Why, after several stellar days of progress, did I wake up (after a very restless night of non-sleep) with a hot and swollen knee and lower leg? Have I done too much the past few days? Been on my feet too much? Done too many exercises? Done my exercises wrong in some way? Who knows? I didn't exactly feel bad, and I had a pretty busy day off and on, but my knee and lower leg definitely weren't in as good shape as they had been recently. Consequently I spent a lot of today with my knee iced and elevated (back to the old tried and true!). It's helped some but my left knee is still warm to the touch, and my left ankle is still slightly swollen. Oh, well, I can but hope that I'll sleep better tonight and wake up feeling just fine again in the morning.
In my reading on various websites and forums, I always--and I mean always--read that the swelling and tenderness last several months. Because my swelling had been going down fairly consistently, I guess I thought I'd be exempt, but perhaps this is a good reminder that it's still just been three and a half weeks since my surgery and I can't expect to be on my feet most of a day without consequences. Even Stan, who generally pushes me (ever so gently) to do as much as I can, let me off the hook today. My knee and leg were obviously not up to par and needed some time off.
When I wasn't hanging out on the couch or on the daybed in the office/bedroom, I was out with Stan going to Walgreen's and Harris Teeter. I also actually cooked a real meal tonight (shepherd's pie), so even without doing my exercises today (my knee screamed "no" every time I tried to bend it), I figured I did enough walking to give my knee enough movement to keep it flexible.
So for tonight, I'm just going to give up, try to sleep, and anticipate that tomorrow I'll feel MUCH better and be back to my exercises. Skipping one day is okay, I guess, but I've got to get back on track tomorrow. Wish me luck!
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