Okay, THIS is the final knee replacement post

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Carla Kienast, knee replacement, knee replacement surgery, rheumatoid arthritis, total knee replacement surgery

Okay, I promise this is the last word on my knee replacement. I went to the surgeon today for my final check up and everything looks good. I’m released until my one-year check up in 2014.

I have added a new page with pictures that range from the day after surgery through today. Click on the TKR Surgery Pics link above. (Not for the faint of heart.)

Thanks for checking in.

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Final Update on the Replacement Knee

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Carla Kienast, Cimzia, knee replacement, knee surgery, rheumatoid arthritis

It seems like forever since I posted. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks with a huge project dropped in my lap (I wasn’t expecting anything until next month), a trip to Washington, D. C. for business and a full day in jury duty.

I did pretty well traveling on my own to DC. The knee is healing nicely (as is the back surgery) and the Cimzia seems to be keeping the worst of the RA symptoms at bay (although this lovely rainy fall weather we’re having in Dallas is giving it a run for its money).

But, about the new knee. It’s doing quite well. I’ve gotten to point, as I have with my new hip and shoulder, that I don’t really think about it any more. True, there are times that it does bother me and it still “clunks” more than I would like (meaning there is still some swelling/inflammation floating around), and occasionally for no particular reason, it seems to seize up. But all of those things are generally short-lived and not very intense when they do happen. So overall I’m quite pleased. I actually wore some 3-inch high heels to a wedding a couple of weeks ago without real issue (but don’t tell my doctor that!).

Here’s the latest picture taken just past the three-month post surgery point. As you can see, most of the swelling is gone and the scar is looking pretty healthy. There are parts of the scar that have all but disappeared, which is a good thing.

I go see my doctor in a week or so, but unless there is something worth mentioning (which I hope there isn’t), I’m assuming that I’m on the downhill slope to total recovery and probably won’t dedicate another whole post to the knee.

I appreciate everyone’s interest and good wishes as I’ve gone through this process. Thanks for checking in.

When good people make bad decisions

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Carla Kienast, flare, knee surgery, Orencia, physical therapy, rheumatoid arthritis

Okay, let’s face it, we’ve all made bad decisions at some time or another. The fact that I’m married to my (count ’em) fourth husband is pretty much direct evidence that I have, in fact, screwed up at least three times in my life. (In case there’s any doubt, I believe I’ve “finally” made the right decision on the fourth one!)

I want to believe that most of us make those decisions with the best intentions. Unfortunately, however, intentions don’t count for a lot when the consequences come rolling around.

I finished my physical therapy sessions for my new knee last week. (It’s working pretty well, thanks for asking.) I was due to switch to fitness sessions this past Monday. The difference being that physical therapy concentrates on my knee and is paid for by insurance whereas the fitness sessions are geared to an overall workout and I get to pay for them myself.

On Monday, my therapist wasn’t well and the center contacted me to see if I wanted to cancel or reschedule with a different therapist. Since this was the first session where we were to establish the workout routine, I really didn’t want to work with a different therapist, so I opted to skip Monday and pick up on the next session scheduled for the following Wednesday. (This is not the bad decision. This decision, in fact, was pretty good.)

Tuesday I wasn’t feeling great. I was kind of achy all over — sort of like you feel when you’re getting the flu or, in my case, when you’re headed for a flare. Like a lot of us, I occasionally get a tender, swollen joint here or there. I don’t really consider that a flare. When I flare, I get the “stay in bed because it hurts all over and even turning over will bring tears to your eyes” kind of flare.

Wednesday came and I wasn’t feeling much better. If anything, I was a bit worse. However, I didn’t want to lose the momentum of going to the fitness/rehab center twice a week, so I decided to keep the fitness appointment. (That was the bad decision.)

Yep, Wednesday night and all day Thursday I flared. Not only did I have the hurt-all-over flare, throughout the night and day, I experienced severe piercing pains in various joints. It was if the RA god (if there is one) was alternately sticking an ice pick in one random joint at a time. First it was the ankle, then the shoulder, then the wrist and joints of the right hand, then somewhere else.

I’m fortunate that I don’t flare often and usually don’t flare for long. It’s Friday and I am doing better after a day in bed taking pain medication and extra NSAIDs.

But the point is, I might have avoided the whole unpleasant situation if I had just listened to my body. True, a flare might have been inevitable, but going through a whole-body workout routine for the first time no doubt contributed to it happening and to its severity.

If you have been following this blog for very long, you know that it’s peppered with advice to listen to your body and be good to yourself. I did think that working out was being good to my body, but I certainly wasn’t listening to my body.

I am a bit concerned not only that I had a flare, but that my RA drugs (Orencia and Arava) don’t seem to be “kicking in” like they should after my knee surgery. I’ve had three surgeries in the past year and each one has required that I’ve been off the drugs for about a month each time — two weeks before surgery and two weeks after. There is some discussion in the RA community that drugs don’t seem to work as well after you’ve been off of them and then start them again. I will tell you that my symptoms seem to be getting worse rather than better and this flare — the first in many months — is just icing on the cake.

My next appointment with my rheumy isn’t until sometime in November. I think I will take my own advice and see if I can’t get an earlier appointment to discuss this with her. I really don’t want to change treatment plans, but there is no sense staying on something that doesn’t appear to be helping.

In the meantime, I will try (as you should) to listen to my body and be good to myself.

Thanks for checking in.

Open access – not for everyone

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Carla Kienast, physical therapy

I was in the waiting room of one of the (many) physical therapy practices I’ve visited over the past several years when a couple came in to talk to the receptionist and set up some physical therapy visits. The couple had just moved to Texas and was apparently quite surprised to hear that they just couldn’t set up physical therapy visits (like any other healthcare provider), that a prescription is required. Apparently, many states have open access to physical therapists — which I happen to think is a great idea. A bit of further investigation (see previous link) indicates that access restrictions to physical therapists vary greatly from no restrictions (Alaska, for example) to convoluted (New Jersey to cite one).

I’m wrapping up my PT sessions associated with my knee replacement this week. I don’t believe in physical therapy just for the sake of it, but I do believe it has a valuable place in a health and wellness plan — particularly for anyone with RA. I’ve often thought that a visit with a therapist when I’ve had a specific complaint (such as hip bursitis) would be worthwhile to learn non-drug techniques to help resolve the issue. Unfortunately, in Texas, that requires a visit to a doctor to prescribe it, and it’s usually a full course of 30 days or 12 visits, and is often overkill for when you want/need something more than what a personal trainer at the gym can offer.

But what has happened is that my current physical therapy group (which is part of one of the major hospital systems here) is offering “wellness” visits. This is where you work with a therapist on wellness/fitness issues. It is not considered physical therapy and is not covered by insurance.

That being said, with three major surgeries (rotator cuff, spinal fusion, and knee replacement) within 10 months, I’ve lost a lot of strength and fitness. And trust me, I do not trust a 20-something physical trainer to understand the limitations of my three joint replacements, back surgeries, and progressive rheumatoid arthritis. However, I do trust my current physical therapist who has been working with me on my knee. So I have signed up for six weeks at twice a week to work with her. The goal is to formulate a program (both in the gym and in the pool) that will start me back on the road to wellness, helping build my strength and stamina back in a safe and sane way. It may not take the full six weeks to formulate the plan, but I figure if I stick with it for six weeks, hopefully I will continue the program after the sessions expire. I can always sign up for individual sessions when I’m ready to make a change in the future.

In researching this, I saw several sites that are striving for open access not only for Texans but across America. And while I agree that there needs to be some regulation of all medical professionals (to help avoid abuse), I am also a firm believer that important specialties like physical therapists are a valuable part of many people’s health care and should be readily accessible.

And if your state allows open access to physical therapists, you should take advantage of this opportunity when the need arises. Not all of us are so lucky.

Thanks for checking in.

More meds, fewer reservations

Tags

Carla Kienast, knee replacement, knee surgery, rheumatoid arthritis

So I saw my surgeon last week concerning my progress (or lack thereof) on getting the knee back to “normal”. As I told him, “I have confidence that one day my new knee will be as good or better as my old knee, but that day is not today.”

There are two main issues. One, the pain and swelling in the knee that continues after almost nine weeks after surgery. The second is a hyper-sensitive area that parallels the line of the internal incision along the interior side of the knee cap.

I really like my surgeon and we’ve been through a lot together. The main thing is he listens and he offers options. He may not do this for all his patients, but he and I have built a good doctor/patient relationship. He respects the fact that I want to participate in my health care plan.

He did go so far as to suggest referring me to a pain specialist that could do something with the nerves for the hyper-sensitive are, but I assured him that we aren’t there yet.

What we settled on was another Medrol pack to help calm down the inflammation, continued Mobic/meloxicam (NSAID), a nerve pain medication, and a steroid cream, as well as an NSAID gel I already have. So four more medications.

I agree wholeheartedly with this approach and it has yielded benefits in even the short time I’ve been on the new regimen. But heaven help me, I’m tired of taking even more medications.

I don’t know about others, but my RA doesn’t exist in a vacuum. With also having high blood pressure and high cholesterol and Sjogren’s and Reynaud’s and just being female, I take 10 prescription medicines (some of them multiple times a day) without adding these new medications. In addition, I take a handful of supplements and vitamins. I have the extra-economy size pill holders — one for the morning and one for the evening.

The good news (besides the fact the new meds are working) is that they are temporary. Once I get back on track with the knee, hopefully I can subtract those from my daily intake.

But even with the positive progress I’ve made, we’ve decided to cancel the trip to London. There’s a lot of walking to be done in London — most of it involving stairs, some involving cobblestone streets, nearly all of it without the advantages we enjoy in the States via ADA. I don’t want to go and not be able to enjoy the trip. There are a lot of other good reasons for cancelling and it comes down to the fact it’s the right decision to cancel. But it’s sad. We made the flight reservations almost a year ago so I’ve spent a lot of time looking forward to the trip. 😦

So progress continues on the knee. RA has generally, thankfully been quiet during all this time, which is always a good thing.

I hope whatever comes into your life today is also a good thing. Thanks for checking in.

Updates

Tags

Carla Kienast, knee surgery, rheumatoid arthritis

An email from my brother gently reminded me that I hadn’t posted in a while. I’ve been writing what I hope will be an interesting post, but I’ve been doing it in my head and since it hasn’t made it to real publication, I guess I can’t count it. And since I haven’t worked out the kinks on the “interesting” post, I thought I would provide an update which will, at least, appease my brother.

The question is, “If it’s not good news, does that make it bad news?”

I feel like progress on my knee has stalled. I seem to have reached a plateau in flexibility and pain. Tomorrow is eight weeks since surgery and I’m nowhere close to where I thought I would be.

I have made significant progress since the surgery, obviously, as I am able to get around without walkers or canes and generally get up and down from a sitting position. But bending my knee past 100 degrees is still very painful. And while I can walk on it, I can’t walk long or far without considerable pain. It also “clunks”. And it swells and gets extremely sensitive to touch. The swelling will be there for several more months, but I am hopeful that the pain and sensitivity go away soon.

Last week I went to Las Vegas with my husband who attended a conference there. I did very little except lay around the pool and read. However, our last evening there we were at the Shops at Caesars and decided to walk back to our hotel room at the Vdara, stopping in at the Bellagio to see what they’d done with their atrium display. A straight walk from point A to point B would be about 20 minutes. The distance is about 3-4 blocks. (Caesar’s sits on one block, Bellagio occupies the next block south, across the street from Cosmopolitan, which sits in front of Vdara.)

I was in so much pain by the time we got back to the hotel that I was almost in tears. I couldn’t get stretched out with an ice pack quickly enough.

The really bad news of all this is that we’re supposed to go to London next week (a trip we scheduled last October) and I don’t think I can make it. We’re probably going to cancel.

I have a physical therapy appointment today (Monday) and Wednesday and a doctor’s visit Wednesday afternoon. I’m going to talk to the therapist and also my doctor to get their opinion on the trip. It may be that the doctor can prescribe steroids or some other miracle cure to get me on my feet. If not, the trip will have to be postponed.

So the news isn’t the best it could be, but it’s also not terrible. We’ll see what this week brings.

And I hope your week brings a multitude of smiles to you and yours. Thanks for checking in.

Q that!

Tags

arthritis, Carla Kienast, cholesterol, hip replacement surgery, knee surgery, Lipitor, Q wave, R wave, rheumatoid arthritis, statins

Good news.

I saw my cardiologist (who has a much more robust/sophisticated EKG machine than my internist), and there is no Q wave on my EKG. We actually spent most of the visit on other topics (below) and I finally asked specifically about the Q wave report. He said there is no Q wave on the EKG. There is a “slow progression on the R wave, but no Q wave.” He was not concerned with the EKG.

I wasn’t concerned either until I got home and looked up what a slow progression on the R wave meant. There are a couple of common causes for this. The first is a myocardial infarction of the back of the heart (i.e., heart attack affecting the back of the heart). So I immediately panicked and felt like I was right back where I started from. The second concerns large-breasted women (check that box) because it’s difficult to get the leads placed correctly.

I finally calmed down and decided that I was seeing one of the best cardiologists around (he did the recent stent in ex-President George W. Bush’s heart and they try not to let bozos work on ex-Presidents). He’s also my husband’s cardiologist and so I know how conservative he is, having had him in our medical “family” for more than four years. If he didn’t think the situation warranted further tests or exploration, then I was going to trust him. And even though I’m an extremely skeptical and active participant in my health care, sometimes trusting the experts is the right thing.

He was seriously up in arms about my cholesterol levels (as mentioned in my earlier posts). My cholesterol has been over 200 since April 2010 and has sky rocketed this past six months, closing in on 300. (Yikes!) He looked at my (extensive) medication list and ask me where my statin prescription was and I explained that my PCP hadn’t prescribed one. To which he replied, “I will take care of that. We will not have you dying of a heart attack or stroke.”

I actually thought it was strange that my husband’s cholesterol has been in a healthy 100 to 150 range for several years while we eat basically the same diet (although mine’s probably a bit healthier). Then it was one of those “duh!” moments when I realized that, of course, he is on a statin which helps control the situation.

Being on a statin (and taking yet another prescription medication) was the last thing I wanted. For someone with RA taking a drug with potential side effects of muscle and body aches is not something that’s appealing. But diet and exercise have not reversed the trend and dying of a preventable condition is not acceptable.

So now I’m on generic Lipitor. I go in for lab work in a couple of months with the expectation that my cholesterol levels will be dramatically improved.

In other news, I’m continuing on with physical therapy for my new knee. It’s a slow, painful process. My knee still isn’t bending much over 100 degrees (it takes about 125 degrees to effectively get up from a sitting position). But no one said it was going to be easy. Some days are better than others. But when I look back five weeks to my condition right after surgery, I can see that I have made significant progress, so I have faith that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope that what ever is at the end of your tunnel brings a smile. Thanks for checking in.

 

 

More doctor updates

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Arava, arthritis, Carla Kienast, cholesterol, knee surgery, Medical, replacement surgery, rheumatoid arthritis

I think we should just rename “August” to “Doctor” to commemorate all the doctors’ appointments I seem to have accumulated this month. I have appointments with five doctors (plus another the first week of September), lab work, at least one X-Ray, seven physical therapy appointments, and a “drop-by” to drop off a form to get some medical records transferred. And that’s if none of the doctors schedule any additional tests (which I am expecting). As a good friend quipped recently, it’s hard to throw a dart at a calendar without running into one medical appointment or another.

But I’ve made it through three important check ups with generally good results.

I saw my back surgeon for my second follow-up and things are looking good. My spine is showing new bone growth where it’s been fused (which is a good thing). I am now officially cleared to lift 25 pounds (up from 15) and in October that increases to 50 pounds. I don’t think I can lift anything more than 50 pounds anyway, so I don’t know that I really care about what comes “next.” I am supposed to continue using my bone growth stimulator — mainly as I was so bad about using it the last month I was supposed to. With being in Washington, DC for two weeks for work followed immediately by knee surgery, using the device was pretty much on the bottom of my list.

As reported in my previous post, I saw my knee surgeon for a follow-up and now have my physical therapy sessions scheduled — the first session starting the day after tomorrow. I have them about three times a week which, if nothing else, will get me up and out of the house on a regular basis. That has to help with the stamina issue. I have alternating therapy in the pool and in the gym, which I think is a good schedule that gets some “hands-on” therapy in the gym but also provides some therapy in the pool which will help protect my healing back and all my RA-affected joints. I don’t feel like I am progressing as quickly as I should and am hopeful that being back with a therapist will help me get back on track.

Finally, I saw my rheumatologist yesterday. Like Andrew and Pollyanna Penguin, my cholesterol levels have been escalating. Even though my HDL/LDL ratio is still holding, my total cholesterol and my “bad” cholesterol are way out of control. I haven’t changed my eating habits and my weight has been stable. My cholesterol jumped 60 points in three months — fairly consistent with when I increased to 20 mg of Arava from 10 mg. (You would expect to see a parallel jump in my weight with that kind of increase, but that hasn’t happened.) So I charted all this out and took it with me to the appointment. My rheumatologist discounted my Orencia or Arava causing the increase in cholesterol and instead cited several reasons why this “blip” might be an anomaly — many of them related to my recent surgeries and resulting decrease in physical activities. She didn’t really comment on the potential link between RA and metabolic syndrome — which could lead to these results. However, I am also scheduled to see my PCP and my cardiologist in the near future (more on this in a future post), so I will continue the discussion with them. My cholesterol is hovering close to 300 (100 points above where it should be) and with a history of heart disease on both sides of my family, I need to figure out what is going on. I have taken a hard look at my diet and made some immediate changes and the scheduled PT will help make me more active. However, I can’t help but feel that something else is contributing to the issue.

I fully subscribe to being an active participant in my health care and think it is incumbent upon me to help manage the content of my doctors appointments — making sure that we discuss things are important and getting answers to issues that concern me. Doctor’s memories are just as good as their notes and sometimes those aren’t very good even if they take time to review previous appointment discussions. Sometimes the patient needs to remind the doctor that, “Last time we spoke about X and if it didn’t improve, we would discuss Y.”

But I will tell you that with this many doctors’ appointments in a row, I sometimes feel like I’m herding cats!

I will continue to update you with progress with the doctors, although sometimes you have to wonder about spending so much time and money just to have someone tell you that you’re doing fine. 🙂 I appreciate you checking in.

 

Surgery +3 Weeks

Tags

Carla Kienast, knee surgery, rheumatoid arthritis, total knee replacement

Before I catch you up on the health news, please let me just say that I’m feeling exceptionally privileged. This blog has been selected again for Healthline’s Top 20 RA blogs. I often feel a lot like Groucho Marx who quipped, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.” But in this case, I somehow made it among the ranks of many who I feel represent the best of the best of RA bloggers. It’s certainly worth your time to visit the terrific group of bloggers who made the list. Thank you, Healthline, for the honor and for all the great information you provide.

So today was a follow-up with my knee surgeon. His normal schedule is a follow-up appointment at 30 days. Because of the excessive swelling I had, I saw him one week after the surgery and now again two weeks later.

I’ve always recovered well from surgery and felt like I was doing okay this time. I’m not quite where I’d like to be, but I put that down to being impatient. The doctor says I’m behind what’s considered normal, but I’m pretty much on track for a patient with rheumatoid arthritis. There’s still some swelling in the knee. I have good extension, but I’m only just past 90 degrees on flexing my knee. You need to be at about 125 degrees to get up and down out of a chair or out of a car comfortably, so I still have quite a bit of room for improvement. He prescribed some additional physical therapy, which will be outpatient (I go there) instead of home health (where the therapist came to see me). There’s a facility that I really like that has a therapy pool so I will go back there. The therapist also works with you the entire time of your appointment instead of some places I’ve been where they just sit you on an exercise machine and tell you how many reps to do then leave to go do something else.

Tomorrow I’m driving for the first time. I have a final check up with my back surgeon and my husband is not able to take me. I am much less nervous about driving than my husband is. Honestly I think I’ll be fine with the mechanics of operating a car (even in Dallas traffic). If I have any concerns at all, it’s that I still get quite tired with just a bit of exertion. Spending 2-3 hours getting dressed in “big girl clothes”, driving across town, getting an X-ray, then sitting around a doctor’s office will no doubt tucker me out. His office is close by the physical therapy facility so I had also planned on stopping by there after my doctor’s appointment to get my sessions set up.

And when I think about my knee recovery, I have to remember that I am still recovering from the back surgery I had just a few months ago. I’ve probably overtaxed my “recovery genes” to the point that I’m probably not as able to bounce back as quickly as I’d like.

I think the only other news is that I was surprised a couple of days ago when the medical equipment rental company called to tell me they were picking up my continuous passive motion (CPM) machine and ice system. Apparently the insurance company will only pay for three weeks of use. I was using the CPM four hours a day. Now I need to find some active exercise to replace what I’ll be missing. I did go ahead and bite the bullet for the ice system (although I found the exact same one on Overstock.com for $80 less ….).

I was feeling pretty abandoned because the day they took the CPM was also the last day of my home health physical therapy visits. So I guess it’s good that I have additional physical therapy ordered to help keep me on track.

Pain levels are good and I am walking around the house without a cane or other assistance so I am making progress. I started back on my Arava last week and had my first Orencia injection a few days ago, so that should help me feel better overall as well. Now it’s just a matter of time and work to get back to 100%.

I think that’s something to think about and a topic I thought about doing an entire post on. If you have other kinds of surgery — say you have your gall bladder or your tonsils out — you have the surgery then you kind of lay around and take it easy until you feel better. When you have a joint replaced, the surgery is the easy part. The real work starts after surgery because you have several weeks of dedicated exercise to make sure that you get the full benefit of the joint replacement. It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to have the surgery if you’re not willing to put in the work afterward.

So I’m doing well (at least for a Class-B RA patient …). I’m ready to be up and about and that counts for a lot.

Again, I appreciate the well wishes and warm thoughts. Thanks for checking in.

 

Two weeks after surgery

Tags

Carla Kienast, continuous passive motion machine, rheumatoid arthritis, total knee replacement

Okay, so it’s been more than two weeks after surgery (barely). But I did come home from the hospital two weeks ago yesterday, so the headline is (almost) true. By the way, I’ve posted some pictures of my knee below. They’re not terribly graphic, but I wanted you to be forewarned.

I’ve got to admit that I’ve spent most of those two weeks in bed. A lot of it is just recovering. Part of it is because I spend four hours a day in a passive motion machine and another hour in physical therapy, so the rest of the day, I’m just plain old tuckered out.

The surgery went very well. There were some adventures in the hospital stay that I won’t go into now, but if I must have surgery again (which I’m not planning), I may have it somewhere else. This was my third surgery at the surgical center and while I like the center for many reasons, I do have some issues with the quality of their nursing care. We’ll see. Right now, I’m resigning from all future surgeries. I’ve had more than my fill.

There hasn’t been a lot of pain. During surgery, they put some long-lasting anesthetic directly in the knee. It lasts 3-4 days, enough that by the time it wears off, the initial surgical pain has subsided.

They got me up and walking on my new knee within hours of surgery. I was still hung over from anesthesia and I was not a happy camper but the only way to get them to go away was to get up and walk, so I did. But I did great after the anesthesia wore off. I was up walking around the hallways and counting the hours until I could go home. If they would have let me go home after the first night, I would have, but they do need to keep an eye on you.

Honestly the worst part of the entire surgical/hospital experience was trying to find a vein for either the IV (which ended up in my left hand) or to draw blood. One morning at three o’clock I had five nurses (and a vein finder) trying to draw blood. They stuck me four times before they could draw it. What a mess.

I think I’ve been pretty much on or ahead of the recovery track at home. My surgeon thought I’d be using a walker for the first two weeks before graduating to a cane. I was using a cane by the end of the first week and the last few days haven’t used any assistive devices around the house. I do take my cane when I go out (which has been very infrequent).

I had a major issue with swelling the first week after I got home. My knee was swollen to the point that I could barely bend my knee which made the exercise machine and the PT pretty futile. I went back to the doctor who prescribed a Medrol pack and antibiotics and it made an amazing difference.

My knee still doesn’t want to bend all the way which is an issue for a lot of activities. It’s difficult for me to sit very long at a table for dinner. My knee gets very stiff and then it doesn’t want to “unbend”. I’ve only tried going out for dinner one time to ease the cabin fever, although I think we’re going out again this evening. It’s more a break for my poor husband who has been chief cook and caretaker for the last couple of weeks. I’d like to go to a movie, but I’m not sure I can sit 2.5 hours in a theater. Plus the thought of someone stumbling over my feet as they go to their seats is fairly frightening.

There is a lot of numbness in the front of my knee. It almost feels like I have on a knee pad or something. I’m sure this will diminish as time goes on. (I hope.) And occasionally my knee “clicks”. And every so often it feels like it hyperextends which causes me a bit of balance loss. But overall, we’re getting acquainted and I have great faith that I’ll be feeling normal in a short period of time.

My goal is to be driving at least short distances next week. I have a couple of doctor’s appointments (follow-up on my knee as well as my previous back surgery). My husband is going to take me to the knee doctor, but I’m on my own for the back surgeon. Fortunately, I live fairly close to the medical center and I’m there so often that my car can almost drive itself there on auto-pilot.

Pain in general has been minimal, although it’s worse when I use the knee a lot (like for PT). I have long-acting and short-acting pain relievers. I’ve never been one to take much and finally yesterday, I made it through the day with just some Tylenol. Getting off narcotics is a big step in the healing process, so I feel I’ve made a major accomplishment.

I guess my main issue is still stamina. It takes about all the energy I have just to get up, get showered, and get dressed. That will improve, I’m sure. I just need to start spending more time out of the bed than in it. I’m going to be spending some time out of the house each day next week, so that will somewhat force the issue.

So I’ve got two more PT appointments (one today and one Monday). I have another week and a half of the dreaded TED hose and the continuous passive motion machine. After that we’ll see what the plan is. At some point I have to think about going back to work, but I’m certainly not ready yet.

The scar isn’t going to be bad. Below are a couple of pictures. One right after I came home from the hospital and one from yesterday after all the steri-strips came off. The knee(s) look especially gnarly because I have to wear TED hose and an Ace bandage on my operated knee, which leave marks on my skin.

So overall, I’m doing pretty well. Wish it were two weeks from now and I had more stamina and mobility, but I’m getting there. I appreciate all the healing thoughts and well wishes the last few weeks. Thanks for checking in.

Knees shortly after return from hospital

Knee after two weeks and sans steri-strips.