Tag: knee surgery

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Four weeks in

Time seems to move on and my latest progress report is probably due. It’s been 4 weeks since my surgery and things seem to be moving along nicely.

I still have plenty of pain and if someone knows a comfortable position that allows you to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time, I’ll take it. Physio is where they send evil souls to repent for lives badly lived (twice a week with with equally hellish exercises twice daily.) I am thoroughly skilled at doing math based on 4 hours (T1s) and 6 hours (ibuprofen) simultaneously and knowing to the minute when the next increment comes due.

There are good sides to this, however. Although one of my physiotherapists seems to think I’m making no headway, I have greater range of motion in my knee than I did prior to surgery. I can almost make a full rotation on the bike pedals, something I have not been able to do for almost 10 years. I have more than 90° of bend in my knee, which I did not have prior to surgery. This is in spite of the surgeon pointing out that one usually does not have the bending range in a replacement joint that one did have prior to surgery.

I have graduated to a cane indoors, although with the snow and ice, I tend to use my crutches outdoors. I can go longer periods of time without elevating my knee. I still avoid frequently using the stairs and sleep downstairs on the sofa bed. I was a little worried about the lack of height it had so we bought a memory foam mattress to put on top of the existing one. This is quite comfortable and I suspect the one currently in the motor home, which is the same size, is destined to spend this summer in the basement while we camp.

The really interesting reaction to my surgery, though, comes from the cats. When my leg starts to really hurt, both cats are there. Darcy snuggles, while Furball has to snuggle right up to my incision. If you need feline companionship in my house, all you have to do is wince.

If you’re wondering whether or not I recommend this, I will throw in the fact that I don’t know anyone who’s had a knee replaced and didn’t like the final result. I’m looking forward to the finished product six months or so down the road, considerably more than how I got to that point. I will tell you this much about the process. This is certainly one example where it’s not the journey. It’s the destination…

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Progress report

It’s been almost two weeks since my knee replacement, so I figured I should fire out a quick line on where I am right now.

I still have quite a bit of pain. When you consider that the surgery involves cutting the ends of the bones off, hammering and gluing metal replacement mating surfaces on the end of the tibia and femur, and cutting one of the largest muscles in the human body and stapling that back together, I’m not really surprised. My biggest problem these last few days is my left hip and left hamstring. Both scream at me constantly and I don’t really sleep much at night because of it. I suspect it comes from learning how to walk properly again and I assume it will go away eventually.

I may have avoided a nasty infection in my knee. This is a bad thing, but after three days on antibiotics, I’m feeling much better. This is important, since infection is the worst case scenario for a knee replacement. At the really bad end of the scale, it requires removing the new joint, waiting until the infection clears, and then reinstalling it.

The infection has me behind on my exercises, though. Rehabbing a joint involves mixing pain and frustration and scheduling this regularly. I do want to get back on track and go back to my regular physio appointments Mondays and Wednesdays. These were to start Wednesday, but my physiotherapist thought visiting the emergency room and dealing with my infection was a better idea.

I can’t wait until I’m allowed to drive again. This should be any time now, and it’s not like I’m going anywhere specific. I dislike not being able to get up and go when I want to. And, as you can imagine, I probably suffer from unsurvivable boredom.

One more thing for the progress report. I still have a sizable number of staples in my knee. These come out Monday and I’m looking forward to getting them out. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say I’m looking forward to having them out. The “getting” part is not my favourite past time. I could post a picture, but a rather long incision picture with about 40 staples doesn’t appeal to most people. Suffice to say, I look like an office supplies accident, and leave it at that.