Knee Sugery - Urgent responce requested

[Sailorsong]

Well this morning I had my long awaited knee surgery. The doctor told me afterward that the surgery went every well and that he ad trimmed the torn cartilage in my knee. He also said he checked out the rest of my knee will inside of it and it was in very good shape.

The surgery took place at 8AM and I was dicharged by noon. I could have been discharged earilier but was suffering from a shy bladder. Once they let me go into a bathroom I had no problem in that area and was discharged shortly after that.

The pain in my knee was very mild while still at the hospital, but no sooner did my friend start the drive home the pain increased to an extreme level. About the same level as when I initially tore the cartilage. The pain med they gave me is not even touching the pain at all and I'm at my wits end. Even laying down has not easied the pain. Any ideas of how to ease the pain from anyone?

Dennis

[Sailorsong]

  Thanks for all the responces! When I called the VA they told me to go to the ER. Luckily there is a small ER in my town so I didn't have to travel 2 hours to get to the VA. They gave me a shot for the pain which started working with just a few minutes.

  I think what happened is I ended up in a never ending loop of pain because my legs were cramping up which caused more pain in my knee which in turn cause my legs to cramp even more.

The Ice thing didn't work because there must be close to 2 inches of bandages around my knee that blocked the cold from getting through (at least an effective level of cold).

I did end up increasing my dosage of the pain med (every 5 hours instead of 6) which has helped control the pain. The down side is that I am constantly sleeping (about 3 hours out of every 5).  I have also already stopped using the crutches and just using my cane for stability. I'm also very much looking foreward to removing the bandages as with those bandages I can't bend my knee at all. I am suppose to keep the bandages on for 5 (very long) days.

Thanks again all!

Dennis

[goofysmom1]

I am with everyone else here - definitely call your doctor!  When I had knee surgery (years ago) I went through something very similar to you - turns out that they gave me Tylenol with codiene for the pain, but also had a prescription for Percocet if I needed it, but the Percocet prescription didn't get to us before I was discharged.

We called & they told us to come get the Percocet & boy did that make a huge difference in my pain!!!

Hope you get some relief!
Chrisy

[summerluvr]

I have had foot surgery (major bunion correction) I found that leaving the hospital I felt fine because my leg was still totally numb from the local anesthetic, but as soon as the local wore off... holy moly! take the pills max dose until the pain gets under control then take them on a regular schedule for a few days. The or nurse called me at home to check up on me a few hours after i went home to see how I was doing, and that is what the advice was. Good luck!  Quick healing!  

(i'm having my second bunion done in about a month... eek)

[HVAC]

Both Lulu and Wobbly are right. Ice and Call! Having had two similar surgeries this was my experience and it does get better in a few days.

Alex

[Wobbly]

I would call the hospital back NOW, and let them know how bad you are feeling.. don't play with this one...you just had surgery and they should check it out too see how it is..

take care
wobbly
dx

[Lulu54]

the other thing is don't try to tough out the pain - take the pain meds on schedule whether you think you need them or not for the next few days.  Once you are in intense pain and gotten behind the curve, it takes forever to get the pain back under control.

Take your pills, ok?

[Lulu54]

Dennis,
Have you tried ice?  I would put ice on it and numb it like crazy! If you don't have an ice bag, try a bag of frozen vegetables.

Have you called the surgeon or hopspital? They must have given you a number to call if it gives you fits, 24/7

hang in there
Lu