Moving Forward...life before, during and after a meniscus transplant

So I exercised today!   I mean, really exercised!  I went to the gym and did a total-body strength/weight circuit, and then cardio. My heart rate was elevated, and I was a sweaty mess, and it was exhilarating! It’s been a week or so that I’ve been “allowed” to. Marty (PT) only recently told me to trust my body and how I feel and move forward with cardio exercises. Obviously I have to stay within my knee restrictions still, so I can only do certain leg exercises...and biking is really the only cardio I can do right now, but still! Of course though, this past week since being given the “go ahead” to exercise has been completely nutty (although I feel like most weeks feel that way anymore) and I haven’t had time. Weights and my knee exercises take a LOT of time, and then add cardio and I need like 2 hours at the gym.  Who’s got that kind of time? So today I chose a good (I hoped) workout over sleep.  This was at the end of my workout. And I felt SO good! I did weights a...

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 ...

I am feeling worlds better than I expected to feel at this point. And it’s a huge relief.  I’ve read about some pretty bad struggles after a meniscus transplant, and it was hard to find ANY accounts of having all 3 surgeries (meniscus, ACL and MACI) done at once...so I expected the worst. Dr. Z prepared me for the worst. But I’m really grateful for how well it has gone so far! Technical Knee Stuff *I am focused on properly maintaining my non-weight bearing status. It’s hard, especially since I don’t have much pain. There’s little to remind me that I shouldn’t put my foot down. I don’t wear a shoe on my left foot. That’s helpful. The few times my foot has rested on the ground, there’s a pins and needles kind of sensation that I feel. That certainly reminds me to pick my foot up! *I am trying to figure out how to make progress and rest and recover all at once. On POD10, I’m at 85 degrees flexion, and I’m making sure to work on my extension as well. Although it looks (like in the pict...