Taking a Knee

My partial knee replacement was done on June 1, last year.  Only wanting to have the inner side of the knee removed, I was surprised to find I had the scar down the middle once I woke up.  The orthopedist told me he did it that way in case he got in and realized I needed a full replacement.  I stayed in the hospital over night and really wished I'd stayed at least another day.  The first 24 hours I was home were excruciating.

I started in on PT almost immediately.  It took about a week and a half for the butterfly bandages to fall off.  Getting movement was tough.  Doing the PT with the staples in was pretty horrible too.  Because of the way the days of the week fell, I had the staples in for over two weeks.  I was dreading the removal, but that wasn't too bad.  What a relief to have them out!

 I went back to work at 3.5 weeks, although I could have stayed out for 8.  I wish I had.  Going back to work and managing PT was really hard.  I used an exercise ball to elevate my knee for icing throughout the day.  A woman in my office who is quite a bit younger than I had her knee replaced and was out for three months.  With too much work and guilt over having others carry my client load, I felt I had to go back to show I was serious about my job.  PT continued for just about 8 weeks and I worked really hard on healing the scar with oil and manipulation.  This is how it looked at about three months out.

This is how my knee looks today.  At six months I was supposed to go back for a follow up -- which would have been in February.  Having dropped my health insurance that month and knowing that it takes a bit of time for new enrollments to be fully functional, I cancelled the appointment.  Truthfully, I was not looking forward to going back.  The joint was painful -- most of the time, I was lame when I first stood and had to keep a cane by the bed for getting out of bed.  Once walking, it got better.  It was depressing that the outer part of my knee and the tendons/ligaments on that side were very tender and painful.  I was very worried and afraid to actually get examined.

My follow up is on April 2nd and now I am feeling better.  Having left my full time job, all the over-time and sedentary hours spent at my desk have been replaced with daily walks, more time for exercise and stretching, plus a better focus on my diet, I have managed to lose ten pounds.  I still have twenty to go to hit my goal, but just dropping ten has made a huge difference.

There are times when I wish I didn't get the surgery.  For one thing, I have small bones and even the smallest artificial joint was a little bit big.  Secondly, we never discovered the true source of my pain until my knee was taken apart and it was discovered that the cause was a hairline fracture in the middle of the head of my femur. My first treatment approach was physical therapy, which just made it worse -- now I know why.  Had I known there was a fracture, I could have just not put any weight on it and roughed it out with crutches and brace for a longer period of time.  Well, that is water under the bridge.

My main concern now is to keep losing weight and stay active and flexible.  In the past month I have gotten so much more movement and stability, and I've been able to stop the Celebrex I was taking.  I had moved over to an herbal supplement, and now I am not using that either.   Who knows how much pain I would still be in and what an impediment to my progress working long hours were -- but I am glad I had changed my job to get more time to work this out.