Day 25

 Merry Christmas!

Day 25 of my Total Knee Replacement recovery. Progress is not particularly quick and there is a fair amount of tedious work that I process through each day, but progress is happening.

On day 13, I had my staples removed which led to being able to add baths and swimming back to the menu. I did my first post surgery swim….just 1,000 yards but it was my first aerobic activity in 2+ weeks.

On Day 22 and yesterday, Day 24, I was able to do very easy spins on my Wahoo Kickr bike. The first ride was just 1-mile and that took 6:35 to complete with a whopping avg power of 41 watts. Yesterday, I spun for 10 minutes and managed to cover 2.6 miles (15.6 mph) with an average power of 84 watts.

The key thing each day is to keep upping the stress on my knee and pushing my range of motion, without causing excessive swelling. In addition to the above, I’m going on 5-8 walks a day and while I haven’t gone as far as a mile yet, most walks now are 10+ minutes and near or over a half-mile. I also have 3 sets of range of motion exercises that I’ve been able to do 3-5 X/day. Lots of elevation and icing as well….

The biggest struggle is sleep. I can generally get 3-4 hours in but then my knee has enough discomfort in it that it wakes me up. This is usually around 2-3am. I usually struggle to get back to sleep and most days (like today), I just get up and start the day (it’s 7:45am as I write this and I’ve already been out for 3 walks in the single digit outside). I take a nap or two later, but the sleep challenge is probably the hardest part of the recovery so far.

Onward and upward!