Three weeks
Catch up post of course. You can skip this, but I think I want to keep records of my recovery for my own purposes.
I stopped taking pain meds (tramadol and tylenol) on schedule two days ago. This is somewhat later than last time, which is interesting because all most of the other indicators of recovery have come much faster. I think there is a relationship between those two things.
I'm not going to go back and see what I've already recorded, so there might be some overlap.
Graduated from walker to cane-7 days. Stopped using the cane except for going out-10 days. Moved back upstairs-12 days. First shower (as opposed to sponge bath): 14? days. First mile-ish walk (probably closer to 3/4 mile, but I could have walked farther): 22 days. Last time I was walking a little walk every day and a long walk every other day or so, and hit the mile at four weeks. This time I am doing two little walks and a medium walk every day, with the medium walk getting longer all the time. That's the advantage of having a demanding little puppy (about whom more in another post).
The thing about using the walker and the cane is that at certain times they are essential, not to keep you standing, but to enable a normal gait. At the point that a normal gait is easier without them than with them, it's time to graduate. I'm in the long tail of graduating from the cane now. When I have a short distance to walk, my gait is better without the cane. When I have to go farther, my gait might deteriorate, so I take it along. Last time I only stopped using it for a couple of weeks right before the second surgery--it's hard to say, I maybe needed it still because the unoperated leg was such a mess. This time when I leave the cane behind I will be really leaving it behind, because both legs will be recovered!
The incision on my right leg is healing faster. It is also a neater, smaller scar: the left one had sort of a keloid appearance at first and it is still wider than the right one. I attribute this to a complex of things promoting better healing. One, I've been taking vitamin C longer than last time. Another is that my body has done this before and is less surprised by events than last time. Another is that with the first knee that far into recovery, there's just that much less inflammation in my body than last time.
Currently my biggest discomfort is in my ankle, where the muscles have been accomodating an abnormal angle from the leg bone for years and now they have to re-arrange themselves to accomodate a straight leg and they are not all that happy about it. The tight feeling around the knee is less than last time. Last time the skin around the knee felt like it might rip when I bent it (I knew it wouldn't), and that sensation is not there this time, though the knee is tight.
Highest measured flexion by 3 weeks(this fluctuates more than last time, but the leg was probably more damaged so I can expect some differences): 105 degrees (this is about the same as last time for right now: goal is to reach 120 degrees, which the left leg reached easily). Extension: 2? degrees (last time was zero, which is the goal).
My blood pressure started going back to normal in week 2: it's still labile but mostly in the normal range. I believe it was over a month before it began to drop last time. Insomnia and exhaustion have both been minimal: I mean I have had a few nights where I gave up and read for hours, and last time I didn't sleep normally at all till six weeks or more. And I haven't been exhausted at all: tired a lot, and sleepy a lot, but not exhausted. Those things are related, I'm sure. It's interesting that I could have a bit more pain and have better sleep and blood pressure, but not significant.
I've been losing weight steadily and in a way disconcertingly. I was worried by an eight pound drop in a couple of weeks but then I really looked at my legs and realized that they were so much more swollen before surgery than I even realized. I had just gradually gotten used to the way my legs looked, partly because there was kind of a uniform turgidity rather than puffy spots. Now I can still see isolated patches of swelling so I can expect more weight loss of that type. As of today I have lost fourteen pounds since the day of the first surgery, which if you look at it that way is not really rapid as it has been seventeen weeks.
Did I mention that Dr. Spiegel told me at the hospital that I might not need to take anti-inflammatories on a daily basis in the future? He said I could save the meloxicam for when the other messes in my body flare up, which I did not know was a way one could use meloxicam. I thought it was an all-or-nothing deal. So I'm looking forward to that possibility.
I was wanting to ride my bicycle and mostly looking forward to physical therapy as access to the stationary bike to prepare for that. The physical therapist was very stern about me not getting on a mobile bike yet and I was disappointed but I finally reasoned that of course I should wait as long to ride a bike on city streets as I do for driving, because of reaction time. Dr. Spiegel says the research is clear that reaction times return to normal at four weeks. So next week, I become wheeled!
Also I think I will go to folk dance class next week: probably not dance much, but go.
Other posts upcoming: Žluta roundup, reading roundup, reminiscences of my brother, stuff about writing in general and not-Poland in specific
I stopped taking pain meds (tramadol and tylenol) on schedule two days ago. This is somewhat later than last time, which is interesting because all most of the other indicators of recovery have come much faster. I think there is a relationship between those two things.
I'm not going to go back and see what I've already recorded, so there might be some overlap.
Graduated from walker to cane-7 days. Stopped using the cane except for going out-10 days. Moved back upstairs-12 days. First shower (as opposed to sponge bath): 14? days. First mile-ish walk (probably closer to 3/4 mile, but I could have walked farther): 22 days. Last time I was walking a little walk every day and a long walk every other day or so, and hit the mile at four weeks. This time I am doing two little walks and a medium walk every day, with the medium walk getting longer all the time. That's the advantage of having a demanding little puppy (about whom more in another post).
The thing about using the walker and the cane is that at certain times they are essential, not to keep you standing, but to enable a normal gait. At the point that a normal gait is easier without them than with them, it's time to graduate. I'm in the long tail of graduating from the cane now. When I have a short distance to walk, my gait is better without the cane. When I have to go farther, my gait might deteriorate, so I take it along. Last time I only stopped using it for a couple of weeks right before the second surgery--it's hard to say, I maybe needed it still because the unoperated leg was such a mess. This time when I leave the cane behind I will be really leaving it behind, because both legs will be recovered!
The incision on my right leg is healing faster. It is also a neater, smaller scar: the left one had sort of a keloid appearance at first and it is still wider than the right one. I attribute this to a complex of things promoting better healing. One, I've been taking vitamin C longer than last time. Another is that my body has done this before and is less surprised by events than last time. Another is that with the first knee that far into recovery, there's just that much less inflammation in my body than last time.
Currently my biggest discomfort is in my ankle, where the muscles have been accomodating an abnormal angle from the leg bone for years and now they have to re-arrange themselves to accomodate a straight leg and they are not all that happy about it. The tight feeling around the knee is less than last time. Last time the skin around the knee felt like it might rip when I bent it (I knew it wouldn't), and that sensation is not there this time, though the knee is tight.
Highest measured flexion by 3 weeks(this fluctuates more than last time, but the leg was probably more damaged so I can expect some differences): 105 degrees (this is about the same as last time for right now: goal is to reach 120 degrees, which the left leg reached easily). Extension: 2? degrees (last time was zero, which is the goal).
My blood pressure started going back to normal in week 2: it's still labile but mostly in the normal range. I believe it was over a month before it began to drop last time. Insomnia and exhaustion have both been minimal: I mean I have had a few nights where I gave up and read for hours, and last time I didn't sleep normally at all till six weeks or more. And I haven't been exhausted at all: tired a lot, and sleepy a lot, but not exhausted. Those things are related, I'm sure. It's interesting that I could have a bit more pain and have better sleep and blood pressure, but not significant.
I've been losing weight steadily and in a way disconcertingly. I was worried by an eight pound drop in a couple of weeks but then I really looked at my legs and realized that they were so much more swollen before surgery than I even realized. I had just gradually gotten used to the way my legs looked, partly because there was kind of a uniform turgidity rather than puffy spots. Now I can still see isolated patches of swelling so I can expect more weight loss of that type. As of today I have lost fourteen pounds since the day of the first surgery, which if you look at it that way is not really rapid as it has been seventeen weeks.
Did I mention that Dr. Spiegel told me at the hospital that I might not need to take anti-inflammatories on a daily basis in the future? He said I could save the meloxicam for when the other messes in my body flare up, which I did not know was a way one could use meloxicam. I thought it was an all-or-nothing deal. So I'm looking forward to that possibility.
I was wanting to ride my bicycle and mostly looking forward to physical therapy as access to the stationary bike to prepare for that. The physical therapist was very stern about me not getting on a mobile bike yet and I was disappointed but I finally reasoned that of course I should wait as long to ride a bike on city streets as I do for driving, because of reaction time. Dr. Spiegel says the research is clear that reaction times return to normal at four weeks. So next week, I become wheeled!
Also I think I will go to folk dance class next week: probably not dance much, but go.
Other posts upcoming: Žluta roundup, reading roundup, reminiscences of my brother, stuff about writing in general and not-Poland in specific