Week 10 and a New Beginning!

Yesterday marked 10 weeks since surgery.  On December 14th I started driving again (at 7 weeks post-op), On December 20th I started walking around longer distances with no crutches at all, and now on January 3rd I can around without crutches (with a bit of a limp, mind you) with relative ease.

From December 1st to December 29th (4 weeks) I gained 35° range of motion.  For those of you wondering how, that happened to coincide with my surgeon allowing full range of motion past the recommended 90° for the first 6 weeks post-op.  Thanks, Doc!

As far as how my knee is healing, things are coming along great.  I lost the last bit of scab on the main incision on Christmas day, and immediately started manipulating the area to break down as much of the build up of scar tissue as I'm able to without hurting myself.  The swelling in the majority of my leg is vastly reduced if not gone altogether really.  The only bit of swelling I have left is some above my knee cap (where the fluids tend to collect naturally just from moving around and using my leg), and a bit behind my knee cap.  The swelling wouldn't normally bother me at all except that it does prevent me from being able to bend my leg in very far.

Physiotherapy has been amazing, and I'm very pleased with the progress I've been making.  Currently I have a very effective set of exercises and stretches I do to help improve the muscle strength in my quad, hamstring, calf and hip areas.  I also augment my PT sessions with regular to semi-regular stretches at home with a tension band wedged into a door.

I won't bore you with the details of what exercises I am currently doing, but suffice to say the results speak for themselves.

I'm also happy to announce that yesterday I signed up at LA Fitness.  Their facilities are very big, very open, and very clean.  I'm looking forward to finally getting my fitness level back where it was before all this mess so I can get back on my bike/rollerblades/etc.

As far as everything else is concerned, now that I'm past the hardest part of this recovery, it's mostly just a matter of getting my routine back and my body back.  It's been a stressful 10 weeks, and there's been a lot of pain, tears, frustration and anxiety about the whole process.  But in the end and even from where I sit now, it's all been well worth it.  I'm very thankful for all the support and encouragement from my friends and family who really stepped up to the plate for me when I needed them.

It's all downhill from here!