5/22/2013: Today I bought a membership at a pool. I do a lot of exercises at the PT pool, along with swimming. My knee definitely feels a lot looser after being in the water. I am currently walking around the house without a cane (still use it in public). As long as the brace is on, walking feels fairly normal. I guess "normal" compared to how I've felt during this recovery, anyway. Today was the first day (since being home) that I did a deep clean on the house. After about an hour to an hour and a half I was pretty tired and had to sit down. As I work on building more muscle, I've noticed that I've been extremely exhausted...a lot like I felt when i first started walking on crutches.
5/23: Today at PT I felt like I made a big jump forward in improvement. Things just went very smoothly and the knee is feeling more stable with today's exercises. I also was close to bending the knee to 110 degrees. Every day I get more and more bend in the joint. Even though the knee gets pretty tight after walking for a couple hours, it's good to know that with a little stretching the knee can still bend and it's not "stuck".
5/24: Today was the first day i attempted going a full day without any help from the cane. The knee is surprisingly feeling almost completely normal today, except for the tightness. After being on my feet for two hours, the knee gets pretty tight. I'm barely able to bend on my own. When this happens i hop back onto the CPM machine.
5/25: I know I've been complaining about the tightness. But apparently the tightness I was complaining about was nowhere near the tightness I felt today. Today I decided to paint my spare bedroom. For some reason, painting did not go as planned. Anything that could go wrong went wrong; at least that's how I felt. But that's another story. So needless to say, the painting took longer than my normal painting projects. Either way I think I was on my feet for four hours. Between the standing/bending awkwardly/and climbing a ladder my knee was soooooo tight. I almost could not bend it. Before when i complained about the tightness, it was tight, but if i worked at some stretches I could bend it. And it'd go back to being tight after thirty minutes, but I could bend it if I really wanted too. Today that was not going to happen. I was forced to spend some time on the CPM machine.
5/29: I've been to the pool three or four times since getting the membership, which doesn't sound like a lot. But I'm also still doing PT twice a week. Along with doing little house projects (more painting) or shopping at the mall (walking around for four hours), I think I'm getting exercise in. I try and stay busy/stay on my feet for as long as I can just to keep building up that muscle. Never thought I'd want to get back to work so badly! Today the CPM machine left :-( I've had the machine for six weeks. When the medical supplier called last week I did not want to give up the machine. But he informed me that apparently insurance usually only pays for three weeks of the machine. Awesome, I did not know that. And at twenty bucks a day that can add up pretty quickly. Because of this I decided I just can't afford to keep it any longer. He came today to pick it up and even though last week when he contacted me I didn't feel ready to give up the machine, today I actually feel ok with it. I have no idea why, but today my knee felt completely different. Just loose, and without using the machine. I think it was perfect timing on giving it up.
6/1: Everything for the most part has been looking up. The knee, even though still tight, feels a lot looser. Starting to feel more normal; also walking is starting to feel more normal. Less limping.
6/3: I've gotten pretty excited with how well my knee was feeling that I think i pushed it a little too far today. I've been doing yard work, went to a park and did a brisk long walk, and celebrated a friend's birthday which involved a lot of walking from one place to the next. Although at the time I was doing ok, I woke up today literally not being able to walk. My leg felt like it did when I first started putting weight on it. Very, very weak. I've been home all day on the couch trying to rest it. It doesn't hurt and it's slightly tighter than it has been the last couple days, however not too bad. Just very weak. As the day has progressed the leg gets stronger, but I notice walking doesn't feel normal. I think I over-did it, and have back-tracked slightly. Oops.
