Post Surgery

 It's been almost two weeks after the cutting, sewing and stapling.  I feel pretty good, relatively speaking.  I don't have any pain.  (I'm off the pain pills.)  I still can't bend my knee any more than the brace will let me which is set on 0%.  I can get around with the use of a walker, but I still can't put any weight on my left leg, so it takes me a little time to get from the bed to the chair, to the bathroom and then back to bed.  This is not the active lifestyle I moved to The Villages for.  Her are a few pictures from the last two weeks.

I'm ready to go.

This is what it currently looks like.  From my count there are about 19 to 20 staples.All the sewing was done inside.

 

The band aid, without the gauze wrapping

 

The knee brace.  The shinny metal pieces on each side of my knee have degree readings from 0% to 90%.  It's currently set on 0% and will stay there at least until my follow up with the surgeon Wednesday, later this week.  He determines the degree setting.

 

Not only do I have the brace on 24/7, I also have it "iced" 24/7.  The blue hose runs into a cooler filled with ice water cycling the cold water through the tube, to a pad on my knee and then back to the cooler.  One of Barbara's jobs is to make sure there is ice in the cooler.  It's not unusual for me to have a blanket on my legs because of the coolness.

A Physical Therapist visits me every weekday to move my leg as much as possible without moving my knee.  Mostly that consists of moving my feet at the ankles, flexing my leg muscles and without much help from me, moving and stretching my leg up and down and from side to side, all with my knee in the brace.  A nurse comes every three days to change the band aid.

 

I've not had a beer in weeks.  I expect that to change after I follow up with the surgeon.