The Absent Uncle: The two-week report

As I write this column for publishing in the Brandon Valley Journal on July 23, I have reached the two-week mark from the total replacement of my left knee. I looked back to last year in early August when a wrote a column two weeks after the replacement of my right knee.

My plan was to have the second done about five or six months after the first, but some other medical priorities stepped up and had to be dealt with first, thereby pushing this surgery out to about 11 months after the first.

Now in retrospect, having the two surgeries any closer together would have made the recoveries more difficult. My surgeon made it very plain to me that total recovery from a knee replacement is a 12-month process and that I needed to take that into account as I scheduled these events.

After having the delay “forced” on me, I now have experienced the additional healing and recovery time I gained that has made the second surgery recovery significantly easier, both because the first knee is stronger, more flexible than it was five months ago, and because of the experience of dealing with the rehab, expectations, and how to deal with initial shock of the reality of what just happened to your body.

My surgeon cautioned me not to expect the two experiences to be the same. Levels of pain, swelling, initial flexibility, and timing of events in the recovery can be different. He was right. (Of course!)

After the two weeks this time, I am pleased to say that I am getting around the house with the use of a cane versus using a walker. The swelling is not as pronounced, and the pain (or as prefer to refer to it – discomfort) was probably a little less, although I certainly had my moments when I was quite “uncomfortable”.

I work harder and more often on home therapy exercises, icing down the knee more often, and using some of the tricks I learned from the first one on how to get things done a bit more efficiently. All of those things have contributed to making this surgery recovery easier in comparison.  

The one factor that has been constant (and probably the most important through both surgeries) has been the wonderful caregiving I have received from my wife, Sherrill. She anticipates my needs, facilitates my movements, and helps me with the things that are difficult until I can do it myself. I couldn’t have done it without her.