Walking Again!

Last Wednesday, marking 6 weeks after my surgery, I had a check up at the hospital to see how my knee is healing. They did xrays and explained what I can and shouldn’t do from now on. I got the cast and compression sock taken off and was told I can start putting weight on my leg again, in addition to bending my knee gradually. They also showed the xrays, and it turns out that I have 4 screws in my knee, each 2 inches long, instead of one screw, like I thought. That was an interesting surprise! The joint is still quite swollen, but 4 days later, it seems to be going down. When I got back from the appointment, I got a call from a company that lends machines to help with injuries. It was delivered 20 minutes later. What I can do is set the angle of my knee until the pain threshold, and the machine bends and stretches it out back at forth for 30 minutes at a time. When I first started, I could only go 64°, but now I am up to 91°. My technique for walking is improving, although it still feels very odd and unnatural. Tomorrow I have my first in a series of therapy sessions, and my host parents feel I will do much better after those!

Even though this recovery process in all is going slower than I had hoped, it will be worth it when my knee is fully functional again! And I can help out around the house much more now that I have one or both hands free!

No more of this! 

The leg bending machine

The weather has been amazing, allergies aren’t too bad, and I am in good spirits!