Tomorrow will be one week since my surgery. I have a PT session and I do have some questions-mainly I just want to review and have everything written down. It seems very important that I am absolutely certain how to do things and what the limits are so that I do not damage the new cartilage.
I have been told that I can put up to 20 lbs on my right leg. Also, that I can do as high of a degree of ROM on the CPM machine as I am able-and I am able to do unlimited-120 and beyond. Even though the doctor and the physical therapist approved this, I just want to review it again, because this protocol is not the same as the more limited one I had expected and I want to be absolutely sure I am not doing anything to damage the graft! The computers have not been working at the office, so the therapist has written things down and some things she just said verbally without writing them down and I did not take notes. The first day, my husband came with me and he did take notes and one thing was that I should "not go from bent to straight" which we think meant when I was ambulating, but I am not positive! So, I have been keeping my leg straight most of the time. They had said I should put on my brace in locked position and then can unlock it, which means it can bend. I want to review all of it though. I am doing amazingly well thus far, with the pain managed well with the medication that I am taking about every 5 hours still. I have lots of energy and am reading, writing, watching movies, letting my family wait on me, and taking crutch tours of the house several times a day. When friends visit, I am able to sit in the family room with my leg propped up on coffee table and socialize easily. It may be a neurotic, overly anxious thing, but I almost feel like it is too easy and hope that the ease does not mean that the graft did not take! I guess everyone with this type of surgery (ACI, denovo, etc) will wonder how the graft looks and I can't have a xray/mri for quite a while I guess....
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