I have had a great support network with friends, family, my physio and gym coach, I am forever grateful for all they have done for me.
Over the last few weeks my confidence has grown with the use of my knee, I find i am no longer looking for things to hold while walking, not looking at the ground whilst walking and haven't needed any regular pain relief now for an extended period of time. I take an occasional panadol.
I do however continue to do what has been asked of me I am riding the stationery bike when i have free time, I am going to the gym 5 times a week and completing the tasks set by my physio.
I still have some restriction and my main complaint at this time is i cant tolerate any pressure on the tibia itself, so i cant kneel on it due to an uncomfortable pain. At the gym i am doing most things as before with some modification, so i am still only doing the arms movement for starjumps in the warmup and i havent begun skipping so i use the stationery bike but i love being there it is as much about your physical health as your mental health. the gym is fun with a group of people who are happy to see you, encourage you and don't care that you are in 'rehab' mode.
I had the physio ask me a week ago to jump off a little step wouldnt have been 10-15cm off the ground....nope so he asked me to jump with 2 feet onto it...nope, i think alot of this barrier has been a residual of what has happened previously, i could never do that before surgery...but i came home and i gave it a whirl, something about doing things in the privacy of your own home. An awkward first jump up and grabbing of the door and woohoo i jumped up a small step turned around and jumped down...a funny feeling a sense of achievement then i realised it isnt actually my old knee i have a reconditioned knee that should be functional like anyone elses. My only restriction here is that i have got degenerative changes so i still have a lot of crunching and clunking going on and that will never change but i am aware of it. I have a clicking nosie intermittently during full load bearing extention, which can be annoying to listen to ...kind of like a pacemaker clicking.
I loaded the kids in the car 2 weeks ago and forgot something inside the house, of course running late so i , without thinking, went to start a jog and the first landing of my operated leg to the ground felt like a big ...how to explain...the knee kind of did its own woosh from side to side , i grabbed the pole otherwise i would have landed on the ground. clearly not ready for breaking out the running style. I spoke to my physio about this and all stems back to the old VMO, continue working on it to stabilise the knee and all is other little jobs it does etc etc. I havent tried this again yet but am continuing the leg raises and other vmo specific exercises.
I am planning on getting back to work in another month and that will be interesting to see how it fairs with a 10-12hour shift on your feet, but i can only try and see how it goes.
I thought i had got off a little easy with out putting on any weight post surgery, but it did happen and you do feel a bit yuk, i have gained 4 kg and to some that may not seem much but when you think about the period of inactivity and continue to eat the same its bound to happen, also coming into christmas season isnt helping...so much yummy food around. I have taken my measurements as i prefer this method to the number on the scales. I am back doing kettle bells and weights at the gym so it may also be a shift of another sort. I took a measure around the top of my knee 2 weeks ago and it was 47cm today it was 48.5cm my left knee is the same for both weeks and is at 50cm, a good indicator that the muscle bulk is slowly returning which is great! I would recommend taking this measurement presurgery cause it has been fun watching it grow again.
I was struggling the the last post with up and downhill slopes, this has sorted itself out i can now confidently go up and down pretty much where ever i need to go. this weekend we were at the beach with sanddunes and managed these quite OK. My kids race BMX bikes and the have a rather high start hill, i had to make it to the top to assemble the riders, managed up and down the first time with a helper and the second time on my own small goals..reaching them !!
Steps...continue to be probably the hardest, up pretty good can do single leg single step with injured knee sometimes it still feels like knee is 'flicking' back. Down i can do single leg single step but it does fell like i plonk down as opposed to a fully controlled movement, downhill if there is something to hold onto i find i still hold on.
My scars i am really happy with if you can be happy with a scar, i have rubbed bio-oil into it for a fair while and then as time went on i did forget every now and then and then forgot completely haha! I find i am not 'thinking' about my knee constantly now and find i can even sit on the lounge with my legs pulled up beside me without having to place them there. I get stiff quite quickly though so if i have been sitting for 10 mins or so i have to stand get my bearings and then walk, which is OK and im sure this will get better also.
I think that is about it for now, i am really happy with my progress, I go the the GP next week to get my clearance to go back to work, so i'll let you know how going back to work goes :-)
Cheers Liss x
