Week 12 has been a banner week, and I'm feeling pretty good. I played my first gig since surgery on Saturday. It was early in the day at a farmers market, so I wasn't too concerned about wiping out. Just playing on a beautiful day with my friend on guitar and her son on fiddle, I felt so alive and part of the world again. When I got up after several hours playing, I just started walking, no stiffness or pain! Before the tkr, I would have had to wait until my knee could move again.
Sleeping has become almost effortless over the past week. I'm still tired a lot, so I get in bed early and read until I'm sleepy. Then I sleep for 8 or 9 hours. I also have at least one nap during the day. I guess I'm catching up. In my pre-surgery days, I never needed more than 7 hours sleep.
I saw my surgeon today for the 3-month followup. He says everything looks good. He eyeballed my ROM at 0 and 125. He wants me to rebuild the quad muscle on my right leg as it's weaker than the one on my left leg.
On the way back from my appointment, I did some errands in the town center. I was halfway up the steps to the bank before I noticed I was going up the regular way, step over step!
Last night, I drove 45 minutes each way to a pub session (the longest trip since surgery). It was great being out and seeing friends. When I got up at the end of the session, my knee just worked! One of my friends reminded me that last time I was there (pre-tkr), I had to grab his arm for balance when I got up to leave the circle.
The only cloud right now is that since my walk up the steep hill to my house the other day, my back has been twitching and threatening to spasm. I think I lost some core strength these last 3 months and will have to win it back.
If this recovery has taught me anything, it's to not expect straight line progress. I won't be surprised if there's a bit of a down after this up. For now, though, I'm just enjoying the moment.
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