Day One Hunded-Six

Does he look nervous to you?

Even this bothers me.

Just wanted to let you know that 'Kathy's New Knee' is still kickin' and that was recently thrust into the roll of caregiver Thursday when Vince had a cheilectomy*.  So now he's on the (my) couch and (my) crutches while I'm doing relatively everything else.  The old switcheroo. 

Up until his surgery I was under no pressure to stop thinking I needed to be convalescing and while I'm careful to not appear completely independent and healed, I realize that I'm getting around pretty well.  Seems I was forced into turning the corner and didn't even know it.

*******

I don't know how this is supposed to work.  Like tonight, I wanted to ice my knees and my gel ice packs were melted because 'you know who' had used them and not put them back in the freezer (or maybe I'm supposed to do that).  Anyway.  

and for the record...I was (am) a much better/easier patient than him.

*he was awake and talking through the whole surgery...that's where were different.

Vince took my spot.

Day Niney-Seven

A flat one hour ride on the Northampton bike path with no one chasing or recognizing me was a perfect prelude to sitting in the car for 4 1/2 hours with a bag of frozen pearl onions on my right knee.  I can't say that the any of the pain I am still experiencing is excruciating but my level of discomfort is very high.  Especially the right knee,* lower back and hips (I've read the back and hip pain is not completely uncommon after total knee replacements and I'm not complaining, just informing).   

No one is scolding me for not doing my PT stretches today but still I feel lazy and guilty.  I'm such a burden to myself. 

I'm thinking I'll take some time off from the right knee flexion stretching even though all the books tell me it's that would be a bad idea.  How can that 'discomfort' (I get sick of the work 'pain') be good when it is almost intolerable?

Suffered through a 15 minute walk, each way, for coffee with Vince and our niece Olivia.  If walking hadn't been the pragmatic way to the coffee shop, driving would have had my vote...which also makes me feel lazy and guilty.  I used to love walking everywhere but now I dread it* and can't imagine doing it for fun.  Discomfort from the first step.  Achy not sharp.  Difficult (impossible?) to ignore.  Feels like normal lingering discomfort that will gradually disappear but right now it's frustrating.

Some days I'm thrilled with my progress and other days the same progress just pisses me off.

*I like that the act of walking is possible for me but even on days when it may sound like I enjoy it, the enjoyment is combined with dread and hate.

Day Ninety-Six

Did a nostalgic 20 mile ride today that felt hillier than I remember.

It would be so easy to accidentally forget to do the flexion exercises on the right knee.

Day Ninety-Five

I was riding faster than I wanted to knowing Vince would be turning off the bike path in a couple miles to head for the hills leaving me to ride any old pace I wanted.  He turned off and about the time I caught my breath I heard someone behind me.  A woman with an IPOD and cleavage that I wasn't going to let pass me was riding my exact 'faster than I wanted to ride' speed.  I didn't stop when I got to Maple Street, timing my crossing so I knew she'd have to stop...but the daredevil didn't stop either.  Breathing hard enough to hear myself, I sneaked a peek behind me at the top of the two mile rise past Amherst College.  I didn't see her but you never know, she could be just out of site, so even though I slowed a little I still had to go faster than I wanted.  I'd never forgive myself if she suddenly showed up right around the corner behind me.  I got to the end and decided she must have turned off somewhere.  Now I could lollygag.  Just then, leaning around the corner on a 16 pound racing bike, was someone I recognized.  I made a quick calculation.  Acquaintances more than friends, it had been so long since we'd seen each other that pretending I didn't recognize him was perfectly believable.  Then, "Kathy?"  "Oh Hi."  A minute later I was trying to remember his name as we were rode side by side.  When he didn't turn off where I knew his house was I figured he planned on riding with me, faster than I wanted, all the way to the end...and then he turned...two seconds before Vince rode up behind me in a big gear.

Walked with Vince and Max at Bear Swamp.  My downhills were pathetic.

Did 2 sets of stretching exercises, taking it easy on the right flexion stretches since it still feels a little too much like cut glass.

Day Ninety-Four

Time for a picture.  Max surprised me when he jumped up on my 3 1/2 foot high convalescing bed for protection while I was doing PT during a thunderstorm.

Rode 2 hours from the house today with some hills and lots of good smells.

Now my right knee hurts way more than my left.  Can't tell if it's actually more painful than ever (which would be bad) or it just seems that way and it's really a little better (which would be good) but I can't tell because the knee I was comparing it to (left) got a cortisone shot and messed up my whole measuring system.

Got out of the car after sitting 2 1/2 hours and noticed that it took less than the 15 minutes it used to take for my strides to consistently measure more than 6 inches.

Day Ninety-Three

 Not quite midnight. 
Just got around to doing a set of stretches so I don't have to live with having missed a day.  Vince got up from a deep sleep to help me with my flexion.


Another new record.
Rode 44 miles on the Missisquoi Valley rail trail.  Flat and unpaved.  The north half is incredibly beautiful.  Was a little nervous about that distance and was happy to get back to the car but more because 4 hours was long enough to be on my bike (slow...but we did stop a few times. And it was unpaved.  And we were on mountain bikes) than that my knees hurt.  They did hurt but it was understandable and tolerable.  I feel like strength and fitness hurdle is just as high as the knee recovery hurdle.


New pain.
You know the sharp pain on the lower inside of my left knee?  Misery loves company and now I have it the same place on my right knee.  Huber says it's nerves damaged during surgery, common and may or may not heal completely.

Day Ninety-Two

Vinny the therapist had me balancing on one leg for most today's session.  Standing on one leg holding a ball and moving it in all directions, standing on one leg with my eyes closed, standing on one leg balancing on the flat side of something that looks like a ball cut in half, etc.  When I compare myself to the other balancers at the clinic...mostly overweight 80 year olds with new hips and knees...I feel like I can balance pretty well.

Vinny's plan was to torture me with flexion pushes and pulls but since I was still suffering from the last time we did that, we balanced.

Weighed myself before I left and it looks like I may have gained 3 pounds.

Twenty-three miles on the Stowe Bike Path (75 degrees and sunny) followed by coffee made for an almost perfect day.

Day Ninety-One

Yesterday's record flexion (127) was about 110 when I tried to turn the pedals today.  It didn't take long to loosen up but I'm not going to be blowing off my flexion exercises again for a while. 

Today's pain level was the highest it's been in a month but after the 127 triumph, what could I expect?  It was uncomfortable but pretty normal feeling.  In the safe, acceptable 'no pain, no gain' range.

Rode 2 hours on the Stowe Bike path and walked Max on the ski trails.  Iced and applied some Voltaren (topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) hoping I could tolerate Vince's flexion torture.  Barely.

Checked out the fitness room at the Center and guess what I found?  A leg press. 

Day Ninety

Day ninety?  How did that happen?

Had therapy with Vinny this morning.  First visit after the cortisone shot and it was brutal.  For starters, he worked on the right knee's flexion.  Because I don't know how to describe my discomfort during his manipulation, I'll exaggerate and say I almost fainted*.

Once I regained consciousness, with a record flexion reading of 127, he scooted me through a long list of take-home strength exercises and told me to do them every other day.  Every other day sounded good.

Stretching though?  2-3x/day.  Mostly that's OK.  Good in fact.  Except for the flexion stuff.  Vince, the husband, was supposed to 'do' my knees tonight but I wouldn't let him near them.  They're (especially the right) still screaming from Vinny and even though I'll always do the hard thing if I know I really should, I just couldn't.  Without tonight's session I'm going to loose some of this morning's hard-earned benefit but worse things have happened.

If I could have anything I wanted I would get a leg press.  And if you had a choice of 1) leaning up against a hard wall doing way fewer squats than you thought you'd done or 2) getting the same benefit laying on a padded bench with a padded headrest pushing a padded panel back and forth with your legs, you would too.  30 reps-both legs; 30 reps-left leg; 30 reps-right leg**, then again.  I could have laid there all morning.

Lost track of how many lengths (with the 127, that's two records today) of the Stowe Bike Path I did this afternoon when I ran into Allison and Kestral and rode with them. 

*sounds wrong but it's supposed to feel like that
**The leg press is a good measure for 'equal' and I was astonished at how much weaker my right leg was than my left.  Historically, my right leg had always been stronger but having been off it with crutches the 5 months before surgery evidently did more than I realized.

Day Eighty-Nine

I was thinking of cutting back on the daily progress reports here but then figured if you were getting sick of reading...you would stop.

Brought our passports and rode 2 hours from Newport VT and into Canada.  Flat and windy.  Knees were good but I was tired.  Thinking I might take tomorrow off from riding but, realistically, I probably won't

Walked Max down the road by myself!

I'll get measured tomorrow so I'll know for sure, but I feel like the flexion on the right is even better than it was yesterday.

Some pain tonight.  I don't like it but I don't think it's abnormal.

Day Eighty-Eight

For anyone interested...the cortisone is still working.  I rode up to town and on the Stowe Bike Path.  2+ hours.  Walked Max down a pretty steep hill on the ski trails without side-stepping.  My legs were tired (good tired) from yesterday's ride but my knees weren't.

Vin helped me with flexion exercises this morning which was again my least favorite part of the day.  Later I tried a couple of the flexion exercises I had trouble doing a few weeks ago and my flexion is too good for them.  (i.e. my knee bends too much now for those exercises/stretches to be effective)  How 'bout that?

There may have been a few minutes today that I wasn't thinking about my knees.

Day Eighty-Seven

Loving the cortisone.  Feels like I'm walking almost normally.  Some pain but pretty much ignorable a lot of the time.  My right knee hurts more than the left.  Did a hilly ride with some standing.  Walked with Max and Vince at Barr Hill (trails).

Working aggressively on the flexion...especially on the right (very very tight).  Vince helps.  I lay on my back and lift my leg.  He holds the knee with one hand and pushes down on the ankle with the other until I've screamed for 15 seconds.  He lets up and then does it a couple more times.  Sounds awful but it's great...

Thought about it and the new knees feel like my knees and not foreign parts.

Day Eighty-Six

Best day ever.  The 'hitch' is almost gone.  Rode 33 miles on the Stowe bike path...a mile farther than my previous biggest day.  Stood a few times and rode a mile (2x) in a bigger gear, breathing a little harder.  Nothing stupid, just sort of playing. 
Short walk with Vince and Max on trails. 
How long do cortisone in injection effects last I wonder? 

Day Eighty-Five

No internet/traveling = a bunch of days with no new posts

A few non-posted highlights are squished into my memory, but about yesterday...

BIG day.  It was my three month follow-up.  I followed the assistant to the little room with two chairs, a long paper covered table and a lot of plastic knees (plus a plastic hip that threw me off for a second) with different shapes of stainless steel wedged into them.  Ten minutes later Dr. Huber knocked and entered.  Instead of asking me how I was doing and giving me a chance to start crying like last time, he started telling me what would be 'normal' for three months post-op.  It ended up sounding like I was more normal than I thought I was except for the 'hitch' in the left knee that you're tired of hearing about.  Also, he thought I should be farther along with pain-free walking (hitch aside) which, he said, could be attributed to having simultaneous bilateral total knee replacements (vs. one at a time) and not having the support of a good leg during recovery.

Watching while I walked down the hall, dragging my left leg behind me, he decided my IT band was the root of the evil (that will make Vinny the therapist happy), that I could keep doing the stretching exercises I'd been doing (that don't seem to help all that much) and it would eventually get better.  OR he could give me a cortisone injection to help me with the hump I couldn't get over.  The thought of another injection made me nauseous and we (Vince, Huber and I) started talking about the downfalls of American medicine and knee replacement statistics.  Guess I was only partly engaged in the dialog because a one second break in the conversation was just enough for me to ask (blurt out) if he still had time to give me an injection.  I'm not sure I'd even really decided I wanted the injection.  It was like something inside decided for me, relayed the message to my vocal cords and ten minutes later I walked out of the little room like a ballerina.

At his request, I twirled over to the physical therapy wing of the clinic to tell Vinny the therapist about the corner I'd just turned and he was as happy as I was. 

Driving home the numbing agent, (and at least part of the reason for my perfect pain-free gait) injected with the cortisone started to wear off.  After 15 minutes of moaning and squirming I was back to better than before the injection although not as good as when I left.  But still good...actually still great.