I am still having good days and bad days. Of course, I'd love to skip the bad days but at least the good days are gradually getting better. I can't attribute the bad days to anything in particular as I keep pretty much to the same routine, so I guess it's just the random way of my healing. I've had issues with sciatic and piriformis pain that is adding to my discomfort (from so much sitting and tightening up against the pain I guess). I have a good, large vibrating massager/vibrator that helps with it. I'm going to ask my PT if there is a stretch that I can do in my present condition that will help.
Neither OS or primary care doc want to prescribe more Oxy so I'm saving the remaining ones I have for those times when I really, really need them.
It's so stupid the way US docs are hounded about prescribing narcotics to the point where they cut people off while they still need them. The good side is that it's great to have a clearer head and to be able to read and concentrate more. And, truly, I guess what I mainly have is a lot of discomfort and a strong burning and tight sensation in the knees rather than a sharp pain or even strong ache. It does get very tiresome at times.
I'm, finally sleeping in my bed at night for up to 6 hours (with a potty break) and then finish off with a couple of hours in the recliner. That, combined with at least one nap, means I'm getting plenty of sleep now.
I've tried getting out (besides to PT) a couple of times and went to lunch yesterday, but I just can't get comfortable without my knees elevated so my outings are short. I'm really looking forward to being able to get out for more than a few minutes. Well, we're supposed to have nice weather this week so hopefully I can sit out on the patio for awhile and at least have a different view than my same family room walls!
Best wishes to all who are on this recovery journey.
United States
Back to moving forward toward complete recovery.
The OS wants me to reduce the pain meds and at the same time PT wants me to do more exercise. I started to tear up riding the elevator up to the PT place. When called in, I said, "We need to talk." I told him what was going on and that I am still having a fair amount of pain and he agreed to slow down on the exercise until I get thru this transition period off the heavy-duty painkillers. He took it easy on me and reminded me that icing will be even more important at this point to ease the pain. So, I definitely felt better when I left and was reminded how important it is to speak up. I pointed out that I needed new knees for 10 years before the surgery so had a very long period of decline and de-conditioning. On top of that, I've been heavy all my life and diabetic and there were lots of movements that I couldn't manage prior to surgery and that we need to take that into consideration. As far as walking distances (PT was concerned that I have no stamina), my son pointed out that I'm actually no worse than I was prior to the surgery as far as getting fatigued or out of breath. I'm not sure the therapist had really understood how bad off I was before . . . I told him I knew it was going to be a tough recovery because of these things but that doing too much just resulted in my walking less due to pain. He said moving the knees at this point is more important than building stamina so we will work on that later. 
