It’s the end of the year and in this month of celebration and joy, I quietly reflect on the six months since I had my total knee replacement at the end of June. I feel so grateful to my surgeon and his team and to my physiotherapist. I can walk now without pain and that is something I will never take for granted again. On Christmas Eve, I went to Midnight Mass and looked up at the sky afterwards and gave thanks.
I look back to this time last year and realise that I no longer need to look for a bench fur a sit down and a rest when I’m out. I can strap hang on the tube without feeling as if I am going to fall over and I will happily walk somewhere without thinking, ‘is there a bus?’
PROGRESS
-my knee is very slightly swollen but is beginning to look like a normal knee again with bumps and wrinkles
-I sat in a pew at a carol concert where there wasn’t much leg room and I wasn’t in pain as I had been previously at the theatre
– I stood up on a photography tour for two and a half hours without feeling I had to sit down
– My Range of Movement is the best that it has ever been.
-I went to an all day conference and could sit down without pain for all the speakers and stand up in all the breaks
WHAT NEXT?
So, what next? In the recovery from such an operation, there’s always a next step.
My physiotherapist has said to me continually;
‘people don’t realise that you have to put a lot of work in to get the most out of a new knee. It doesn’t come automatically.’
I want to walk longer distances and be confident on uneven ground.
On New Years Eve, I walked 20,000 steps and life felt good.
