The fifth day after TKR is now almost over. In many ways, it's been easier than I thought, but in several ways, it's been surprisingly hard. I think I'm making good progress with my exercises (even though my exercise sessions really hurt), I'm sleeping plenty, I'm walking better every day with my walker, and I'm getting up from a sitting position much more easily. I can truthfully say that, aside from the times when I'm exercising, I don't have much pain at all. What I do have is tightness and swelling which makes it difficult to bend my knee. Ice (in the form of gel pacs) helps a lot. If you have TKR, you want to invest in several gel pacs so that you always have a nice cool one in your freezer. The gel pacs really help with the swelling, in fact cold is the only thing that helps with the swelling.
The most significant problem I have is nausea. Whether the nausea is being caused by Percocet or by the Lovenox shots (blood thinner shots), I'm not sure, but I suspect Percocet. I may call the doctor's office tomorrow to ask if I can have some less intense pain medicine that perhaps wouldn't have these side effects. We'll see how things go tomorrow. I'll take Percocet before my in-home physical therapy tomorrow, but I will try not to take it any other time. If I have less nausea, then I'll be pretty sure it was because of the Percocet.
Other than that, however, things are going along about as well as I would or could expect. I managed to eat half a bowl of cereal for dinner and a small container of yogurt, and I managed to watch a 30-minute House Hunters International all the way through. Having had a hard time focusing and concentrating, this is a larger accomplishment than it might seem! I think I'll actually go read a bit of my mystery and see if I can follow the story line for a chapter or two!
More exciting details tomorrow! Good night!
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