Being back at work has definitely tired me out. I never did figure out a good way to elevate my leg here. I realized that most days, I do actually stand up and take a few steps quite frequently, and that helps A LOT. Days where I'm just sitting are the hardest.
This weekend I attended a family function down in San Diego - and I did the driving. Hit horrible traffic both going down and coming up. Add to that no time to ice and elevate afterwards, and my knee is NOT happy with me today.
I took a 2-week break from PT when I returned to work. Started PT again last week, and of course overdid it my first day - not with my knee, but with my IT band. Owie! I'm trying to find stretches I can do to relieve that, but most of the IT stretches I've found on line require 1) that you are a Yoga master or some kind of very flexible contortionist; 2) can tolerate torquing of the knee joint that my knee is having none of, or 3) have a place to lie down.
That leaves me able to do the stretches in bed, but not throughout the day. I'm thinking about paying for a deep tissue massage to relieve some of this.
Turns out my ice therapy machine was just a rental, and my insurance company stopped paying for it. Much to my dismay, the medical supply company came and took it away.
I'm much less inclined to ice my knee now - not a good thing.
Overall, my knee is feeling a lot better most of the time. Unfortunately, I'm still having that sharp pain behind my kneecap when I bend my knee. I think it's getting worse, but I'm not positive that it is actually getting worse, or if it just feels worse because the rest of my knee is feeling better. I don't have the pain when I'm weight bearing, just when I'm bending my knee a bit - like you need to do to walk properly, for instance, or even when my recliner is raising or lowering. That is frustrating!
I am starting to sleep a bit better - longer stretches between my knee complaining about the position I'm in and waking me up to change positions. I'm still taking 1/2 a Percocet at bedtime. One night I really was not in any pain at bedtime, so I just took a Naprosyn or Tylenol (can't remember which), and optimistically went to bed. 2 hours later I woke up in enough pain to warrant getting up to take that 1/2 a Percocet. It will be another few weeks before I attempt that again.
I'm feeling a bit discouraged, since I was doing so well, so fast, that I thought I'd be much more back to normal at the three month mark than I am. I certainly wasn't expecting this frustratingly sharp pain in my knee with virtually every step I take. I was at 110 degrees of flexion before my 2 week break, and was at 105 after. I'm about at a 2 or 3 degrees extension - not QUITE straight yet. I'm more worried about the extension than the flexion. I've got my follow-up appointment with the surgeon's office next week. Unfortunately I'm seeing the PA, and not the surgeon. I did mention this sharp pain behind my kneecap to the surgeon at the 6 week visit. He said to just be patient and wait, since there was so much trauma and inflammation going on that it could well just resolve with time. He also said that it could be scar tissue in the little notch that my kneecap tracks in, which would require laparoscopic clean out if that's what it turns out to be. Hopefully the PA will have some insight or advice.
So that's my 3 month update. I am able to work full time, and be a basically functional human being outside of work, too - mostly. I need to focus on that - and that I can go up stairs without it hurting, that's another accomplishment.
I just want to be all better now, now, now!!!
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