3 Weeks Post Op

Range of Motion:  After week 2 I am supposed to go up to 40 degrees on the CPM.  I did 35 degrees the first 2 days of week 3 then got up to 40 degrees.  40 degrees was a little painful at first but the pain improved throughout the week.

Physical Therapy: After week 2 I am allowed flat foot weight bearing (FFWB).  All this means is when I'm standing straight I can touch my foot to the ground but I'm not really allowed to put any weight on it.  When I crutch around I still have to keep my leg off the ground.  It's nice to let my foot touch the ground so I'm not doing a constant balancing act.  But I have to be more careful than ever not to accidentally put weight on it.

My knee exercises still consist of straight leg raises (SLR).  I can now do the leg raises without the brace and add light weight above the knee as I get stronger.  I do the leg raises 4 ways to work my inner/outer thighs and my glutes.  For the most part I can do the leg raises on my own but sometimes I need my therapist to help me get started and lift my leg.  I have a fairly strong quad set now.  I am able to contract my quad and hold it.  However, when I contract my quad I am unable to hyperextend my knee and lift my heel off the ground like I can with my other leg.

Pain:  SLRs are still very painful and the scar massage and patellar mobilization makes me light headed and dizzy.  With the SLRs I sometimes can't get my leg to lift because my brain knows it will cause pain and shuts down my muscle.  So no matter how hard I try it won't move.  That's when my therapist helps me out and lifts for me so I can get started. I still take the occasional Percocet to help sleep at night.

My leg is laying in the CPM in this pic. This
is the scar at the end of week 3. There is
still quite a bit of swelling but you can make
out the sides of my kneecap.

Sleeping:  I am finally able to sleep on my side.  I can only sleep on the side with my bad leg up though.  If I try to sleep on my other side my knee begins to throb and my foot falls asleep.  It takes me about 10 minutes to arrange all the pillows and get in a comfortable position for sleep.  I sleep with a body pillow between my legs so that helps me get comfortable with the brace.  My brace is still locked out a 0 degrees so sleeping with my leg perfectly straight is still awkward.

Other Thoughts:  By the end of week 3 I felt good enough to take a short trip into town to go to Starbucks. Though the exercises during therapy are painful all the motion is helping with the overall pain control and I feel stronger.  Moving around is much easier and I now feel very confident on the crutches.