A New Normal

I'm beginning to "forget" about my knee at times. Which is a good! Walking is pretty much back to normal, with no limping or favoring one knee or the other. You wouldn't even know I'd had surgery except for the 6 inch scar. The only things that slow me down are stairs and getting in and out of the car when the seat is pulled up. Stairs are pretty easy going up. I can take the steps alternating legs, without hanging onto the rails. Going down is another matter. Shallow steps are no problem but steps such as those outside my back door cause the knee to bend more than is comfortable. I take them gingerly while holding onto the rails.

I recently reduced physical therapy to twice a week, in order to "save" days for the right knee replacement, in case I schedule it for the fall. I feel like I've accomplished most of the goals set forth, and can do further strengthening on my own. Once released I'll take my exercises to the gym at Elmwood and work out a work-out.

It's official. My knee length discrepancy is 2.5 cm. or approximately 1 inch. That's quite significant, so I had a of heel lift made for my right shoe. Sidney Stokes, of Fit Feet, measured me and created the custom cork-like lift. The lift itself is NOT 1 inch. 1 inch is undoable. It wouldn't work with most shoes, and would probably be a bit uncomfortable. Instead, it's about 1 1/2 cm. Now I feel a lot better balanced. Hopefully when the next knee is done it will even things out and result in legs that are closer to the same length!

Problems that I am still experiencing at 7 weeks:
*Swelling. It's not uncomfortable, but the left ankle seems to have disappeared for good. Even after a night's sleep, the swelling remains.
*Numbness and hypersensitivity. The left side of the left leg is still extremely numb in places (and may be like that for good). The hypersensitivity doesn't seem to be as severe. I've decided to slowly decrease and then discontinue the Lyrica that I've been taking for the nerve ending pain so that I can see if it is getting better or if it is the medicine that is keeping it in check.
*The unexpected appearance of a dark purple line directly under the skin of the scar, which may have been caused by a tiny ruptured blood vessel. After a week, it is hardly noticeable.
*That "band around the knee" feeling that I've heard mentioned on TKR health boards is still there. It is really weird. It feels like someone has placed a think rubber band around the knee. It's not painful, but a very strange feeling for sure.