It has been a packed week — I finished my last physical therapy appointment and got released by my orthopedist. The doc said that by Christmas, I should catch myself doing things that I didn’t realize I could do (bending and putting weight on it in the course of my day), and by Easter, I ought to feel like-new.

I hope he’s right, because I was thinking earlier today about taking the boys roller skating one weekend, but there’s no way I’d get out there just yet! Just the thought of falling down makes me a little nervous of getting back out on skates ever, but maybe the doc is right and there will be a day – relatively soon – when I don’t feel timid on my knee anymore at all.

I did walk down a flight of stairs without holding the handrail this week, but I was hovering my hand close to the bar, just in case! I guess it’s more intimidating going down because if you fall going up, there’s something to grab hold of before you face-plant. O.o

Week 6 post-op! P.S. Are those not the cutest pajama shorts you’ve ever seen? 😉

Since it was my last appointment, the physical therapist took some measurements to compare with my first visit. At that time (about 1.5 weeks post-op), I could bend my knee 97 degrees. (Lying on a flat surface & pulling my feet toward my booty as far as I could, unaided.) She was pleased and said that beyond 90 degrees was really good, at that point. The baseline of my “good” knee was 139 degrees.

Well, today, I made it to 136 degrees with my surgery knee! I’m happy about that. It isn’t comfortable to hold it that tightly scrunched for very long at all, but I’m glad that I was able to bend it that far (without pulling on it with my hands or a strap for assistance).

I still have some swelling, as you can see, but they both said that it will go down, eventually. The scars don’t look too bad, either. They’ll fade, over time. I’m trying to make it to the Y twice a week before work, even if it’s just to ride the recumbent bike for 10 min. Tonight, I demonstrated a couple of my at-home exercises/stretches to my eldest two, and they were sympathetic to the difficulty level. 🙂 That made me feel better! I think that having them do the exercises with me will a) remind me to do them! and b) be fun to do together.