Busy Busy Bee

I haven't posted in several days, though I did not intend for that much time to pass. It seems lately that two things are going on.

The first is that I never seem to have a moment to settle down. I am always doing something, whether it is PT exercises, CPM time, getting out of the house for a bit, or going to PT. Plus, each thing that I do takes absolutely forever! My day can easily be gobbled up by just CPM, a few exercises, recovering from those exercises, making lunch, and then more CPM time. Then it is evening already! I was worried about being bored and having so much time on my hands, but in fact I can' t seem to squeeze everything in.

The second thing is that the recovery has slowed down and started to level off. Yes, I am getting better, but yes, I still have an awful long way to go. However, a single day is no longer likely to be significantly different from the day before. I am slowly getting stronger, but I am also still likely to hit a wall and suddenly need a nap. My body is unpredictable and rather unreliable. Silly body.

The knee looks good. Unfortunately as soon as I started moving around more it started to swell more, so I have to actually pay attention to elevation and whether it is turning purple, as it often does. I also have to ice 3-4 times a day time to try to keep from having a fat knee. Oh well. The swelling is not exactly painful unless I am trying to do exercises at the moment or if I am wearing my snug custom brace, as sometimes the knee feels like it is trying to burst out of it's confines. It just disturbs me to see it poofy and turning colors if it is down for too long.

Yesterday was the 5 week mark, so I have 3 more weeks to go on crutches. Before the microfracture, I thought that meant that at the end of the timeframe I would be able to walk almost normally without crutches. Now I know that in 3 weeks I will be able to put full weight through my leg without damaging anything, but it will probably be a few more weeks after that before I can walk without the extra support of crutches. It is amazing how much muscle one loses after surgery and it is hard to regain that trust and balance. At least I may stop having the dreams where I am accidentally walking without my crutches and terrified that I busted my knee again. Those dreams are not fun!