The road to recovery

18 December 2016: 6 weeks post op Right Knee Replacement

It seems to me that the road to recovery after knee replacement surgery is rather like my driveway - sunny in some patches, shady in others, winding and steep - but ultimately leading to somewhere interesting.

Since the surgery, I have had some gloomy patches with infections and pain (as I reported in previous blogs). But in the last few weeks there have been a lot more bright patches as I have been able to:

- push the pedals on the exercise bike a full rotation (woohoo!)

- drive the car decent distances (100km)

- stand at work and social events and chat to people 

- stand and give a presentation for 45 minutes (actually I did lean on a stool some of the time)

- prepare nice food for my friends 

- go for 2km dog walks and walk nearly 5 kms most days.

And it all feels good. I have also been recalibrating my vision of where the two knee replacements will take me. 

I had been thinking that I wanted to recover to a state that at least as good as before I had surgery. But then I realised that the destination I should be aiming for was more like aiming for a state of fitness and stamina that I had five years ago. And it was quite a change of mindset.

Peter and I were chatting about Fiordland the other night and he said, "when your legs are stronger we could walk the Milford Track". My initial reaction (based on the last five years of thinking was - really? You must be joking!! But then I began thinking about it - and it might just be a realistic possibility. It's an amazingly exciting destination that I hadn't expected or considered for such a long time.

And then last night I met a man who has had two knee replacements - the most recent operation was six months ago. He looked so well and was really pleased with his new knees. He is very active and goes off on adventures with his wife in their bus. And looking at him, I began to think of the possibilities that lie in store for me...

For my regular blog readers, I feel compelled to provide the usual photo update on the knee scar. (You will be pleased that there are no gory  shots in this post).

And the range of motion is also really good - see photo of my bent leg below.

 It is looking good. And with the scar healing well I should be able to go swimming this week.

So, as I say to myself when I am clambering up my rather steep drive way - Onwards and upwards! Let the adventures begin!