Hi guys, been a few days since I updated. I am now at home, discharged from rehab this morning after a 2 week stay. The PTs and PTAs were wonderful while I was there and I plan to finish my outpatient therapy with them. I had an appointment with the OS on Monday, had very little difficulty getting into my Tahoe but I was pretty stiff when I got there, about a 30 minute drive. He was very please with my progress and said I was ahead of the game. PROM on right knee was 110 and 98 on left knee. Of course, ROM is not that good when I do it myself, 102 on right and 92 on left. But therapy says that is still really good for 2 weeks post op. I am beginning to use the quad cane, still working on my comfort level with that. Once you get used to the walker, going on to a cane with less stability makes me a little anxious. My hands are sore from using the walker, hopefully that will be better soon. Also have some aggravation to my shoulders-the left one has not had surgery yet and I kind of expected that, but the right one has, so I hope it's just sore and that I have not hurt it somehow. I have got to get into a routine with my exercising here at home. Still taking pain pills but hopefully can start backing off of them gradually. Have been taking 2 every 4 hours during the day, and 1 every 4 hours at night because the nurses were waking me up. If I don't wake up here at home, maybe I can slack off at night. We'll see how it goes. Also may try to just take 1 every 4 hours during the day except before when I go to therapy I will take 2 and maybe 2 afterward. Just a little trial and error to get the right dosage going. I rode a bicycle at therapy yesterday, but pedaling backwards. I was able to do that pretty well. Still icing and was wondering if any of y'all ever used heat. Seems like that would feel so good, but wondered it the swelling would be worse. Am beginning to use vitamin E cream to massage on scar. That feels so good, too. My knees are still pretty tight and swollen as is my left foot. I have lost about 12-15 pounds of fluid as the swelling goes down. I kept telling the nurses at rehab that "your scales are wrong, I don't weigh that much!" But each Monday that I was weighed, it was less and less, so I know it will go down some more. I about panicked when I couldn't wear a pair of the shorts that I packed for rehab when I knew the week before they were actually lose on me, but I never thought that the fluid would be in my in my abdomen, too!! I have a pretty even gait, don't limp, just move slowly. I'm glad I did both, don't know that I could go through this again, and that was my main reason for doing both.
OK enough about me, I have been reading your threads and am so impressed by your recoveries. I'm so glad you all are doing so well, each at his or her own pace. Hugs to all of you and much continued improvement as you continue your journeys.
Australia
