# Pathetic ploy for sympathy



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm having a pity party and you are all invited.

I have been recovering from my knee replacement for 3 weeks of eternity. The Dr's all say that I am doing great - terriffic, in fact. I think it hurts - a lot. My Physical therapist is a bear - so insistant that I do this or that, none of which I am happy to do because it HURTS. I love her for it, but I can't move for a day after I see her and I see her 3 days a week! She is the world's bravest person to look me in the face and say "now, do it again". 

Every day, three times a day, I do my set of assigned exercises, walk a mile and do a lot of sitting with the ice pack. So, a perfect time for knitting, right? Blah! I can't follow a pattern. I start, I mess up, I frog, I start over.....and I finally put it down. I can't even follow a post here to the end very well. I'm sure it's the pain meds. 

So could I ask for one bit SIGH of pity for this pitiful person?


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## handymama (Aug 22, 2014)

Darling, you're not the only one who feels like that after surgery. You're not a wimp, it DOES hurt. And it's totally normal to have a brain fog. I PROMISE it gets better. 
They may say you're doing great, but THEY didn't have the surgery!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

SIGH!!!!!!!. Is that big enough for you Callie :nana:

Therapy sucks and it hurts and it's darn hard work but you HAVE to do it. I swear it is the key to feeling great and NOT living in pain for the rest of your life. But you know that . I think therapists must have a slight sadistic side to them. 

You can do this!!!!! You only have to get through one day at a time so focus on that. We are here for you whether or not you read a full post or thread. Maybe start weaning yourself off those pain meds.


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## Lythrum (Dec 19, 2005)

I will give you a huge *sigh* too, I know that it can be so painful to heal. It is amazing what you can do right after surgery. After I had my c-section they had (MADE) me get up and start walking around. I thought they were completely nuts, seeing as how I had pretty much been gutted, but get up and walk around I did. Hopefully you will start seeing more improvement and not hurting so much soon. And I think that physical therapists were probably drill instructors in a former life.


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

((((((Callieslamb))))))) Oh, what a rough road! No two ways about it - it's hard and it's painful and it bites to be so tied to an ice pack! 

I worked in a rehab hospital for 10 years. Our dept handled the PT for ortho surgeries and yeah, there is no getting around it. It's painful and it's rotten to have to go through but you CAN do it and you will be more functional down the road if you do. Most of the people we saw who ended up with longer range limited range of motion were the people who just couldn't push past the pain to do the PT and do the stuff they were instructed to do at home. Ya gotta do it, bite though it may. 

(((((((Big warm hugs)))))) and a huge SIGH for you!!! Hang in there! It WILL get better!!!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Awww, I'm so sorry. My dh had one done, then the bottom part started working it's way out,so it was redone. I know how it hurts, but a MILE walking, is that too much? Maybe if you slow down abit you can get off the drugs and feel better-enought to knit!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Oh Callie, PT bites the big one, necessary evil that hurts so danged bad!!! I can definitely relate ... not to PT after a knew replacement, but after ACL replacement and more recently the compound dislocated ankle (on my good leg!)

Just keep going!!! I'm still doing my stretches for my ankle every morning (and it still hurts) because if I don't I'm so very stiff.... besides, it feels so good when I stop.


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## Wind in Her Hair (Jul 18, 2002)

bless your heart, Callieslamb.  

:grouphug:

I feel for you and am afraid  I will be sharing the same boat with you before very long. Seems ALL my joints are tired of putting up with me. :sob: :sob: :sob:

Hang in there, do the work, and you hopefully you will be up and back at 'em in no time!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

On your way home from PT, get a couple of picture books- of knitting. Relax and look at the eye candy.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

You are all so great. Thank you so much. Yes, it's HARD....but I am doing it. I am living on those promises. I cannot see how people that have a hard time of it DO IT !!! They have my total respect.

I have full range of motion - 120 degree bending and -5 degrees flexing. Hurray. We've been working on strengthening exercises the last couple of times....sooooooo much easier. I can balance on that one leg for 40 seconds. I am doing well. I had to quit the morphine after a week- that's nasty stuff. I wonder if Dr's realize that those of us that have never had alcohol might react differently to pain meds than others might. It's my surgeon that says to walk 2 hours a day. Split into 2 sessions. I cover a mile or two each hour so I'm not jogging down the street by any means. I still have my cane to carry around with me if I need it.

Mostly I am just tired of being DOWN on my couch or chair or bed. My good neighbors used their DR brush mower on my garden last weekend. I am so grateful. Now I don't have that mess to look at every day. We didn't get the ram separated out from the ewes....guess we'll have Feb lambs this year. sigh..... But I think you are all right - oh well. Do what you can and dismiss the rest. Thank you again!


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Callie, Huge SIGH for you, and plenty of gentle hugs to go with it.

You can do it, just like everyone has said. Maybe find your self a nice Knee Cozy patten, sort of like how Cyndi made herself a cast cozy when she had her ankle surgery....That way you can slip it on after your PT, and love on that sore knee a bit..
Poor thing, I hope you start feeling better soon.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

soon it should get better faster. the first 2 weeks after back surgery I don't remember much. then four weeks was better.... then 6 weeks, exponentially better then came 6 months and finally a year. Patience is so hard when you want to get better faster. Hugs. find comfort that your Dr. is happy and the cooling days will made getting out and walking much nicer.


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

:grouphug:

I don't suppose there's a yarn store within your hour's walking time, is there?


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

Hugs, Callie! We're always here to commiserate and sigh with you. PT hurts, and you're one tough lady for sticking it out because it's what's best in the long run.

When my dad had his shoulder replaced a couple years ago, he swore his PT was a sadistic b-word who enjoyed his pain. I finally met her and she was a tiny little blonde lady, not too much older than myself. However, he has full mobility in his shoulder and was able to get back to doing a job that involves a lot of manual labor at 58 years old because he did do it.


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

(((Hugs & Sigh)))
I wrote a response & when I tried to post, it disappeared.
You definitely have my sympathy!!

I honestly dont ever remember being down in the dumps so often 
over an injury. Maybe the surgery did it to me?!

You are doing fantastic if you have that much mobility
and can walk that far already!!! 

I dont like doing my pt exercises either. Though I dont
think mine are as painful, as my injury isnt the knee.

I miss being able to do regular chores too. I had to vacuum the other day.
Its slow going in a walker!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

thanks for all the SIGHS!! Today was very bad. I thik the Hydrocodone is starting to affect me. I'm very depressed, cry over nothing....or maybe it's menopause. I have the world's best hubby to put up with all of this. Yesterday, on the other hand, was a great day. I'm afraid I"m going to get whiplash living like this.

However, I did manage to get a little headband knitted - "see how they run" and started a fingerless mitt of the same pattern.


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

Those meds will mess with you. There is another med that kinda acts like hydrocodone and morphine, but has much less actual narcotic in it. Tramadol, or Ultram. It didn't touch my pain when my hip was messed up. Some people swear by it. 
Talk with your Dr of course, perhaps it would be better than the other meds, good luck!

http://www.bing.com/search?pc=AMAZ&form=AMAZWB&setmkt=en-US&q=what+is+tramadol


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

(((((hugs))))) Oh, some days are just trying. You will get through this but egads. 

I know some people who get depressed with menopause. I just got cranky because of all the hotflashes and not being able to sleep. 

Are your pain levels down enough that you could switch to something non-narcotic excepting for PT days?


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I totally quit the Hydrocodon stuff, Just had to. I'm sleeping a bit better...but the pain if fierce. My surgeon doesn't have an emergency number? Something to check when you pick a dr...so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get that next Rx.

Pearl - I am pretty sure that's what they will put me on next. The pain isn't bad until I stand up..LOL!!! Just laying low today and trying to think positively.


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## Pearl B (Sep 27, 2008)

I started on hydrocodone too and couldn't take it. Stuff just ripped my stomach up. I would be on my knees from the pain from that for a couple hours. 
So I went to the Ultram, for a few months. It wasn't effective, so I switched back to the hc, and had no further problems with it.

The other thing you could try maybe is get a pill splitter and split the hc pill in half. Try keep the dosage around 5 miligrams.
I say maybe cause they usually start a person at 5 milligrams of hc. If you have 10 milligrams or above, splitting might help.

Eta: Most pharmacys carry pill splitters.


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## handymama (Aug 22, 2014)

Yes, definitely break up the pain medicine. But don't just stop taking it. Once the pain gets out of control its awful. A nurse I knew called it chasing down pain. You need to keep a small amount of the medicine in your body even when you aren't hurting because if you wait til you are hurting its nearly impossible to overtake the pain.
Happened to me with a csection. I wasn't hurting and didn't take my pill as scheduled. Then when I took it, it didn't seem to do anything at all!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Hydrocodone (vicodin) does nothing for me except make me bitchy UNLESS I switch back and forth between that and Tramadol (-----it-all). Even with the combo, it didn't do much for the actual pain, it just made me not care about it! Oxicodone worked to give me pain relief. 

After the big surgery last December, I took a combo of hydrocodone, tramadol, oxicodone & good old Alieve staggered throughout the day. I actually downloaded an app for my phone to remind me which pill to take and when. It kept me calm & pain free without getting me stoned!

Chasing the pain is no fun. I did that last year with my knee surgery and didn't want to experience it again. It was bad enough that I had to go through it again while I was in the hospital with my ankle. The attending doctor would not prescribe me what I needed, so I had Paul bring me my 'stash' from home left over from the knee surgery. Maybe the attending just saw too many patients that tried to get high from pain meds that he didn't believe him when I described the pain I was in and what I had found out about managing my pain from last surgery. :shrug:


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## handymama (Aug 22, 2014)

I do think the idiots who want to get high have ruined it for those who are in actual pain. Its sad and disgusting that doctors have to even worry about it.
I first took hydrocodone after a knee surgery. Made me very sick. Then they prescribed me Tramadol, and it didn't do more than taking Tylenol.
I ended up taking half a phenigran (sp?) with half a hydrocodone every six hours lol.


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## SvenskaFlicka (Nov 2, 2011)

When I got my wisdom teeth out, they gave me hydrocodone. It just made me spend all my time puking, so I switched to Advil. Luckily it was just wisdom teeth.


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## Wind in Her Hair (Jul 18, 2002)

thinking of you and praying your day is better. 

You gals get all those pain meds all sorted out, would you? so that when I (finally) do give in and have hip surgery - I'll know how to manage things. 

Currently, I only take Gabapentin (Neurontin) for nerve pain caused by the pinching of the nerves in the hip joint. Because I am already on it, I may not be experiencing the pain I otherwise would have been feeling associated with the spinal condition in my lower back. :goodjob:

a blessing in disguise.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Bless ya'lls hearts!
I've never had to take anything as strong as any of those pain killers.
Even when I had my Gall Bladder and Appendix out, at the same time, I just took 4 Motrin every 4-5 hours for the first day or so.
But then again, I delivered 10# + babies with no pain killers at all.
I'm just one of those freaks of nature with a very high pain tolerance, it's gotten me in trouble a time or two, but for the most part, I'm very thankful to have it...

Callie,sending mega healing thoughts your way.


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## lexierowsell (Dec 10, 2013)

Oh the cocktail convos...

I was in the military when I demolished my arm (free meds!). Waited 9 months for surgery, and in that time my medical team's pain solution was narcotics. Then more narcotics...

-hydrocodone
-hyrdomorphone
-oxycodone
-tramadol
-meperidine (demerol)

My daily cocktail, to keep me numb (like MLF said, it all hurt still, I just didn't care) was 40 mg oxy, 75mg meperidine every 4hr, and then, depending on how nasty a mood I was willing to have that day, I'd pick from my stash for the auxiliary fun. 

After 6 weeks of this I had a pretty serious drug dependency on top of the pain. 

They decided in May (injury was in Jan) to try augmenting my "pain protocol" with nerve medications. Pregabalin and gabapentin (separately), both made me incredibly ill. I think it was probably a drug interaction, or maybe something to do with my wasted body... 

I'm 5'9, and generally stay around 165 pounds. I was 115lb when I finally went for my surgery work-up. They delayed my surgery because of concerns about the anesthesia. 

I am no help to anyone when it comes to medication recommendations... My only advice is to be minimalist- detoxing was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I would be very careful about what you take and what you combine it with. Your body has amazing ways of dealing with pain if given a chance. Don't get me wrong I've done my share of pain meds mostly for surgeries. I can't do Morphine, or Hydrocodone it get sick as a dog. Darvocet is the best for me but they can't prescribe it any more at least last I heard. I have done the Tramadol it was okay but not great.

Good luck!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Wow, you are all so experienced!! I'm sorry I didn't ask for sympathy and pity sooner! I am impressed with how knowledgeable you are all about drugs. I just swallow the stuff the DR gives me.

I did just stop taking the HC... I cried pretty much non-stop for 5 days and now I feel like a new person. The Dr said to just move to Alieve for a couple of weeks. I didn't realize how tired I was all drugged like that. And yes, some of my issues came from going off of it rather than stepping down. So lesson learned there. The leg doesn't swell as much. Walking is easy. PT is easy. I'm on the downhill side !! I'm so relieved.

I was given permission to ride my bike again. I may only have a few days of good weather to get a few more rides in. I can't ride the 15-18 miles I was doing - only 2-3 and only slow recreational riding..... but I can ride !! Hurray!

Thanks for all your messages of love and concern. I really appreciate them!


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

Oh, Callieslamb - what great news!!!! I am so happy for you. I can only imagine how relieved you are to be coming back to yourself!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Yay!! Great new, so glad you are feeling better. Just so you know, Alieve needs to be built up in your system. It will take a few days and you need to take it regularly for it to get there and stay there. That's what my Dr. told me and it seemed to work. Some people can't take it, they get a real gut ache. A friend of mine who works as an ultra sound tech said if you gave gall bladder issues stay away from Alieve. I don't know if that is true but if you have ever had gall bladder issues I'd be careful. Good old aspirin works well too.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I have BP issues and was told to stay away from it, but it worked. I quit taking it since I don't seem to need any pain meds now. Hurray!!! Now I just get up and do things rather than thinking, "I need to do the dishes...." but just sit and sit and sit. I didn't realize how much of my energy the pain meds were zapping.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

So glad you are getting better, and off those meds!:sing:
Continued good, healing thoughts going your way...


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