Hey, I made the first week and have made some pretty good progress. Well…at least I think I’ve made good progress since I left VA Togus hospital around 5:30 on November 28th. I’ll find out more about how much progress I’ve made tomorrow when I go in for my initial post-op physical therapy appointment. Which quite honestly I’m looking forward to.

Let’s see what’s happened so far.

That glass of Paisano wine for supper last night to celebrate getting through the first week tasted pretty damn good.

A shower!!! The discharge instructions were adamant about not getting the knee wet for the first 7 days. I figured that taking a shower half an hour short of 7 days was close enough. Last night’s shower was badly needed, sponge baths are okay, but are not the same level of clean as a shower. I won’t say I stunk, but…there was a certain cloud-like thing around me.

A haircut. That wild man of Borneo look just wasn’t what I wanted to see in the mirror every time I wandered by. Mary has gotten quite accomplished at chopping off the silver locks, errrr gray hair.

My crutches are gone – I skipped the cane routine, and am walking without either. I know that isn’t what is expected, but I hate both, so will endure a bit more discomfort to avoid using them. My sense of balance ain’t too bad and the leg lag is decreasing each day.

I walked Bennie a ways and then walked a quarter mile this morning – yes I could feel the knee getting grumpy, but it is now doable and will take some of the pressure of doing everything off Mary.

Meds – stopped the prescription one last Friday and never used the heavy hitters. I am sure that there will be Tylenol days in the future, but those are expected. The discomfort and pain are still hanging around and will…if past experience is any indicator will still be here for another 3-4 months. Just the way it worked last time and I expect will work again. Especially, since the damage inside the knee and time spent in surgery was more this time. In 2011 with the right knee I was in and out of the O.R. in under an hour, this time the doc played with the left one for over 2.5 hours. So, I gotta expect a bit more discomfort and pain.

Moved back to one blog and imported all the old posts (3,782 and 85 drafts) that I could find. This also meant that I can go back and read about how I fared after my right knee surgery in May 2011. I have a better idea of what to expect and how long things actually will take, versus my fantasy world of being able to do more than I should. You know that wanting to start running at the beginning of 2023.

It was also fun reading those posts from 2011 and the changes that I made in my life back then that seem to be repeating themselves again now. Yes, the situations are different, but not as different as I would’ve thought. Patterns are emerging that I am finding interesting.

The reality is that

I survived the first week after surgery on my left knee better than I thought would happen. Like I told my daughter last night either I am a fast healer or missing enough brain cells that I just bull through and don’t worry about things as much. Either way, I’m quite happy with the progress I have made in only a week.

Now, comes the struggle bus. Where the progress will not be as fast or great. There will be ups and downs, along with some backsliding as far as the knee is concerned. I have to remember that it took me over six months in 2011 to get back to running pain-free and can’t expect this time to be faster, since the damage to the knee was more extensive.

Patience grasshopper, and you will be running well when the nice weather gets here next spring.