After having my arthroscopy with lateral release Dec. 5th, and after 6 weeks of physical therapy after the fact, my knee is still having problems. I am experiencing different pain, but it's a symptom of the same problem - my knee cap isn't staying in it's tract. My right thigh (the operated leg) has lost muscle tone from lack of use and looks different from my left, which has been over-used ever since the surgery. The physical therapy is supposed to strengthen the quads back to it's normal pre-operation function, but the pain in my knee is hindering the effort. I can't get pass the pain in order to build the quads back up.
The pain isn't constant. In fact, I can walk around without pain. The pain rears it's ugly head when I lift my leg straight up from a sitting position and when I'm lying down. And that's the most important exercise when strengthening the quads. Because my quad muscle is very weak, I have to lock my knee pretty much all the time to support my weight. If I bend it during normal walking gait, it gives on me. Nice, huh? No, not really. Especially when my 20 month old twins can outrun me without trying.
The creaking noise it used to make is gone, sure. But it's a whole different ball game. I feel like a cripple. After completing 6 weeks of post-op physical therapy, my doctor ordered 4 more weeks. And told me that the operation didn't help as much as hoped. If we were to leave things alone, being young, I am sure to develop bad arthritis. I already have arthritis, but I guess it was bound to go downhill from here. My orthopaedist has refferred me to a sports medicine doctor to discuss more aggressive surgery. Yikes. This on top of my dear husband's change of employment status and the lost of health insurance last Friday. Well. I will have to make due with being a cripple for a while.
In the meantime, where does this leave me? It leaves me having to propel myself up the stairs if I have to lead with the operated knee. Why would I want to lead with that leg? Well, to give my other bad knee a break, of course. And then hanging on for dear life when going down the stairs, hoping my operated knee doesn't buckle on me making me go down faster than I really want to.
If and when we sell this house, ranch style homes are looking more and more beautiful to me.
Oh well, enough about my misery. This blog sounds worse than it really is. Considering our current state of having no income, we must look for the bright side of things. At least I only have one creaking knee now, instead of two. And my children...what little miracles they are. My husband...well, he's just the best friend anyone could every ask for. We'll all be OK.
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