Week 5 - Progress Report

Week 5 - Progress Report

I must say, and I don't think it was my imagination, but the morning of the four week anniversary of the operation, I woke up, stood up out of bed, and walked into the bathroom with hardly any uncomfortable tightness in my knee. It seemed like all of a sudden, I had really turned a corner to feeling better. I had been walking without a cane for a week, my leg still unable to get perfectly straight, but close, had a less sore feeling. My recovery was moving forward nicely.

Unfortunately, later that same morning, as I was leaving for work, I heard a strange "water running" sound, which upon investigation turned out to be a release valve on my basement boiler that had gotten stuck in the open position and was flooding my basement. Thank God for my new found feeling of improved recovery, because according to my FitBit, I had gone up (and down) 25 flights of stairs.... which was all me carrying boxes of belongings up from the basement and away from the flooded floor. 

And even though that morning I was feeling great, with all the labor I did rescuing belongings and shop-vaccing water off the floor and dumping it, by the end of the day my foot and ankle were very swollen and sore. It just proves that you can be doing well and feeling better, but over do it just once, and you'll pay the price.

I also put a call into the Drs office. I don't love the fact that after the staples are removed on the 15th day, there were no plans for me to see the Dr again until my 3 month check-up. In my opinion, that is just way too long, especially if you're someone who is a little more pro-active. This blog is written by and for an active person, and even though life has thrown a big wrench into your active life-style, don't just sit and let nature takes its course without doing everything possible to achieve the best result.

For example, I am soon completing my 5th week since the surgery and I still cannot completely straighten my leg. That might be totally normal, but exactly how would I know that to be true unless I speak with someone who has seen this surgery 100 times and knows for sure what is normal and what is not. I also still have that swollen numb area on the incision side of my knee. Exactly how long will it take for that swelling to go down completely... and will it ever go down completely. That swelling thickness, from a mechanical point of view, is the specific reason why I can't bend my knee more deeply. 

What I'm realizing now that the operation and early recovery period is behind me, I more focused on the future.  I need to be sure I'm doing everything within my power to recover as fully as possible. I'm anxious to speak with the Drs office tomorrow to try and get a prescription to start seeing a Physical Therapist. I just want to get some extra attention and care during that long 10 week period between having my staples removed and the normal 3 month check-up. 

I also need some encouragement to start riding my bike again. I was originally told to expect a 2 month hiatus from riding, but I see now after just 5 weeks that there might be a possibility to head out for a nice flat ride on the Jones Beach bike path sometime more sooner than later. I was a pretty good rider before all this surgery stuff happen and the bulk of my non-marital social life is bicycle-club related friendships, so needless to say, I'd like to get back to that place one day. Whether or not I can ever return to the level of riding I previously enjoyed is a completely different story. Time will tell. 
And then there's also the other elephant in the room... which is whether or not I should even try to regain my former fitness level and to return riding with the faster groups again. Or maybe this fem pop bypass was a warning shot I should not ignore. At some point somewhere in our later years, we all must accept that age has taken its toll on us and mature decisions need to be made.  Of course I love the idea of returning to vigorous paceline club rides, but never if that in any way endangers my life.