Three-Week Anniversary of Surgery

After yesterday's less than stellar experience at the outpatient physical therapy center, I had low expectations for today. While I can't say that I think I got a lot out of today's experience, it was better than yesterday. It started off with riding a stationary bike, then went on to some stretching exercises against a wall and on an exercise table. The therapist lifted and stretched my leg up and back as far as it would go which felt surprisingly good. The only exercise that hurt a little was one which involved lying on my stomach and pulling my leg up and backwards with a cord which I pulled until I couldn't stand anymore bend in my knee. In the end, however, I still feel I got more of a workout with my home therapy. That may change on Thursday when she promised to make my workout more demanding. After the therapy, she iced my knee down for 10 minutes, but really, it wasn't necessary. It didn't feel hurt, stiff, or swollen like it did after home therapy. And yes, I did take two Percocet tablets before the therapy, but I did that before home therapy, too. I'm sure this will get more demanding, but at $30 co-pay for each session, I'm more interested in getting my money's worth.

Yesterday and today have both been pretty good days. After I wrote yesterday, I got ambitious and moved all the furniture in the family room back to the way it was before Stan rearranged it for my rehabilitation. He had moved a couple of pieces of furniture and had put a card table by the couch so I could lie on the couch, read, web browse, watch TV, and have everything at hand. All that is cleaned up now, and our house looks normal again. That's an amazingly uplifting experience, believe it or not--maybe my period of invalidism is almost over!

We have had a quiet afternoon, taking naps, reading and doing nothing much, but everything is just fine for this my three-week anniversary of my surgery. Who knew things would go this well! Aside from still feeling a little more tired than usual, I'm doing about what I'd do on a summer day any other year. I'm not driving, although I think I could, but that's all for the best. If I don't drive, I don't go shopping, and if I don't go shopping, I don't spend money. So see, there's always a silver lining!