Apart from mourning my colleague’s demise and attending his funeral on Saturday, Days 19 to 24 (Tuesday to Sunday) have been rehab and more rehab. I got a phone call from the Physician’s Assistant (PA) on Wednesday and I got clarification on a) continuing to wear the brace and b) walking & driving. She said different patients have different recovery times. However, the quads and thigh muscles should be strong prior to my removing the brace and walking/driving.
Brace:
The PA said that the brace could be unlocked while walking and taken out when sleeping – yaaahooooo! I have been complaining all this while and getting rid of the brace has been heavenly. This has been the biggest boon post-op. The brace is out! I slept the best on Friday night – no disturbance and just slept through. I now keep two pillows on either side and whenever I turn to a side I use a pillow in between my legs for support.
Until Friday and only when I went out during the day, I wore the brace and then took it out completely. Right now, when I go out, I am using one of those small braces that I used to wear playing racquetball. Walking around the house but have some clicking going on in the back of the knee - not sure if it is due to not using the knee for about three weeks or if there is a problem. Will find out at the next doctor’s visit.
Walking/Driving:
The PA also said that I can remove the brace and walk and potentially drive if I could do 20 leg lifts (I can do 40 and more) – another yaaahoooooo! Essentially I got an ok from the PA to test this out. But, there is only one problem – my wife! I don’t mean my wife is a problem but I mean my wife will not allow me to drive until my next doctor’s visit. Somehow, I convinced her that I will try driving when she is next to me to which she reluctantly agreed by bringing in a lot of emotions – but, like any other man I got tuned out as soon as the emotions reached me. So, over the last few days, I was able to drive a little bit and did not find any problems or any discomfort. BTW, I drive a stick-shift and wife has not given me permission to drive my car yet! Looks like I have to wait for my doc’s visit for that!
Swelling:
Swelling has gone down substantially – see the picture below. However, it is still there and it increases with exercise and walking. I am told it will take a good couple of months before the swelling subsides completely. The weirdish pain (which I don’t consider pain at all) from swelling is somewhat discomforting.
Bruises/Scar Tissue:
I have started working on the bruises, clots, and the scar tissue. In addition to having my wife massage my knee area twice a day, I also rub on the incisions quite a bit to get rid of the scar tissue. It is somewhat painful but that was to be expected. The massages have definitely helped me get rid of the clots and bruises. Even though the visual signs have disappeared, the areas are still somewhat sore.
Moving forward:
One thing I found out from researching and reading papers online is that the graft takes 6-8weeks to heal into the bone. As such, this timeframe is quite critical and the graft may fail if neglected. Though it may appear that the knee has healed well within the first four or so weeks (in my case, I am feeling like I am good to go in about three weeks), however, the graft doesn’t heal into the bone yet. Not being a doctor, I intend to continue my rehab while trying to limit my activities for about eight weeks. This will have to be a conscious act as I feel I am good to go. So, I have to do things against my instinct for my long term benefit.
In summary, during this period, I was able to – increase biking on the stationary bike from 10 to 15mins; increase ROM – after about 30mins flexing, I can almost bring my heel to touch my thigh; walk quite a bit in the house without the brace; sleep without the brace. I have become more and more comfortable around the house and I need to stop myself from overdoing things as that seems to be the biggest problem. May be I should let my wife work on my emotions (after almost 16yrs, good luck with that) so I don’t injure myself!
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