I have not been updating my blog due to being busy and feeling like there is nothing new to update. Or perhaps due to my new knee, I've become "normal"? :-) Well, all this may be non-eventful , but it's where I'm at seven months post surgery:
Pain: I still have some. Some days are worse than others, but I always seem to have a little bit of pain 24/7. I rarely take medicine for it, and if I do, it's just ibuprofen. Nothing strong. But I'm also on my feet for twelve hours at work. Perhaps if I had an office job I wouldn't have constant pain. I wonder if it's part of a typical recovery? Not sure.
Bending: Still an issue, but much, much better. Some days I'm stiffer than others, and I have to purposefully stretch. I also can't have the joint bent for too long without it hurting. I tend to curl up in my chair at work vs sitting like a normal adult (ha, ha) so I find myself having to move around a lot because my knee will start to hurt/feel very stiff if I'm curled up for too long. Sometimes if I jump up quickly from my chair I do limp the first couple steps because it needs to loosen up. Almost feels like I need a little lubricant at times.
Walking: Depends on the day but my limp is almost completely gone. I don't normally notice when I limp, unless it's really bad that particular day. But friends and coworkers have not mentioned my limp as much. One even pointed out that he barely sees me limp anymore. So I guess that means walking is getting much better. I am getting a lot quicker on my feet.
Exercise: ok, ok, I've slacked on physical therapy. I'm so mad at myself for that. But like anyone, you get busy and that seems like the last thing on your mind. I've tried cardio a couple times and it's soooooo hard! I'm winded after my five minute warm up and cannot get through my 30 minute cardio tape (that I did before surgery). I'm not sure if this is because I haven't been keeping up with my physical therapy exercises or if I just need to give my leg more time to heal (my PT did say she didn't think I'd be able to run till Christmas). Either way my lunges are getting a lot easier, however cardio is still very very hard. BUT- I can jog a short distance (when I say short I mean like from my street to my house...which FYI I have a very very very steep driveway) where before if I tried to jog my leg would just give out. Now it doesn't, I just can't go very far.
Physical Therapy: I have not gone to PT for about two months now. During my last visit she said it was up to me if I wanted to keep coming or not. Now that I don't need to worry about bending as much, and my exercises are no longer in the pool, she really did not have anything new to help me. So I cancelled my last appointment and have just been doing therapy myself at home (IE being lazy and not doing them as much as I should). I absolutely love my PT, BUT...she is kind of expensive and insurance has paid their max, so I decided to stop going unless I have concerns with something.
I guess that's about it on updates at this time. The main thing is the stability I now feel with the improved knee, especially compared with the other one I've yet to have surgery on. I am going to make a doctor appointment soon (like December-ish) to talk about going forward with the same surgery on my left knee, and just to double check that everything is progressing OK with my right knee. I'll post another blog once I see him.
