3 weeks, 2 days post-op

Time seems to be speeding along and dragging on at the same time. It’s hard to believe it’s over three weeks since surgery. But then it comes back to me that my mobility is still quite limited and I feel like progress is taking so long.

So the good part is I have been doing pretty well going without support when walking around the house. My knee hasn’t buckled too often and usually it doesn’t totally throw me off balance like in the first few days. The couple of times I’ve been out in public have been more difficult, especially when navigating wide open spaces. The Scientist has been a great support, both figuratively and literally. as he offers me his shoulder to hang on to when I am feeling unsteady. Even short walks seem to be exhausting at this point so I look forward to more endurance.

I had my second post-op appointment today and had my steri-strips removed. My incision looks good and isn’t that big. I think my scar will be pretty minimal as it’s horizontal and will just blend in with the folds on the skin of my knee. The stitches were dissolving so the surgeon just had the end bits to remove from the incision. Then he had me tighten my quads muscles and lift my leg. I was pleased to find this wasn’t too hard as I’d only just managed this a couple days ago.

The surgeon said I’m “cheating” on some of my movements (using good leg to move the recovering one, etc)  and has now referred me back to my physiotherapist to start working on getting my leg and knee back to normal working order. My next follow up is in six weeks with an x-ray to be done before then.

I’m happy to report that my pain levels have been pretty minimal and I’m not taking any regular painkillers. Most of the time it will be at night, especially if I’ve overdone things. I seem to have more swelling than pain now so have been using the occasional naproxen tablet to reduce the inflammation. Tonight is one of those night as I was quite mobile today and it seems to have finally caught up with me.

Below is a photo I took of my knee this afternoon. It still has part of the  X I’d had to draw on my knee before surgery.