Long Road Back

It has been 10 days since my surgery on my knee.  I wish I could say my recovery has gone well but in my eyes it does not look promising.  Hopefully I am wrong and things will start to turn around soon.

Pre-surgery I had a normal pair of cycling legs.I do not think my legs will ever look like this again

I had a funny feeling going into the operating room. Something inside of me was saying that it is time to quit. Time to settle down and just be a normal sedentary person.  Quality of Life is apparently becoming very important to me.

During pre-op the nurses asked me at least 5 times what leg I was getting worked on.  I was not really worried about getting the wrong leg worked on despite some of the stories Carolynn told me.  Plus I most likely will have to get my left leg worked on also.   The doctor said the procedure should be done all arthroscopically but there was a chance that he would have to make an incision below my patella to remove the cyst.  I kept having the above picture in my head of a large incision.

Luckly everything went well and all done arthroscopically.  Although it does not look like it I was actually in good spirits after the surgery.  The doctor was able to remove my cyst and he also repaired some of the  meniscus and patella damage I had. The osteoarthritis I have can not be cured but is quite common for someone my age.

I was instructed to "act like a normal person",use RICE and to begin therapy the following day.  With pain medication PT went well.  I had to stop taking my feel good pills because they caused some major constipation.  That is no fun at all. 

Why is it so hard to just sit still.  I spent 3 days like this.  I started to walk around the house without crutches I had Max for company and to fend off Carolynn's cat Betsy.   Those two fought everyday.  Now I know what goes on when everyone is at work.

After 4 days my damn knee looks like shit. Very swollen - 2 inches larger in circumference than my other knee.  I do not know if that is normal or not. 

Follow visit to KCOI went well.  Despite my knee looking like crap to me the doctor said it looked good and that I appeared to be walking good. The nurses really liked my sexy stockings.

The doctor said I should wait another week and just walk and do PT.  I started to include using my mini cycle trainer.  Carolynn bought this thing for years ago to use at work - it fits under your desk and you can spin away while you work.   First time using it was weird.  Legs just did not want to turn circle even with little to no resistance.   Second time was better. 

Weather was really nice on Wednesday so I decide to try and ride really easy outside on my bike.  Plan was just to ride around my neighborhood.    First back did not go well.  Knee felt really unstable.  Range of motion was also limited.  One of the roads I was on has a very small hill that I do not even think about normally.  I tried to ride up it but could not.  Knee just would not take the pressure.  I turned around and returned home after only riding 4 miles.   Looks like it will take a lot longer to recover than I thought.  Am I just getting old or is this normal?  Either way I have a long road to travel to recover.  I am trying to find the motivation to get fit again.