My Unpredictable Knees

Time Since Surgery: 11.5 weeks

Physical Therapy: walking, quad presses, leg raises, hip abductions

Activities that are Improving: showering while standing, shaving while balancing on one leg, walking, getting up and down from a seated position, driving, traveling, 

Activities that are Challenging: squatting to pee in dirty gas station bathrooms (this one is currently more impossible than challenging), speed-walking in torrential downpours to prevent getting soaked while walking to my car, going up and down stairs, squatting/bending to pick objects up off of the ground, cleaning or playing with my nephews on my hands and knees

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. The better my knees feel, the more active I am. Until I'm too active and they get really sore and force me to go back to sitting on my butt. I never know if it's going to be a good knee day or a bad knee day until I'm up and moving around, so it makes it difficult to plan anything in advance. Some days are phenomenal and I feel almost back to normal as far as walking goes, and other days it hurts just to get up and get to the bathroom and back. I cherish every moment of the good days!

Hanging out my adorable, sweet nephews!

I'm trying to really listen to my body and balance pushing myself to try to do a bit more and resting so that I heal properly. It's been an interesting process. I attempted to go down a couple porch steps without my crutches. BIG mistake. It hurt like heck, so now I always use my crutches. Or if I don't have them, Kevin carries me. He's awesome! It's been an adjustment trying to remember my crutches for places like the movie theater and friends' apartments and restaurants without elevators. I just don't think of my crutches, especially on the days when I'm feeling really good. Then when I get to a set of stairs, I panic a little bit, but luckily Kevin has been a HUGE help with unexpected sets of stairs. I feel a bit ridiculous leaping into his arms for him to carry me up or down steps in public and I wonder what on earth people are thinking when they see me walking perfectly normally before and after. Knee surgery is forcing me to not worry so much about what others think though.

I have never been the most fashionable person around, but now I wear goofy things like "Granny slip-on tennis shoes" as Caitlyn so lovingly calls them, and I wear them with sundresses. I wear flip-flops with cute dresses when I should have heals or more formal shoes on. I attempted to wear very small wedges, and walking for 2 seconds in them was quite painful so that was a no. I have to wear flip flops to the bunches of wedding we have this year, too. Style goes out the window a little when you're healing after knee surgery. 

My dead sexy granny shoes

Another area where I'm trying to worry less about what others are thinking is walking around without the brace. Everyone is so rushy! I used to be the queen of speed walking wherever I was. Now I've really slowed down, and I feel anxious if someone is walking behind me because I'm going so slow sometimes. With the brace, people were incredibly understanding. Now my leg looks "normal," so if I suddenly slow down or have to stop and bend my knee a bit until it clicks back into place I wonder if people behind me get frustrated. I take more time getting in and out of cars, getting up and down from chairs, and following hostesses to tables in restaurants (I think walking at 1,000mph is a job requirement for hostesses). I also usually need dropped off at the door if parking is too far, and I feel like people must think I'm prissy for not being able to walk from the car. In all honesty, I'm sure nobody really notices or cares about all of these little things, that they're bigger in my head than in real life, but I still sometimes wish I could carry around a sign that says "I just had knee surgery, please be patient with me!" 

I've been trying a few new things the past few weeks, which is probably why I wish I had that sign. I've gone grocery shopping on my own and went on my first big trip/vacation since the surgery. Kevin and I went up to Camp in Pennsylvania with my mom's side of the family. It was a blast! My knees felt better the few days we were there than they have since April! For a couple days, they didn't hurt at all. It was honestly a miracle. I could get up and down from chairs without using my hands, I went for the longest walk I've been on since surgery down the beautiful country roads, and I walked up and down the hill to get to the campfire. All totally pain free-it was amazing!!

The view from the front porch. We ate outside every day and sat on the glider and the porch swing.

Kevin's first time playing the famous ring toss game!

Grandma playing the ring toss game!

The campfire complete with loads of s'mores.

I also got to go floating down the river. We drive way up the river then lay on big floats or kayak, and we leisurely let the river take us back to Camp. The floating isn't bad on the knee, but getting in and out of the river is because there are lots of slippery rocks and sometimes it's steep. I was just going to stay at the cabin at first, but decided to try it. Everyone helped me, and it ended up being okay. I'm glad I tried, because it was so much fun! I stayed back the last couple times though because my knees started to get really sore and probably couldn't have handled the rocks. 

Aleigha, Bryson, and Brenda during a crazy game of Apples to Apples 

My Aunt Rosalie got a little passionate about winning and busted out some props. To threaten me into picking "meat cleaver" for "horrifying," she slammed the meat cleaver onto the table a few inches from the cards I was deciding between. I ended up picking her card out of fear of her chopping my hand off if I didn't. 

The most intense game of Speed! They never did finish it to decide on the winner because it just kept going on and on forever.

After camp, Kevin went back to Columbus and I stayed with my aunt and uncle and cousins. We went back to Conneaut Lake and hung out there for a few days, and then my mom came up to visit and to pick me up. It is so relaxing up there. It was a wonderful week away.

A black squirrel! My aunt, uncle, Chantal, and I saw this guy when we went to get ice cream.

Picking wildflowers on our walk.

Erin, Hayes, Kevin and I also had a cookout before we left for Camp. It was the most perfect evening to relax outside. We had a delicious meal of grilled chicken, burgers, brats, fresh green beans and almonds, grilled corn on the cob, chips and salsa, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, and chocolate chunk cookies. 

The fancy-schmancy watermelon bowl that Erin and I made, along with some other appetizers. 

The grill masters. 

My baby brother Nathan moved to Chicago a couple weeks ago, too. Nate, Kevin, and I went out for a sort of farewell lunch before he left. I miss him already!

I can't believe it's already been nearly three months since my surgery. I scheduled my PT for the first day of August. I'm nervous and excited for it! I hope it doesn't hurt as badly as everyone keeps telling me it will. I have another follow up appointment later this week to hopefully get the approval to start working in the beginning of September. It makes me nervous to start work because I never know if it'll be a good knee day or bad knee day, but since September is still 6 weeks away, I'll hopefully continue to progress and will be much better by then!