The Last PT

Despite many misgivings about getting out in the world today, I did go to physical therapy this morning.  I had today, next Monday, and next Friday remaining, so when I talked to the office person  on the phone this morning, I told her to let my physical therapist know that this would be my last session.  I wanted her to take all the measurements she needed in order to make the final report to my surgeon.  As much as it is often uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful, I will miss my PT sessions and wish I could have gone to the last two, but it just didn't seem prudent.  Today, therefore, was not only my last PT session but probably my last venture out into the world for quite sometime. Happily, PT ended on a victorious note.

Guess what?  My final measurements were 120 and 0--perfection!  I am so thrilled that I was able to end on that high note!  To be totally honest, I hadn't exercised that much the past three days but I had done one thing which doesn't seem like much but which was apparently efficacious:  the tried and true knee bends going up and down the stairs.  It's sort of hard to describe but here's what you do:  Stand on ground level, then lift your surgical leg up two steps.  Then lean forward so that your knee is really bent.  Hold that 5 or 10 seconds, relax, repeat.  This picture shows her only lifting her leg up one step, but my therapist told me to lift my leg up two steps for a better stretch.

So, while I didn't do my full round of exercises, the only thing I really needed to work on was my flexibility, and these knee lunges/bends certainly stretch your muscles around your kneecap.  It worked, and here I am, with 120 flexibility, my ultimate goal.  Go, me!

My final appointment with my surgeon is scheduled for next Wednesday, about nine days from now.  I can't imagine that I will want to get out of the house at that point, especially not to go to the hospital where he's located, but I will defer that decision until later in the week.  All he'll do is to x-ray my leg one more time to make sure everything's in place, but I'm pretty sure it is.  My therapist manipulates my knee each session to make sure it all still feels right, so I'm not worried about it at all.  My scar is healing well, and my PT goal has been achieved.  It would seem to me that this final appointment could wait a month or two until all the Covid-19 worries may have settled down a bit.  But we shall see...

So, dear reader, this may be it for a few days.  I'll let you know about whether or not I go to my follow-up appointment, and if I get bored being here at home, I may review another couple of products, but for the next couple of days for sure, I won't be writing.  It's been a journey, and it's almost (but not quite) over.  See you around the blog!

Just a Note

Nope, as warned, I'm not going to post much anymore except on days when there's some "knee news," and on this very quiet weekend, there hasn't been any.  Due to the ongoing Covid-19 event, we are staying home, puttering about, reading, napping, cooking, watching TV, and talking.  I'm doing some stretching exercises to get ready for tomorrow's PT, but nothing to write home about. 

Hope you are enjoying the quiet life also!  Will write tomorrow evening to update what happens at physical therapy.

Beginning to Socially Distance Ourselves

In a way, all the Covid-19 (i.e. coronavirus) news has nothing to do with my knee, but I have to say that I'm tremendously grateful that I'm near the end of the TKR journey rather than at the beginning.  There are anecdotal accounts on my Facebook knee groups of people who are suddenly having their surgery rescheduled so as to keep hospital beds open.  There are people who just had the surgery a week or two ago and now face weeks of going to physical therapy, worried about exposure to the virus.  Fortunately, I have only two more PT sessions for sure and then my follow-up checkup with my surgeon, and at that point, I'll be more or less done.  All one can do is wish good luck to those still in the thick of it!

For the next who-knows-how-many days or weeks, Stan and I plan to stay mostly at home due to the virus which is most dangerous to older people and people with compromised immune systems.  That doesn't mean we won't go anywhere, but we will be extremely selective.  Stan went hiking today, for instance, but obviously hiking doesn't put you in close contact with anyone else.  I stood outside talking to neighbors for a long time this afternoon, but I tried (unobtrusively) to stay six feet away, and besides, it was quite breezy.  Next Monday I'll go to PT and then to pick up groceries I ordered, but I won't have to get out of my car.  I canceled my hair cut appointment, however, because it's just not necessary.  The only reason I wanted to get my hair cut was to get ready to go to a convention in a couple of weeks, but the convention was canceled today just as soon as our governor declared a state of emergency.  So, no convention, no need for a haircut!

Over the next few weeks, I must continually challenge myself to keep my knee flexible.  I know myself well enough to know that I'm not going to exercise religiously every day, but I can peddle my little "bike" while watching TV, remember to bend and stretch my knee as I go up and down the stairs, pay attention to my gait, and walk as much as I can.  The end is near for this journey--but not until I get those 2 more degrees of ROM!

Work Harder

While I wasn't surprised at PT today to find that my flexibility was still 118, I am quite fussy with myself.  Yes, I was super busy the past couple of days with preparations for my teacher organization event, but I'm still vaguely disgusted with myself. On a more positive note, I pressed 70 pounds with just one leg and 90 pounds with both.  I got up and down from a chair 30 times in a row without holding on to anything, I climbed lots of steps, and more.  So I think I'm doing fine but over the weekend I absolutely MUST work at bending my knee more and more...and then more.

Stan stayed home today (social distancing has begun) and he seemed to enjoy working in the backyard.  By early afternoon the sun finally came out for good, so we sat in the sun (in shorts!) and soaked up a little Vitamin D.  There was a lot of cleaning up and putting things back that needed to happen as the result of yesterday's event, so I spent a good amount of time on that.  And what more can I say?  Now that Covid-19 will keep us even closer to home than usual, I fear my daily updates will become redundant to the point of being meaningless.  I will, however, keep updating until March 25 when I see my surgeon, although do forgive me if I don't update every day. 

There are still a couple of items that I should mention in my continuing review.  Tonight let's talk about toilets.  Yes, it's a tad embarrassing, but the first several weeks, bending the knees to access the toilet is quite painful and precarious.  Stan installed these rails on the toilets in our main floor powder room and in the master bathroom.  I really don't know what I would have done without them, and I heartily recommend installing these rails in at least one bathroom, and preferably in the bathrooms you use both day and night.

The powder room rails were removed yesterday morning before my teacher event, but I see no reason to remove the master bath rails quite yet.  Safety first!

Party Time

When I was little, I always used to say that I was too pooped to pop.  Where on earth did that saying come from??  I have no idea, but I think it applies to me this evening...but in a very good way.  Today, if you remember, was my teacher organization event, half meeting and half party.  I spent most of the day getting ready for it and thanks to Stan's invaluable help, everything was prepped and ready by the time people started arriving a little after 4:00.  We had a wonderful time and I'm not sorry I went ahead with having a bunch of teachers here (and yes, there were sniffles and coughs).  I suppose I'll be a lot happier about it in a week or so when I'm sure that Stan and I are both still healthy!

Needless to say, there was no time for anything but party prep  today.  Stan and I went AGAIN to the grocery this morning for just a few things.  We came home, ate lunch, and then I remembered something I'd forgotten at the store, so Stan went out again.  He is so patient! For the next three hours, I cooked, cleaned, and scurried around tidying up all the stuff in the house, much of it having to do with my knee recovery.  In the end, the event and party all went well, and we were both happy to have a Domino's pizza for dinner and watch a soothing documentary about mammoths!

Was there time to do anything even vaguely relating to my knee?  In all honesty, no,  Other than doing knee stretches and bends as I went up and down the stairs, I haven't done anything.  I'll try to motivate myself in a few minutes to do a few heel slides, but mostly I just want to take a nice long shower and go to bed.  PT in the morning....how will it go?  I hope I don't go backwards!

In a Tizzy

Usually I'm rather obsessive about planning events, and to some extent, I've been pretty good this time, but I'm not nearly ready for my teacher organization meeting tomorrow afternoon.  This is a yearly occurrence and this meeting was scheduled last April, so almost a year ago.  I would not, obviously, be planning a meeting at my house now considering  my still lagging energy not to mention the coronavirus news, but I did commit to it so I'm going to do it.  But I'm not as prepared as I usually am for such an event, and I'm in just a bit of a tizzy.  I'm sure it will all come together, but there's still a lot to do.

So, ready or not, Stan and I were up and out the door by 10:00 which is early for us (I know....I know, but we're retired!).  We went by my old school to pick up some plants for the meeting tomorrow and, by the way, to do a bit of chatting with the office staff and a couple of teachers who happened to wander through. Next on the list of errands was a drugstore stop to pick  up a prescription and to wander around looking at sales.  The real focus of the morning, however, was to do yet another grocery shopping.  I had thought of a few more items I wanted for tomorrow, Stan needed a few things, and in general we continued stocking up on basics in case we need to stay home for the next two, three, or more weeks. By this time I'd done a lot of walking and it was fine.  Really, my knee doesn't hurt at all walking for a distance and for a long time; however, I would say that my stamina is still not 100%.  The old "use it or lose it" saying is true, and I'm still on the upswing from having spent several weeks mostly on the couch!  In other words, I was ready to go home.

By the time we'd unloaded all our groceries and put them away, it was time for lunch, and by the time that was over, we were both ready for a rest if not exactly a nap.  Surprisingly, the sky cleared an hour later, and we enjoyed a little time sitting on the porch.  I wish we'd had a real winter with a blizzard or two, but if we can't have winter, we're both happy to enjoy this spring weather.  And from there, our day and evening proceeded as usual.  It was a good day, a normal day, and isn't that the ultimate goal of all this effort, pain, and time?  I just want to have a normal life again and be able to go places, do things, and WALK!  You know what?  I almost can do all that now, and within the next two or three weeks, I'm confident I'll be all the way there.

Now, let's do a quick review of things that helped (or didn't) help with my recovery.  One of the things that I thought would be helpful, especially based on my previous knee surgery experience, would be to have a foam wedge that would keep my leg straight and elevated.  Last time I used pillows which were a little awkward and kept slipping down so I thought this would be helpful. 

Was it helpful?  Kind of, but not enough to justify the price.  I used it for maybe the first two weeks, but it's big, it's awkward, and it just wasn't worth the money.  If you can borrow one for a couple of weeks, by all means, go for it.  Don't buy it, however.  Now I've got a big foam wedge and I'm really not sure what to do with it!

Surprised

Did you read yesterday's entry where I opined that getting to 117 ROM today and 118 or 119 by Thursday was my tentative goal?  Well, color me surprised!  At PT today, despite not having done much in the way of exercising over the weekend, my ROM was 118, and that was with not a bunch of agony or pushing.  It was just there.  I was actually quite stunned.  Do you think I can get to 120 by Thursday?  Well, it's fine one way or the other.  When I "graduated" from PT back in 2011, the goal was 115 and I had 117 when I left.  Both my doctor and therapist were very happy with that and so was I.  Here I am, not yet done with PT and two weeks from my final checkup with my surgeon, and I am at 118.  To say I'm pleased is an understatement!

After a soporific weekend, Stan and I had a busy day which was somewhat tiring but a nice change.  My PT was at 11:00, so we didn't do much before that (we are NOT morning people).  Stan dropped me off at PT then went to Wal Mart, CVS, and Home Depot.  I truly don't understand how he can shop and do so much in one hour.  I'm barely halfway through the grocery store in one hour!  At any rate, he picked me up, we came home and had lunch, then while he rested, I went to the grocery to buy lots of frivolous goodies for a teacher gathering I'm having here on Wednesday afternoon. Yes, I know elderly people are supposed to avoid gatherings, but I committed to this a year ago (it's an event I host every year), so I'm going through with it.  After it's done, however, I will do my best to avoid groups of people in close surroundings, especially teachers.  Having been a teacher, I know what walking petri dishes they are! 

The afternoon was spent unloading and putting away food, briefly relaxing with a book, and then, because of the glorious weather, we sat on the front porch a very long time.  One of the main reasons I fell in love with this particular house was the front porch and my enthusiasm for porch sitting has never waned.  I love sitting there, snacking, chatting, watching people come and go.  And on a day when it's sunny, low 70s, and low humidity, the weather couldn't make the whole experience any better.  A perfect end to the afternoon!

Bracing for Tomorrow

The only real difference between yesterday and today is that the weather was much nicer which meant that Stan and I weren't cooped up in the house all day.  We did, in fact, spend a long, long time sitting in the sun on the back porch which, despite the fact that it wasn't all that exciting, was very pleasant.  All that Vitamin D, you know!  Aside from that, however, we had a mostly interior kind of day. 

So how's my knee doing, you may ask.  Well, after a couple of days of still being quite sore, it was much better today....just in time to get pummeled again tomorrow at PT.  I tried to do as many knee bends and stretches as possible today plus I did step stretches every time I went up the stairs.  I hope that will be sufficient to get my ROM a little further along.  If  you recall, I finished last Thursday with 115 which, to be honest, seems quite good enough to me; however, since the therapist has set 120 as the goal, I just want to get there and be done with it.  I actually like my therapist a lot.  She's been great, and I love that she still starts every session with a long thorough massage.  Sometimes she does deep tissue massage which isn't at all fun, but mostly it's just a good massage that really loosens up my muscles and gets me ready for what's ahead.  No, it's not that I don't like her, and it's not that the exercises themselves are painful, it's the pushing down on the knee that she's doing now.  That hurts--a lot--and I think that's what makes my recovery from PT take a least one day (or more!). So let's hope I increase my ROM tomorrow to at least 117 and then maybe by Thursday to 118 or 119 and then finish it all off next Monday at 120.  Hoping, fingers crossed, and a little more stretching tonight going up the stairs!

As I've been doing in recent posts, I'll mention another item that has been almost essential in this recovery journey.  My 2011 therapist didn't do massages, and really didn't even look much at my knee but with this therapist, if I hadn't had a couple of pairs of extremely loose pants that can be easily pulled up to mid-thigh, I'm not sure what the procedures would have been like.  Fortunately, however, I'd bought a couple of culottes or yoga pants or palazzo pants or whatever you want to call them which I've worn to every PT appointment and which have greatly facilitated the ability of my therapist to do the leg massages.

Even though your therapist might not do as much massage as mine, I guarantee that the first few PT sessions your therapist will need to look at your incision and these culottes make it much easier.  They're on Amazon and they are nice enough you'll want to wear them in the future.  

That's it for the day.  Now just wish me luck at PT tomorrow!

An Elderly Day

Here's the deal.  I promised to write every day, so I am, but with all the novel coronavirus worries going on, and with the CDC's announcement that elderly people should stay home if at all possible, we had the quietest of quiet days.  We went nowhere, we didn't have our usual Saturday night family dinner, we didn't leave the house except to take out the trash and get the mail.  I cannot even begin to describe how quiet our day was!  I'm not complaining (yet) but sleeping, eating, napping, reading, more eating, and (soon) more sleeping are not exactly exciting attributes for a day. 

Stan seems to be a little better, but he's still lacking in energy and has coughs, sniffles, and sneezes periodically, but they aren't nearly as frequent, so he's getting better.  My knee is still a bit sore from the exertions of Thursday's PT so I did some easy exercises, and will probably do a few more, but I'm also not exerting myself.  So there, that's been our "elderly" day of avoiding contact with others.  The weather tomorrow should be much more salubrious, so maybe there's hope for sitting on the back porch in the sunshine for a while.

That's it.  Good night, and don't forget to change your clocks!

Cold again

These up and down weather days are sort of disconcerting.  On Tuesday and Wednesday, it was wonderful to be outdoors.  Yesterday was chilly but sunny and not at all bad; today, however, we are back to cold, damp, drizzly, and gray--not a good day to go out.  That's exactly what we had to do, though, because of a banking matter that needed attention, so Stan and I ventured forth mid-morning to go to the bank to take care of business.  On another day, with better weather and without Stan's continuing sniffles, we might have gone out to lunch, but today we just went home and washed our hands before settling in until lunchtime.  As if knee recovery and such variable weather weren't enough, now we have to worry about the Covid-19 virus.  Oh, well, nothing lasts forever.....  So, after lunch, we rested and were quiet here at home for the next few hours.

As for the rest of the day, it was the case that my leg was a little sore from yesterday's workout so no, I did no strenuous exercises.  I did do the bending my knee as far as possible with each step up and down the staircase which is not an inconsiderable exercise, so I don't feel entirely like a slacker.  But between Stan's cold, my sore knee, and general grungy weather malaise, we had a mostly lethargic day.  I did, however, make a brief afternoon foray to the local restaurant to meet up with some teacher friends, so that was a nice bit of frivolity.  Once I got home at 5:00, we both decided that we just weren't hungry, so we ate some leftover chili and watched a BBC archaeological program.  And that, my friends, is just about all there is to say about the day.

Continuing the review of items that have been particularly helpful during my recovery, I now present the hospital table: 

Of course you could use something you already have at home, but on the other hand, this is so handy for so many reasons. We ordered this before my surgery and had it set up beside my corner of the couch to be ready for me when I got home.  Apart from the first couple of days when I was still too weak to stand up from the couch, I have spent a good portion of each day on the chaise end of our couch with this tray in front of me.  Unless  you already have an ideal set up, I highly recommend this.  It scoots right up, the height is adjustable, and there's plenty of space for "stuff" and for you to eat.  While it's certainly not necessary, it's a useful addition to your recovery planning.

We're both yawning, so maybe climbing into bed with a good book will be the perfect way to end the day.

Inch by Inch

As my therapist told me today, the last few degrees are the hardest, and I suppose that's true considering my progress today.  Fortunately my appointment today was before lunch, so after a quiet and relatively short morning which consisted of breakfast, shower, computer time, and thirty minutes of icing and elevating, Stan drove me to physical therapy.  He's still awfully sniffly so I tried to convince him to stay home, but he insisted he'd like to get out a little. 

My therapy sessions progress predictably these days.  My therapist starts with about ten minutes of massage before progressing to "manipulation."  This consists of pressing down hard on my knee which is stretched out straight on the table. Ouch!  After a bit more massage to loosen my muscles, she begins to move my leg up and down, back and forth, bending my knee ever more tightly.  By then it's time to measure my ROM which today was 115.  It had been 113 on Monday and I was hoping for more progress, but oh, well.  At least it was progress, but I'd exercised a lot last night (after writing my blog entry) and thought I'd stretched my kneecap muscles more.  Still, however, it was definitely progress.  Just five more degrees to go!  This all takes the first half of my therapy and, after that, it's several different exercises.  Some are the same (leg lifts, squats, etc.) but there's usually at least one new form of "fun" each time.  Today it was wobbling around on the balance board.  It's not that it's physically demanding, but I really don't enjoy it.  After several more exercises, I finally get to put my leg up and enjoy ice for ten minutes--always a relief!

Stan, who had gone to buy a loaf of bread while I was in therapy, was obviously not up to doing much else, so we went straight home, had lunch, then both napped for an hour and a half.  He was tired because of his cold, and I was, as usual, semi-exhausted by my therapy session.  I'm always somewhat surprised that it tires me so because at the time it doesn't seem that strenuous but I almost always feel like staggering out the door when it's over! 

Still, I have to say that I feel almost normal now.  It's been days since I've even thought about needing to use a cane.  I can climb up and down stairs foot over foot.  I can walk and walk and walk without any discomfort at all.  Aside from PT days, I need no pain medicine except my usual morning aspirin.  Everything is going super well and I'm surprised, delighted, and gratified, all in equal amounts.  Despite being many years older than my previous experience, I think I'm doing better than I was at this point 8 1/2 years ago. Go, me!

So, aside from the mundane of details of weather, dinner, evening, that's it for the day. We're already thinking about an early bedtime!  See you tomorrow...

Staying Home

After Stan's exhaustingly long day yesterday, he definitely wanted to stay home and recuperate.  He's also had a cough and sniffle, so he needed to eat healthy foods, take a nap, and sit in the sun for a while, all of which he did.  I had nothing pressing to do either and was more than happy to spend several hours this morning reading political news about yesterday's elections.

To be honest, we had a somewhat desultory day but it was good in the sense that Stan needed a day of complete rest.  He slept quite a while this afternoon giving me a nice long stretch of time to read and do a few exercises. I cooked some nice spicy chili for dinner (cleared the sinuses!) which, surprisingly, Stan ate with a good amount of gusto.

In one significant way, this was a very special day--it was older son's birthday.  We were happy to have a nice long Skype with him but we're always a little sad that we are rarely with him on his birthday.  Coming when it does early in March, it's never quite spring break time so either he, we, or his children are busy with school (or were in the past).  So no, we almost always have to make do with a phone conversation.  But it's still a wonderful day and he has always made us grateful to be his parents!

Since there's not much to say about knee or me today (and that's great--all is well!), I thought over the next few posts that I'd mention items I bought which have been particularly helpful with my recovery.  Oh, before I go on, I should tell you that  yesterday was the end of week five since my surgery.  The difference a few weeks can make when it comes to how I feel and how I can get around!  Anyway, one item I ordered which may seem rather extraneous has, in fact, made a tremendous difference.  I'm not sure I'd be sleeping in my own bed even now without it.  And what is this wonderful item?  A step stool!

We have a very tall bed in the master bedroom and even before my surgery, I had to sort of flop on it and pull myself up (the joys of being short), but after surgery, there was no way I could get into bed.  As fate would have it, the second time I went to PT, I couldn't get  up on the table (again, too short) so my therapist went and got a stool like this.  It feels remarkably stable and the handle makes all the difference so I went straight home and ordered one.  A couple of days later, I was able to get in my own bed.  Not that I could sleep, mind you, but at least I was wakeful in a more comfortable bed!  Speaking of sleep, about which I know I've complained many times, I can't say it's good yet, but it's better.  I now can sleep two or three hours at a stretch, then will wake up for 10 or 15 minutes, and will go back to sleep for another couple of hours.  Considering that I could only sleep 30 or 45 minutes or so just two weeks ago, this is a vast improvement.

Well, enough of all that, but I love this stool and may just keep it around for quite a long time.  I actually managed to get in bed by myself last night, but why should I?  Safety first, right?  It was a good investment!  More recommendations in the future!

Long Day

Yes, it has been a long day.  It's well after 10:00 p.m. and I'll plan to stay up longer to keep watching the Super Tuesday presidential primary results as they come in, so this will be a brief entry.  And by the way, I should mention here that this blog will end whenever I "graduate" from physical therapy and when my surgeon tells me I'm at the end of the formal recovery period.  But until then, I feel obligated to tell you a bit about each day.

Stan, as I mentioned yesterday, left at 4:30 this morning and finally got home at 9:15 this evening.  He didn't feel so good when he got home, he appears to have a cold, but he did eat three bowls of the chicken soup I'd made which will hopefully help a bit, but mostly he just needs a good long night's rest.

My day, therefore, was spent pursuing my own agenda.  The morning was spent with a good friend whom I hadn't seen for several months, so we had a lovely time catching up.  Nothing cheers you up like time spent with a friend!  After she left, I puttered around, had a bit more coffee and kept an eye on the weather.  I wanted to go vote and then pick up a yummy treat for my lunch, but it was raining.  On the other hand, it was time to do what I wanted to do, so off I went.  It took little time to vote and then I drove to a nearby grocery.  I really intended just to get something fun and different for lunch, but I kept seeing one thing after another that seemed like it would be useful to have in the pantry.  In the end, I spent...well, quite a bit.  And that meant I had a lot of groceries to carry in once I got home.  By the time I'd carried all that in, put it away, and had my lunch, I have to admit I was tired.  But hey, it was a good tired and I felt I deserved my afternoon nap.

Quite a while later, I woke up and got busy making the soup for Stan, read to the end of my latest book, and then went to sit out on the porch to enjoy the (by then) gorgeous weather.  The rest of my late afternoon and early evening were spent watching news channels.  Stan got home, we recapped our days, and now it's time to call it a day...except I'll watch TV a little more!

All About Stan

For the past five weeks, it's been all about me.  The food had to suit me, the temperature had to suit me, the activities and visitors had to suit me.  Today, however, it was all about Stan because tomorrow is election day.  He has the alarm set for 3:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.  He'll leave at 4:30 and drive to a nearby school and at 5:00 all his helpers should have arrived and all the equipment should be ready to put in place.  The doors open at 6:00 a.m. and they are expecting quite a respectable turnout so he wants everything to be ship-shape and in good working order for the first voters of the morning.  He's already in bed at 7:30 (although I doubt he's asleep), so I've been cleaning up the kitchen and in a bit will retire to my couch to read for an hour or so.

Today, getting back to the topic of this blog, was my usual physical therapy day although not at my usual time.  You would think that wouldn't make a difference, but I think it did affect how I "performed" to some extent.  All my other appointments have been late morning so that breakfast is far behind me and I'm about as awake and energetic as I ever am.  Today my appointment was, for the first time, early afternoon which really threw me off my schedule.  I ate an early small lunch and by the time we were due to leave for PT (1:00), I was ready for my afternoon nap.  I felt really tired and somewhat sluggish so perhaps I didn't do as well as I might have.  I did fine, however, with my flexibility number 113 (it was 110 last time).  I had really hoped it would have been 115 but I'll get there.  As I had mentioned, today was "test" day and I had the fun experience of having my leg strength tested by a little machine.  My up and down strength was quite good, my outward press was okay, but my inward press was relatively puny so that's what we'll be working on in the next couple of sessions.  But I am making progress and today was a pretty intense session which I weathered without any complaints.  My therapist is getting much more physical, pushing down hard on my knee both when it's straight out and when I have bent it as much as I can.  Yes, it hurts, but it's what needs to happen to make my knee better. 

Once we got home, it was mid-afternoon, so Stan went upstairs to rest and I also tried (and failed) to snooze a bit.  I finally gave up and read until it was time to start cooking a very early dinner. I wanted Stan to have a comfort-food, nutritious dinner so I cooked a dinner that seemed to suit him.  We watched a bit of TV and the at 6:45, he went on upstairs which is where we started tonight's entry.  So, it will be a different kind of day for me tomorrow since I won't see Stan until 9:30 or 10:00 tomorrow night.  I have a list of little jobs that need doing--we'll see how far I get on the list!

Just Hanging Out

Super Tuesday is coming up in just a couple of days, so Stan was up, dressed, and ready to leave just as I got up this morning.  He's an election chief and had to go pick up all the paraphernalia needed for his precinct, so I had a particularly quiet morning.  Not to be too much of a couch potato, however, I also was showered and dressed by the time he returned, so after unloading his cart of "goodies," and after looking over everything once to make sure it was all in order, we left to go out for a small shopping expedition.  We really didn't need much, but it was a lovely sunny day and it felt nice to get out and go pick up a few things that were terribly necessary--some chocolates and toothpaste mostly!  They go together, don't they?

On the way home we decided to stop at one of our favorite semi-fast food places, Noodles and Company, for lunch.  After a yummy hot bowl of Thai Chicken Soup, I was more than happy to come home and spend the next couple of hours putting things away, doing a bit of laundry, and generally piddling.  And yes, there's always a nap these days, so we both took a nap and then reality intruded in the shape of doing my exercises.  As far as exercises go, I'm not doing much for the extension side of my knee since it's been at 0 for some time now and I have no problem keeping my leg perfectly straight.  I'm really pushing and stretching, however, to get my knee to bend more, then even more. Just looking at my "bend," Stan says it looks comparable to my other knee which is 120+ so I'm really hoping that tomorrow's measurement will show improvement.  My therapist did warn me that tomorrow would be "report card" day and that she would be testing me in various ways--extension and flexion, knee strength, over all leg strength, etc. and would then send the results to my surgeon.  Although I don't take any pain medicine except aspirin and the occasional ibuprofen when we go out, I still take Percocet right before PT so that I'll be able to do everything my therapist requires of me.  I will be very glad when I can ditch the rest of it, however, because it continues to make me vaguely nauseous.  It's a necessary evil, I suppose, at least for PT.

That's really all the news from today about my leg, but life went on normally and pleasantly.  Stan really wanted a pizza for dinner, so we ordered out, watched TV, Skyped with older son and grandchildren, and generally relaxed and chatted away the remainder of the evening.  It's a busy couple of days coming up, especially for Stan, so time to call it a night!

On the Road Again

When I asked my physical therapist on Thursday when she thought I could drive again, she advised me to go practice in a vacant school parking lot this weekend, so bright and early (for us!), Stan and I went to a nearby school where he turned the car over to me.  Now, you must remember, not only have I not driven in five weeks, but this is a brand new car with lots of bells, whistles, and gadgets that I'd never used before.  I kept wanting to put a key in the car, but there ain't no key!  I've never driven a car where you pushed a button, where you just walk up to it and it unlocks all by itself, where the seats move up and down and back and forth every time a driver gets in.  Very disconcerting!  Still, after fiddling with controls for a while, I headed out and drove around and around, then up the frontage road to the next school where a woman in her big SUV pulled right out in front of me.  After slamming on the brakes and hyperventilating briefly, I continued and did fine. 

Stan drove us on to the grocery for a few items and then to a drugstore where we stopped briefly, before I finally drove us the rest of the way home, so I think I'm more or less mobile now, at least for the small necessary trips one needs to make to the grocery, the bank, etc.  I don't plan to leave our neighborhood but there's plenty nearby so there's really not much need to leave.  If we decide to go further afield, I'll still let Stan drive for another couple of weeks, but by the time I see my surgeon in a few weeks, I'm certain I'll get the "all clear" to drive anywhere I want.  It's not that I gad about all that much, but I do like to meet up with friends, attend meetings, and run a few errands, so yes, this is a big step forward.

Once we got home and had lunch, I read for a while and then thought I might nap until Stan reminded me to do my exercises, so I did.  I didn't want to, but I did and was, of course, glad that I did.  By Monday, I really hope I've improved my ROM by another few degrees, and that won't happen without exercise.  Not to mention, I've gone up and down the stairs many times today doing laundry and each time I've walked straight up, foot over foot, so hooray!  I don't walk like such an old lady anymore.  Never let it be said, however, that I would miss a nap when one was available, so while Stan practiced his flute upstairs, I slept soundly for about 45 minutes.  I woke in time to finish the newsletter I'm responsible for each month for my teacher organization, and by then, it was time for younger son and his family to come over for dinner. 

The day has not been overwhelmingly busy but it's been busy enough, and everything is going well.  Now I just need to do a few more exercises.....

Sleepy Day

For some inexplicable reason, Stan and I both were rather lethargic today.  Oh, that doesn't mean we sat around in a daze or anything like that, but we stayed home most of the day, just doing a little something here, a little something there.  Mostly, however, we both spent a lot of time on our computers, reading, and  yes, after lunch, we both slept a long time.  I cannot fathom how I managed to sleep almost two hours, but I did and Stan slept almost that long. You know what "they" always say, though--if you sleep more than usual, it's because you need it, so I guess we both just needed some extra sleep.

The days after PT are always days when I get up vowing that I will do all my exercises...and then don't.  Happily, yesterday's soreness was mostly gone this morning, but I still lazed about thinking that I'd better pamper my knee a little bit longer.  So, while I skipped the really horrendous exercises, I did do several knee-stretching bends and I walked up the stairs a couple of times foot over foot.  In all honesty, that was it as far as exercising, but tomorrow there will be no excuses!

The different and happier event is that I actually got out for some social time with friends, and it's been a while since that happened!  Stan dropped me off at the local bar and grill, and after an hour or so, one of my friends brought me home.  In between, I had a nice time being normal again.  That's really the operative word for this whole experience--just to be normal again.  And you know what, I really do think I'm almost there, but for now, I'm sleepy!!!

Look What I Can Do!

For the past three days, I've been forcing myself to walk up our stairs leading with my right foot.  I have not been climbing the stairs foot-over-foot, but have pulled the other foot onto the step before stepping up with the other foot....if that makes sense.  This morning as I climbed the stairs, I started out that way on the first step: lift my right (surgery) leg, then bring up the left foot so that both feet are on the same step.  Then I stopped myself and said, "Self, you need to up your game.  See what will happen if you don't stop on the step, but just keep going."  Self gave a little shudder and then, whoa!  It worked!  I yelled out to Stan to come see what I could do.  I walked up the whole staircase, foot over foot.  That is a milestone, folks!  I haven't been able to do that for years due to the sad and bad shape of my right knee, but today, I rejoined the world of people who can walk up the stairs!

With that exciting accomplishment behind me, I went to physical therapy figuring I could do anything, and while I can't, of course, do "anything," I did do everything my therapist asked me to do, up to and including pressing 90 pounds with my legs.  And, since it's all about the numbers, I am happy to say that I'm still 0 extension and now 110 flexibility.  Just 10 more degrees and I'll be at the goal of 120!  That all sounds wonderful, right?  Yes, of course it is, but everything comes at a price, and the price I paid for doing all this is that every single muscle, joint, and bone in my right leg aches!  If I hobble across the floor clutching furniture as I make my way slowly, it's for that reason.  Where have these muscles been all my life?  Here they are hurting, and I didn't even know I had them!  But it's all for the good, and I'm sure I'll be fine in the morning...maybe.

It was well past our usual lunchtime once we got home, so we had lunch, and then, I'll be honest, I collapsed on the couch and there I stayed for the next 1 1/2 hours.  Mostly I read, I closed my eyes but never went to sleep, and then before I knew it, Stan was leaving to go pick up one of the granddaughters.  While he was gone, I did lots of dinner prep and put everything in the refrigerator, then read again until he got home, I cooked, and we ate.  And that, as you should know by now, was it for the day.  Our evenings are usually the same, and although boring I'm sure by the standards of many, our quiet evenings suit us.  Besides, I wasn't going to do anything that involved being on my feet!

Trying to Be Good

If you know anything about me at all, you will know that I'm not (to put it mildly) athletic.  Even though that is the case, I have tried to be good today and have done quite a lot of knee exercises, and as a result, I am virtuously sore.  I can only hope that it pays off tomorrow with ROM that has increased, even if just a little.  I still have 3 more weeks of PT, so surely I can get from my current 106 to 120 by the time I next see my surgeon in late March.

Exercise, however, was not the only "excitement" of the day.  Last month when my Senior Center Book Club met (the 4th Wednesday of the month), I declined to take a copy of  the book for February because I thought it would be quite unlikely that I'd be able to attend.  Well, obviously that was a miscalculation, and fortunately I was able to get a used copy of the book from Amazon so that despite my doubts, there I was at Book Club today with my book and my opinions.  Happily, there was an empty chair next to me so I was able to put my leg up and down whenever it got stiff in any one position, but other than that, I had no problem at all.  It's so good to be doing regular life again!

It was a dreary weather day, so Stan and I both spent the afternoon in quiet pursuits.  He napped, read, played chess, and practiced his flute.  I became obsessed with two different photographic projects on my computer which occupied my time for well over an hour, and that was followed by lots of reading, both online and in my latest book.  And then....there was the ever-torturous exercise, but it's all to the good, of course.

Tomorrow I will once again take some Percocet (the only time I do) and go off to PT hoping to make my therapist proud of me.  As a final note, I'll keep up my one constant complaint--I just can't sleep.  I have tried everything I can think of and can only hope that this will fade away in time.  If it doesn't, I may fade away!!!

Four Weeks Ago

That's right, four weeks ago I had total knee replacement on my right knee.  Yes, just four weeks ago I couldn't walk more than a few steps, could not go to the bathroom without help, and couldn't bend my knee sufficiently well to sit in a chair.  I had a precarious appetite and was taking a lot of medicine. How things have changed for the better!  I do still have days when I feel less perky than others (yesterday being a prime example), but I'm walking unaided, taking showers, bending my knee quite well, and, perhaps unfortunately, I'm back to my former appetite.  I can't drive yet--not until I have a ROM of 120--but otherwise I'm doing just about anything I want, so life is just about normal now.  Before I get too cocky, however, I do realize that I have less-than-stellar days and that they seem to happen for no reason, so I'll enjoy the good days, and when I wake up all stiff and achy, well, I'll just roll with the punches and wait it out.  The next day will almost always be better!

What about today, you may ask.  Well, Stan had to go off all morning to election officer training so I stayed home, changed and washed bed linen, took a really long hot shower, cleaned up the kitchen, and put some soup on to simmer for lunch.  Once Stan got home, we had a late lunch, then I read and web-browsed for a couple of hours before starting to cook a very nice dinner.  As much as I have appreciated Stan's efforts to cook, I am happy to be back in my kitchen cooking tasty, healthy dinners, and I can only hope that Stan is happy about that, too!

After dinner, and after watching the latest Murdoch Mysteries episode, we had a lovely Skype chat with older son.  It's so lovely to be able to talk with him but we are looking forward, once I can travel, to spending time with him and his sweet family in person!  So, that's been the day, and a fine day it has been.  Tomorrow is my Senior Center Book Club which, back in January before my surgery, I was sure I would be unable to attend, but here I am, looking forward to going out again, doing normal things again.  While it hasn't been easy, it's been a successful recovery so far, and I'm looking forward to more fun in the near future!

Forging Ahead

Yes, my knee was not at its best yesterday, so, after a mediocre night's sleep, I woke up determined to do better.  Did I accomplish that goal?  Well, it wasn't a slam-dunk, but I didn't go backwards and I was incrementally better, so I'm again content with my slow but steady progress.

When I got up this morning, I started off by following a positive routine rather than starting off the day feeling droopy.  By 8:30 I had showered/washed my hair, dressed, and done a bit of biking on my pedals.  With that industrious beginning to the day, I went downstairs, had breakfast, then settled on the couch with my leg iced and stuck straight up on the big foam wedge, hoping to get my leg into good enough shape to persevere throughout PT at 11:00.  I managed to finish a rather silly mystery while sitting there, mainly because Stan had to go to the bank to take care of some business, so I had nothing much else to do. 

By the time Stan returned, I had my shoes on, had taken two Percocet (I loathe, absolutely loathe how Percocet makes me feel, but it does help with the efforts of PT), and was ready to go.  Stan dropped me off at PT and then went off to the grocery leaving me to face the consequences of having not done a full set of exercises since Saturday morning. I would have felt guilty, but honestly, my leg was hot and somewhat swollen yesterday and I just didn't.  So there. 

My therapist listened carefully to my recitation of what I'd done (and not done) since seeing her Thursday and accordingly adjusted the routine today.  She spent quite a while doing a thorough massage of my quads which may sound nice, but a deep tissue massage is fairly uncomfortable; however, once it's over, it's amazing how much more flexible muscles feel.  We did several of the old favorite exercises, went over to the step machine to work on that, then went to the weight press machine for the first time.  I pressed 70 pounds today for 30 reps with my legs and it felt surprisingly good.  By the time I'd finished everything, my numbers were 0 and 106.  Having not exercised over the weekend and having felt so sore and weak yesterday, I was not at all discouraged that I'd increased my ROM (range of motion) only 1 degree.  I was just relieved that I hadn't lost some ROM.  As for the extension, I have no trouble making the back of my knee touch the table, so with any luck at all, the struggle for extension is more or less over.  Now I'll just work on ROM and work I will. 

As a side note, my ROM at this point in 2011 with my left knee was 105 and extension was 0, so despite the vast differences in the approaches of my two physical therapists, I'm at almost the exact same point.  That's fascinating to me because, until I looked it up just now, I would have sworn I was doing much better with my left knee, but numbers don't lie, so I'm even more content with my progress than I thought I was!

The rest of our day followed a common pattern.  After walking upstairs leading with my RIGHT knee (that's big, folks!), I did a bit of reading, resting, puttering around the top floor.  Stan went to pick up the granddaughters, brought them home where we enjoyed take-out chicken for dinner.  After taking them home, we had a short but pleasant evening.  Tomorrow, I will definitely do my exercises!!

Resting Up

After a good day and lots of activity (without a cane) yesterday, I must admit to having a bit of soreness today, but I'm sure that after my day of rest and (maybe, possibly, hopefully) some good rest overnight, I'll be ready for physical therapy tomorrow morning.

We loved the beautiful weather today, and it encouraged us to be outside during much of the day.  Well, of course, Stan was outside a lot more than I was, but I spent a good bit of time this morning "repopulating" my car with all the stuff that I like to keep in my personal car.  That necessitated being in the garage and in the driveway, and also doing a bit of lollygagging in and around the back patio.  I spent some of the afternoon reading and napping, then got up and cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned out the refrigerator, and cooked a big pot of chicken gnocchi soup.

By 5:15-ish, Stan had the fire pit piled up with wood, so we took snacks and drinks to the back porch to watch the fire as the sun went down.  An hour or so later, we got big bowls of hot soup which we ate beside the fire, then spent yet another hour watching the fire gradually die down to embers.  What a lovely day it was and, fortunately, I didn't have to do anything except keep my leg iced and elevated while I was inside, and when I was doing that, I got to lounge by the fire. Not a bad way to spend a day!  Let's hope my residual stiffness is gone by tomorrow morning and I'm ready to tackle physical therapy again!

A Tiny Celebration

The weather was beautiful today, so after our usual morning (including LOTS of exercise) followed by lunch, Stan took off to go hiking.  I had definitely put my knee through its paces, so I put my leg up, iced it down, and started reading.  My book club book for this month, The Uncommon Reader, will be discussed on Wednesday, so it was time to get busy reading, and that's what I did for the next three hours, scarcely moving during all that time. The book is a novella, so it was short, and I was so engrossed that I read the whole thing, finishing it about 15 minutes or so after Stan returned.  Being in one position for that long probably wasn't great for my knee, but it was an engrossing little story and, at any rate, I am now ready for book club!

Younger son and his family wanted to do something slightly celebratory for dinner tonight because they think I've made such exceptional progress with my knee.  I'm not sure it's all that exceptional, but it has been good and I think I'm doing well, so once they arrived, we all piled into the new Flex and drove to my choice for dinner--IHOP.  I know, I know, I have expensive and exotic taste!  Everyone, however, seemed to enjoy dinner as did I except, again, having my knee in one position for over an hour stiffened me up.  All it takes, however, is a little walking to loosen my knee up again, so we went next door to Aldi to buy a few groceries.  Do we know how to live it up on a Saturday night or what???  As a factual note, I'll mention that I've taken only a couple of ibuprofen today and I went to dinner this evening without a cane so that finally I don't look like an elderly woman out in public!

We've spent the remainder of our evening quietly with Stan watching some sci-fi show while I did a little more reading.  Having been moderately busy this evening, and having not taken a nap, I feel sleepy and can only hope that I might sleep a tad more soundly tonight.  I'm not holding my breath on that, but it will happen some night!

A Little Unsettled

Shall I first complain about the weather?  Yes, it was sunny, but it was cold and windy so it was not exactly a day to want to wander about. Now, if you know me at all, you know I prefer cold weather to hot weather, but part of the charm of cold weather is the occasional snow fall and that has been sadly lacking this year.  It's either been cold and rainy or cold and gloomy or cold and sunny. In a word, it's been a boring winter and even I am ready for it to be over.  Stan and I did go out for a while today just because he thinks it's good for me to go somewhere every day and I suppose he's right.  We went, therefore, to the nearby Aldi just to walk up and down and do a little random shopping. It's a good thing that we did go to a grocery store because, while we were there, younger son texted to ask if we could pick  up the granddaughters, feed them dinner, and keep them for a while this evening which, of course, we were happy to do. We picked up a few extra things for dinner, got some take out for our lunch, and came home.  That was the extent of my "out in the world" adventure for the day although Stan, of course, did go pick up the girls later in the afternoon.

After a bit of reading and resting my leg (still sore from yesterday and a bit tired from all the walking around), I napped a bit.  At 2:00, Stan left for the Rec Center and to pick up the girls while I began cooking dinner.  By the time everyone arrived, everything was ready, but just keeping warm, the table was set, and a small snack was ready to tide everyone over until dinner.  And that really is it for the day.  I had a bit of indigestion from yesterday's over-indulgence, or maybe I was just tired (always), so I did only minimal exercises this afternoon. Once dinner was over and younger son had picked up the granddaughters, we were both tired enough only to want to watch a bit of TV before retiring for the evening which is what I'm about to do.

Before I leave you, however, a bit of TKR advice or observation.  My scar looks good, as scars go, and the swelling seems to be going down ever so slightly, but the skin around the scar looks like your skin when you are recovering from a sunburn, i.e. red and peeling.  It's not an attractive look, and lotion only does so much--although you should put no lotion on the scar itself--so this is just another step on the road to recovery that must be patiently endured. But it certainly is incredibly better than it was a week or two ago.  Remember--every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better!

Finally!

After working at my extension (and flexibility, too, of course), I was delighted to get my measurements during physical therapy this morning.  Finally!!!  Yes, I'm finally at 0 extension which is as good as it gets.  That means I can now hold my leg completely straight.  Whew! It's been a bit of a struggle, but that makes this accomplishment all the more welcome.  In preparation for today's PT, I kept my ankle propped up on the towel roll (see yesterday) for a long time this morning and kept pressing down on my knee in hopes that I'd get to 0 today.  What a relief!  My flexibility is also getting steadily better.  It was 100 on Monday and 105 today, so I just have 15 more degrees before I get to the "fully functional" 120. 

Physical therapy is getting just a little bit more rigorous every time I go, but that's good.  That's the way it should be, and I continue to be both impressed and surprised that my therapist can seem to be so gentle and yet make me feel like I've had such a workout.  Whatever she's doing, it appears to be working!  On the other hand, just like Monday, I marched in without a cane at the beginning, and staggered out leaning on my cane at the end.  I get a workout, that's for sure.

It has become standard practice to have a low-key afternoon once PT is done, so that's what we did today.  After a yummy lunch of some very spicy Indian food brought to me by our lovely next-door neighbor, I retired to the couch to read and doze for the next couple of hours.  When Stan left to go pick up one of the granddaughters, I started making "Norwegian meatballs,"  a recipe on Pinterest that caught my eye yesterday.  Everything was made and simmering away when he got home, so it was a nice, homey evening with a tasty dinner.

The day was perhaps not all that exciting, but I'm happy to be able to record my steady progress.  Just as a note, I'll say that sleep continues to be an issue, but everything else is fine, so I'll try to be patient and assume that everything will be more or less back to normal a few weeks from now, and this will all just be a memory!

Reading and Napping

Although sleep once again was spotty last night, it was a beautiful day which prompted another small outing.  Although there's no need to dwell on it too much, I will continue to say that sleep is probably my biggest challenge now, but it will, I'm sure, eventually work itself out.

One accomplishment of this convalescence has been the fact that I've read a lot...a whole lot. Amazon Kindle will keep track of the consecutive days you've read, the consecutive weeks you've read, and the number of books you've read since the beginning of the year.  This only is accurate, of course, if you read on your Kindle exclusively, and although I read mostly on my Kindle, I still do read the occasional "real" book and books on Google Play.  That being said, I've read 18 books since January 1 because I've spent a lot of quiet time on the couch.  Not being much of a TV watcher, my only possible alternative to reading is aimless web-browsing, and goodness knows I do enough of that, but still, reading is my primary way of passing time.  All this was said to explain the fact that I got up at 7:30 and aside from the time I spent eating my bowl of Raisin Bran, I read solidly until 12:15, finishing a very engrossing little mystery.  I did do several "exercises" during that time period, most notably the simple but effective (and highly uncomfortable) ankle propped on a rolled towel.  If you don't think that stretches your knee, try it for 30 minutes!

As the morning progressed, I alternated propping up my ankle with icing down my knee, so even though I was admittedly a couch potato, at least the time was not totally wasted from the TKR rehab perspective.

By the time I'd finished my book, it was time for lunch, so in keeping with Stan's belief that I needed to get out and do things most days, we got ready and left for a pleasant lunch in Fairfax.  It was a late lunch, and by the time we got home, it was mid-afternoon.  What do you do in the middle of the afternoon?  Why you nap, of course!  Rather embarrassingly, I suddenly woke from my couch nap to find it was 4:00, but Stan was worse--he slept until 5:00!  Between 4:00 and 5:00, I actually managed to do all my exercises so that I could feel quite virtuous about the way I spent at least part of my afternoon.  I haven't taken any pain medicine either, and I can truthfully say that I feel just fine.  Now tomorrow is another day.  If it's PT day, it's time for Percocet, but that's then and this is now, and right now, everything is just fine!

Up and Down

Every day is different, some better than others, and some worse.  And some are both which was the case today.  One of my principal complaints about this TKR experience has been my inability to sleep more than an hour or two at a time.  That may not sound terribly important, but after three weeks (and yes, it's the three-week anniversary of my surgery) of getting broken and shortened sleep, I can only say that I'm tired, just flat-out tired.  I'd give anything to be able to sleep 5 or 6 hours straight, but so far that desire has eluded me. So, to make a long whine short, I woke up feeling tired and grumpy and spent most of the morning on my computer and then on the couch feeling quite sorry for myself.

Around 11:00, Stan urged me to get dressed so that we could get out for just a small trip to the grocery.  Even though I wasn't enthusiastic, I knew it was for the best and besides, I'd decided I would cook a real, full course dinner for the first time in over three weeks.  Off we went, therefore, to the grocery where we got milk, the things I needed for dinner, and some treats for lunch.  After getting home and eating lunch, I chopped up some chicken and put it in to marinate for my planned dinner of chicken shawarma. By that time, however, my leg hurt, I was tired, and definitely on the grumpy side, so I retired to my couch.

Stan left to go to the Rec Center so I read for quite a while, then dozed for 45 minutes.  Fortunately I was awake and sitting up again by the time he came home.  When asked if I wanted to do my exercises, I whined mightily and told Stan how sad and tired and fussy I was so that no, I didn't want to do my exercises. I retreated to my corner and sank into a bit of gloom, leaving Stan to go upstairs.  By the time he had showered and come back downstairs, however, I had given myself a stern lecture and I was ready to turn a new leaf.  I did, in fact, do my exercises, and then I cooked a real dinner that, even though I know he was maybe a bit overly enthusiastic, seemed to make Stan very happy.  First "real" meal in a long time.  I even cleaned up the kitchen!

Now, you may wonder what all this has to do with TKR surgery.  It's actually quite relevant because the recovery from this surgery is slow, very slow and often quite uncomfortable.  It's awfully easy to sink into a complete wallow of self-pity but, of course, that does no good at all.  Which part of my day was more pleasant and better for my general health?  Lolling about feeling grouchy and lethargic, or doing something productive and making someone else happy?  The answer, of course, is obvious.  I still won't sleep any more soundly tonight probably, but at least I won't have to lie awake feeling guilty about being a grump. 

Tomorrow, I can only hope I will remember the lessons of today, and perhaps I'll even cook again!

New Car!

Do you remember last week when I mentioned that we had begun the process of acquiring a new Ford Flex?  Well, today it was delivered and we picked it up--definitely a big event in our rather quiet lives!  Due to my knee, especially since it's a right knee, I won't be able to drive my car for several more weeks, but at least it's an incentive to get the full use of my right leg  as soon as possible so that I can drive my  new car.

The new car excitement, however, came at the end of another semi-torturous PT session.  Each time my therapist pushes me a little bit harder which, of course, she ought to do, but that doesn't make it any easier.  So the bad news is that I was so sore at the end of the session that I sort of staggered out leaning on my cane.  The good news, however, is that my extension is now just 1 degree, so if I can push my knee down just a little bit harder next time, I'll be at 0 which is the ultimate goal of extension.  Flexibility didn't improve as much as last time, but it did improve to 100, so I'm moving along, slowly but surely, toward being "fully functional."  To recap, I've gone from 70 flexibility to 100 and from 15 extension to 1 in a little over 2 weeks.  While I'm sure that others have done better, I'm satisfied with that progress and will just keep on plugging away at getting better!

Upon leaving PT at noon, we came home for a quick lunch and for me to change out of sweat pants to real clothes, then off we went to the Ford dealer.  All in all it took about an hour and a half to complete everything, but by 3:00, we were able to leave the car lot, drive to the insurance office to take care of that, and then come home.  For the next hour or so, I put my aching leg up on pillows and wrapped my knee in chilled gel packs while enjoying a bit of escapism via my latest mystery.  Stan  fiddled around with the new car and did some small jobs around the back yard on this lovely, sunny, mild February day. 

We're both looking forward to a quiet day at home tomorrow after all the excitement of today, but what a lovely day it's been.  Now I just can't wait to be able to drive again!

Something to Worry About

Although I didn't mention it previously, I think I'll mention it now.  What?  What is it?  Well, you may recall that I had my stitches removed last Wednesday...supposedly.  As the nurse/nurse's assistant (not sure which) removed stitches, she covered the incision site with Steri-Strips.  I sort of paid attention, but I also looked around the room, zoned out a bit, and didn't notice that one piece of suture material hadn't been removed.  In fact, I didn't notice it until Friday afternoon when a couple of the Steri-Strips fell off and there was a piece of blue suture thread sticking up out of my knee.  After debating with myself a bit, I took a picture and emailed it to my surgeon's PA (Physician's Assistant) asking if it was anything to worry about or that needed attention.  She replied almost immediately and said that I was correct--it shouldn't have been left there and could I come into the office that afternoon.  Well, I couldn't because Stan was gone and I am still not allowed to drive.  That being the case, the PA told me to come in Monday which I will do right after my physical therapy session tomorrow.  I'm not sure if I really needed another medical office visit but I figured if anything went wrong with the incision, I'd feel kind of stupid for not having mentioned it.  So, instead of just pulling it out myself, I'm back to the surgeon's office tomorrow.  Having medical issues is a full-time job sometimes!

After lolling about the house aimlessly yesterday, I was anxious to get out and do something--anything!  After a semi-productive morning, therefore (laundry!), Stan and I left at 11:00-ish to go do a bit of shopping and then to have a quick lunch at Noodles & Company--love their Thai Chicken Soup!!!  Walking around in a store and then sitting in a restaurant was enough for me, however, so we came home and I settled on the couch to read with my leg propped up.  My knee is still tender, whether from Friday's rough PT session, all the exercising yesterday, or walking around today, I don't know, but it's tender so I felt that having my leg propped up while reading for an hour was a well-deserved break.

Because the suture seems to be slowly working its way out, I didn't want to stretch my knee cap anymore than necessary, but I needed to do some constructive exercises, so I sat down to watch a little HGTV and peddle on my little bike exerciser.  It's a nice little machine and quite useful for exercising in the comfort of one's home. 

My conscience salved by 30 minutes of pedaling, I am now off to finish cooking dinner.  Tomorrow's another busy day, so wish me luck with all the PT and the doctor's office visit!

Taking a Break

After three moderately busy days, Stan and I were both happy to take a break on this cold day and stay home. That doesn't mean we did nothing, but it was nice to be inside and just do whatever we wanted.  Well, let me qualify that.  I didn't want to do my exercises this morning and then again this afternoon, but fortunately Stan kept me on track and made sure I did a full set both times.  Ouch.  It doesn't seem to get a lot easier, but I know it's the "sine qua non" of recovery, so I did it.  I complained, but I did it!  As for indoor activities, however, all the Valentine decorations came down and the spring decorations went up.  They'll be up for a bit before they are replaced with Easter bunnies, but since it's a late Easter this year, I think I'll wait a bit to do that.

One of the most significant issues with TKR surgery, especially on the right knee, is the inability to drive.  Not having the independence to go somewhere on your own eventually becomes quite burdensome, but it will be be several more weeks probably before I'm allowed to drive again.  In the meantime, poor Stan has to run every errand, pick up every granddaughter, take me to every appointment, and do all the shopping.  This being Saturday when we almost always have pizza, he had to run pick up the pizza which on any normal day I would have been happy to do.  Oh, well.  I do feel bad about it, but that's just the way it is.  Hopefully I can make it up to him in the future!

Looking to have another quiet day tomorrow, and then a busy day Monday so I guess I'll enjoy being lazy while I can!

Love and Hate

When I had my previous TKR in 2011, I thought I had a fabulous physical therapist, and I still think that.  As seems to be the case with most patient/therapist relationships, it was something of a love-hate relationships, however, because, although I knew she was helping me immensely, the agony of it all sometimes made me loathe and dread every PT appointment.  When I began this round of physical therapy with a new, young therapist (this is only her 2nd year as a therapist), I was a little unsure about her, but here I am again, with exactly the same assessment.  The intensity of the sessions has increased so gradually that it seemed each time that she really wasn't doing all that much, but after today's session, it suddenly became apparent just how hard she was making my muscles work.  Wow!  I had to use my cane on one side and Stan's arm on the other side just to hobble out of the office!  And truly, I'm not complaining, but wow, it's amazing how a few repetitions of this and 10 of that and maybe 15 of another can do a real job on your whole leg.  Oh, and I almost forgot--I can now go all the way around on the bicycle so the therapist set the timer for 5 minutes and I was off to the (very slow) races!  By the end of the session, my flexibility was 97 (up from 90 on Monday) and the extension was 4.  That's not improving as quickly as I want, but it was 5 on Monday, so at least it's moving downward.

It being Valentine's Day, Stan obviously wanted to take me out to lunch.  Now, after all that torture, I wasn't sure I could even walk from a parking lot into a restaurant so I equivocated and suggested we just go get a light lunch at Panera which is what we did and which turned out just fine.  I love their Autumn Squash Soup more than anything else on their menu so I got a bowl of that and quite enjoyed my lunch, and I think Stan was happy to go out and do something "fun."  That being said, I was deliriously happy to come home, ice, elevate, read, and eventually doze.  My knee felt like it might live after a rest for a couple of hours!

Stan picked up the granddaughters, brought them here where I had a small snack waiting for them.  Younger son and daughter-in-law appeared 45 minutes later with barbecue for a nice little family Valentine's Day dinner. Once they left, we watched a bit of TV and now, thank goodness, we can go to bed with no alarm set for in the morning.  All in all, a good day but my leg still hurts!

A Purchase

The plan had been that I'd spend much of today resting my knee and not putting a strain on the incision from which the stitches had just been removed.  I'd thought to wash my  hair at most and read and rest on this gloomy, rainy, cold day.  That's not the way it turned out.

Stan and I were up and out the door at 9:15 after, may I add, the first moderately good night's sleep I've had in the past two weeks!  Anyway, we left and drove to the nearby Ford dealership for an appointment with Randy, the guy who sold us our past three cars.  I'd been emailing back and forth with him the past few days about the availability of Ford Flexes.  He had found three that met our criteria and we had narrowed it down to one of them.  Once we arrived, we spent the next couple of hours in his office negotiating and, at the end of it all, we were the proud new owners of a metallic blue Ford Flex.  It's currently in another state and will be delivered here in a couple of days, but we signed everything, it's ours, so even though I won't be able to drive for another few weeks, whoopee!!  I have a new car!  Stan will continue to drive his Fords (an Escape and an old Crown Vic), but the Flex will be mine.

After such an exciting morning, we had a quiet few hours.  We ate lunch, read, dozed.  Stan went to pick up the granddaughters, and I entertained younger son who came home after a stressful day of work, having wrapped up a multi-month project.  Sometimes even grown up kids just need to sit quietly and have a soda and eat some chips with mom!

Sitting in a hard little chair for so long this morning wasn't great for my knee, but I did get up and walk around every twenty or thirty minutes, so I survived.  After a few hours with my knee elevated,  I'm fine.  You have no idea how getting some quality sleep last night helped!  Tomorrow is PT and I will have to apologize for not having done my exercises today, but that was deliberate.  I truly thought it was for the best not to put any stress on my kneecap and the incision site which is now just out there on its own.  The last thing I want is to pull anything apart!  So, I'll apologize tomorrow to my therapist and get back to work!

Here's hoping for another good night's sleep!

Doctor's Report

The great two-week check up has come and gone--successfully.  Whew--what a relief!  My surgeon, Dr. M, is a great guy with an encouraging and calming bedside manner, but I think he's also very honest and no-nonsense.  His word to describe how I am progressing:  beautifully.  He said I was doing beautifully, that my flexibility was well more than 90 and although my extension is just shy of 0, he didn't seem to think that was a problem because, as he said, my right knee and leg had been in worse shape to begin with.  The x-rays all showed that everything was in place and working properly (and my, oh my--did they make me twist and bend my knee into various contortions for the x-rays!).  The nurse took out my stitches, of course, and put steri-strips on the incision, but the incision really was minimal.  It's amazing they could do all that with such a small incision.  So, it was a successful visit to the doctor and now I need to work hard at PT so that when I go back in six weeks, I'll have a flex of 120 at which point I can be declared fully functional.  There's nothing like having a goal!

Once we left the doctor's office, we drove to a nearby grocery to get a few treats for lunch and a stack of seltzer, then came home, had lunch, and had a quiet afternoon. I read and dozed, and Stan cleaned up my car preparatory to a big day tomorrow, but you'll just have to wait and hear about that tomorrow.  We had a visit from our across-the-street neighbors late in the afternoon, then Stan cooked a quick little dinner.  We ate, watched TV, talked to older son, and that's plenty of excitement for one day, don't you think? 

Tomorrow may--or may not--be a big day.  You'll see....

Waiting anxiously

Tomorrow, Wednesday, will be a big day for me.  I'll go for my two-week follow-up appointment with my surgeon.  As I said yesterday, I'm moderately satisfied with my 90 flexion and, after my morning exercises, Stan vowed and declared that he thought I was approaching 95 or 100, so any of those numbers would be fine.  I'm still working on the extension and am very anxious about not "measuring up" to my surgeon's expectations. But we shall see tomorrow what the professional assessment is.

It was another gloomy day today, so although Stan got out a couple of times to go to the grocery and to get Subway sandwiches for dinner, I was a (regrettable) couch potato.  I did do my exercises fully this morning and partially this afternoon, so I'm not totally ashamed of myself.  In between exercising, however, all I did was read and nap--not much to write home about.  To tell the truth, I felt a bit woozy all day for no discernible reason, but it made me not want to do much. I couldn't even eat all my half sandwich from Subway.  Just not feeling up to par today.

The only other "activity" was to do a lot of online car shopping, culminating in a flurry of emails with the nice man at the Ford dealership who sold us our previous cars.  I just can't stop thinking about getting a new Ford Flex, but we shall see what comes of that!  Obviously nothing tomorrow will happen other than going to the doctor, but who knows what might happen on Thursday?  Stay tuned!

Little by Little

Yesterday, in case you couldn't tell, was a somewhat droopy day.  I must have forgotten to tell myself that every day, in every way, I was getting better and better, but you know what?  I really am.  All my life I've told myself that one of my few virtues was patience, but I have not been as patient as I should have been.  No, I may not be progressing as quickly as I'd wish, but I am making progress, inch by inch, and I am getting better every day.

Quantifiable results are the best measure of this progress because no matter how much I wrote about my 2011 TKR, I just don't remember how I felt.  So to counter that lack of subjective information, I will offer numbers.  My PT numbers today were 5 and 90.  I'm a little disappointed in the 5 because I really wanted to be at 0 and 90 for my doctor visit on Wednesday, and who knows--maybe if I exercise effectively this afternoon and tomorrow, I'll get to 0 or at least 1 or 2 by Wednesday.  The 90, however, is where I wanted to be at this point, so that's a legitimately positive outcome for me at this point in my recovery. 

When Stan and I left for PT this morning at 11:00, it was cold, gray, breezy, and very damp but not raining.  When we left PT at noon, it was still the same, and fortunately remained that way until just after we got home when it started raining steadily and continued for the next 4 hours.  Does nasty weather make your knees feel worse if they aren't real knees?  Inquiring minds want to know!

On this gloomy, rainy afternoon, we both read and dozed, chatted and had soup and sandwiches for dinner before Stan left to meet a friend at the Rec. Center at 7:00.  I'm reading and writing, and I'm still icing my leg--it aches!  But aching is a good thing when it comes from a vigorous workout, so I'll just ignore it and start a new mystery.  Until tomorrow....

Pushing Ahead

Everyone keeps asking me how this knee replacement experience compares to the previous one, and all I can say is that I don't really know.  Yes, I kept pretty good records about my previous TKR, both here in the blog and in my diary, but the procedures differ in so many ways that it's hard to compare.  Last time, at this point 12 days post-op, I hadn't even started outpatient PT yet.  I'd been in the hospital two nights instead of one, and I'd barely left the house after coming home from the hospital.  I hadn't taken a real shower yet, and I was still sleeping on the day bed in Stan's office.

This time, it was one night in the hospital, out of the house several times for outpatient PT, out to eat, have moved back upstairs, have taken showers, and have had a tiny "party" here for some teacher friends.  So, it sounds like things are going better this time.  But it's still hard for me to judge.  On the one hand, I feel that my knee is stiffer than it was last time; however, giving myself the benefit of the doubt, my right knee was in worse shape, much worse shape, to begin with.  I've been walking around with a stiff "peg-leg" for a long time so there was no bend to begin with.  I'm trying, though.  I'm really trying to get some flexibility back into my right knee, but I have to be honest and say that it can be pretty painful.  Still, I have done my exercises today.  In the morning I did the basic routine, but in the afternoon I did all the exercises and yes, my knee and leg are stiff this evening, but that's the only way to recover, so I'll keep doing the exercises.

Stan went briefly to the grocery this morning because we decided we wanted BLTs for lunch.  We had lots of bacon but hadn't bought any fresh produce since before my surgery, so off he went to buy some lettuce and tomatoes along with a few other snacky type things.  I had the bacon ready to go when he got home, so it wasn't long before we were enjoying our sandwiches--yummy!

It was a long, quiet afternoon.  I read, dozed, read more, did exercises all before Stan fixed dinner for us.  We watched the last episode of a BBC docuseries, 1900 Island, while eating, then had a short Skype session with the older son and grandchildren. Not much remains now except to go to bed.

As for medicine, I quite torn about what to take tonight.  Should I take a Percocet (haven't had one since Thursday) in the hopes it will soothe my leg enough to allow me to sleep, or should I take a couple of Tylenol PM in the expectation that it will make me sleep?  I just don't know, but I do know I need a good night's sleep!

Exercising!

What a difference a night makes!  While I can't say it was a "normal" night back upstairs in my very own bed, it was much better than the previous few nights, so hooray for some sleep finally!  I actually felt like a human this morning!  The day that stretched out ahead of me when I woke at 8:00 a.m. was a quiet day, but it's fine to have quiet days.

The only real activity of note this morning was the full panoply of exercising which really did a job on my leg, but in a good way, of course.  There was plenty of icing and elevating at the conclusion of the 30 minutes of stretching, pushing, and pulling.  We had soup for lunch while watching another Mummy movie from the 1930s (we do get stuck on our little "kicks"), then I finished packing a Valentine box to send to the Florida grandchildren which Stan subsequently took to UPS to ship.  Rather than coming straight home, he went to the Rec Center to walk on the track, leaving me supposedly to take a nap, but I was unable to fall asleep.  Who knows why because I was certainly tired from my morning exertions and, in general, surgery patients need a lot more sleep than usual.  In the end, however, I just read. 

To keep you updated on the state of medicine, I haven't taken any Percocet since Thursday morning before physical therapy.  I've been taken my two aspirin daily for blood thinning purposes, I've taken an ibuprofen morning and afternoon before exercising, and a Tylenol PM at bedtime.  While I can't say I'm exactly pain free, I'm fine, and anything (just about) is better than the dizziness and nausea caused by Percocet.

After another grueling round of exercising this afternoon, I iced and elevated until 5:00 when younger son and his family arrived.  It's been a while since we had our usual Saturday night pizza, so it was lovely just to sit around chatting and eating our pizza.  They've now left, and I suppose Stan and I will watch a bit of TV until it's time to climb the stairs again and get into bed.  Hoping for two good nights of sleep in a row!

A Visit from Friends

It was the kind of day that makes you want to get in bed and take a very, very long nap--cold, gray, windy, rainy tending toward dampness.  Stan and I had an okay morning but he didn't feel too good because weather like this makes him a bit headachy, and I had been restless all night.  No reason, in particular, but I just couldn't ever seem to get to sleep soundly.  We did, nonetheless, have a moderately productive morning.

After breakfast I did my exercises, then we both had computer time/reading time.  Eventually, however, I felt compelled to proceed with my stated goal for the week which was to move upstairs to the bedroom no later than Friday.  This being Friday, the time was at hand.  Obviously Stan did most of the work, but I supervised quite effectively!  Before getting too far along in moving me back upstairs, we made sure the new step stool we had ordered from Amazon really did allow me to get into and out of bed safely.  It did, so we proceeded with our work toward getting the house  back to a normal-looking home.  Mostly, however, I'm just glad Stan will have his office back, and will be able to use his computer anytime he wants.

While Stan was busy downstairs, I did a load of laundry upstairs-yes, I did!  Something useful!  I did climb into bed around 10:30 thinking I was so tired that surely I'd fall asleep, but I didn't, so after I'd finished the laundry, I went back downstairs and had a minimalist lunch (cheese, crackers, applesauce) because really, if you don't do anything, you don't get very hungry or need much food.  Eventually both Stan and I figured we were lethargic enough to doze, so he iced my knee and then took himself upstairs to nap.  Amazingly, and thankfully, I read a bit then fell asleep on the couch.

A treat awaited me mid-afternoon, so I was eager to be up and ready for three of my teacher friends to visit.  Stan had thoughtfully put out food and beverage for us before taking himself back upstairs, and they brought goodies, also, so for the next couple of hours, I had a delightful time chatting with friends about things other than knees!  That was a welcome change!

By the time they left, I was no longer hungry, but fortunately there were enough chicken nuggets and fries left for Stan's dinner and Panera pastries for his dessert, so we watched TV while he ate and I tried to keep drinking more water.  So, not an exciting evening, but it was a nice normal evening and I'm anxious to go upstairs, and get into a real bed!  Woo hoo--another big step toward normalcy!

Cold Rain

To a snow lover, there's hardly anything more discouraging than a cold rain.  Just a couple of degrees colder and it would have been such a pretty little snow, but no!  No, we have mid-30s and constant, steady rain.  I suppose, since this was PT day, that it's good it wasn't snow, but it certainly doesn't do much to lift one's spirits to be cold, wet, achy from the weather, and even more achy from that expensive torture known as physical therapy.  There, have I whined enough?  Yeah, thought so.  Let's review the day, however, since that's what we're here to do.

Stan and I both woke early again today.  While I can't say I'm sleeping badly, I'm certainly not sleeping all that soundly, so getting up in the morning is not the hopping-out-of-bed-ready-for-a-new-day experience you might think it is.  Well, nonetheless, one does get up and then one tries to make sure it's a good morning.  One notable breakfast note:  after Raisin Bran, I actually drank half a cup of coffee.  Woo hoo!  Another step towards normalcy.

Much of the early morning was spent reading intently and intensely, trying to finish an ebook due back to the library tomorrow.  That mission being accomplished, I walked around the house a few times, got dressed, and got myself situated in the recliner to be ready for a 10:00 a.m. call from an old friend in Mississippi.  J was my best friend for 25 years, and I've greatly missed her company over these last 15 years since we moved.  Even though we've emailed and kept in touch via messaging, we hadn't talked in years, so we had arranged to chat this morning because, much to our mutual surprise, we found that we'd both had a knee replacement in January.  Hers had been January 14 and mine January 28 so she's a bit ahead of me in the recovery department, but we're basically on the same path.  It was SO good to catch up with her about mutual friends, civic happenings, family news, and, of course, TKR comparisons. Fortunately, she left the small town where she still lives and went to a major medical center in another state for her surgery, and she's doing well, making progress, and on the road to recovery.  Another friend of ours stayed in that same small town for her TKR and is still dealing with major complications over 3 months after her surgery.  Choose your surgeon carefully!

It was, as I said, physical therapy day.  Stan dropped me off at 11:30 and, for the next 45 minutes, I was alternately soothed and tortured.  In 2011, I had a real taskmaster for a therapist, and while I dreaded the sessions, she did wonders for me.  This therapist is quite different.  I have to admit that I love the leg massages that she gives at the beginning to loosen me up and at the end to soothe my screaming muscles.  In between, she is pushing me and it does hurt although it still doesn't feel quite as rigorous as my previous experience. On the other hand, to be fair, I hadn't even started outpatient physical therapy at this point in 2011.  I didn't even leave the house until my 2 week checkup with my surgeon and, after that, was cleared by him to start PT.  This is just a week and 2 days since my surgery and it's already my 3rd PT session, so perhaps the slower start is appropriate.   Just for the record, my numbers today were:  extension, 8 and flexion 83.  Those aren't great numbers but better than they were, so progress is progress, no matter how small.  At any rate, by the time my 45 minutes is over, I am vastly relieved to have my knee iced down for 10 minutes before trying to walk again.

On the way home, Stan and I stopped by Domino's for a hot sandwich for lunch, came home and ate while watching a 1930s version of The Mummy, then both of us tried to take a nap.  Strangely enough, even though I thought I was exhausted, I couldn't get to sleep, so we are both awake, have had another cup of coffee, and will try to think of something vaguely useful to do until dinnertime. One of these days I'll start to cook again, but not today. I did just buy a new cookbook on Google Play, however, so maybe reading recipes counts....right?  Well, maybe not, so for tonight, I'm off to the couch to wait for Stan to serve me his wonderful chicken quesadillas!