Week 6

Week six was a reality check.  I saw the Dr for the first time since the surgery.  It was unfortunate to learn he expected my range of motion to be greater than what it was.  Somehow, there was a disconnect between what the PA told me to do and what the Dr wanted me to do...so that was disappointing.  Because my Dr wasn't aware at the time when he bent my knee that my range of motion wasn't what he was expecting, he forced my leg bent much further than anything I had done.  So that really hurt!  He did give me the go ahead to begin bearing weight on it, starting with 25% this week and progressing by 25% each week after until full weight bearing.  In light of having my first PT visit scheduled for later on that week, I attempted to ramp up my range of motion with the CPM machine to play "catch-up."  I was able to get it up some, but it was extremely painful and ended up leaving my knee the most swollen it's been since immediately post surgery.  My PT visit was okay.  Again, my knee was so swollen so that I was mostly limited in what I could do.  It was recommended to me by a person I corresponded with who had this same surgery to find a PT that had an Alter G treadmill available.  I was told this is extremely helpful in being able to help with walking again at a faster rate.  So that's how I based my decision on what PT to use.  I got to use the Alter G treadmill during the first session.  It was an interesting experience, and I definitely see the merit in it.

This was by far my worst week to date.  That knee pain I mentioned in previous posts (the medial side of my knee) still exists, it has not improved, and it kept me from attempting to walk while weight bearing.  I even felt it while trying to use the Alter G treadmill at the minimum bodyweight (20%).  I got some exercises to do from the first PT session and those went okay.  The biggest thing, however was that pain.  Until next time...

Week 5

Week five was relatively uneventful...again a good thing.  I did return back to work.  Getting ready in the morning, as expected, took longer than normal.  Despite expecting it, I still wasn't prepared enough for it.  That's what "lounging" around for the past 4 weeks does to you.  Fortunately, my job was very accommodating allowing me to work from home 3 days a week while being in the office the other 2.  Much of this is because I'm still unable to drive.  Outside of that, gradual increase in the CPM machine was the only other real change.  I got up to 65 degrees.  Slow and steady I suppose.  Until next time...

Week 4

Week four brought on what I deemed a setback.  For the second half of the week, I started to experience some pain on the medial side of my knee.  It's always been a little tender if my movements weren't careful, but I started to feel a sharp pain in essentially every day movements.  It became harder to lean forward to put my brace on, trying to internally rotate my leg (like trying to get it off the bed), and even using the CPM machine at times caused pain.  There wasn't any additional swelling associated with it from what I could tell.  I spoke with both the PA and my doctor and they both expressed no concern.  I was told I was less than 4 weeks removed from surgery still so good times and bad times are to be expected.  Since talking to them, I have become much more cautious in my movements so as to not aggravate the area. I continued to use the CPM machine (once I found the right "groove", it was pain free), and again...I was more selective with how I chose to move.  Hopefully things will improve and we'll see how the remainder of my time goes before meeting with the doctor on the 19th.  This week has been the "worst" week so far, but I imagine it could be a lot worse so I'll chalk up this week up as a neutral experience.  Until next week...

Week 3

Week three remained much of the same.  No real changes or events to note.  I continued to do what was done in week two.  In my progression of the CPM machine, I increased it by 5 degrees for half the week, and by another 5 degrees for the other half of the week.  Outside of that, just the same old same old.

Week 2

Week two was relatively uneventful. I had my post-op followup on 11/21. Everything looked good so that was a plus. The aspirin was discontinued. However, because my two lesions are located on weight bearing areas, they would like me to progress along slower than normal. What that means is instead of increasing the range of motion of the CPM machine by 5 degrees per day, they want me to increase it by 10 degrees per week starting at the beginning of week 3. This is to continue until I meet with the doctor again (12/19). Outside the CPM machine it's just been ice, straight leg raises, quad flexes, and ankle rolls. I still took my supplements along with Naproxen. As before I continued to stay essentially pain free and swelling continued to decrease. Another successful week.