Eight weeks ago today I had my knee replacement. When you do this with Kaiser, they send a physical therapist to your house the day after surgery to start you on the painful process of PT. Part of the big thing, as I have reported in the past, is the measuring of the bend of your knee.
The day after surgery, the angle for me was 90 degrees. By the time the PT guy signed off and sent me to Kaiser PT department, I was up to 110. Weeks went by (well, three weeks) and I got to 120 and was very happy. Last week, however, I fell back to 115. Sadness. Especially since I thought I was working it hard because it hurt. A lot.
But the PT guy showed me a couple of "leaning in" exercises and today, lo and behold, the bend measured 125 degrees! That's as high as they expect, that is what they consider "full range of motion." This was supposed to be my last Kaiser PT session, and with that sort of number on my chart they were happy to let me go.
All this is to say that the knee is getting better. Getting up from a sitting position still is painful and it takes about 5 seconds of moving it to make me trust it. It still hurts at night but I no longer think I will pop open the scar tissue if I bend it dramatically. I can now stand up and put on underwear and my jeans, instead of sitting on the bed and pulling them up like a friggin old person. I can crank up the resistance level on the bike at the gym and stay on it for more than ten minutes. Any hurt I feel is normal for a knee that was cut open, bones cut out, sanded down and fake, shiny knee parts screwed into those poor bones.
It's all good. I am so happy I had it done. According to friends, one day you realize "hey, the pain is gone" and that's the point I am aiming for now.
Thanks for listening. If you have good knees, be happy and grateful. Love your knees.
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