here i go

Well. Seven weeks on and i am walking with one stick in the house and two outside but no more crutches. Yay. I have had several showers - double Yay. I have started to cut down on my drugs in the hopes i can go back to work in a week or so. All in all a very positive progress from flat on my back OW to upright and smiling.

If i ever doubted the efficacy of this op i have fully bought into it now.


I have seen the x-ray of my knew knee.

The feeling is more discomfort than pain now. The other knee is giving me a lot of pain now.

I am managing to sleep for almost three hours now before the knee says move me or else. I manage to get off to sleep alright most nights, though there have been some where i sit for hours waiting for sleep to come, get up at least once to go to the loo and have not slept beyond 7am no matter how many times i get up or how long i listen to my stories in the night to persuade sleep to come back. Most mornings i am up just after 6. I have a good routine going of making my breakfast and wheeling it through to the sitting room. Then i feed the dogs and bring Poppy into the sitting room to eat hers to make sure she actually gets the food and doesn't bite the others. I wash up and tidy the kitchen and tidy the sitting room and have done a little gardening and even managed to hoover the other day.

Then i play with my papercrafts and get glitter everywhere.

I manage not to put the television on until lunch time because day time TV is enough to drive you to alcoholism and leave it even later if i have a good book to read on my kindle or a story to listen to on my ipod.

Getting Better

I have seen the x-rays and can see how much difference this has made to my leg already. The before and after leg length show how much straighter my leg is.

The circulation has caused me more problems than the knee op over the weeks. I am now wearing a stocking to help the circulation and the doc told me in another couple of months the skin will look more normal and less like a dragons scales. It still feels as though i have burnt the skin in a big patch that circles my leg from the ankle to half way up the calf but the swelling is so much less.

The problems i am experiencing now are that it is difficult to sit for any length of time if in a chair other than the one at home. Going out gives problems but not so bad that i am sitting at home.

I would certainly recommend this op for anyone - the pain is soon no more than a bad day before the op. The scar though long is neat and will be nothing at all soon. It is already strong and i know that in another month or so it will be taking over as my good leg giving some respite to my poor right leg which is still riddled with Arthritis and is not used to be so abused and relied on.

Where am i achievement wise? I can wash and dress myself. I can wash my hair and even the bottom of my feet but i cannot yet climb into the bath to have a full shower. I can do some cooking and cleaning and a small amount of gardening. I am getting interested in crafting again.

The pain is still with me. I don't sleep well at night although already i am sleeping a bit better than i was for the first four weeks after the op. I have not managed to get up the stairs, but that is a personal fear and probably nothing at all to do with my knee.

Today is the sixth week anniversary. I am not sure i am doing as well as i could but i am not worried about where i am or how i am feeling. In fact i am surprised that i am feeling as well as I am.