It will be 5 months next week. My knees are still more of a pain than my old ones, but they getting better. My old ones weren’t. It’s been in the mid to top 30s here for a few weeks, with no foreseeable let up, so activity is strictly limited. Despite this, I have made significant progress over the last month.
My legs are getting stronger by the day, even with hardly any exercise, because the discomfort is diminishing and I am mentally no longer discouraged from using the muscles.
I still swell if I am on my feet for extended periods, and the discomfort, stiffness and loss of ROM that this causes now comes as a bit of a surprise! How things have changed.
Still getting random pains, aches and a few zingers around my knees, but the difference is that they are less violent and I recover much quicker, mostly overnight or with an icing session.
Stairs - sometimes I can go up and down pain free, sometimes back to crab mode, depending upon what else I have subjected my knees to beforehand.
Can get up and down from “the throne” without pushing off with my hands. Working on the schuss position to enable stress free use of public toilets.
Kneeling- washed my hair kneeling at the bathtub. Horrid burning to start with, had a lot of my weight propped up on my ribs on the edge of the bath. Then they went numb and I relaxed a bit. After the final rinse, straightened up and did an appraisal. Verdict - ouch! But doable. Will try again in a month’s time.
Swimming - breast stroke leg kick not so taxing on the knees. Attempts to kick really strongly can cause strains around them, so taking it easy and saving that for later. Freestyle kicking, fine in moderation. The buoyancy of my legs is still compromised, the greater the swelling at the time, the more they sink with the weight of the fluid. Still haven’t felt the urge to put on my fins or try a dive, plenty of time for that to come. My knees are not consistent enough to book a dive yet.
Overall, can see the light, but the tunnel is a long one. Still missing my old knees.