Post-Op Day 6

First milestone: check!

Tomorrow will mark a week since surgery, but I am happy to report that I reached the first milestone one day ahead of schedule - I got to the 90 degree flex today.  Actually, it was more like 95 degrees, which puts me in the lead for the next week's milestone (110 degrees).

Coaxing the knee into the bend was no mean feat - it was paaaaainful.  I felt like the band over my knee (meet my dear, long suffering patela) was about to explode while being set on fire.  I exaggerate only a little.  The pain can be handled with ice well enough, so I stayed away from taking more Percocets (which puts my total Percocet count at 2).
Doing the exercises despite the pain is paying off - today I realized that I pretty much forget to take crutches and just walked in the splint.  There is little discomfort, except for a pulled muscle somewhere in the inner hip which burns a bit when I swing the leg through.
Karla made me stand up without crutches or the splint yesterday to do the weight-shifting exercise holding on to the wall.  This was discomforting and unpleasant at first - my knee felt displaced and tender - but the pain went away quickly and I could stand and even shift more than 50% of my weight onto the operative leg. 

Also at physio they lent me an EMS machine which I'm to use twice a day to activate the teardrop muscle and the quad.  As the muscles kick in, I lift the leg and hold it for a few seconds.  Its amazing how hard it is to get the teardrop muscle to do its work - that was my biggest problem after the injury as well - but it is starting to wake up a little.So, to sum up, to date my improvements include: bending the knee to 95 degrees, standing without crutches or splint, shifting more weight onto the leg, lifting the straight leg off the bed while activating the teardrop muscle and the quad.

Overall, I'm very happy with my progress.  The trick will be to keep it up as I gain more mobility and have to work harder to get further.  But for now, onto the next challenge: 110 degrees, and walking without the splint by the end of next week.