#769 six weeks ago today...

It has been six weeks ago today that I had my knee surgery. Six weeks! In some ways, the time has gone by very quickly, and in some ways, pretty slowly. I was thinking about the timeline.

August 13 - 18. Week 1 in the hospital was a blur. I had the surgery Monday and I don't really remember much of that day after the surgery was over. I remember at night the nurses kept waking me up every couple of hours to give me medicine and check my blood pressure and my oxygen level. I remember that I had to have additional oxygen through tubes that were stuck in my nose because my levels were low and the machine kept beeping. The second day, Tuesday, I was nauseous and dizzy all day. I couldn't eat. A bunch of people came into my room - physical therapists and occupational therapists and nurses - and I couldn't focus on any of them. They were just moving way too fast. Tuesday wasn't nice. Wednesday I was sick all day from the medications. I wasn't dizzy and nauseous anymore, thankfully, but I was in the bathroom every 30 minutes it felt like. Not a good day. Thursday I finally felt better and then I went home that afternoon. Those first couple days at home were rough. I'm thankful that MT and T were around to help me with just about everything.

August 19 - 25 Week 2 my mother-in-law was here and I am still so grateful that she took the time to come down to stay with me! I wasn't capable of taking care of myself. I was still really sore and tired and some days I didn't feel well at all. Thinking back on those first two weeks, I tried to keep a positive attitude and get along as best as I could. I'd had the surgery; I'd made the choice and now the only thing to do is move along and recover.

August 26 - Sept 1 Week 3 my sister was here. That was fantastic, mostly because I was so happy to be able to spend some time alone with her, which we haven't been able to do for many years. The other thing I loved about having her here was that I got to practice being a little more self-sufficient because I knew I'd be alone after she left. It was good to have her here to back me up as I got used to moving around with one crutch and doing things for myself.

Sept 2 - Sept 8 Week 4 I was home alone. I became a driver again, so I was mobile. I still had some pain, but I felt pretty good about my pain management. I started my out-patient physical therapy.

Sept 9 - Sept 15 Week 5 I was more mobile and getting stronger. I totally stopped using a crutch. My physical therapy is going well and I'm starting to think that I'll be ok when I go back to work. I cooked a little more, I can feel myself getting stronger. I am walking without much of a limp and I'm really concentrating on that. My use of the pain pills is much lower. I have two or three a day, usually one around noon and one before bed. Sometimes I'll have one earlier in the morning and then around 3:00 and one at bedtime, depending on how I'm feeling. I use the ice machine A LOT. I love that thing <3 br="br">

Every time I see my physical therapist, Lance, he asks me what percent healed I am. Zero percent is the day of surgery where I couldn't walk or do anything for myself. One hundred percent is completely mobile, doing all the things I could do before the surgery. I put myself around 52 percent. I think of the things I can't do: walk up and down the stairs one foot after the other. (I'm one foot up, other foot onto the same step; same with going down). I can't sit cross-legged, like in a yoga meditative pose (Indian sit for the kindergarten teachers out there!). I can't imagine going to a spinning class for an hour, let alone having any level of tension on the bike. The longest I've been on my recumbent bike is 17 minutes, no resistance and then the knee is just warmed up and tired out. I can walk, but I'm not very fast and I get tired after 20 minutes or so. I've got no dance moves whatsoever. :)

I think I've come a long way, but I still have a ways to go. I will return to work on October 1, so for the next two weeks, I am all about getting the right knee stronger, more flexible and more bendy!