Day 22: I made it past the 3 week mark!
Here's summary of where I am for those who are in earlier days (and also as a reminder for me when I do knee #2!)
The progress:
I'm walking more and with less difficulty. Yesterday, my Fitbit logged me at 3,500 steps (not all at once, of course.) While my gait is still not quite normal, I'm no longer doing the penguin waddle.
I can sleep on my side again! This is huge. While I still wake up a couple of times during the night, I'm sleeping much better and for longer periods now that the knee pain has lessened enough for me to resume the fetal position.
The swelling is way, way down. I noticed that I gained 5 pounds of fluid weight between the day before and the day after surgery. Most of that is gone and, as a result, my flexion is sloooooooowly improving. Although I'm still only at about 95, I've noticed that I can sit down and stand up without having to balance all my weight on the good leg.
I'm able to do some light-duty ADLs again, like helping prepare meals. (Although hubby has been doing such a great job, I'm not hurrying to replace him.....)
The challenges:
I am still struggling with a fair amount of pain -- especially late in the day. My physical therapist said it's probably the result of the leg realignment. My leg was badly bowed and the surgeon had to straighten it quite a bit, which has thrown all the muscles from the ankle to the hip into confusion. He has me focusing on self-massage on key muscle groups at home to help this resolve. I'm still taking the max dose of acetaminophen, but have run out of Oxy and my surgeon won't prescribe more.
I tire easily. My day runs something like this: 2 hours of activity followed by 2 hours on the couch (while icing & elevating); lunch; 2 hours of activity followed by 2 hours on the couch; dinner; 1 hour of activity followed by 3 hours on the couch; bedtime.
My brain is still too foggy for work. Although I'm able to concentrate enough to read a book, I'm not really clear enough to start working again. I'm a writer, so I can work from home lying on the couch once my brain kicks back in.
So, progress is slow but directionally correct!