After one month

Today marks one month since I had my knee replacement. Hard to believe it - seems like a few days ago I was coming home from the hospital.  Then, again, considering all the changes that have taken place, it seems like a long time.

At this point I am becoming pretty self-sufficient. I no longer need the walker and never used a cane. I have started walking in the pool on the days I don't have physical therapy. I keep it to a minimum of 10-15 minutes right now, and that is enough to make me fairly tired. I still do the same minimal exercises as home, but the physical therapy has stepped it up a notch. At the last session, I used the recumbent bike for 5 minutes and then switched to a regular upright bike for the next 5 minutes warm up. It makes me think I'm not too far off from riding my own bike at home. The number of exercises I do has increased. In addition to my standard ones, I now do toe raises and mini-squats, balancing on a rocking board for 2 minutes, both back and forth and then side to side without holding on, using the leg press machine, another exercise using a machine with weights that is too hard for me to describe, and stepping up and down 18 inches leading with my knee-replaced leg (this goes against "up with the good, down with the bad" and took some adjustment) both forward and to the side. I continue to make progress with my range of motion which is now at 130 degrees and my straightening my leg is also improving though still not perfect. I have 3 more weeks of therapy to go. The good news is that I am now driving myself to therapy and also to the pool. This is great for my husband, because he was usually either early to pick me up and had to wait 10 or 15 minutes, or I finished up early, and I was waiting on him.

I still ice my knee 2-3 times a day, but I'm beginning to cut down on my pain medication and hope to be completely off that in the next week or two. I understand that I should make 80% of progress toward recovery in the first 6 weeks, with a year to reach 100%. I'll continue with this blog through the 6 weeks at least to record my progress.