We bought an ice machine when H had his knee replacement earlier this year. Great investment! He said that using frozen water bottles didn’t circulate as cold as actual ice cubes. Found a sweet spot by keeping the fridge’s ice maker on max ice and adding a frozen square from a 5-cup Glad storage container. Only need to fill once a day. Be sure to position the machine higher than the knee so gravity works in your favor.
He also likes the übertherm Knee Ice Pack Wrap with Compression (bought an extra ice insert) because he could move about.
Position the machine higher than my knee? How would i do that? Put it on ladder next to my chair where my knee is elevated?
We are going to try the water bottle thing in the ice machine. We have some Tupperware containers I could freeze water in, but I need to see the size of the thing. Did you take the ice out of the container or just put the frozen container in? @aMacMom
I had Right Total Knee Replacement a year ago. I’m in the process of planning for my left knee.
My surgeon told me to bring a sports drink to drink after surgery to replace electrolytes. Did it help? Don’t know, but it didn’t hurt!
Take a plastic garbage bag and place it on your car seat. It will help you slide further onto the sit easily and then you can swing your leg over without bending too much. I also sat in the back sit for a while. Easier to maneuver in and out for me.
Have a little table by your recliner. Keep paper and pencil to record your meds.
I bought a mixture of dried fruit and nuts to prevent constipation. Dried fruits are higher in fiber than regular fruit.
Don’t know about taking a shower, but I could from day one. My husband wrapped my leg in Saran Wrap and used waterproof tape. Worked like a charm. I had a bath chair that extended over the edge of the tub so you could sit on it and slide in. Also had a hand held shower nozzle that helped.
I’m not a soda drinker, but for some reason ginger ale was a life saver for me for the first few days.
Take your pain pills about 45 minutes before physical therapy. Not gonna lie, a few tears were shed. It hurts.
@thumper1 Good luck with the surgery. You can get a waterproof shower cover for your knee from any CVS or medical supply place. I got one when I had ankle surgery. Taking a shower was the highlight of my day!!
@thumper1 To get the machine higher than the knee we put it on a storage bin on top of a barstool next to the recliner. The bin has a drawer that served as storage when he wasn’t coming upstairs. Maybe not all machines need to be higher. We have the Ossur Cold Rush Therapy Machine System With Knee Pad. About $200 from Amazon.
A full bin of our ice machine’s ice and a block from cheap square Glad container (3.5" tall, 5.5 inches wide) fills up the machine after adding the required water. This lasts all day. The ice pops right out (run the container under the faucet if it doesn’t). Refill, freeze and it’s ready for the next day.
I had a partial knee done two years ago and it was one of the best medical decisions I ever made. At the hospital, they got me up and walking, with a walker, the same day. The ice machine sounds like a terrific idea, I think I would have liked that very much! We have stairs in my home, so the hospital PT made sure I could climb stairs before they discharged me the next day. I only took the opioid pain relievers for a few days, then just used the aspirin/ NSAID combo my doc prescribed for a few more days, then just as needed. I’m not really a laxative person either, so for me keeping extra hydrated and eating a little more fruits and veggies helped “keep everything moving” well. I’ve found that figs and prunes can give you a little extra boost if you really need it. And don’t forget the magical properties of coffee. If your doc recommends a laxative though, you might consider taking it once or twice only.
You’ll do great, just make sure to go to your PT appointments religiously and try to do the exercised they give you at home. BUT, don’t tire yourself out too much, there’s plenty of time to push yourself once you’re healed. I was really surprised by how tired I was after the first week. You may surprised by how quickly you recover. It wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it would be, but each person has a different tolerance. It was more the discomfort from not being able to move as much and my impatience to get my range of motion back that I found hard. Order at least one extra pair of compression stockings so you can wash the ones you get at the hospital (handwash), cause they get kind of gross. I just wore a housecoat around the house and a long skirt when we had to go out and big comfy shorts to PT. Believe it or not, regular sneakers with ties worked better than slip on shoes for the first two weeks. If you have a pair that’s a little larger to account for some swelling, that might be good, but you could probably just loosen the laces on any pair you own now. Also, a shower chair is a useful item to have.
I developed a bad rash when I had to change the dressing on my incision because the original one came off; I have a latex allergy and the store bought dressing had latex in the adhesive (weird). If you have any allergies like that, ask the hospital if you can have an extra dressing, just in case.
Best of luck, @thumper1. I had one TKR last summer. ShawWife had two a few years ago. We did a 25 mile bike ride this weekend (and most every weekend morning) and she was strong hiking in the Canadian Rockies a summer ago after having been virtually unable to do so before.
Use the ice machine. I think we put it up on a table next to a reclining zero gravity chair that we bought to elevate the knee above the head. Both were incredibly good. The Zero Gravity chair (https://relaxtheback.com/collections/zero-gravity-chairs ) would be very expensive, but we bought it used on Craigslist for a few hundred dollars. I am still using it.
Work really hard on the PT to get full extension. Most people drop it part way and then can’t do all of the things they’d like to do later. You only have a few months to get the extension. Then you are done.
My BIL is a colorectal surgeon. He says that knee replacement patients are the biggest or second biggest source of his patients. He says that the colorectal surgery is worse than the knee surgery. Be religious about taking the laxatives (or however you want to do it) but the painkillers are really strong stuff.
Get off the painkillers as fast as possible. This was not easy but was really good for me. It was harder for ShawWife. She transitioned to cannabis gummies to help her sleep. 50% CBD/50% THC worked best for her. We had gotten her a medical marijuana license before her surgery.
@thumper1
Hope you get well soon. Now a day, those surgeries do not open up the entire knee. I had three screws installed in my broken hip, the incision was only 2 inches. I recovered in less than a week. Removing them was a breeze as well.