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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 23, 2018 14:02:47 GMT -5
As you might have experienced, the knee ache is a minor discomfort compared to a constipated colon thanks to the opiate pain killers! I know what you mean, september! In fact, I got a friend to pick me up a bottle of mineral oil when I started taking them, for this very reason - works great. Just take a tb with every meal, or a little more, if eating more often. Not really a laxative, but helps everything move through. I used it many years ago, with codeine, when I took that after a back surgery.
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Post by september on Sept 23, 2018 15:12:39 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips, brownrexx , I'm not a fan of Tylenol either, though I did buy some for the week ahead of surgery when you're not supposed to use the NSAID group. Can't remember if I even opened the bottle. The only pain thing I'm taking right now is a prescription dose of naproxen (Aleve) twice a day, but I think of it more to reduce the swelling than pain, because the pain is just a low level ache that I can deal with without anything. I actually don't like the long hours between the dosage, because if I get a headache I'd like to be able to take something short term more often. Probably will try the Tylenol or go back to my usual ibuprofen. pepperhead212 , I will have Jim pick up some of the mineral oil when he goes back for the missing pills, great idea! I'd rather use a gentler natural remedy if available. Hope I'm over the worst of it now.
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 28, 2018 9:04:45 GMT -5
september, how is your knee doing? I see that you have been working in your garden so I am thinking that you are doing well. I hate wearing the brace on my knee but I can tell that it is helping and my knee is getting stronger every day and I have no pain. I am going to the gym today and doing a light workout. I have not been there in a week.
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Post by september on Sept 28, 2018 9:47:58 GMT -5
brownrexx , I'm starting to see improvement in my straight leg lift strength, I can do the lifts with almost no help from my "leash stick". My knee flexion has been pretty good all along and I can now flex and get into my computer cubby hole which I had trouble with the first few days, because it's a tight fit where I have to draw my knees tight to spin my chair facing the table. I get a few new additional exercises assigned each session, latest were light squats holding onto a chair, which I hate! But I can tell it is all helping. I went out to the garden with my cane yesterday, but once there I just navigated by grabbing onto metal posts and what-have-you. All the walking doesn't seem to hurt any, but ironically I gave it a painful twist trying to turn over into a more comfortable position in bed last night! Another PT later today. I'm happy that your knee is recovering, that could have been a bad set back. Sounds like you are pacing yourself in a good way!
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 28, 2018 13:05:40 GMT -5
september, I think that twisting can be the most painful thing and I have caused myself to gasp with pain afer turning over in bed a few times. Be really careful when walking outside on uneven ground. It only takes a second to step into a dip or depression and cause a painful twist. Walk really slow and watch where your feet are. My torn ligament is called the Median Collateral ligament and it it the one that runs down the inside of my knee and connects the shin bone to the thigh bone. This is the one that gets torn with a bad blow to the side of the knee or a sudden twist. It is supposed to stabilize the knee. I am sure that yours is inflamed from the surgery so you need to really watch for twisting sideways too. You don't have the stability yet that you will have in the future when things are strengthened and healed more.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 20, 2018 10:31:39 GMT -5
How is your new knee september,? I saw the knee doctor yesterday and I am OK to go back to normal activities including horseback riding, and I got rid of the brace! Yay. He said that my ligament is probably 75% healed by now but full healing will not happen for another couple of months so I still need to be careful about twisting sideways but I am so happy to be rid of that brace. It feels really kind of funny, but liberating, not to be wearing it today. I am really excited to get back on track and feeling normal again.
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Post by september on Oct 20, 2018 12:23:08 GMT -5
Oooh, great to hear you can get rid of the brace! Do try to be careful in the future to not aggravate it again. Easy to say, when things feel fine you tend to forget to slow down and think!
I'm doing fine, I had my last regularly scheduled PT yesterday. He wants to see me two more times before I see the surgeon on Oct 31. My therapist keeps giving me new strength and muscle building exercises like squats and leg lifts and weight bearing on one leg. I can walk up stairs normally, but am still tentative on going downstairs normally because I'm not confident of knee stability with a lot of weight on it. I still have swelling which I expect will take months to fully disappear, but as it goes down I'm feeling clicking when I walk. It's only been a little over 4 weeks, so I'm fairly pleased with the healing.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 20, 2018 13:56:42 GMT -5
Since my injury I am also hearing/feeling a clicking and I asked him about that yesterday. He pulled out the demo plastic knee model with the metal replacement and showed me that when the knee joint flexes from side to side the metal part at the top clicks against the plastic plate below it. There is a plastic plate between the top and bottom metal parts.
I didn't really feel this until I injured that ligament a month ago so I am hoping that it will tighten up more as it finishes healing and stop clicking but in any case he said that it doesn't hurt anything.
In your case I know that they stretch the ligaments out of the way when they put in the new parts so maybe yours will tighten up too. I hope so but it sounds like you are doing great.
I know what you mean by lack of confidence but eventually you will probably forget all about it. We went to an airport about 2 years ago and I walked right through the metal detector and set it off. My first thought was "I am not wearing a belt so what's going on?" I had forgotten all about my metal knee replacement! That was 2 1/2 years after the surgery.
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