Today is June 2nd. My Total Knee Replacement Surgery was on May 2nd, so today marks one month. As you can see all of my bandages have fallen away, revealing my full incision. Linda, who is both a seamstress (recreationally) and a surgeon (professionally) says these are some of the best sutures she has ever seen. Given what happens during a TKR procedure it is amazing it looks so good. (They basically cut you vertically, pull you all apart, including sliding your kneecap off to the side, and do all the horizontal bone-cutting with the knee wide open!) I have seen many people’s photos of their incisions and this one is a work of art by most comparisons. Dr. King is very good at what he does.
So how am I doing?
Making slow progress. On the upside I am able to walk (mostly with a cane) and I have actually driven a few times (just short trips into town for errands, PT appointments, and taking the dogs to the park.) I am back to cooking our meals, which I am sure Linda is very grateful for (she is not a chef!) I made it to the gym (!) to begin working out again.
The downsides, I still have very little stamina in terms of mobility. I have to stop, sit, and run the ice & compression machine on my knee after any amount of activity. My range of motion is still very limited. I can’t straighten, nor bend my leg very far. I have increased it by maybe 10% in total after two weeks of PT. That is a bit disappointing to be honest. The knee is just VERY stiff. To illustrate, I can turn my bike pedals about 190° of the 360° rotation. When I first attempted I was a bit under 180°. My therapist tortures me twice a week pulling and bending my leg to the limits of my pain threshold, which is about as unfun as it sounds. I do exercises at home too. As soon as I can spin those pedals fully I will be riding laps around my neighborhood to begin to rebuild my leg muscles.
I mentioned going to the gym. It was shocking how much strength I lost in a month of inactivity. I only did upper body exercises, and only “push” lifts at that. The “push to failure” was easy to get to. Oh boy. Therapist says no leg work yet, so skipping leg day for now.
TLDR: I’m happy with the appearance of my incision, but not happy with my range of motion and decline in overall condition.