{"id":33489,"date":"2025-08-21T16:12:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T20:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=33489"},"modified":"2025-08-21T16:12:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T20:12:04","slug":"knee-surgery-day-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/knee-surgery-day-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Knee Surgery Day Two"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"total<\/a>W<\/span>ell, I’m back from the hospital following my knee surgery.<\/strong> It was a “Total knee arthroplasty (TKA), also known as total knee replacement,” described as a “surgical procedure that involves replacing the damaged surfaces of the knee joint with artificial components made of metal and plastic.” I am now the bionic man. First time I’ve had artificial bits embedded in me, but it’s common with my age cohort who get their knees and hips done.*\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I came home just after 5 p.m. yesterday. I could have stayed in the hospital overnight, but I’m sure the hospital staff preferred to see me go home, and besides, I like the company of my cats and dog, and, of course, Susan. It’s going to be rough for a few weeks, and a challenge to the limits of her patience, too.**<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The long road to recovery starts today, with my first set of exercises this morning. Every movement, every turn, twist, shuffle and bend hurts. My leg doesn’t yet bend well, so getting up or down from bed or chair is a burst of pain. Using the toilet is simply awful. I have a rented walker, but it hurts my hands and arms, too, as well as my operated leg. Susan has to help me sit up, rise, sit down, use the toilet, put on my slippers, get dressed (yes, and underpants, too). She also has to do everything in the house for the next few weeks: feed the pets, walk the dog, make tea, make meals, bring me my laptop, help me exercise, drive and shop\u2026 I love her for her stamina and strength. Sigh. I feel so inadequate and will try to make it up to her when I am more mobile.<\/p>\n

Six weeks is the estimated recovery time. Some folks do it in less; others take longer. Over the course of a few subsequent posts I’ll let you know how mine is going. I suspect, at least based on the first 24 hours, I will be in the average length.<\/p>\n

\"Knee<\/a>I cannot do one of the exercise sets yet: I cannot put my knee on a coffee can and raise my leg. No way: my muscles just won’t do it. I cannot lift my left at all from any position using just its own muscles. And trying to force it hurts. A lot. The rest of the exercises hurt, of course, but I can do them even if slowly and without much motion. I can only hope they get easier and less painful. My leg, too, is still quite swollen, and my foot, too: getting a slipper on it is difficult.<\/p>\n

I was surprised at the level of constant pain. I have a reasonably good pain tolerance, and recovered from my previous surgery and treatment (prostate; covered the under the Cancer Diaries<\/a> posts here) without too much distress. But this is different: the knee is called on for everything we do and, of course, I have a scar stapled together that protests any stretching. I’m taking 1000 mg Tylenol and a baby aspirin; the former for pain, the latter as a blood thinner. But Tylenol doesn\u2019t do much for me in terms of pain management. I have a prescription for narcotics, but I didn’t use them after the prostate surgery, and don’t want to get into them now. I’ll stick to the Acetaminophen for now.<\/p>\n

I did my first set of exercises starting today. Three sets a day, every day. Agony. But I am told it will get better, get easier, less painful. I hope so because it’s Spanish Inquisition torture right now. At the time of writing, I have done two sets; at least as many as I can.<\/p>\n