Way back in January, prior to the surgery on my right knee, it was hard to imagine what it would be like to have had a new knee for six months.
The first two months after surgery were times of pretty rapid change and improvement. The last four months have been much slower with steady improvements and benefits.
I have just been sent the post op questionnaire from the Orthopaedic Society. It is based in the Oxford Knee Score - a survey I found when I was first considering options for knee surgery last year. Last November I filled the questionnaire out (see scores in red). And it was interesting to identify where the significant changes in function have occurred six months after knee replacement (see black circled numbers)
The biggest improvement has been in pain relief as well as much greater mobility. I was really pleased that while we were travelling in the UK last month I was walking 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day. Now back at the gym I am regularly cycling 10km as part of my gym session so that feels good too.
As I have previously mentioned, my left knee is now my biggest restriction and it tires quickly and is painful most of the time. So, I took myself off to the local Waipukurau hospital to have the left knee x-rayed.
As you can see, it is a pretty small hospital and very low key. While I was standing around in my undies waiting to have the X-rays, I had a chat with one of the GPs who was snacking on his lunch in the adjoining room! There is no such thing as privacy in a small town.
And this is what it looks like inside my left knee.... Not much space between those bones and lots of spurs and sharp pointy boney growths - arthritis.
So - in the next blog I will give an update on plans. In the interim - here is a photo of both knees. The scar on the right knee is really smooth and well healed. I am amazed that six months on there is still bruising and swelling.
You can see the effusion/ bulge on the inside of my left knee where all the fluid is collecting.
Finally, all this knee talk has become something of an obsession. I was at a meeting last week and one of my colleagues at the meeting had a knee replacement three months ago. I couldn't resist asking her to show me her scar and having a look at her knee. It probably wasn't polite but luckily she was pretty delighted about her new knee and keen to show it off. So there we were in this board room with our trouser legs hitched up gazing intently into each other's knees. Her knee was also still swollen but also nicely healed. She had just returned from a snorkelling holiday and was just as delighted with the result as I am with mine.
