty easily if you overdo things. ;) Heal up quickly, and you and Kyle can be having foot races before you know it. :D
 
I was told when I was 20 I'd need new knees sooner than most, not there yet though. I know several that have had it done and all said, stick with the therapy it makes a huge difference! :thumb:
 
The best to you and may you heal quickly.

My mother broke her leg many years ago. She was given home therapy instructions. When she went in for a follow up the doctor was amazed at her progress. He asked her what she did. My mom said, "I did what you told me to do." The doc said that hardly anyone follows the doctor's follow up instructions.

Moral to the story: "Do what the doc and therapists say." Don't be one of the multitude.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
Thanks Guys, appreciate your comments.

Humorous anecdote:
I was in my study, sitting in my recliner at about 1 pm with an ice pack that I'd just put on my knee. Was getting comfortable, about ready to doze off when this loud, crazy beeping started yelling throughout the house. Woke me up quickly & a bit foggy to boot. Then it dawned on me that the nearest smoke alarm had gone off. It was on the second level almost directly above the study. I checked for causes, found none, & then realized that it was the 9V battery getting weak. The smoke detector was letting me know that it needed a fresh battery.
No problem, except I can't go down stairs to get & bring up a step ladder & couldn't climb the ladder anyway. I call several neighbors, everyone is gone. What to do? I close the doors to my study, remove my hearing aids & let the smoke detector sound off. I couldn't hear anything going on, so I let smoke detector wear out the batter. Talk about feeling helpless!
 
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