Re: I am on the other side now, friends!
I just betcha I can push my knee to 90 now, but I have no way to measure it until Monday when I go to PT again. Yesterday (Good Friday) was a complete rest day for me. Oh, I did something's around the house like put several loads of clothes into the washer and dryer but then it was back to the couch with ice and leg elevated on the wedge pillow. I needed the rest day after having back to back PT on Wednesday and Thursday. My knee was very stiff and more swollen yesterday, but also for another reason I feel that has a lot to do with swelling and fluid retention, and that would be to do with what I ate!
You see I have eaten what I call very clean since my surgery. The first couple of days while still in the hospital I did not have much of an appetite but knew I had to eat, so usually I just ordered soup at the hospital. Same thing when I came home, no appetite so I ate soup which was easy for my husband and tasted good to me...but as that 10th day post op was setting in so was major swelling, big fat ankles on both legs and 10 pounds of fluid in my surgery leg. As you all know...canned soup is full of sodium! The best advice I could give to anyone as for diet pre and post op is to stay away from sodium/preservatives to help with swelling. So the past several weeks I have been eating very lean chicken or turkey, fresh veggies, lots and lots of fresh fruit and berries. No sodium, no preservatives.
I have lost weight although I didn't really need to lose weight (but a girl always likes losing 10 pounds)! So...the point of this story here, is this. My poor husband has been waiting on me, taking care of me wonderfully since March 28. I did real good in PT on Thursday, was happy and said..."let's go down the street to the Mexican Restaurant and get some dinner!" They are close by and serve pretty fast, I knew I would be fine, he liked the idea!! We went I ordered chicken enchiladas, guacamole, it came it beans and rice...oh my goodness...to begin with I could never eat all that food still not having a big appetite, but every bite I could just taste the sodium seasonings in all of the food since I had been eating so clean up to this point. I drank lots of water at the restaurant hoping to flush out the extra sodium I was eating.
End result...all day yesterday, swelling, and stiffness and although not drinking too much at all yesterday, was constantly getting up to go to the potty! My body was trying to finally get rid of the extra fluid that I was holding onto all night and through the day. Woke up this morning and knee bends like it did on Thursday! So, if you are having a problem with extra swelling, just be very mindful of what you are eating and read all the labels. No soup or Mexican food for me for a while yet!
Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11
United Kingdom
...that is a lot of weight to put on so quickly. Glad it's all gone now.
