Heavens, dear friends, I am sitting here very red faced with all the worrying comments on here and I apologise most profusely for not posting an update sooner. I have only come on here twice recently - once to reply quickly to Dawn's PM and another quick one to Rita.
With the MUA being so close to Christmas, the timing was difficult. There was so much more preparation for Christmas after I came out of hospital, with all the family coming to say. There were nine of us here from Christmas Eve until New Year's Day and another three on top of that number from Boxing Day for three nights. Rarely a moment to myself and when that did happen, all I wanted and needed to do was sit down and put my feet up - exhausted
Right, the MUA was a doddle. Having previously been told I would stay in overnight, on arrival at hospital I was being told I would probably go home the same day, so I was confused by that. After the MUA, I was in the recovery ward for four long hours while they waited for a bed on the ward for me. I asked why I needed a bed on the ward if I was going home and they said I could only be discharged from the ward and not from recovery. My consultant came to see me very quickly and mentioned me having a second MUA. I was rather in shock with this statement, so didn't ask him why.
Once a bed became available I went up to the ward. The physiotherapists came to see me not long after and put me straight on a CPM machine. I wondered why they did that if I was going home? They said during the MUA Mr Allen had been my knee to 90 degrees. I felt a bit disappointed with that number as I thought it would be around 100.
I wasn't discharged that evening. I kept the CPM machine going all night and surprisingly I did manage some sleep with it. I found it quite therapeutic and felt I was getting a good bend. The next day I walked quite well with one crutch for support. Ray picked me up later afternoon and I felt fine.
However, the next few days my knee was oh so stiff, that I could barely bend it. I thought I would lose any bend I had gained and was rather worried. Doing any exercise over the Christmas holiday was difficult with all the family staying and so much cooking and clearing away.
I had physio locally on New Year's Eve and she got my knee bent to 85 and she said she was pleased with me and at the end of the session she said she didn't feel that I would need a second MUA and she expects me to reach 90 next week.
Yesterday, I had physio at the large hospital in Cambridge. That was totally different. She did different things, e.g. had me lay on my stomach and she gently bent my leg towards my bottom. That felt surprisingly easy. She also noticed that when I bend my knee on the couch, I was doing it with my hip and she said I need to do it from the quads. The local PT said nothing about that. So all in all I feel the hospital physio is better, but I shall go to both for the time being.
Yes, I am glad I had the MUA and even though the bend has only increased a little, it is still an increase and I really do feel that I will progress from here.
I was going to return to work tomorrow for half a day, but I have just noticed that my sick certificate from my GP still has another week to go. As I really need to do these exercises three times a day, I think I will have that other week (also I feel a bit anxious about going back to work after so long).
I have a check up with Mr Allen on Monday afternoon. So I can ask him then why he only got me to 90 and if any scar tissue was broken down and also, why he felt I might need another MUA.
So that's it so far folks. Again, many apologies for worrying you all so much - it certainly wasn't intentional and I shall NOT do it again
United Kingdom
