Cap on. 1st week. Scariest moment was when PT came to my room a few hours after I woke up and they made me stand. Best moment was when I stood up and realized that gnawing grinding pain deep in my knees was gone. Not saying it wasn't uncomfortable but it wasn't the same pain. Sleeping on my back was hard. Using the bathroom was not fun. they had one of those chairs that sits over the toilet so you don't squat as much. The knees don't like to bend the first while so they end up dangling off the end of the chair. When your legs are unsupported it is uncomfortable. Its important to mention for awhile most people can't raise their legs off the bed due to the surgery trauma. Your brain shuts down all signals to your quads. You can test this by trying your leg lift exercises. Swinging your legs in and out of bed is no fun. Have a strap you can loop around your foot to help pull your legs up onto the bed. That gets better by weeks end but the unsupported leg causing pain takes about two weeks to be done with. Walking around with the walker was good to be moving and seeing how far I could go.
Week2 Your quads start working again. When in the bathroom getting up and down on the toilet. Handles on the wall or hand rests to push up on would help a lot. I ditched the booster seat thing at home as with having bad knees I put the higher toilets in a few years ago. Oh make sure the vehicle you go home in has enough leg room to swing your legs Into and again support the legs when doing so. Showering when I got home was awesome. They put a watertight dressing on before I left the hospital. Make sure you have additional dressings, saline solution for washing the wounds f necessary, etc. keep the incisions clean and dry. My watertight bandage popped off twice and had to be changed. Infection is not good, but I'll get to that. You'll start to feel better week two, eating more etc. Eat lots of fiber, dried fruit, nuts, etc. That helps with the plumbing and with the amount of meds you have to take at first week 2 is were that issue starts. walking gets easier and you may start wandering the house without the walker. keep a cane close at hand as its a great help for balance issues or to help stand up, etc.
Week3. This is when getting up and down from sitting improves drastically. your walking gets better and better. I was able to pedal full revolutions on the stationary bike at PT. Walked up my stairs at home (15 steps) like a normal person. Got 102 flexion on my left knee and 95 on my right. Staple removal was not fun but a pure relief once they were out. Take pain meds before you go. Sleeping starts to get better. In that I mean an hour at a time instead of 20 minutes. Takes time. Quad pain and tightness can bad at this point.
Week 4. The quad pain starts to fade. My wife told me I was walking better than I have in Years. I started driving our automatic and was no longer house bound. started doing house chores and such, as my wife was a little bit tired of my gold bricking. Scars were healing up nicely except for were a staple had popped on my right knee there was also what I thought was a hair sticking out of it which I promptly pulled. It was a stitch. As I thought I was passed all infection concerns I just polysporined it and put a Bandaid on. next day, poison coming out, next night I'm at the hospital with an iv in my arm and an OS taking fluid samples out of the middle of my knee. I'm on antibiotics and it looks better but take care of the incisions. as pain allows you can cut back on meds particularly during the day.
Week 5 ROM is better, sleep can be elusive, naps aren't as often during the day, You feel more like yourself, swelling is a lot less, but keep up the ice rest and elevation. Oh yeah It doesn't hurt to bang your knee Against things. As you have nice weather get out in the sun lots. I forgot to mention, kind of through the end of week 2 into week 3 you may as I did hit the depression state. It will pass but reach out to people for reassurance around that time. I hope this is helpful Maggie. cheers, Harry.
Australia
. Again thank you for your time and consideration - Maggie x
