It’s been five weeks since my surgery.  I can feel my knee getting a little stronger every day.  Mom came to Potsdam on Saturday and I asked her to bring the shower seat Dad was using before he went to Meadowbrook.  I showered for the first time in 5 weeks!  It was glorious.  (Which is not to say I haven’t been cleaning myself for over a month–’cause EWW!) 

I had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on Monday.  He’s hard to read, but seemed skeptical about the brace.  (You may recall that his preference was that I remain in a full cast for at least 6 weeks.)  I was hoping that he’d prescribe some form of formal strength-building regimen or refer me to physical therapy; but no–a few more weeks of just walking.  And he admonished me to keep the brace locked/straight whenever I walk.  I’m allowed to let the knee bend and stretch a little while sitting, but that’s it.

That was a little disappointing.  I’ve seen a few videos online of people with (apparently) my same injury.  Some of them were not as far along as I am.  One or two were way ahead of me, doing exercises and stretches and all sorts of things that only made me wince.  I just keep telling myself that every body is different and that even if those people did have my same injury, they may not have had the same repair procedure done.  My doctor is an expert and has done and been through this before.  I am not and have not.  So I’ll do as he says.  “I don’t want to screw this up,” I told him.

Looking ahead to Summer, I can’t see how I’ll be terribly inconvenienced by my recovery.  As long as I can manage to swing my foot up onto the porch rail at Camp, everything else will be fine!