Day 9

In terms of sleep, Friday night was again restless - my favorite position on my stomach just isn't bearable at this time.  When I woke up this morning, I had hoped to be "back on my feet", but without the sleeve around my knee, the first few steps were tenuous at best.  I've found that stretching my calves for about 30 seconds each helps quite a bit in lessening the Frankenstein walk.

Outside of those early morning steps, I've started to walk about the house without a crutch.



I've been working out on my home gym (a cheaper, earlier variation of the Bowflex machine, called the Crossbar, which I knickname the "faux-flex") since Monday.  Given the additional stability in my right knee, I'm able to move around without having to move my leg over the bench manually or use the machine itself as a temporary crutch.  I really wish I had one of those adjustable dumbbells; it would be so much more efficient.

The atrophy in both my legs, but particularly the operated one (right), is much more than I had expected in this time.  My last workout using my quadriceps was on Labor Day, September 6.  I had done lying leg curls with fairly heavy weight the next day for hamstrings.  Now the hamstrings in both legs are tight from lack of use.