The long haul...

In more ways than one, I feel like my mental/emotional self is finally catching up to the idea that this is going to be a long recovery. My first several days post-op were somewhat disorienting as I felt significant improvement every 24 hours. In my mind, I felt like “if I keep this up, I’ll be feeling 100% in no time at all.” 

Magical thinking, maybe. 

Necessary thinking to get me past the first week, probably. 

I’m just one day past the 2 week mark (POD15) at this point. There is no longer obvious daily improvement, which is ok, and there have been no setbacks, which is amazing. 

Ever since my post-op appointment, I’ve had a hard time with the idea that my next “milestone” is a month away, at my next post-op appointment. I reached out to Lisa (the amazing PA working with Dr. Z) yesterday, because I was struggling mentally. I asked her for some clarification about the protocol which pointed to some changes starting at the 4 week post-op mark. Yes, in fact there are changes that come at week 4 (only 2 weeks away) and she was kind enough to confirm these very quickly.

So, these are the changes, and they are in pen on my calendar. In 2 weeks, I won’t have to sleep in my brace anymore, and I will be done with the CPM machine. These were written in the protocol, but didn’t register as ‘milestones’ to Dr. Z (they have nothing to do with weight bearing or flexion/extension), so he didn’t mention them. 

But let me tell you, I needed these, and they ARE milestones, and they are only 2 weeks away. 

The CPM is going well, I’m at 95 degrees flexion, and will try to be at 97 by tomorrow. Past 90 degrees, it has been hard to go up more than 2 degrees at a time. It does feel good to get my knee moving, but I will be happy to get this machine out of my house. 

The brace...I HATE the brace. I knew I would. But I really really really hate it. Not sleeping in it will be amazing. The only real way to sleep locked at 0 degrees is flat on your back. And I’m a side sleeper through and through. So sleep has been choppy and interrupted. 

I think I’ll have a brace burning party once I’m out of it completely. 

Don’t worry, you’re all invited. 

The knee itself looks good. There was a lot of bruising right after surgery and I was amazed that it kind of just disappeared. Kidding, it didn’t vanish, I found it pooled in my heel! A nice little purple collection. There’s more on the other side as well. My ankle isn’t swollen but my toes continue to be. It’s been very uncomfortable to rest or sleep with my leg elevated, but I’m sure spending more time leg-up would be helpful. 

The nerves on the inside of my knee are starting to come back to life which HURTS! All of a sudden there’s a sharp pain down the inside of my calf and if I weren’t sitting on my ass, I would think I ripped some internal stitches somehow...that’s how bad it hurts. 

So, at 2 weeks out, I’m keeping my head up and reminding myself how great I’m doing, even on the days when I’m bummed and whiny. I’m also reminding myself that my recovery will be different than most of what I read about, because of having all 3 procedures at once. So I’m on my own path at my own pace toward my own recovery point. 

Kind of like my running always was...

my race, my pace.