New Knee @ Work

Well it had to happen sooner or later: I started back to work this week. As I am a software engineer at a large aerospace company I spend my time at work in front of a computer. I generally get plenty of mousing exercise but not much in the way of other exercise at work. Theron lies a problem. My knee has behaved wonderfully while I stay active but it really does not like prolonged sitting! I got back from work feeling stiff and achy. I'm trying to figure out ways to fight that!

New Knee Status: Three Month Checkup

Two momentous things on the calendar today: I started back to work and I had my three month check with the surgeon.

Funnest part of the doctor visit was getting X-Rays. I am just geeky enough to enjoy getting to see the new hardware in my knee. I had actually thought that I still had the lower screw in (leftover from my ACL repair back in the day). As it turns out it was my upper screw that the doctor left in. I posted the after picture on my blog page and if you look at the line of the inner leg in the before and after picture you can see how bow legged I was in the before shot. The doctor was quite happy with everything he saw in the X-Ray. He reiterated his admonishment that this process was a 9 month process and I was not there yet. I still have numbness on the outside side of the knee and I still have stiffness and pain after sitting for any length of time. These are gradually getting better and it is rare that I have to take pain meds to manage discomfort.
Even though it was a very short work day because of doctor and physical therapy visits I was glad to get in and get into my computer and reset my long forgotten passwords! I brought the laptop home with me so I could attempt to catch up with work email.

New Knee: Week 7 - WWDC

Here I am down in San Francisco attending Apple's World Wide Developer Conference!

I signed up for the ticket lottery whIle recovering from surgery anesthetic and lucked out by getting in. At first I was afraid I would not be able to attend so soon after surgery and I even contacted the Apple Developers support team about the possibility of bowing out. They would have let me but luckily when I talked to my doctor he gave me the go ahead to fly down and attend. For me it is only a couple hours flight so not a huge issue. 

I talked to MrBikePT and he gave me a few pointers. I had already booked a slightly more expensive hotel because it was really close to the Conference center. He suggested I take an ace bandage to use for a little compression therapy at the end of day. Also told me to find the ice machine and if available I might want to use a whirlpool. 

As it turned out the week has not been too hard on the knee. The worst was day one when we spent hours in lines! By two thirds through that day I was ready to pack it in and found a seat where I could download the software I wanted and then headed back to the hotel. I had brought along a gallon ziplock bag which I filled up with ice for a bit of a lie down with feet up and ice on. 

Between Conference and a bit of sight-seeing I didn't take time out to workout in the gym.... Bad Linda! I did manage to get my leg up with ice on it every day (I needed it!) and I booked a massage where I had the masseuse  work on my legs mostly. I did have to skip out on several sessions as I was not able to sit for full days.

New Knee Status: Drugs

Everyone has different pain tolerance so it is hard to tell what you will need after surgery for pain control. Here are some of my thoughts on my own pain med use.

I was able to "mostly" get off the hard stuff prior to my first months doctor checkup. I occasionally use Tylenol and occasionally will grab an oxycodone when I feel sore enough to really disturb my sleep.

While the new knee has its aches and pains related to rehab and healing the rest of my joints have the same old aches and pains they had before surgery (duh). I went off daily NSAIDs before surgery and have not gone back on it yet  so I am starting to feel some of those other aches now. I may end up on some regular NSAIDs but for now the occasional use seems to be working for the rest of the joints.

One trick I use for judging my use of pain meds. I try to keep my pain levels controlled enough that I get decent sleep. I also want to get back to my normal level of  activity and keep up my physical therapy. Sometimes it takes a couple tylenol or even an oxy to get there.

New Knee: First Hike!

One of my hopes for the new knee is that I will be able to get back into hiking again. This weekend was a gorgeous northwest weekend so seemed to be the ideal time to drive out of the city and do a little hike. And yes I do mean little! I used the Washington Trails Association Hike search (http://www.wta.org) to look for hikes UNDER 3 miles in the central cascades. I came up with Lake Elizabeth on the way to Stevens Pass.

Becky, Beethoven and I headed off after a fortifying breakfast to find what turned out to be the elusive Lake Elizabeth and circumnavigate it on foot! The circumnavigation was 0.7 miles and involved a small amount of stepping up roots and over streams on rocks. I had my hiking poles which helped on the sketchier bits.
I wore my sturdy running shoes although I had my hiking boots in the car in case I though I would need them. The trail was just muddy enough to do a number on Becky's cute shoes....

New Knee Tips

Remember while you rehab to be aware of your body position and especially the position of both hips and legs. It is easy to cheat your gait and end up with sore joints.

New Knee Day 42

Mr. BikePT said I could get on the bike! Short FLAT rides with flat pedals instead of cleats but that's a start!

New Knee Status: One Month

Yesterday one month ago I got to go under the knife and saw and crowbar and get a brand new knee joint fitted in.

I am all in all very pleased with the results so far.

My leg is no longer bow legged. In fact I keep looking at in in amazement that it is so nicely straight. 

My range of motion has been quite good from right after the surgery. My PT and I are working on getting it to go straight without having to work at it. As for bend I am now doing full rotation on the bike and only sometimes have to work at keeping the foot in the right position. 

Quote of the Day

If you are going through hell, keep going. 

-Winston Churchill 

New Knee: Heat part 3

And now for that hot knee later on.... It refers to heat generated in the joint with exercise vs heat generated in a normal joint. Interesting....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16394760

Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2006 Jan;442:195-8.

Heat generated by knee prostheses.

Pritchett JW1.

Author information

• 1Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Bonerecon@aol.com

Abstract

Temperature sensors were placed in 50 knees in 25 patients who had one or both joints replaced. Temperature recordings were made before walking, after walking, and after cycling. The heat generated in healthy, arthritic, and replaced knees was measured. The knee replacements were done using eight different prostheses. A rotating hinge knee prosthesis generated a temperature increase of 7 degrees C in 20 minutes and 9 degrees C in 40 minutes. An unconstrained ceramic femoral prosthesis articulating with a polyethylene tibial prosthesis generated a temperature increase of 4 degrees C compared with a healthy resting knee. The other designs using a cobalt-chrome alloy and high-density polyethylene had temperature increases of 5 degrees-7 degrees C with exercise. Frictional heat generated in a prosthetic knee is not immediately dissipated and may result in wear, creep, and other degenerative processes in the high-density polyethylene. Extended periods of elevated temperature in joints may inhibit cell growth and perhaps contribute to adverse performance via bone resorption or component loosening. Prosthetic knees generate more heat with activity than healthy or arthritic knees. More-constrained knee prostheses generate more heat than less-constrained prostheses. A knee with a ceramic femoral component generates less heat than a knee with the same design using a cobalt-chromium alloy.

New Knee: Heat - part 2

More on the 'Heat in the New Knee' phenomenon. 
Seems that there are a couple aspects - First and the one that lead me here is the fact that my new rebuilt knee feels warmer than my other one. 
The second I discovered during my poking about on the internet today and that is that the New Knee may in fact run hotter later on! Cool eh?!

So off we go....
Google search: joint replacement heat in joint

At the Twin cities hospital: 

"How long will my knee feel hot?"

"Expect to feel warmth for six to 12 months after surgery. The heat is the body’s indicator that healing is occurring."

The University of Texas has almost the same statement on their site.
But this doesn't really speak to the mechanics what does it really mean that "healing is occurring"?

For more on that question we hit the internet again....

Google search: heat generation in joint healing

After poking around a bit in sites about using heat to help joint healing I came upon the Britannica site:

  inflammation | pathology | Encyclopedia Britannica

"Inflammation a response triggered by damage to living tissue". The inflammatory response is a defense mechanism that evolved in higher organisms to protect them from infection and injury. Its purpose is to localize and eliminate the injurious agent and to remove damaged tissue components so that the body can begin to heal. The response consists of changes in blood flow, an increase in permeability of blood vessels, and the migration of fluid, proteins, and white blood cells (leukocytes) from the circulation to the site of tissue damage. An inflammatory response that lasts only a few days is called acute inflammation, while a response of longer duration is referred to as chronic inflammation."

 I recommend going over there and poking around for yourself. Quite fun!

New Knee: Heat

All during my rehab I have noticed that my new knee is hotter (literally) than my old knee. Sort of cool but weird. Why is this? My imagination says it has a lot of blood flow and super antibodies hard at work healing and putting off heat.

The side affect of this though is that when I overdue things my whole body starts feeling a little feverish. Last night it was noticible enough for me to find my thermometer and check my temperature. It was normal which for me is a tiny bit high. 

Next step? Google this. What is really going on?

New Knee Day 20

Yesterday was the first outpatient PT day I had a nice hour session getting the leg stretched, bent, massaged, ultrasounded and electrostimulated! After the session my knee was loose enough for me to walk normally down the 2 flights of steps out of the PT office! (Of course shortly after that it tightened up again.)

For anyone who has not spent quality time with a physical therapist I'll try to give some details....

Typically your session starts with some procedure designed to break up scar tissue and adhesions like massage as well as something to help blood flow like ultrasound. 

You may spend some time on one of the exercise machines. And at some point you can expect some stretching and bending of the leg. This tends to be the most teeth grinding part of the visit. Your job is to try to get your muscles to release and not work against your PT. You should also give helpful feedback so the PT knows when you are at your current maximum stretch or bend. This is where being a wuss only hurts yourself! Erik will typically gradually bend my leg and ask if that is a stretch. Once I start to feel it I will tell him and he will hold that position for a bit. Generally he will get a bit more stretch in between asking and my response. Erik and I have worked together for a while now and so he is used to my feedback. Be sure that you let whoever you are working with know what you are feeling and where you are feeling it. It helps to understand what they are trying to accomplish also so feel free to ask questions. Asking things like: "Is it supposed to feel like there is a hot poker in the side of my knee?" can often be enlightening.
Again when stretching and bending hurts you need to work within your pain tolerances. If you have a low pain tolerance you will likely want to take some pain meds before physical therapy. Your goal is to work the leg enough to get it moving correctly.

Today is my follow up appointment with my surgeon. 

New Knee Update: Weekend Warrior

After a positive week I cleverly decided that I was ready to spend Friday and Saturday cleaning up and setting up the patio for summer.

Friday I decided changing the aquarium water would be a great idea so of course ended up getting distracted and overflowing the aquarium. I had just finished cleaning that up and sat down with ice on the knee when the PT came for the last home visit. Needless to say my range of motion was down a few degrees but I was not surprised!

Saturday We had a late brunch followed by my new knee's first trip behind the wheel to the garden store! It was a lovely sunny Saturday and NZ Becky and I filled up a cart with plants. Once we got them home we got the guys to move the bags of soil and then started in on a couple containers.

After a short ice break we went off for a dinner where I found that the bar seating we were given was not ideal. Those high stools don't allow for very good post knee surgery leg support!

Needless to say by the time I got home on Saturday I was trashed. I popped some pain meds and put some ice on the knee but it was a pretty uncomfortable night. The next day I spent pretty much the whole day prone with leg elevated and iced.

Lesson learned - Don't do that! 

New Knee Day 15: Pedaling!

Had PT today and after she left I hopped on the bike to do some partial rotations. I was really close to a full rotation but not quite there until I tried pedaling backwards. I was able to go full circle in reverse!

I figured out that the real difference was in my foot position. If I pointed the foot more instead of holding it at 90 degrees I was able to rotate my leg full circle. 

After slowing and adjusting foot position I am now able to pedal forward!!

Now I am working on getting everything lined up correctly and happy. 

New Knee Week 2

Finally lost a couple of the more crusty looking steri strips in the shower today. I can now see a little more bruising that was hidden. Knee doesn't look too bad for day 14!

New Knee Day 12: Progress Report

Sitting here on my recumbent bike doing a 30 minute pedal fest and trying to come up with a status report. This is Day 12 after operation and I am feeling like I am making progress.

First of all I still cannot do a full rotation on the bike pedals but I am very close!

Getting on the bike is much easier. I can lift my leg up without a lot of pain. The same thing goes for getting in and out of bed and up and down from sitting position. I have less pain and more flexibility which makes getting around much easier. 

I am down to one crutch (with PT approval) and when walking on the flat I can walk almost normally crutch free. Still have a bit of a limp though so need to work on that. 

My wound still has steri strips on but they are looking pretty ragged. A few more showers will likely see them come off. 

My leg never bruised up badly and except for the wound and a small amount of swelling it looks pretty normal. 

Speaking of showers I am able to put my good leg up on the toilet seat and dry off while standing with full weight on my robo leg. Just need to be careful to balance well with no twisting. 

Similarly I am able to get my socks and shorts on without too much problem. Again balance on new leg is good. I tend to be careful to hold on to something still but the weight bearing is no problem. 

As to pain level I am down to about 3-4 OxyCodin a day. Night is still a problem which is generally where the 4th oxy comes in. I am making progress. I can finally  sleep on my side without a lot of pain in the knee.  The biggest issue at night and early morning has been my quad muscle wanting to tighten up almost like a spasm or cramp. I feel it when that happens!

As to general well being I am feeling pretty good. My energy levels are definitely lower still. It takes a lot more to bounce back after any energy drain and I do need more rest time during the day. I am sleeping longer hours although the sleep is pretty broken so it is hard to quantify actual sleep time. After getting up early for the Anzac sunrise service Saturday I spent the rest of the day in bed! 

I am a little frustrated as there is so much I see that I need or want to do around the house but most takes a little more mobility than I have at the moment. I am trying to remember that my focus now should be working on my rehabilitation. 

New Knee Week 1: Anzac Day

Up at a most unworthy hour today and we went off to pick up the krazy kiwi for an early morning service commemorating the servicemen who died at Gallipoli. Glad I brought my crutches and also glad it is by tradition a short service! The knee and I made it through and I am glad to have joined in.

https://www.facebook.com/events/420630538107770/
http://www.gallipoli2015.govt.nz

New Knee Week 1

I'm just about over the high of making great range of motion progress and not having as much pain to deal with as I thought I would. Now I am getting bored..... And while one is bored one does silly things.
I hopped on my recumbent a couple days ago and started a series pedaling back and forth, not making a full revolution. At that point I was only up to about 112 degrees and I believe around 120 is the magic number for a full revolution on the bike. Did I mentions I was bored? In fact I was even more bored sitting on the bike not going anywhere and not making even a full revolution of the pedals. So I started playing with my bar end shifters and of course managed to shift jerking the pedal and suddenly I did a full revolution - YIKES OWEY! That was not boring! Luckily no metal bits fell out of anything (bike or knee) and I was able to do a few more three quarters revolutions before getting off the bike and grabbing an icepack.

Quote of the Day

"Let's tell the truth to people. When people ask, 'How are you?' have the nerve sometimes to answer truthfully. You must know, however, that people will start avoiding you because, they, too, have knees that pain them and heads that hurt and they don't want to know about yours. But think of it this way: If people avoid you, you will have more time to meditate and do fine research on a cure for whatever truly afflicts you."
— Maya Angelou (Letter to My Daughter)

New Knee Week 1: Sleep vs Pain

Pain levels have not been too bad so far but last night seemed to be the night for it. The doctor and nurses all warned me that nighttime was likely to be the worst. There is just no really good position for me to put my leg in. Normally I am a side sleeper and that seems to be the worst there seems to be no way to get everything positioned comfortably. I have decided that increasing pain mess at night is a good idea, as is using a seldom used sleep aid.

New Knee Day 5

Progress pretty good so far. I had my first at home PT session. She was pretty good at making me actually do the exercises correctly which is of course harder. She also took the humongous bandaid off so I'm down to just steri-strips and the multiple construction markings which are evidently part of Dr. Hollands  trademark.

New Knee Day 4: Bonk!

Bonk! Went along fine today not doing a lot. Some heel slides and quad sets along with a few of the other exercises on my list. I was sitting up on the couch doing some light knee bending when suddenly I hit a wall, Had the classic "stick a fork in her, she's done" moment. Shaking, chilled, generally not feeling too good. 

So lesson learned? Eat protein lunch in mid day - don't go straight to ice cream and chocolate sauce. Yeah you read that right. That saying about life being short, eat dessert first. Don't listen to it. Good nutrition is not just for wimps. I should have stayed away from sugar and had a more reasonable midday meal. 

New Knee Tidbits: Kicking the NSAIDS

Before you go into the surgery your doctor is going to ask you to stop taking your NSAIDs. For me that was no Declofenac for 3 days before surgery. I was made aware in that time how many aches and pains I actually had. Not just my knee hurt but various other parts of my body were in rebellion over the lack of their favorite drug.
So why does the doctor want to torture you like this? It seems simple: NSAIDS can cause bleeding, don't want excess bleeding. Or is it that NSAIDS inhibit healing? Something along those lines I guess....  OK Cool but when I started looking around for more specific information I found a bit more controversy than I expected: http://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/pharmacological/non-opioids/practical-approach-discontinuing-nsaid-therapy-prior

Quote of the Day

“Surgeons can cut out everything except cause.”
-Herbert M. Shelton

Quote of the Day

"I want to replace my knees with miniature Rube Goldberg machines. That way you'll know how difficult it is for me to simply walk out of your life."
-Jarod Kintz

New Knee Day 4: Home PT

So far I have had a pretty normal day. Brunch at Portage Bay Cafe on Roosevelt followed by a visit from the home health Physical Therapist.
The PT and I went through all the drugs I was taking which involved her quizzing me on what each drug was for and why I was taking them, etc. We then went around the house so she could make sure I was comfortable doing what I needed to do. She encouraged me to have someone stand by more often for a while. Like when I take a shower or use the stairs. She also figuratively slapped my hand for occasionally taking a full step going upstairs instead of the same leg up. She encouraged me to do my exercises 3 times a day. Or if that was too boring pick a couple one hour and a couple more the next then cycle through them all. Next person will spend more time on actual exercise and not paperwork. For the next two weeks we have home PT scheduled 3 times a week.

New Knee Day 4: Brunch!!!

I know I just got my knee replaced a few days ago but Sunday is still brunch day! I'll have to have someone else load up my plate at the breakfast bar but I want a Portage Bay Cafe Breakfast!!

New Knee Day 3: Lazy Linda

Ok I was way lazy today. I spent a lot of time watching TV with my leg being bent and straightened by the CPM machine but other than that sleep was the order of the day.

New Knee Day 2: Home!

Home and ready to really start training!

New Knee Day 2: Freedom!

Bright sunny day in Seattle and I'm on my way home!

New Knee Day 2: Slowly slowly

Pretty good nights sleep broken up in about 3 hour increments. All my vitals were good last night. 

Dr. Woke me with a knock on the foot at 6:30. He is very pleased with my numbers! Range of Motion of 3 to 110 is going to be pretty hard to beat today. They took out my drain this morning. A little burn but not bad. Without the drain I will need to ice a lot to keep swelling down. 

New Knee Day 1: One day down.

I'm all tucked in to my hospital bed. Immobilizer brace on to keep my leg straight overnight.

It has been a long day. Good news on rehab department- I was able to control my pain level and get in two Physical Therapy sessions and one Occupational Therapy session. 

OT is concerned with making sure I can take care of everything I need to - like getting into a shower, putting my socks on, etc. 

PT made sure I practiced stairs and walked with crutches plus they ran me through some incredibly not so fun exercises straightening and bending and lifting my leg. I had great range of motion numbers! 3 to 110 degrees! Big high five!

Now though I am knackered. I'm going to try for a good nights sleep. 

New Knee Day 1: PT

I pushed hard on the CPM machine today. Started at 0-60 degrees and every 20 minutes went up 5 degrees. So ended at -5 to 80 degrees. After that I rested up for about an hour but the pain level was not really going down much so before my Physical Therapy session I asked for a second OxyContin. Good thing as the pain was much more manageable during therapy. 

The other big help though was the arrival of a couple of my long term bike buddies right at the time to hang with me and chat while I went up and down stairs and up and down the hallway on crutches. 

Friends plus OxyContin equals great pain management!

New Knee Day 1: Clothes

Yeah! I am out of the hospital gown and into shorts and a comfy shirt. Also wandered into the bathroom and back. More pain today than yesterday but still not too bad.

New Knee Tidbits: Break-in Requirements

Had a chat with my surgeon today about what I should and shouldn't do to try to rehabilitate my knee. He was quite clear. "You cannot push hard enough to hurt it."

In other words go ahead and try to straighten it and bend it, walk on it and work it! 

I believe there is an implied agreement not to fall down the stairs and such like.....

New Knee Day 1: Sleep

Other than a wake up by the nurses every few hours it has been an ok night so far. My blood pressure was fairly low so they had to monitor it and up my IV input. Any pain has been managed by some OxyContin every few hours. When I am awakened I try to remember to move my extremities, keep that blood flow up! I have a catheter in which I was just told would come out at the 6:30AM visit so I'll be on my "own plumbing". My personal goal for the day is to be able to get up and move about more. Not sure if PT will agree or not. Having a few less attachments would be nice. Currently I have a drain on the knee, an IV, foley catheter & squeezey things on my legs. 

I'm glad I brought my earplugs! Wish I had remembered my eye shade. 

New Knee Workout

Feeling awesome!! Physical Therapist came in and got me up. I walked 50feet with walker! A little sore but way easier than I imagined. Of course I still have a nerve block in that knee so will have to wait until tomorrow for a more accurate taste of the pain levels. He also measured my range of motion: 8 to 94 degrees which is awesome! Of course with pain meds I am betting tomorrow's measurement will be less.

The PT asked a lot of questions about numbers of stairs in my house and where I had handrails. They will train me on both walker and crutches so I am glad I brought my crutches with me. Of course Mr. BikePT Erik already got me going there so I am hoping for a smooth day tomorrow. He warned me to be careful with my pup dog. Lots of people trip and fall or there dog jumps up and hurts them.

Hospital Food

Just got my room service menu and put my order in for some yogurt, raisin bran and a milk shake! I'm thinking salmon for dinner.

New Knee!

Out of surgery and feeling great. I have pain blocks in and the spinal is not all the way worn off. My robo leg is in a CPM machine moving from 0-60 degrees. CPM is constant passive motion machine     as to the surgery I didn't feel anything. I had a nice combo of happy drugs. 

New Knee Day: getting closer

Dr. Holland just came in and signed my knee! Getting Closer.

New Knee Day: Waiting waiting

Of course they ask you to get here at 7:30 and then are surprised when you are here on time ready to go. I'm in pre-op now, hospital gown on and all the papers signed and it is only 8:00! They will start putting drugs in around 8:30, surgery should be around 10:00. Glad I brought my iPad. 

New Knee Day 0 - Surgery Day!

Well this is it! I get to go under the knife/ sawzall/ / router/ hatchet - Whatever it is they use to rebuild my knee. I get to hit the hospital at 7:30 AM and hopefully will be in and out of the surgery by noon. My doc was confident that he would get me rebuilt in under an hour but there is of course all the pre-prep and post-prep and hopefully a little time for a nap in there somewhere.

New Knee Day -1 : I'll be Back!!

Up and at em! Last day to commute to Kent for a while.

Flywheel: Thank You!

Last 6:00AM Monday class for a while. I am not going to miss hitting the snooze button until the last possible minute and dragging my carcass out for 45 min of sweat! But I will miss the workout!

And for any of you with knee pain I highly recommend the spin workout. As far as prep for surgery goes I feel great. My legs are strong and I feel in good shape. (Even though my shape is rounder than I would like!)

Thanks go to all the great folks at South Lake Union Flywheel for keeping me going. 

New Knee Day - 2 : Monday!

Early Early Early 6:00AM Flywheel - Oh why do I do this? I'm hacking this leg up this week. Why keep on working it out?

New Knee Day -3: Sleep In and ignore the ToDo List!

Yep up early as usual but got my coffee and crawled back in bed for a nice long lay in! After that we made a trek up to Maltby Cafe and a cinamon roll the size of a dinner plate. Then a ramble through the town of Snohomish and several of its antique stores. It was a wonderful relaxing day but by the end of the ramble I was feeling the knee more and more.  It is three days pre-op and I am off my NSAIDs.

Quote of the Day

“I always take Scotch whiskey at night as a preventive of toothache. I have never had the toothache; and what is more, I never intend to have it.”
-Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

“If we are creating ourselves all the time, then it is never too late to begin creating the bodies we want instead of the ones we mistakenly assume we are stuck with.”
― Deepak Chopra

Quote of the Day

“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”
― Markus Herz

New Knee Day -4 : Ice Cream!

Chinese Food followed by Chunky Monkey with chocolate sauce! Yeah - I felt like I could use some junk food.
On the plus side today I got the recumbent bike down and cleaned off. I stripped off the fairing and fenders and changed out the pedals with some platform pedals. It is now downstairs in the trainer all set up and ready for rehab work. And of course with a nice view of the TV.

New Knee Day -6 : CPM Machine

CPM Machine was delivered today. I signed a bunch of papers and the tech set it up, applied all the fake sheepskin padding and fitted it to my leg. Unfortunately he didn't tighten two of the bolts so when I picked it up to take it off the Man Cave bed my lower leg adjustment went wildly long. No worries I'm an engineer - I can fix that.

New Knee Day: PreOp PreOp

One more step towards roboknee today.  Pre Op for my Pre Op. Got blood work and EKG done.