A year ago today, on Sept 11th, 2017

I was signing into Mount Hospital, to have a total knee replacement. I was scared, worried, almost in tears, but knew it had to be done.

The recovery has been a bit of ups and downs.  Doing too much one day, then taking a week to get over it. Restless nights, nausea, pain, depression. The frustration at not being able to just DO.

Then there was the improvements, getting better, easier to walk around, getting out. 

5 Months in, broadsided in a car accident, setting my recovery back a few months. Fighting my way back to where I was prior to the accident, and then beyond.

The knee joint is all healed, and now working on getting the tendons that were injured in the car accident healthy and strong.

I'll get it done... I'm too stubborn not to!

Ah, Matt, you torture so well!

Saw Matt the Physiotherapist aka Torturer today. He confirmed diagnosis of tendinopathy.  He also agreed that the pain from the healing knee replacement disguised the injury caused by us getting T-Boned and my knees impacting the dashboard.

Had some really intense massage and manipulation of the affected area.  I called it "being well tenderized". Ouch.

Have an exercise regime to gently work the tendons and to strengthen the quads. 
The good news is, the total knee replacement is healed. It will be a full year tomorrow since I had it done. I probably would have been fully recovered sooner, had we not been in that car accident.  This is just a bit of a delay, not the end of the road. :)

RIP “Bandit”

Burt Reynolds, THE BANDIT, dies at the age 82 of a sudden heart attack.

Knee Replacement 1 year Post Op.

Knee joint replacement is great. I managed to dodge a bullet when I caught pneumonia, as it's common for infections to spread from one area of the body to the joint replacement area.

The acute pain I've been having. Mr S said that since I was still experiencing pain from the knee replacement at the time, I didn't feel the damage/injury sustained on the anterior of my knee when we were T-boned. The pain of the surgery lessened, making the pain just under the knee cap causing me to gasp in pain if I stood in one place too long, or causing me to limp a lot first thing in the morning.

Tendinopathy, treatable, but painful. It's also the reason I get pain going across the top of my foot, just below shin. Treat the tendinopathy, and the ankle/foot issue *should* self resolve. Had ultrasound and TENS treatment. Also wearing compression tape under the knee, on top of the tendon.

Knee bend, unassisted, 125 degrees. 130 is considered perfect. Not too bad. Hayden was quite impressed (he was my Pre-Op physio). I see Matt the Torturer on Monday.