OP
OP
Heyblondie58
junior member
United KingdomHi Jamie, thanks for your post....
OK, well i'm almost 5 wks post op & have been looking after myself since week 1 (no choice unfortunately), although I do have close friends who help me with doing my washing & the odd bit of shopping & visiting, I do a regular shop online every 2wks & the delivery boy very kindly brings it right into my flat, although I have to put it away myself which always exhausts me, not to mention kills my back!! I cook for myself, nothing too fancy, porridge in the microwave for brekkie, usually a wholemeal sandwich for lunch & I do usually make myself something for dinner, i.e. an omelette, stir fry etc; although i've learnt to sit down whilst chopping veg/preparing stuff as I can't seem t stand for long periods, it kills my back as well as my knee? I do my own washing up, run the hoover round quickly initially sat down as my flat is very small & do the rest standing up later, I invested in a light, cordless vacuum before my op as it was killing my back before surgery (my friends will do it for me if I ask, but i'm a bit proud!!). I shower, albeit every other day, daily is still too much for me, wash my hair etc & started to venture out to my local shop last week (at 4 wks) it's literally right behind my flat 15 metres away, i've been able to manage the flight of 12 stairs leading up to my flat since wk 2 & without crutches for the last week, although if I do go to the shop obviously I do stil take my crutches with me, I still can't walk outside without them, although I can potter around my flat without, it's so tiny. As for exercises, I don't stick to a regular regime, my thinking is that my knee does enough tbh, the bends are made really difficult as I said due to swelling, but I do the foot wiggling & gentle stretches & my pT was pleased with me enough last week anyway & said the swelling was normal at this stage? Having said all this I do spend a LOT of the day just resting/elevating etc on the sofa or in bed.
I hope this helps.
Sue.
& have had to rest up quite a bit more than I would normally 
.
Anyway, I went this afternoon & was pleasantly surprised (not to mention very chuffed with myself!!) that my ROM has now upped to 105'/0'. 
!! That may not sound amazing to you some of you at 9 wks, but all the medical guys involved with my care/physio etc; think so & i'm quite happy with my progress thus far, so that's all that matters. 
When I tried to do some 'wall slides' at the knee Club today, it was almost impossible for me to get up afterwards, & even my Physio advised me to stick to the exercises that involve just the operated knee, as the grinding, cracking & grating noises from the right one were even making her squeamish, so you can imagine how I feel, the pain in that one is getting unbearable & the swelling has increased, it's also affecting my knackered right ankle, swelling pain etc; etc; etc; All of this is naturally due to the right leg having to take most of the weight off the operated knee since the surgery, i'm sure many of you will identify with this? Another very uncomfortable symptom i've been suffering from since day one is a burning, tearing like sensation just beneath the incision, it almost feels like I have another scar underneath the external one that is trying to burst open, it's agony at times & throbs a lot too, OS said it was perfectly normal & that it was all the damaged tissue & nerve endings trying to heal & my GP increased my Gabapentin (which I have for the permanent nerve damage in my right foot 
) to 600mg thrice daily with Oramorph to take as & when for 'breakthrough pain' he told me to phone him anytime I needed to talk & to hold off as long as I can for the right one to be done, but not to let it get too bad & would be guided by me & I think i'm going to be calling his Secretary to be put on his list in the very near future, I just want to get it all over with now, so that I can (eventually) return to some sort of normality, whatever that may be!! 
