I'm back!
Had my 1st physio session the other day, left me hobbling around in pain for 2 days
She was a pretty little thing, gentle, didn't try to push me past pain barriers or anything. But these people are all about the numbers, and when she tried to measure the flexion she was confused due to the general damage to that leg. At every moment I kept presuming she'd announce some number and be done with it, but it was literally about a minute and a half later before she finally decided it was 100 degrees.
That was way,
way too long to leave it at maximum flexion like that, and boy did I pay for it that night and the next day! In fact yesterday I couldn't even get 90 degrees and had to be really careful sitting down. Next time I'll let her borrow my phone to take a photo, and she can measure the photo instead! Anyway...
I tried to tease them by hobbling in on crutches but everyone laughed and said they'd seen the video or seen me walking around town, so I wasn't fooling anyone. Seems I'm a celebrity for healing so fast, which brings me back to the question of 'Why?'
Some say just good fortune, luck?
I don't buy that. I was the kid who couldn't read the blackboard and needed glasses, the kid that sometimes couldn't breath good and needed an asthma inhaler. I'm the guy that loves dogs, and turned out to be allergic to them... Heck, I'm the guy that got sideswiped and had a wonky knee for the last 34 years. If I have a guardian angel they need firing.
I'm also the guy that dreamed of living on a tropical island with his own boat, making his living as a writer while travelling the world - and that's my life. Little luck involved, just relentless working towards goals. Some golfer hit a hole-in-one, to which someone else declared he was lucky. I forget the exact quote but something like "It's funny; the harder I practice, the luckier I seem to get."
To some extent we make our own luck, and I don't think luck can explain the difference between "6 weeks on average" and
6 days.
The other day I said I'd put pen to paper, as a thinking exercise and see if I could explain things...
Well that quickly turned into 5 pages long, so let me read it again and give a quick summary...
Bummer. Wrong computer. OK, I'll wing it...
In essence I think it comes down to about 3 or 4 points:
1. I needed a knee due to accident damage, not old age, being overweight, poor diet or other medical issues. My other knee is fine.
2. I've been through the same trauma before - but worse. No instant-setting cement, nothing that could take my weight for
months, indeed I needed a 2nd op' to remove bone from my hip to try to get the healing process started. Even then the leg was wonky, and having been laid up so long it was painful just to lower it
at all, let alone try to walk on it.
I'd also suffered "foot drop" and knew the only thing that really got my recovery going was once I could bear to stand up and MOVE, even if a shuffling hobble. Once I was up and moving things rapidly got better.
So throughout this knee thing, my #1 concern has always been "When can I move? When can I put weight on it? How long does the cement take to set?
When can I walk?"
The moment the doc said "The cement is immediate and fixed already, you can move it around today, it can already take your weight, it's just that the soft tissues.... blah blah blah blah.."
The moment I heard it could already take my weight I lost track of what he was saying - I could walk now? NOW?
And I did. At first a tentative step with less weight on my crutches, then.. no weight. It held. Another step, left leg again, full weight.. it held. I asked the 2 physio guys to leave me alone as I'd finally reached the toilet, thanks very much, see you later, totally confident I could hop back again later, so they left.
I walked back. Slowly, a bit painful, both crutches ready, and I'm sure I looked damn silly, but I walked from the loo back to the bed.
5 more steps that night, while my wife was asleep.
And I've just kept going, because I know last time that was what set me free - walking! Moving around, NOT letting my leg get used to being raised, NOT letting my good leg get used to laying around, NOT just sitting around waiting to heal but to get up and WALK.
3. Paleo/Keto lifestyle. I go out of my way to eat naturally. Not necessarily organic but I avoid processed food, carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes etc. Basically I try to only eat meat, organs, above-ground veggies, nuts, eggs, dairy and seafood. No "vegetable oils" (which are actually rancid seed oils). The keto way of life is famous for low inflammation, which has probably helped.
4. High expectations. A classic example of willpower! See, my wife's colleague said her husband has both his knees done, and he was soon up and walking around, didn't complain of pain, was quite alright with it, and now he enjoys playing tennis...
Well if he could do that, so could I, right?
So despite (mostly) everyone telling me to stop healing and recovering so fast, to stay a cripple a bit longer, dammit, I've just kept powering ahead.
NOT to the point of serious pain - see what happened with the physio? 2 days of lost progress. I'm human. But constantly pushing beyond my comfort zone, just living life and refusing to be some bedridden cripple. Did that before, it took me 3 months to walk again. I don't do that now.
Just now I realized I got in and out of my wife's little Subaru, slowly, awkwardly, but this time without powering the seat right back. I just got in, drove and later just got out.
Remember the video in the park, where I was doing great until going down the steep little bridge? I did the same walk today, just a walking stick, not a crutch, and came to that bridge...
Walked down it fine. Barely a twinge and didn't need my stick, let alone a crutch.
I'm not a doctor, I'm no expert, and I'm just using my own experience from before. The day I could actually stand up for 3 or 4 minutes at a time, before my leg went purple and the pain was too much, was the day I rapidly started getting better.
I've done the same here. The moment I could walk, I walked. Always pushing a little beyond my comfort level, always careful not to actually
hurt anything but to push myself a bit.
Just keep pushing.
Take it for what it is, my own journey, so far. Maybe I am crazy, maybe I'll have a whole heap of setbacks later. Maybe. What I DO know is I'm walking around with a tender knee, I still need painkillers and that's about it, other than that I'm back to normal.
I need to strengthen that leg, a lot. The Physio has me sitting on the end of a bed, raising my leg up and holding it up for 10 seconds. OK... but how does that compare to a 30 minute walk? To daily activity?
Let me check my Garmin... Tis a gimmick but a fun one... around 300 minutes of walking around today, at around 900 calories. Or I can sit on the end of the bed and raise my foot up and down?
I say if you can, get up and walk. Do stuff, live life as normally as possible, and you'll heal all by yourself.
But that's just my opinion, man?
Can't wait to try those lamps on New Lefty.
But yeah, I reckon I'll be able to ride it soon! Wahoo!
, and I know some of it is in our control......but if I had a dollar for all the times someone told me to "do this instead of that" or "this worked for me, so try it." Well, I'd definitely be a rich woman by now. 
I truly believe half of recovery is out of our control and comes down to dumb luck. Even with highly skilled surgeons, modern pain management, new technology, etc---many of us struggle horribly for absolutely no reason. What's left other than luck??!!
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