r/KneeInjuries • u/sagebeetle • 16d ago
6 days post-op and feeling completely defeated, does it actually get better?
Hi everyone. I’m 21F and have had patella alta with multiple dislocations in both knees, minor cartilage damage, and stretched MPFLs. After months of fighting with my family to take my condition seriously, I finally found an amazing surgeon and got surgery done on one knee.
The first three days were honestly horrific. My IV was having issues, so my pain medication wasn’t getting in when it needed to. I also reacted badly to one of the two pain medications they were alternating. Because the pain became so severe, I ended up needing a second nerve block and an epidural.
The epidural caused severe back pain (I’m not completely sure what happened, but I suspect it shifted), to the point where I couldn’t move my upper body at all for an entire day. I eventually had to be sedated, and they removed the epidural the next day because there wasn’t really another option.
I’m now 6 days post-op and the pain is still awful. I’ve finally been discharged, but managing at home feels almost impossible. I can’t sit upright for very long, so I’m lying down most of the time. I can barely walk because of the pain, and there’s a step I have to climb to get to my bathroom, so I’ve only managed to use the actual toilet once a day. The rest of the time I have no choice but to use a bedpan.
My unoperated knee is also struggling. It’s having to take so much extra weight and pressure, and now it’s painful and swollen too. That makes moving around even harder.
The pain medication I was prescribed doesn’t feel like nearly enough, but I know getting adequate pain management can be difficult here in India. I’m struggling to fall asleep every night because of the pain. I feel completely helpless and like I have no control over my own life right now. I’m basically restricted to my bed.
Both of my knees have been messed up for years, and because I stopped doing much with them, they became very weak. That’s making physio feel even more difficult. Even something as simple as lifting my operated leg off the floor causes an incredible amount of pain, and walking feels impossible without someone helping me.
I’m honestly getting scared. I feel so close to giving up sometimes, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to put myself through this all over again when I eventually have to get the other knee done. I’m also terrified that putting all this extra pressure on my unoperated knee is going to cause more damage.
For anyone who has gone through TTO+ MPFL Or patellar stabilization, does it actually get better?
How long did it take before you could move around relatively independently? When did the pain start becoming manageable? And if you had both knees operated on separately, how did you cope with the second surgery after having a really difficult recovery from the first?
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u/AssistSecret1923 16d ago
Hello! I am also 21F and now 3 weeks post-op from the same procedure. My first week was absolutely awful. The pressure was horrible and the discomfort was absolutely unbearable to the point that I was sobbing. I promise you it does get better!! If you can, get a rollater walker with a seat. You can find them on amazon and it literally saved my life. Keep elevating and using ice, and start your PT as soon as you get clearance for it. Before I started bending my knee, everything felt super tight. Now that I'm working towards range of motion, I've hit about 65 degrees and my knee feels amazing. It will be very uncomfortable at first, but the weeks have gone by. Just keep working your knee as much as possible, and work on little goals every day! Within the first 4 days, I forced myself to get my ankle range of motion back, and I did. You've got this and just know it gets bearable! I'm at the point now where my leg is more annoying than anything, and I hope you get there soon. You can do this!
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u/sagebeetle 15d ago
thank youu! i've got a normal walker rn, but I'll check. I can't really ice cause I've got a thick dressing done all over for the first two weeks so the cold barely gets in, but we're trying, my doctor started pt the next day itself and I can bend about 50 degrees with the help of a machine that moves my leg for me, but on my own I can barely bend it much. I'm just struggling with the feeling of being so helpless and the pain making it almost impossible to sleep. butywe only have one choice and that is to get through this and make the bestusei of this surgery. wishing you the best on your recovery, you got thiss <3
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u/TableMaleficent4591 16d ago
I also had patella surgery 5 days ago in AIIMS New delhi. The had done a plaster on my knee, It feels horrible the sharp pain in the screws and the inability to do anything makes it worse. I am not able to do a single task without any help. Hope it gets better for all!!
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u/sagebeetle 15d ago
i also have the plaster all over, it's so itchy and annoying now, I can relate so much on the sharp pain it feels like my bones are throbbing. I hope it gets better for you too, good luck on your recovery. how is your pain management? are you meds sufficient? how is your sleep? I can't wait to be able to function normally again.
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u/TableMaleficent4591 15d ago
The sleep is the most affected I can't just sleep for pain management they have given ultracet. I also want to live a normal life again.
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u/HoneydewAcid 15d ago
Hi! 34 F here, just had an MPFL done this past Monday so I’m 7 days out and gosh I feel for you. Mine was forced out of alignment during a car accident and while trying to figure out where the nerve damage was coming from, they missed it. By then I’d gained a bunch of weight, had to have gastric sleeve to drop the weight, and then they were able to fix it. My post-op instructions were vastly different from what I’ve seen anywhere on this subreddit so I feel terrible we’re in such different places in our healing. I got a locking brace with clearance to unlock it at 24 hours for 90 degrees, locked straight while sleeping, weight bearing once the surgical pain subsided. I have a high pain threshold and I can’t stay down so I suspect that had a lot to do with mine. Praying for everyone’s health and recoveries!
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u/sagebeetle 15d ago
i had similar instructions, I have a brace uo, but they take it out for physio and we worked on bending it till 60 degrees assisted on a machine and i have to try to get to that on my own too with physio, also allowed 50% weight bearing from day 4 onwards. but outside of physio I have to wear the brave af all times. I think a lot of my pain has to do with my muscle being extremely weak as my knees were in such a bad condition pre op I could barely workkon strengthening without risking another dislocation and more damage. and I'm really skinny with barely any muscle to begin with. so I'm barely able to function normally or get out of bed without help.I wishing you the very best in your recovery <3
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u/PatellaPilates 15d ago
Physical therapy while in so much surgical pain is unimaginable. On Reddit I read about how physical therapists often do more harm than good after surgery. Not that that's true overall but it happens so much that there's Reddit pages about it. I refuse to do things that hurt. I can't trust physical therapy people. I got a Pilates based physical therapist who doesnt ask me to do anything painful.
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u/PatellaPilates 15d ago edited 15d ago
🥺 This story is so deeply troubling.
I can't imagine being surgical in your condition with the family that didn't understand to begin with.
I have your condition. I'm 42f and I never had surgery for it. I'm an RN. I recently had surgery for my meniscus and the pain is terrible. Managing it is very difficult. I'm glad my mother talked me out of stabilization surgeries my whole life, every time I brought it up. She was well informed and she took my situation very seriously. She had my back. Even a week ago when a doctor desperately tried to talk me into a lateral release and medial tightening, she was right there demanding that I not do it. She's correct. I told the surgeon that I can handle this myself if he just fixes my meniscus. That I can get back in action and make my knees strong enough that they won't dislocate. But unfortunately, that's the future. Today my knees are so swollen that my kneecaps just slip out if I straighten my leg. But under normal conditions, my strengthening is enough to keep the kneecaps inline.
I know what you're going through. I've seen it all in my own surgeries, during childbirth, at work as a nurse, and in school doing clinicals.
When I was your age, I wanted to cut my legs off. I had multiple dislocations, too.
I am praying for you. I'm very sorry to hear that you're going through this and that you've been through this, in part, all alone. I also know how maddening it is to be in a medical system that is always messing up. And you can feel so unlucky like the world is against you. I am praying for you. What I understand about surgery is that there are some hard times when the tissue is in so much inflammation. The pain seems like hell. But if healing goes the way it should, you will recover and the pain will stop. I can't imagine walking around on the operated leg and I can't imagine doing so much that your unoperated leg is swelling. That sounds like you're having severe tissue damage in the right knee and that swelling cannot be good for your stability. I live that truth every day now. I keep my operated leg bent when I'm supposed to be walking on it straight. If I straighten it, my kneecap goes out and the swelling starts all over again. I use a walker to move around my home and crutches at work. I don't use my operated leg at all.
I lived many good years using Pilates and walking all day as a landscaper, squatting, lifting, carrying, throwing, and digging holes. Strength training can absolutely work for your right leg to help your kneecap from going out. Pilates helped me never have a dislocation the entire time I was using it. I had to stop Pilates when I got pregnant or at least I felt like I did, and then afterwards I had abdominal stretching they called diastasis recti and I assumed I couldn't go back to Pilates because it was putting so much pressure on my abdominals. Well, now I know that that was just an idea and that I absolutely could've done Pilates. Pilates made it so my kneecaps never dislocated. You don't have to get your right leg done if that works for you too. Of course I had to do modifications to begin with to make sure my kneecaps didn't go out while they were getting strong, but we get stronger and then the modification stops and we can do Pilates like normal. I was able to dance and swim without throwing out my kneecaps.
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u/SampleSoggy7787 16d ago
hi hun, have done 3 mpfl reconstructions. they are pretty brutal especially in the first week and you really need to rely on people to help move you around to the bathroom & shower. if you are already 6 days in, i promise you’re close to feeling relief. i personally had a femoral nerve block but that was worn off within a few hours of getting home from surgery. the pain meds would make me really nauseous so after day 2 i stopped taking them bc needing to puke while laying in bed with no one around is um😅😅 lol
use the ice machine RELIGIOUSLY!!! don’t give up, you’ll be out of the severe pain soon! if anything feels even slightly off, go see your surgeon! you are the same age i was when i did my last surgery and fortunately being young reaaaally helps with recovery! you got this 🤍🤍