Day 22

I'll be honest, I really want to write an upbeat progress report. But I can't. It's why I've put off blogging the past few days.

Over the last 22 days I've really struggled with pain control and with gaining flexibility in the new knee. Its been just over the past two days that I've started to see an improvement in the pain control, but the improvement may be too late for the flexibility in the knee.

I do feel like the stiffness and pain I have now is equivalent to the months following my injury in 2015. I'm choosing to see that as an improvement. I've been here before, I know I can live from this point on, whether or not its a great quality of life. Its not what I hoped for, but it may be what I get out of this.

The physical therapist is worried that since I did not get to the 90 degree flexion by two weeks that I won't get there and I'll end up with more problems than I had going into the surgery. Because I didn't meet that milestone, he fears I'll need additional surgery to break up the scar tissue that has formed.

In addition to this, I am walking better with a walking stick and weaning off the walker. I still use the walker when my knee is super sore or when I might be unsteady (waking up or after exercises). This too was supposed to be a milestone that was met at the end of week two.

So there we have it. Its not the best of progress reports, but its where I'm at.