It is now just on six weeks since I had my knee replacement surgery on 29/11/23. I am told that I am doing well by my husband, my surgeon and my physiotherapist. However, for me – as ever impatient to get on – it feels like slow process and that it is taking forever. This experience has certainly opened my eyes for working in a rehab environment when I return to work. I can see how patients on the ward can feel that they are not progressing much and as a result get frustrated and a bit down. It is hard to take on board that I am doing well at times when I still have quite a lot of pain and limited range of movement.
Today we had an appointment with my physio. He pushes my knee to the point where it is quite painful and I do get that it is necessary, but it does still hurt. I know I have to push through the pain and keep trying to get better. After the Physio I had a Mammogram. So, today felt like it was all about people causing parts of my body pain. Still necessary, but still hurts.
After my two morning appointments we went to town for lunch and a walk around. One of the things I am finding difficult is going from sitting to standing. I am struggling to find a way to achieve it that isn’t very painful. At times I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to get up at all and it made me reluctant to sit down in the first place. My Physio gave me some more exercises to do and showed me a way to stand up, but I have tried it since I got home and haven’t really been able to manage it as yet. It certainly makes it hard to go out for lunch or a coffee, for fear of not being able to get up from the table at the end of lunch or not being able to get up off the toilet if I need to go while I am out.
I know that a lot of my posts have been focussed on my ‘needy knee’ for the past few months and that is probably not surprising. Although this Blog is predominantly about my journey with Parkinson’s, anything that affects my health and wellbeing is also part of the picture. The hope is that with continuing physio, I will be able to function more normally and gradually improve.
Today my physio has encouraged me to wean myself off using my crutch as continuing to use it does not help my affected knee to gain strength. It is a bit of a scary thing to do as I have felt the need of the crutch, both physically and figuratively to feel safe to mobilise. But, I will take the advice of my Physio and wean myself off it’s use.
I get the reasoning and although it is going to be difficult, I must accept the challenge for the best outcome from my surgery.
Time to literally stand on my own two feet.
My journey with Parkinsons 