Hi Gatiger and welcome,
I am at 5 weeks, if you have read any of my previous posts, you will know that I was in your boat. I hated therapy I almost decided to stop as every time I went, I felt like it set me back, not helped me. I expected it to have pain, but not overwhelming that I had to break down, I expected my muscles to be sore, haven't used them in 10 years!
But I didn't expect to have a PT ignore the fact that I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't take it. Then my miracle man came along. He works at the PT place, I have mentioned him numerous times, his style is different. He massaged my knee, talked to me about other things while doing it, did stretches that pushed me but not into tears. I am not kidding within 3 days after switching to him as my PT, my back stopped hurting, my knee swelling started to go down, my ROM started to get better. I stopped being so tense. You absolutely cannot get better when you are in so much pain that your body just tenses up at the thought. I can so relate to what you are going through as many of us can. You must do the PT of course, but maybe just maybe you should search for a different one that has a different method. I have far more results this past week than I could have hoped for the week before as I was up all night in pain, worrying about taking so many meds. Rethink it. Who cares if you get up all night, just go with it. Find something to do when you get up. Get out the frozen bag of peas, watch tv, find a comfy spot to rest, maybe your sofa instead of your bed, read, cross stitch, whatever.
Do some stretches on your own, not huge, not painful, little itty bitty ones that help relieve the tension.
You can rest assure that not one of us was prepared for this. The doctor never told me that it would be like this. He said I could drive at 2 weeks (yeah, right if I could bend enough to get into my bonneville) he told me I could go back to work after 2 weeks, yeah right if I could stand, sit, walk without crying or concentrate for 15 minutes without being exhausted just getting into the darn building. Of course it was allowed, so I thought I should feel good doing it...ha ha. You just aren't ready for it and it takes some adjustment emotionally. If I wouldn't have done this one and if I don't get my second one done in a few weeks, I would be talking wheelchair at 54 years old. Now that is depressing. We have a second chance. We don't have a disease that will not allow us to get better. We made the choice to have this done for a better life. It would have helped maybe if the dr could have filled us in a bit more, but I guess if they would many would opt out.
I found improvement when I stopped worrying, when I decided to just take the darn pain meds on schedule, found a better PT and I have decided that if I am walking without pain one year from now, this was all worth every minute.
Good luck and stay with us. We need each other. This site has changed my whole attitude. I found it in the middle of the night, barely able to sit at my desk in so much pain, tears rolling down my face, my husband couldn't help me, I was so depressed and then I found friends. And you can talk, me too much, but peopel read it and listen and understand. We will help you get through this.
Kath