Reflections - One month on

Sleeping is still a work in progress - but at least I can sleep with Peter for a few hours each night before I get up to prowl the house or read. I can now also sleep on my side which is a relief. I am not completely comfortable with rolling over yet as I don't have the flexibility to move or roll quickly.

I have had some other minor triumphs. 

27 February 2016:  29 days post op

I have been out in my garden harvesting tomatoes, garlic and basil to make a pizza tonight. 

The whole kitchen smells of summer. I am looking forward to making dinner and things are beginning to seem more normal.

The last month has been turmoltuous - sometimes time seems to have gone quickly and on other days, time drags.  I have been reflecting on what has happened in one month since the surgery.

Firstly, I am amazed at the healing my body has achieved. As you will have seen from the creepy photos taken one week after the knee replacement operation, my right leg was hugely bruised, swollen and engorged. Now one month later, there is a small area of bruising and puffiness, but the leg is looking far more normal. The scar is healing and the staple marks are disappearing.

I can now wear my normal clothes instead of baggy shapeless shorts that are two or three sizes to large.

I still find it hard to know what I can reasonably expect to accomplish. I am walking around 3 km a day. I can also walk around inside the house reasonably confidently without holding on to things, but I do tend to sit with my feet and legs up quite a lot. I use at least one crutch when I go outside to give me some forward momentum. However walking is still very tiring. 

I had a fantastic time at the pool yesterday morning. I was in there for about half an hour doing some gentle exercises but mostly gossiping with my buddies Margaret and Sue. However when I got home I was exhausted and went to sleep for two hours. I was a bit of a right-off for the rest of the day. So while I feel like I would like to be more active and get out and about, I am sabotaged by tiredness. 

I can now go up and down these two little steps to our front door without using crutches. It doesn't look like a huge obstacle, but previously (pre- op) I had to go down them side ways one step at a time. 

I have more independence and I can now cook and do stuff in the kitchen. I still need to sit on the stool when I am cutting up things, stirring things on the stove or drying the dishes. I have been making lots of salads and easy to cook things and I enjoy it. The pizza should be reasonably easy (I am using the flour and Greek yoghurt recipe for the base) and then lots of divine tomatoes from the garden.

I can also drive short distances. Up to 25 minutes at a time. I had expected I would have to wait 6 weeks - so this is great progress.

This morning we had a lovely, more or less normal, Saturday. We went for a walk to our favourite dog park. I went about 25% of the walk while Peter and Lewis continued the circuit. Then we went off to the Napier market to get our bread and veges for the week. I can't yet carry the groceries but it was lovely to be there. 

While we were at the market we met up with Vanessa (my fab Physio friend) and her husband Andrew. They hadn't seen me since the surgery so it was interesting to get their assessment of how I was progressing. Vanessa has been coaching me since October for pre-hab - showing me how to strengthen my muscles and get my leg ready to recover from surgery. 

When we met this morning, Vanessa said she was blown away by my recovery to date. She said that the excercises I was  doing before the operation have helped to train my body to willingly perform the retraining activities because they are now second nature to me. She said that so many people who have knee surgery are immobilised beforehand and have no flexibility. So it makes it very hard to learn new approaches in a short space of time. I am so pleased to have made that pre-hab  investment.

So much has changed in just one month.  It will be fascinating to see what has changed after 6 weeks and eight weeks. I will keep you posted...