More or Less the Same

I had my 5 week + post surgery follow up today. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. My knee is a bit more swollen than it should be so more Advil and icing will be needed -- and no overdoing it. Until the swelling goes down, the quad really won’t start to do its thing. Dr. K. said I probably won’t notice too much improvement during the 4-8 week stage. After that is when I will start to really work to strengthen the quad to get that full extension which has eluded me since the injury in late January. Dr. K is confident it will come so I’ll believe him! So, until then, more limping.

However, once again I think I’m walking a little better. I’m going upstairs very slowly but almost normally. Going downstairs is still one step at a time – downstairs is always more difficult. I’m hoping to ditch the 2 buses I take to work next week and take the Metro. It’s a 3 block walk from the Metro to work, which I walked today, but a 5 block walk – uphill – from the Metro to my house, which is still a bit out of my range.

I also hope to start going back to the gym next week now that I can drive. I’m doing “heavy hands” at home but it’s been over 5 weeks since I worked on the upper body equipment. I’m up to 15 minutes on the bike and hope to increase that to 20 minutes, then up to 24 minutes which was my normal time. This is all fine but I still can’t wait for the big day when I can run and bike outdoors. I can only guess that will be in October. Tiger said it best yesterday: “As far as long-term, I really don't know. Everyone heals at a different rate. Some people are back playing sports in six months, some are nine, some are twelve. No one really knows until we start the rehab process and see how this thing heals."