"Been busy" does not begin to sum up the way the last two months have gone. I had a total knee replacement on March 29. I surely don't want to have any other things replaced, but I have already been told that I will need to have the other knee done, but at least I will know what to expect.
When I had both of my hips replaced, I could at least stand up on my legs. This time I learned that it's a whole different ball game! You literally don't have a leg to stand on LOL! I have worked extremely hard to build up my muscles again. It's been tough and very painful, but I've been ahead of the curve at every turn because of my tenacity. I've exercised like you're supposed to do on the off days when a therapist wasn't around. In April I had a month of in-home therapy and with the therapist's help was able to reach goals a week or two in advance of the norm. We were all very pleased.
In home therapy was so hard. I couldn't even lift my leg off the table for a while. Now it's better, but I have a long way to go. Lifting and rotating to get into the car has been horrible. Bending the knee felt like the stitches were going to tear apart from the inside out! I can tell you I have cried my way through many exercise sessions. Between the time when home therapy ended and outpatient therapy started, I had Danny help me, mostly for encouragement and to wipe my tears away when I felt like giving up.
I'm now in outpatient therapy three times a week. That's sometimes even tougher than it was at home. It is to strengthen my muscles and increase my endurance. They're working to help me be able to get into the car without Danny having to support my leg's weight. I find I still get very sore if I stand too long. I'm still using the cane but take small walks without it when I'm in the house. I guess I'm a bit extra scared to chance falling. I know it's because I've had so many surgeries, I just don't want to have anything to go wrong.
You've heard the saying "out of sight, out of mind." I have suffered with a great sense of abandonment through this recovery. I've experienced it before with other surgeries for the same reason, but it wasn't so bad then because I had my parents around to offset the feelings of being forgotten. I know people mean well and have busy lives, but I was really surprised I didn't hear from my church much. I got a card from the church, a 2-minute call from the preacher, and a 3-minute call from a deacon. I'm grateful for receiving four cards from people who speak with me when I'm there. I recently got several phone calls from a church lady who I didn't know that well - it really surprised me. Besides my two crochet partners I've had many visits from a family that my church considers troublemakers. Without those wonderful people I don't know what I'd have done. All I can say is that it's all well and good to want to have new people come to church, but don't forget the ones who have been there all along. Danny doesn't want to go back for this reason. Right now, I seriously doubt I'll go back to my church when I am fully healed from surgery. I just don't want to be around people who don't care if I am there or not.
