Knee Surgery

My right knee has been giving me problems since late summer. I have been going to the ortho since August about it. I've had a cortisone shot, water drained, and another shot in the knee to help relieve the pain. Unfortunately, those things only lasted about a week and I was back in pain. We were trying to hold out until next summer to do anything about it.

After an MRI reveled bone on bone, I discussed a knee replacement with my doctor. He said I was a good candidate for a partial knee replacement. The recovery time is much shorter than a total replacement-2-3 weeks vs. 4-6 weeks. We decided to go ahead and do it over Christmas break so that I could go back after the holidays and not miss much work.

My surgery was done on Dec. 15th. Once the doctor got in there, the damage was worst than he anticipated and wound up doing a total knee replacement. I stayed in the hospital for 2 days.

The recovery has been very emotional for me. I cry at the drop of a hat. I've really had to work at doing my physical therapy. That has gotten better over the past week. My biggest challenge right now is not being able to get comfortable or sustain attention on anything for very long. One would think this would be a great time to read, do crafts, etc. However, I can't get into anything. It's very frustrating.

I know I haven't been the easiest or most fun person to be around, but I've had some great support. Eric is amazing. He is handling everything so well. He encourages me to exercise the knee and get up and about. He is keeping the house going, the kids entertained, and working his job. What would I do without him?

I also have amazing parents!! They came down and stayed with me while Eric andmthe kids celebrated Christmas at his mothers. They were good moral support as well as my cheerleaders. Mom helped me with my physical therapy, got me out of the house, and cooked me yummy oatmeal. It was so nice having them here. Oh yeah-they thought they were so cute. They brought me my dad's cane from when he had his knees replaced. While I was taking a nap one day, they put a mini license plate on the cane with my name on it. I guess they wanted everyone to know that I had a license to use the cane. : )

I won't be able to go back to work next week as planned. I'm walking around on it, but my stamina is no where near what it needs to be. I go to the doctor on Monday, so we'll see what he wants me to do.