I'm on my way! (8 weeks)

This week marks  8 weeks post-op.  My 2 month goal was to walk unassisted in my house, and I have reached my goal!  The other day I was getting out of my bed, and I looked around and wondered, "Where is my cane?  Surely I didn't leave it in the kitchen!"  So I got out of bed, toddled to the kitchen, and hallelujah, there was my cane resting against the counter!  Since then I have consciously walked around my house some without a cane every day.


Today I walked 3 laps on the walking path in 11 minutes.  Before my PT setback, I had walked 2 laps in 10 minutes! I am feeling again like I have turned a corner.  As long as I can keep my physical therapist from knocking me down, I feel like my progress is going to increase, not necessarily exponentially, but certainly at a steeper rate.  Yay me!!

A reality of rehab (7 weeks)

It's been almost a week.  Last Friday at physical therapy, my therapist worked me really hard.  I knew I was in trouble when I could hardly walk out of there! I could not wait to get home and get in bed to wait for the throbbing to go away.  For the next 4 days, I could barely walk.  Both knees hurt with every step I took.  If I had been sharper, I would have reverted to my walker, but that thought never occurred to me.  I miserably walked around with my cane and left my walking sticks by the wayside.  Going back to the cane was a real psychological setback. (I just realized that I have not mentioned my walking sticks prior to this--I'll post about them next.)  I was in significant pain for a full 4 days, and the past 2 days have been less painful.  I saw my PT yesterday, told her I was not a happy camper, and she said, "that's not supposed to happen, but sometimes it does." Makes sense that I have to be tested, but I truly feel like I was set back 3 or 4 weeks.  The real bummer was that that very morning when I awoke, I realized that I had slept all night for the first time since my surgery!!  I was elated and felt like I had turned a corner in my recovery.  I was delighted that I had slept all night because I had not been bothered by pain. I went bouncing into PT and announced to everyone who came around that I was a new woman and that I had slept all night.  I haven't had a good night since.  I'm still taking 1 or 2 pain pills every day, and I'm really surprised that I didn't take 3 or 4 every day last week.

Trying to get straightened out (5 weeks)

I haven't done any posting about my pool exercise.  I've been going to the pool sporadically over the past 2-3 weeks.  When I left the hospital, my doctor in rehab really encouraged it as the best way to rehab.  It requires a lot of energy to get dressed, get there, and come home and shower, but afterwards I'm always glad I did it.  Exercising is tons easier in the water because the pain is so much less.  I do my regular exercises, plus others I have learned in the past from water therapy for a back injury. My biggest problem at the present is my extension or straightening of my knees.  The right is not so much a problem, but the left one is.  I have really worked on the straightening exercises that are no fun on land, but are so much easier in water.  I have been using a noodle under my heel to extend my leg and stretch really good behind my knee.  I have also spent lots of time walking backwards in the water.  My therapist was real pleased to hear that I had been doing that. (I read about walking backwards in my knee book that I recommend.)  Two days ago, my therapist did a lot of stretching of my left knee that was definitely not fun and left me hurting the remainder of the day.  So I was motivated yesterday to go to the pool and work especially hard on straightening my knees.  Today I was rewarded with great measurements.  The right knee measured 4 degrees--0 is the goal.  The left knee measured 7 degrees-- down from my last measurement of 15!!


I belong to the Y, so I am using pools that belong to the Y.  I have since learned that the Church Health Center has a heated pool that is therapeutic for arthritics.  The Y is 84-85, but the warmer pools are about 5 degrees warmer.  I would choose the warmer pools if I had a choice.  By the way, my husband wanted to do a video to jazz up my blog.  No way my blog is going to sport me in a bathing suit!