Knee Surgery: Week 4 Recap

Here we are at the 4-week mark of my knee surgery. I wish I could pop in here with a happy-go-lucky post but this week has been rough.

Here’s a rundown of what’s been happening.

Back to work: I went back to work on Monday, which was the 3.5 week mark of my surgery. I think being uncomfortable, waking up at 5am again and not being used to my work routine was the perfect storm for a bad week. I wore my fitbit and tried to limit my steps to 4,000, which is half of what I normally walk at work.  Things have gotten easier as the week has progressed so hopefully next week will be a lot better.

Pain/swelling: My knee has hurt worse this week than it has since my procedure. It’s the exact pain I was having before my surgery. I’m sure it’s because I’m on my feet more but now I’m wondering if I went back to work too soon, or if it would have come back eventually anyway.

In terms of swelling, I noticed a great improvement on Sunday but then once I got back to work, things look the same to me. My knee isn’t huge or anything but I was hoping the inflammation on the sides of my knee and around my incision sites would be improved more since it’s been a month since surgery.

I actually feel like I have more swelling in my lower thigh, also.

Mobility: I’m completely mobile now but still avoiding stairs. I’m taking it slow but I don’t feel like I really walk with a limp anymore (maybe a slight limp?). The stiffness in my leg is 100x better now that I’m back at work.

Physical Therapy: I finished my 2nd week of physical therapy and I have 6 weeks left. A lot of my therapy was the same as week 1 because I was having such a hard time with going back to work. Despite the way I’m feeling, my therapist said that I’m still doing well in terms of swelling and range of motion. It’s nice to have her perspective on swelling to know that it could be a lot worse. She said the first week back is rough and that the pain could just be temporary.

Ice, ice baby: I’m happy to report that I will have an ice machine delivered to my door on Monday. I know, I’m about 4 weeks late on that one. I can’t keep my freezable ice packs cold enough at work and I’m over the re-fillable ones. 

Best part of the week: So I’m keeping this in here because I post the same things every week but I had to dig deep to find something good about this week. I would have to say it has been nice loosening up my leg muscles and building strength. 

Worst part of the week: the whole week? Ha, okay, being serious here… one of my main times I had pain before my surgery was when I was driving to and from work. Something about my foot sitting flat on the floorboard and my knee bent at a 90 degree angle caused pain. Well, when I got into my car on Monday and felt that exact same pain, I just completely lost it. My PT made me feel better in reminding me that it’s still early from my surgery but part of me feels a little hopeless.

Goals for this week:

• Be more positive
• Continue with my PT exercises daily
• Limit walking as much as possible
• Continue to avoid stairs

Hopefully I’ll be back here next week with a better update. Have a good weekend!

Here are all of my surgery updates so far:

Day of Surgery

Surgery Recap

Week 1 Recap

Week 2 Recap

First Day of PT

Week 3 Recap