Two weeks-

Well – it is two weeks now!  Can’t believe the time just passed by so fast!  That must mean I am progressing on schedule.  This week I have learned a few more things –

·    One, I hate the brace.  That’s the most discomforting thing in this whole experience. 

·    Two, nobody told me whether, at any time during the day, I could unlock the brace or not.  After two weeks, you don’t really want to have it on and locked at all times.  Someone can make money by devising a brace by not having one of the straps right on the main incision.  It has become a real pain wearing it.

·    Three, the CPM machine is a good relaxation – however, using the machine and getting to 110 degrees is not the same as flexing the knee on your own.  Believe me, it is much more difficult than laying your leg in that machine and letting it do the work. 

·    Four, the progression is not straight up – there are good days and bad days.  Got to be patient – which I have very little of.

·    Five, if you walk – you will have pain and swelling - duh! 

·    Six, I don’t have patience to sit around – even while working – and I want to walk, NOW!   

·    Seven, among other things, my wife keeps telling me that it’s only two weeks and I need to take it easy! 

·    Eight, you get used to the attention from your friends and family members during the first few days and expect it to last – two weeks later you are mostly on your own – no more attention; I actually try to grab their attention by suddenly lowering the lazyboy leg extension which squeaks and makes a thud. 

·    Nine, ice as much as you can – that’s the only soothing thing after two weeks.  BTW, have someone massage your foot while icing the knee – it really is the best feeling (since the blood flow is reduced in the foot when the leg is raised and you are icing the knee).  The list goes on…

Anyway, I call the doctor’s office to find out if I can walk with the brace unlocked.  The operator takes a message and tells me that the doctor and his crew are in surgery today and someone should get back to me the next day.  Today, the doctor’s office calls back and tells me that the doctor will be back Monday and the caller could not tell me anything.   So, I have to wait till Monday to see if I can walk ‘free’.

The week has otherwise been quite normal.  Same routine except that I started to unlock the brace and sit around a little more.  I also walked around somewhat and it does hurt after about 10mins.  Went to work for 3-4hrs/day and it is not that comfortable.  Also, massaged the area around incisions quite a bit and it still hurts around the main incision (where they drilled through).  In fact, the bone around it hurts when touched.  Here is a picture from Wednesday (8/3)-

Today (Friday 8/5), I removed the sterile strips on the wounds as they appear to crumple the skin.  Also, the wounds have healed and I figured I will ‘air’ them out a bit.  The scars are prominent and I need to somehow massage them away – but they hurt.  Here is the picture after removing these strips-

Today, I showered in the bathroom without the brace and without putting the weight on the leg.  Sat on a chair and using the hand shower took a pretty decent shower.  Last week, the physical therapist was surprised to learn that I have been showering since the first day!  The physical therapy session on Thursday went as planned.  The therapist thought I was progressing extremely well.  However, he wasn’t sure if I should do the biking yet – so, he was going to check with my doctor and find out for Monday’s session.  So, I just got stuck with some basic exercises like working on the hamstring, quads, and ROM.  However, the best part was that this guy really massaged the knee area for may be 10mins that felt so wonderful!   The weird thing is that every time I go to the therapist, it seems like everyone else is lying down/relaxing/getting massaged/etc., while I am the only one ‘working out’!  I am hoping that one day I get to relax – better yet if my insurance pays for it!

While I am writing this, for the first time in history, the US Debt has been downgraded from AAA to AA+.  Hmmm!  How the heck some stupid ratings firm gets to downgrade national debt rating.  This is one of the same firms that gave fantastic ratings to all those companies that don't exist anymore!  Can you say markets are dropping 20% next week?  Or is it already factored in.  Either way, based on the action in the markets this week, I think I did a smart thing by fixing my knee – I will need it for a very long time so I can delay my retirement.  No way I am saving enough money for retirement after taking into account all the money (401k) that is evaporating in the market.  Financial folks say if you start young you can save decent money – guess what I have less than what I put into my 401k after 18yrs of contributions!  I need my knee for a long time!  May be I will listen to my wife and just lay around the living room instead of trying to walk.