Post-Op Day 10

*sigh* I am not a patient woman, and this recovery/rehab takes time.

The pain still isn't bad. In fact, most of the time the knee hurts less than it did before the surgery. I do have my moments, though, and that is when the drugs come in handy. I hope my liver holds out.

I am not using ice. The morning of my 7th post-op day I woke up with a lot less swelling in my knee. I had been using the cooling machine they sent home with me, and using more ice than the refrigerator could produce. The Groom bought 3 bags of ice, and that lasted 3 or 4 days with the machine. When we ran out of extra ice, I started doing without it. I used a regular ice pack a few times, but I haven't done that for 2 or 3 days.

I took a shower yesterday. Ah, sweeeeet. I was beginnig to feel a bit crusty around the edges. You can only do so much in a sink. I used a shower chair, and it was fine.

Physical therapy is (probably) going to switch me over from the walker to a cane today and have me walk outside a bit. It's supposed to rain. Now, I've been hobbling around on my own when the walker won't fit well in places and I've done fine. The first few days I did this, I paid for it with pain the next day. After a few days, it was better. The PT guy, Bruce, said there is no way I can hurt the prosthesis unless I fall, so I'm taking him at his word. Better said, I want to walk without assistance sometimes, so I do.

The exercises are one big bore. And they hurt. But I do them. Mostly I do them. The bend in my knee was at 93 degrees the last 2 times Bruce measured -- the first time I didn't see an increase from one measurement to the next. I feel like I am taking a test, and I want to do well. I also want to be able to drive, which is going to be hard to do if I can't bend my knee enough to even get into the driver's seat. So I do the exercises. Mostly.

Not much else to say. So far, this has been fairly easy. Certainly easier than having rotator cuff repair surgery. Now THAT was a rough recovery.