Day 6--Post-op Appointment and Physical Therapy

I had my first day of physical therapy today. Essentially she had me doing the same things that Dr. Shenton gave me to do post-op. She was surprised that I was walking on my knee and that the brace wasn't locked out straight. The doctor had the brace unlocked to 60 degrees when I left the hospital and told me that I should be "weight bearing as tolerated." Before the session was over, she had okayed me to use on crutch when outside of my house and walk unassisted in my house. She also unwrapped my leg from the three layers of dressing and two elastic bandages that I've been wearing since Tuesday. I have seven small incisions, two are bigger than the others. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them...tonight I'm kinda beat.

After that appointment I had my post-op appointment with Dr. Shenton. I let him know that the PT was unclear on the protocol for a PCL reconstruction and he gave me the information to pass along to her. He said that he doesn't want me to talk to the PCL reconstruction that he's doing tomorrow because at this point, I'm making it look too easy. They took some X-rays and he did a posterior drawer test which he was really happy with. Whe he did that I could already feel a difference in the stability of my knee. It hurt though....he had to bend my knee closer to 90 degrees, which is far further than it's bent to this point. He also had me hang my feet over the edge of the table to look at the x-ray with him, which I was unsure about but he assured me that it would be ok and showed me how he wanted it done. He even had me walk down the hall to x-ray without the brace on. I am still pretty swollen and he offered to drain it, but left it up to me since it is something I can probably aleviate with ice. I declined. I am to leave the steri-strips alone until they come off on their own.

Bottom line? I can bend my knee to 60 degrees and I am supposed to work on establishing a normal gait. I can shower without use of a garbage bag and plastic wrap. I am set to go back to work around the 8th of February.