Hello:
I didnt have a knee replacement but did go thru a knee surgery so maybe i can offer a little help.
I had been in major pain for over a year before i would finally let some "quak with a knife open me up, but i had restrictions
I was wide awake and the spinal i had didnt leave me immobile
I had total feeling in my legs enough so that when a Nurse bumped my other leg during the surgery that i said oh sorry let me move that and did so.
what my problem ended up being was a severly torn miniscus which is basically the padding between the bones, it had flipped over onto itself 3 times cause my knee to separate a total of 5/8 of an inch on one side. Now relize I am also a karate Instructor so my knees are important.I was told after the surgery that I would most likely be walking on crutches for a week but was allowed to whenever i wanted I was the next day,I was told I wouldnt even be close to being able to compete in my national TKD tourney which was 6 months away well using my classes as rehab I competed in a karate tourney in March I had the surgery in January.
one of my karate moms her cousin is the DR whom done my surgery she was telling him what i was doing and it was relayed to me that he thought i was nuts before he did the surgery because i wouldnt allow any addictive pain meds and also refused prescriptions for anything stronger than Ibuprophen afterwards
but when he found out i was competing he then said he knew i was nuts, dont get me wrong my own form of rehab was not pleasant I “over did it” many times and the pain I had the first night after surgery ( surgery was late anyways) was worst pain i ever had,BUT very very controlable if i was resting my leg and foot perfectly i had zero pain,and that was only for about the first 7 hours afterwards. now a shot was used in the knee of some kind of temp pain relief to get me home and when it wore off i knew it. I was totally helpless and felt like the lowest person on earth, had it not been for my son I am not sure what i would have done. using crutches to move around was not a problem it was getting my sorry butt off the couch took two people including me to move my leg off without putting me thru the roof.
the next day I not only hobble walked without crutches but drove my stick shift truck (knee on left leg was one fixed)
Now i did let the DR talk me into some tylenol 3 pills i used a total of 3 and a total of 1 800mg Ibuprophen No i am not trying to show i am a big man, I have to be very careful about any meds i may take due to the competitions i was participating in some are very outlawed and ban you from competition for many years.
this was 2 years ago.
I am 40 at this point and knee is best it has ever been.
I am thinking about getting the other done next year only i will use a few extra tylenol3 s next time i no longer internationally compete…Now i was told during surgery that my knee was as separated for what i ended up having to have done as if i was getting a total knee replacement so the first night pain will be about the same.so maybe I would recommend a better pain reliever at least for that first night.a Nice rounded piece of foam rubber would also be good to place under your knee I used towels rolled but next time will use foam for comfort. I did get to spend a lot of time on my puter
as far as resting the leg goes use DR recommendations because as I tell everyone the faster you can get to using the better off you are.shortens rehab time if you have to go to professional rehab.
Good luck to you…
John
