Kelly's Surgery - Total Knee Replacement - Day 9

Week 1 went very well.  Yesterday I went to see my ortho, Dr. M.  I was x-rayed and everything looks just right...nice and straight.  He examined my knee and said everything seems to be going fine. We discussed the poor excuse of home PT that I had on Monday and we wrote an order for outpatient PT after I said that I was more than willing & able to get out of the house for it.  Then his nurse came in to remove the staples from my incision...all 50 of them.  Alex took a picture of my staples right before they were removed. 

I don't have to go back to see the ortho for 6 weeks.  Unless, of course, something is going on.

Today I went for my first outpatient PT session.  I just have to say that I *love* my new physical therapist!  PT was work, I won't tell you it wasn't.  But it was very much worth it and actually felt good.  My physical therapist said I was doing great & am ahead of where someone would typically be at 1 week out.  My extensive is a perfect 0 degrees (straight leg) and on my own I can bend my knee to 78 degrees and can get to 86 degrees with help.  The goal this week is to continue all of my daily exercises and to be able to bend my knee to 90 degrees on my own.   I really enjoyed the machine I got to use for 5 minutes (goal was 3).  Next week  I'll have PT on Mon, Wed, and Fri.

I haven't stayed on top of my pain pills this evening so tonight I've had a hard time keeping my knee/leg comfortable.  I took a pain pill and walked around the house with my walker.  I look forward to the day I won't be using that...and graduate to a cane.  :-)