Good afternoon fellow BoneSmarties.
At my first PT visit on January 11th, one week after surgery, my flexion was at a 40° angle. Extension I was quite happy with because I can press the back of my knee all the way down to the table.
My second PT visit was this past Friday the 15th. I tried doing my PT exercises at home two out of the four days that I was told to do them. The day before physical therapy I freaked out again and I pushed myself way too hard at home. Not only was there swelling at the surgery site, my hip, thigh, and calf hurt the way it does when you just over exercise. And they were extremely tight the day of physical therapy. So I just told her I got scared I didn't think I was doing enough physical therapy and I way over did it yesterday my hip, my thigh, and my calf are tight and sore and killing me. She's not a big talker she's a quiet person the first thing she did was get my knee warmed up on the exercise bike and started slow stretches, trying to get it to flex nice and gentle, then she put me on these slanted boards that I put my balls in my feet on and leaned forward to the wall and I had a really nice stretch all the way down my back my thigh and my calves. She then proceeded with physical therapy. She was so gentle and slow, and she just casually mentioned to me that she was so surprised that my surgeon would have scheduled all out physical therapy the same week as surgery. After her gentle touch with my overdoing it at home, and letting me know that she didn't feel physical therapy should have been done the first of surgery, it was at this, I began to trust her, and I think things are going to go very very well. I am not going to do my home physical therapy to the point of pain, I'm a BoneSmarty now.
When she measured my flexion, it was at a 60° angle. That was an increase of 20° in 4 days. She told me not to get used to that. But we'll see because I'm up and about and living life pretty darn good for considering what I just went through. In the last 3 days my frame of mind is returning to positivity,I'm handling the pain and better, AND I found Bone Smarties. I'm also getting a good night sleep thanks to the lounge doctor.
Yesterday was two weeks post-op. I'm walking without my Walker I'm going up and down the steps and I'm doing approximately half of the PT prescribed.I've been doing lighthouse work last week they load the dishwasher fold the clothes put some meat in a crock pot type of thing very light.
I purchased The Lounge Dr it arrived Saturday. Saturday night was the first night that I slept through the night using the lounge doctor I can't recommend this highly enough. I get very cold using my ice machine. I have found if I keep my iced leg outside of my blanket I stay warmer. so I had some trial and error but I slept with my feet elevated with my icing machine on my knee only covering up my other leg and the rest of my torso. is pure heaven my back hurts so bad from sitting in a recliner it was like pure heaven laying down in my bed. And it feels really good to elevate my legs I was not putting my toes above my nose there's no way I was doing that. So I just have to say it was worth every single penny and I know that they sell other ones out there but when I was researching this the angle that the lounge doctor is at for my height it looked healthier I don't know how to explain it it conformed more to my doctor's orders about putting pressure behind my knee that's how I can put it.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to get my Staples removed I'm very excited. I'm a bather vs a shower taker. I can't wait to get the okay to soak in a hot tub & soak my poor back it's just a mess because of not sleeping properly. I'm going to mention my back and my hip to my physical therapist when I go today. Turns out she's in my corner more so than my surgeon.