Thanks for asking, Layla. Things are very slowly improving. The pain, while still present, has lessened most of the time. I do wake up in a lot of pain in the mornings so need to use my walker for a bit until the ibuprofen kicks in. It’s helping to keep my pain levels down now that the pain has gone to a more manageable level. The rest of the day I am trying to use just my cane, but I have to be careful with it. I wanted to go from the walker to walking unaided, but that’s not going to happen. I can walk a step or two unaided, but my leg will generally either give me sharp pains in the thigh area or give out on me after a couple of steps, so I’m not safe to walk without an aid yet. I also still have a lot of swelling so can’t get up or down from chairs or the toilet, so I ended up buying a hinged toilet riser and removed the walker I was using to lift myself. The riser makes it possible to sit and stand now without any handles, so it will need to be there until the swelling goes down enough to allow me more bend than I currently have. We have the taller toilets, but they’ve still been problematic for me this time and I haven’t been able to use them without assistance, which I could do after my revision. I don’t know my ROM numbers, but they’re not much and are definitely less than before this surgery, which wasn’t great then either.
I’m sleeping a little more each night-not all night yet, but more than I was. I’m also walking around more, and helping fix dinner some nights. Now that the pain has lessened I’m going back to icing and elevating a lot. I haven’t been able to do too much of it as the elevation pulled on my wound area too much and I couldn’t stand the pain, and the ice wrap was also too painful. Now, I can elevate and ice without too much pain, so will be doing that as much as possible and we’ll see if it helps.
This has been by far the worst recovery, pain-wise, I’ve had, and don’t wish it on anyone. It’s been a double-whammy as the pain has been more intense than any of my past knee surgeries, and not being able to take strong pain meds has meant I’ve had to just get through this by gritting my teeth, trying not to scream and trying to function at least a little. I can’t really tell yet if the surgery did what it was supposed to in stopping the post pain, but I’m beginning to suspect it just very well may have.
My next goal is to go to the grocery store with hubby driving, and use their electric cart to do a little shopping. Then, after that, my next big goal is to drive myself to my second post-op appointment next month. (I haven’t driven my car myself in months; even before this surgery I wasn’t driving as it became too painful, so hubby’s been doing all the driving. I’m looking forward to reclaiming my independence as soon as possible) After the doctor’s appointment, I plan to go to IKEA, finally, and order the cabinets we need. Then, I plan to just live my life, and hopefully it’s pain free!
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Smart move and a nice money-saver since you're using something you already have.
My knee/leg feels sore just reading this, it really puts into perspective why you have had so much pain after surgery and continue to do so. Although you will take longer to heal at least there is light at the end of the tunnel, Kim, hopefully soon you will be back to normality and all the pains pre/post surgery will be a thing of the past.
Wishing you a peaceful, pain free night and weekend. 
Walking around that store would be great PT..LOL
