It's so very hard to believe that on January 27 my knees will celebrate their 1 year anniversary. They continue to be one of the greatest gifts I've ever received.
Let me start by saying that somewhere around month 6, I stopped noticing limitations. I still had some, and still do today, but the limitations were so minimal that I stopped thinking about them. For example, I returned to aerobics classes and found that a few side moves were hard to do, but not enough to make me think about dropping the class. And I still can't, and won't, kneel on on the replacements--it just feels wrong. Plus it isn't good for them.
I have learned to adapt my yoga routine so that table position (on knees and hands) is not required to complete certain other positions, like Cat and Cow. I do these seated now, they work fine. My biking capacity has returned to normal (my training has NOT, but that's not because of the knees, it's because I got lazy. I'm working on returning to training). I am now walking up and down multiple flights of steps, doing some easy jogging with the dogs, and once again can play in the snow. I don't stop before trying new things because it will be fine.
My back issues continue to plague me and I'm quite certain that I'll be having that fusion sometime in the next year--probably after my center grant is submitted. But this chapter on the knee replacement is coming to a close. Starting today, I have turned on comment moderation so that I know if someone asks for information--and I am still happy to talk to you if you are contemplating arthroplasty in the future. I will come back and post updates if anything changes, but otherwise . . . so long! And thanks for taking this trip with me.
3 years ago
