Knee Report - One Fortnight

Two weeks was the magic day for meeting milestones. First, the physical therapist pulled the staples on the incision and replaced them with strips of adhesive tape. I was finally able to take an honest to God shower. The staples were a source of continuous aggravation. They pulled when I moved the knee. If you put pressure on the incision, they stabbed you and if you put an ice pack on the knee, they acted as a conduit for cold right to the skin which was worse than the pain the ice was supposed to relieve.

After a shower, I went to the doc for a follow up. He declared me good and released me from out patient therapy. I also got to remove the pressure stockings I had to wear to prevent blood clots. I don't know how women stand pantyhose as those damn things were a pain in the butt.

Finally, I was able to get behind the wheel and drive!

The knee is not yet fully flexible but its at 85% and I expect to get fully there in about one month. But, it's back to a normal life - and the office.

8 Days

One week plus a day since going under the saw. Took a short walk outside (with the walker). I am having to unlearn several months of bad habits from favoring the bad knee. I have to concentrate on the proper form of my stride without rocking or limping. The walker provides security and gives me confidence. Also climbed the stairs today so I can finally sleep in my own bed instead of the sofa. I find I need the pain pills less and less and extend the times between taking them.

My physical therapist is a gunny. We talk guns while he's putting me through my paces.

I get the staples out next week. I can't wait as they are a source of aggravation..

5 Days

Able to take short walks using baby steps without the walker - enough to get to the bathroom to pee. Swelling is going down. Doing exercises to increase flexibility. The routine of leg bending machine, ice pack, exercise, repeat ad infinitum is getting boring.

They tell me they will pull the staples next week. Then I will be able to take a real bath instead of a wipe down.

72 Hour Report

About three days ago they put a mask over my face and told me to think of my favorite dream. When I woke up I had a partial knee replacement and my leg was strapped into a machine that slowly moved it back and forth. A few hours later they had me standing and even taking a few, very few, and painful steps. On day 2 they gave me a walker and told me to walk to the physical therapy room where I had to negotiate some stairs. They then gave me some pain pills and kicked me out of the hospital.

Now that I am home I am getting into the routine - knee machine two times a day for two hours each, pain pill every four hours, work on learning skills with the walker to move around the house, change dressing.....repeat as often as necessary.