Week 12 Update:
I'm in San Antonio this week doing yard work. It's my first time down here since my surgery, so you know the foliage is out of control. My husband was down here a week and a half ago, and he thoughtfully mowed the front yard.
First, the three-hour drive down was uneventful and presented no problems. Last year, I made my first drive at about the same time after my left knee surgery, and I iced all the way, stopped halfway and took a nap, and was pretty wiped out when I got here. None of those problems this year, for which I am thankful. I share that to illustrate how two knees on the same body can have entirely different results. It's worth noting that this knee could have been slower to recover than my left knee, too, which I admit would have been much more challenging to deal with mentally.
I have been taking no acetaminophen since my surgery (well, I think I did take it in two instances, but I don't count that as a regular thing). I am happy to not be taking that twice a day after doing so for the last ten years (at least). I was feeling a little sore and achy by Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I believe the long layoff in operating the hedge trimmers and the 100-foot length of alley hedge I trimmed on Monday afternoon had something to do with that. My knees, for the most part, felt fine, but my forearms and wrists were sore. I also had a low-grade headache. Yesterday, I put together three essential oil blend capsules of copaiba, frankincense, and Idaho Balsam Fir and took three capsules spread throughout the day. I felt better this morning.
I have worked slowly and deliberately this week. When I got here on Sunday, I broke up the limbs that had fallen from a tree out front that my husband had dragged into the driveway. The trash guys picked them up on Monday morning. On Monday, I took care of trimming the hedge, bagging the debris, and our trash guys made a second pick up in the afternoon, leaving me with more room for yard debris than I might have had (I love my trash pick up guys down here -- they are proactive and frequently will make a second pickup if we've been working in the yard). Tuesday, I mowed the edge of the alley and the back yard. Then I ran the electric trimmer. I took a break, then trimmed the front hedge and bagged the debris. On Wednesday, I cut up more limbs and clipped off numerous hackberry and china berry upstart trees which had grown up in my absence. They were waiting for the trash guys this morning, and they took them all. This morning, I trimmed the side yard bushes and cut up a few more of the upstart trees and left them for the trash guys. Will they make a second pick up for me this afternoon, too? I hope so, but they certainly aren't required to do so.
Tomorrow, I can begin tackling the back corner of the back yard, which is horribly overgrown and has been for some time. I have a fallen dead tree to cut up back there, another dead tree that hasn't fallen yet, and numerous upstart and unwelcome hackberry and china berry trees. In addition, they are in a bed of shrimp plants which have grown completely out of hand. That's going to take me a couple of days to deal with. Then there's the grass that's spilling over onto the patio that must be excised and the patio hedge which requires trimming. I think I can make a dent in it by Sunday. On Monday, I'll mow the front yard and prepare to return to Central Texas on Tuesday. Whew.
I'm taking it easy, working a couple of hours each day at the most. The knee is fine. I'm trying to figure out how to characterize how it feels. It's not completely healed and it's not completely pain-free. Mostly, it feels sore in a mild, annoying way. The left knee feels much less annoying this way, which it should at a year and a half out from replacement. One of the sensations is of a gauziness that is ripping. I'm pretty sure that's the fascia underneath recovering, and I expect that will be a normal sensation as it continues to heal. The other sensation of a deep bruising, which, of course, sounds completely consistent with healing from the surgery as well.
Stamina is not what I would like; however, some of that may be consistent with me being 110 pounds overweight. I'm walking in the morning. I will build endurance, and, slowly, begin to take this weight off. I imagine that will help with stamina. I've lost about 10 pounds since February, so I was worse.
I'm typing this at Panera. I made a bathroom stop, and the handicapped stall was occupied, so I used the regular stall (with a really low seat), but I didn't have any trouble standing from the low seat. That's an improvement I'm pleased about.
I have noticed a tendency to turn sideways to come down the steps at the house (there are only two at this house), but that seems to be an accommodation to not having a hand rail. I will need to continue to make that an area to pay attention to and get my body retrained to not do that.
United States
after all that I think you deserve to rest, that was a lot of work, I think you should continue resting, lol
