I've noticed I'm going up stairs normally. I still can't come down them normally.

I've had a pins and needles/tingling/numb sensation on my shin since the operation. It's lessened over the weeks and is over a smaller area. Where it's still tingling is very odd. I experimented with it by getting my partner to touch around my knee without me looking. There are a few areas where I can't feel pressure. He then gently scratched one of the numb areas and I yelped and nearly hit the ceiling as it was very painful. I'm hoping this will go away with time but if not I can live with it. Just don't scratch below my knee.

The swelling has gone down a fair bit over the last few days and my patella is more visible. The scars have almost healed, just a few scabs over the incisions. I'm hoping the purple colour will fade fairly quickly.

My first solo outing

My knee was feeling pretty good today so I ventured out to my local knitting shop. I'm friends with one of the staff so she was expecting me. I took one crutch with me which I half used, mainly to get stupid people out of my way - it doesn't work with North London yummy mummies, their children are far too precious to look where they are going. I did find the crutch useful to take some of the weight off my knee.

I made it to the shop OK although it was surprisingly busy when I arrived and had two precocious little girls who were very bright but spatially gormless, just like their mother. One of them backed into my crutch twice, I asked her to be careful and the mother noticed but didn't bat an eyelid. The shop is quite small, my fried got me a stool to sit on but I felt I was in the way so I went and sat on a chair outside til the rush died down. It was worth the wait. I had a lovely chat with the staff, who gave me a cup of tea and a comfy chair. I'd taken my icepack with me so iced my knee while reading knitting magazines.

I got home OK although my leg was feeling a little sore. I iced it again. The trip out did me a world of good and I even had enough energy to cook tea. Although I didn't do the washing up.

Distance walked: 1.5km

Patience

I see a pattern appearing. Push knee exercises, next day feel swollen and sore, rest, feel better the day after.

I made it to the local shop today, it's only two minutes walk away so we added in a small stroll/hobble around the nearby garden square.

Distance walked approx 500m.
The physio exercises are getting easier. I've got my next session in a weeks time so hopefully I'll be finding them too easy and I'll get some harder ones. I do need to work on my range of movement. It is gradually improving but still a way off normal.

Angry knee

My knee has been feeling angry today, probably due to the over ambitious hamstring curl I tried yesterday. I skipped the squats as they sent a sharp pain down my leg. I've tried to rest my leg more than I had been doing over the last few days,iced and massaged it alot and did several calf stretches.

3 weeks post op

This evening I tried gently bending my knee slightly further by pulling on it while doing prone hamstring curls. It felt OK when I was doing it, only a slight ache and I only pulled my knee in a couple of centimetres more than usual. When I stood up I got a searing pain through my calf and it felt painful and angry for the rest of the evening.

There's a 3cm difference in leg circumference taken around my knee crease between my good leg and bad which is bothersome. I still have swelling above my patella but this is slowly going down.

Ice ice baby

Well it seems the endless leg elevation and icing have paid off any my knee feels loads better today. I made it to our local farmers market which is a whopping 500m return trip. I took my crutches with me although I think I'm better off just using one.

Despite being on crutches a few people thought their children took priority on the pavement. It's not as if their speshul snowflakes would have to walk in traffic, just step out of my way so I wouldn't have to manoeuvre sideways. Luckily they were in the minority and most people were kind and gave me space to get past.

The weather was glorious so I spent the afternoon tinkering in the garden. I tried going up the stairs bad leg first but I'm not quite ready for that. I can do it but it hurts.

My exercises are getting easier although my mind wandered while balancing on one leg while cleaning my teeth and I nearly toppled sideways in the style of Mrs Doyle. Luckily I caught the sink in time so disaster was averted. The bruise from the hamstring harvest has almost disappeared and I realised I haven't had the weird scratchy feeling behind my knee for several days. I'm still getting calf pain when I do isometric hamstring curls but I can usually work through it. Calf stretches seems to help with this exercise. Knee flexion is gradually improving. I'm comparing my progress against my good knee flexion and can bend my bad knee as far as the big toe joint on my good leg. I still have pins and needles in my shin although this has lessened.

A short outing

A couple of friends were down from Newcastle for the bank holiday and came by to see how I was doing. We ventured out to our local South American restaurant which usually a two minute walk away. I've been following my physio's advice and have been trying to get the swelling down in my knee so have spent the last few days doing my exercises, elevating and icing my knee and only walking in the flat.

It was nice to get outside beyond the garden but I took my crutches with me, mainly to get other people out of my way. It turned out I needed them. I took my time walking slowly to the restaurant and my knee was aching by the time we arrived. I found a spare chair and managed to have my leg raised for most of the meal. On the way back I found I needed the crutches to take some pressure off my healing knee and coming into our street I found me knee was jarring. I've spent the rest of the day with icepacks and am currently lying with my leg up at 45 degrees on the lilo and duvet leg rest we improvised. The swelling is coming down slowly but surely.

I have to say I am very bored at the moment. I was hoping my leg would have been a bit tougher and ready for walking by now. I have to remind myself I'm not even 3 weeks post surgery.

Undressing

I'm getting more confident in the shower and have been using it while on my own in the flat. Getting out is still a little tricky although I can bend my knee more and swing my leg over the edge of the bath.

One side effect of having a really good wash is my dressing came loose. I was idly stroking/massaging my knee - I think this is turning into a nervous tick - and found I was fiddling with the plaster. The clinic nurse had advised me to keep it on for 3-4 days so I was a little early in removing it, although I did had spare dressing. On inspection my knee is mildly bruised and there are some lumps I haven't felt through the dressings. The swelling does appear to be coming down. The wounds have healed well and are just thin scabs.

Exercises

Hamstring curls are still painful at 45 degrees however I can work though it with gritted teeth.
Squats - I found these painful today so limited it to 5 reps of mini squats but did them more frequently.
Calf stretches are helping
Balance - good. I easily stood on my bad leg and kicked a ball around it, both clockwise and anticlockwise. I'm still not as good as I was pre op at balancing with my eyes closed.
Knee bends - I can bend my knee one big toe length further than I could yesterday.
Knee extention stretch - so much better. No pain. I was knitting and listening to the radio when I realised I'd been stretching for 40min. I need to make this harder...

Swelling

Improving. I kept my leg elevated for much of the day and in the evening noticed the faint outline of my patella for the first time.

Day 14 - Two weeks post op

Well it's two weeks since surgery. Time has flown by, surprisingly so. I think I've listened to all of radio 4 however my knitting projects are not much further on. This may be due to having internet access in bed.

I had a physio appointment this afternoon. My usual physio was off sick however the person I saw was friendly and professional. Here's my progress report.

Knee extension: Excellent. My physio was impressed and said most patients knees wouldn't hyper extend this soon after surgery. I can't fully extend my leg myself yet so this came as a pleasant surprise. It's also made the pain of the extension exercises worth while.

Knee flexion: Pretty good. i can bend to 90 and now need to work on getting the full range of motion (ROM). There's still some swelling just above my patella so I need to work on getting that down with more ice, massage and leg raising.

Walking: I know I'm hobbling and not fully extending my leg while walking. I've got some new quads exercises as well as resuming sliding squats - my favourite.

Balance: I managed to balance on my bad leg for 30 seconds, although not with my eyes closed. This, apparently is very good. My physio seemed pleased anyway. For my next trick I need to improve on this and practice balancing while doing other things like cleaning my teeth and with my eyes closed.

I had a go on the quad machine in the gym at the hospital and managed to press 20kg. I think this is what I was doing pre op. My knee was very wobbly though.

I've got a new sheet of exercises and an appointment for two weeks time. I'm going to see the consultant tomorrow and have my wound checked.

Day 11 - Small steps

I seem to be less reliant on the crutches today and have been happy hobbling around my flat. I found my knee felt stiffer in the evening so went back to 1 crutch to ease the soreness and make sure I didn't fall over.

Day 10 - 2 goals completed

I managed to get into the shower today. Our shower is over a small bath which makes getting in and out difficult as well as balancing when I'm in it due to the curved sides. I managed it today although I needed some help getting our. Our bathroom is small so there isn't enough room to swing my bad leg over the edge. I'm back to using yoga blocks covered with a towel on the floor to make getting in and out easier.

I went down to using one crutch today which means I can carry things around the flat. But not a cup of tea just yet, still a bit wobbly. My leg doesn't feel too bad when I walk on it but I need my quads to work again before I can balance without crutches.

Day 9 - Small Steps

Sleep - Not bad. Woke up at 4am with a grumbling pain in my knee and irritating period pain. I managed to ignore both and fell asleep pretty quickly. Woke up properly at 9:30am, confused by In Our Time on Radio 4. Had strange dreams about Japanese calligraphy and mini buses. I think pain makes my dreams more vivid.

On walking back to bed from the bathroom I found I wasn't using my crutches, just holding them out to the side like stabilisers. I only took a few steps but was very excited. Then had another first and managed to lift my leg into bed without using my hands. I found I can extend my knee much further than I could last night, nearly to 10 degrees from passive flexion and maintained it while lifting my whole leg from the hip using my upper quads. Woo hoo.

I need to remind myself to be careful and not over do things. I did take a minute or two to marvel at how amazing biology is.

Day 8 - Flex on

Today I managed all 3 sets of flexion exercises without too much bother. I still have the tight knee sensation but easily managed to bend my knee to 90 degrees with only minor discomfort. At the moment I can do 10 reps, rest for a minute, then do 10 more. My lower quad tightening and co-contraction exercises are getting easier too, I no longer need to place my hand behind my knee to feel if my hamstrings are working. I can feel them working.

In the evening I'm still getting the odd scratchy sensation behind my knee and I'm still finding it icky. I forced myself to massage behind my knee despite it creeping me out. It's odd how I don't feel it in the morning. Must be something to do with the swelling that builds up over the day.

The pain has been more of a minor discomfort, mostly at 3/10 but with occasional 8/10 stabs when I forget I have an injured knee and try and move normally, usually something which applies a twisting force to my knee. Obviously I stop what I'm doing and find a better way to move.

I managed to be more comfortable in the lounge today and watched a few hours of TV. Coronation Street was very silly and very funny, as was The Apprentice. I'm in a sweepstake for the Apprentice this year which makes viewing more interesting and much more tense.