Seeing the Knee Doctor - Part 2

Just saw the knee surgeon again. He said my flexion (knee bending), around 85-90 degrees, is an improvement from the last appointment. However, my extension (knee straight out) is still around 10-15 degrees. I have a computer case under the desk and stretch the leg and knee on it while I'm using the computer, keyboard on lap.

I've completed the homebound phase, the inpatient therapy. I'm now in outpatient therapy. Since the last visit, I've been using the cane more. I'm trying to walk some without it, but it's not an easy thing. For some exercises, I can only do under a therapist's supervision, like bike machines and related.

However, he told me something quite interesting. In some surgeries, a TKR splits the quadriceps muscle to get at the bone, moves it aside, or something like that. In my case, he cut it, making a caret (^) shaped cut above the patella (kneecap). This most likely explains why I had so much trouble trying to do leg lifts and side to side movements for 2-3 weeks.

It's getting easier to do stovetop cooking. I did a recent dinner, and the left knee (with TKR) merely ached from being tired and the right one was hurting some and becoming a bit stiff. A far cry from when the left would hurt quite a bit.