Staples & Physical Therapy

So last Monday my Dad and I took the journey up to Keene from CT for the first follow-up appointment with the surgeon and to get the pesky staples removed from my knee.  It was a huge relief because while they never caused me pain in of themselves, I could feel them if I moved my knee in certain ways.  Not very pleasant.  Plus, the whole visual of seeing staples in your knee when looking down, that wasn't much fun either.

Anyway, they took X-rays prior to the meeting and everything was developed and everything by the time the meeting started.  The Doc also came in with pictures from the surgery itself.  Now, I'm not a doctor, but I think it was pretty clear that there was damage to the ACL and meniscus after looking at the pictures.  The X-rays showed that everything is going pretty well and after looking at my knee only confirmed that (or should it be the other way around?)  He tested my movement and was pleased by what he saw (I could almost fully extend my leg and was a little over 90 degrees in terms of bending it.  I asked about driving and he said that he typically waits for the leg to be at 90 degrees before allowing people to drive (when it's the non driving leg, thankfully) so technically he said I could drive, but only around town, or short drives and that in a week or so it wouldn't be a big issue.

Then finally they removed the staples.  This was about as uneventful as you'd think but it was great to see them finally taken out.  The tool they used was one that looked like an oversized toe-nail clipper.  After that, the PA started doing some mobility tests... basically PT movements.  And checking swelling to see where I stand.  According to the norm, Im doing pretty well but she was mentioning how my quad seems to be a bit weaker then what they were expecting.  A bit odd, but whatever.  Set up the 6 week appointment and that was the end of that.

I also started actually Physical Therapy last week and the first session was pretty much what I expected it to be.  Just going over some of the movements they told me to do the week before and added a couple more.  I think they were just seeing where I was in terms of recovery.  I have 2 appointments this week and Im still doing some of the exercises at home when I can.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good, I don't use the crutches anymore.  I keep them around, but I can walk pretty ok on my own.  I still have a noticeable limp, but the pain is pretty non-existent at this time.  Now I just need to find a way to get my car!