That's as far as I got.

So that was it, my knee replacement blog. I'm a trifle embarrassed; originally I wanted to write every day, but it got a little tedious.

I went back to work on August 4. I had hoped to start back half-days, but nothing ever works out quite the way you'd planned. . . When I arrived and saw six weeks' worth of work piled on my desk, that plan fell by the wayside. I stayed half a day on my first day back, about three-quarters of a day my second day back, and after that, it was full-time. I was walking with a cane, but I felt as if I'd hit the ground running.

Last Thursday I saw my orthopedic surgeon for a post-surgery check-up. It's been about two months since my surgery, and I guess this is routine. I told him that I was still having a lot of pain - nerve twinges, I call them, and sometimes it feels as if my kneecap is going to pop right out through the scar. I said that at that point, I would say I wished I hadn't had it done. Now I have a knee that hurts more and doesn't work as well as the old one. I think he was hurt. He got out my pre-surgery and post-surgery x-rays and told me how much better my knee was now. Easy for him to say.

I still have hope that my knee will eventually improve, though. I am having physical therapy twice a week. I still haven't tried to climb stairs one at a time (alternating feet, the way normal people do), but I hope that eventually I'll be strong enough that I can dash up a flight of stairs again. I want to be able to stand for long periods - something I'm going to have to do tonight, as my handbell choir starts up. I want to be able to take long walks and simple hikes. I'm still not well enough, but at least now there's a chance I will be.