Warning--rant ahead!
I'm approaching the 5 month mark--and feeling frustrated at glacial progress, slowed down in part by wintry weather and partly by the whole orthotic situation--both getting in the way of increasing walking distance. But I'm even more frustrated at how long it's taking to get comfortable with steps, low seats, low toilets, etc. This is especially ticking me off since I'd finally gotten to a point post TKRs where I was less wary of all those things. So this feels like a setback--for good reason I know but still...enough already.
I'm going to a meeting today at a house with 8 inch high entryway steps and no railing, then a concert tomorrow night with a flight of stairs to get into the venue plus needing to walk on dimly lit, uneven sidewalks from parking lot to venue, and then Thanksgiving at a house with high entry way steps, low sofas, low toilets, and lots of people in a small space. Sigh. Common sense tells me to use my cane on the dimly lit sidewalk but I haven't used it in ages (except to boost me up some of those steps) and hate to roust it out again. I am just so over needing to think about all of this! (And I'm so over having to respond to friends' "concerned" comments--"Are you still having trouble?"--implying something must be wrong if I'm still having a hard time with their stupid entryways! )
Thinking back to my first THR I realize I never had to work through this phase because at about 5 months my right knee got really painful and my activity was seriously limited by that. The PT tells me I'm being a good sport about all this--not feeling very good sporty today though!