July 09, 2021 Graduated to a cane. Use a cane now for everything but going up and down stairs. Still use 1 crutch for stairs
July 13, 2021 Went to new/old PT group today. I have been with them for both meniscus repairs. Things went much better and when I explained what the first group was doing I was getting jaw dropping shocked looks until I was told, "I just can't hold this in any longer....they were stupid" They took away all of the exercises the first group ave and gave me a couple new ones
July 18, 2021 Good news bad news First time since the right knee was replaced I was able to sleep 8 hours with my knee only waking me up once....5 hours, knee says hi, then 3 more. I've been averaging 4 to 6 hours a night with multiple knee wakeup calls. Left knee, which is also very likely on the road to replacement, is not doing well. Wearing a brace on it now. If it does not calm down I may need another cortisone shot to get through the right knee recovery
July 21, 2021 Update I discovered I cannot stand for very long in the Wuji of Sun Lutang.. Both knees really hate it. Never got past 5 minutes again and it started to decline in time However I am going a bit nuts without some sort of MA training so I am giving, what I call, the standard wuji a try, I will see how that goes. I am also growing concerned. Scar tissue is a big issue inn knee replacement and if it dies not break loose by August 17 I could be in for more surgery. I can almost straighten the leg, but I am not quite ay 90 degrees with bending, and I am concerned that it will not go any further without more surgery
August 01, 2021 Still working with knee recovery, and also have Covid. Wife tested positive last week and I am sick as well. Not as sick as she is, I got a vaccine last April. Basically I have a bad head cold. Other than that, not much different.
August 05, 2021 The last official day of Mrs. Xue's quarantine. Came across a taijiquan seminar that will be in early September. it is a style I technically do not do, but I am very familiar with. it will go over only a few postures and then the martial applications of those postures. So it is not to much for the time allotted. The teacher of a friend, and ex-teacher, of mine is coming to the area, and I really would like to go. it would be a nice way to start back to official training. However I am not sure the knee will be ready by then and to be honest, the way it is going right now, I am not sure my MD will not want me back in surgery to get rid of scar tissue. I will know more about that in a few weeks. But if all goes like I hope it will, I hope to start officially back to training in early September
Well not much to report other than. per MD, I have until the end of September to get my knee flexing the way it should or I will need to go back the OR for manipulation. Wait much longer than that and it will likely never flex like it should.
August 19, 2021 I have gotten tired of just doing knee exercises and some dumbbell work with little to no martial arts, so I tried something. I can't do the stance properly, but I can train, and I am training Siu Nim Tao and some very basic Yiquan stuff
Thank You, I will talk to PT tomorrow and I will double my efforts at home with the exercises and hopefully I will be ok by then.
August 28, 2021 I am working on Siu Lim Tao, however not the proper stance, can't do that. But it appears to be the only martial arts training I can do at the moment, and I need to do something Everyone is telling me how quickly they recovered and those that took to long are telling me about manipulation and none of it is making feel great. Last Wednesday I ran into someone who had both knees done and of course started out with how great they feel and how quickly they recovered..... with one knee. Only took a couple weeks, But the other took about 6 months, no manipulation, and it too feels great now, This actually made me feel better about it Doing the PT exercises, and there have been some improvements, but today I feel like I have had the biggest improvement so far using the reclining bike Knee update They put you on a reclining cycle to get flexibility and range of motion back. I have been working on this for 3 weeks Pedal forwards as far as you can go, reverse and go the other way as far as you can go I have not made any full revolutions..until In an 8 minute routine, the number of full revolutions August 25 I finally got 1 full revolution going backwards August 26 I got 8 going backward August 27 I got 16 going backward August 28 (today) I got 42 going backwards and 33 forwards
August 29, 2021 Decided to see if I can bring in some yoga Tadasana (mountain) Tadasana (with side leg/hip lift) Side bend Backbend Forward bend Warrior 1 Warrior 2 Triangle Wide leg forward bend Low (wide leg) Squat (wide horse stance) Standing leg stretch Downward Dog Bridge Locust Sphinx Shavasana Made it through, far from proper poses, but it 's a start
Knee still not right, still not happy, but it is what it is... on another note; September 17, 2021 it will be 30 years since I left Japanese and Korean Martial arts and switched to Chinese martial arts. Started with Taijiquan due to a back injury and I have been doing Taijiquan for 30 years, mostly Yang style, but also some Chen, Wu and Sun. Along the way I trained a few other CMA styles, longest of those Xingyiquan, but a few others as well. So since I started when I was 5.......... truthfully, I will soon be 30 years old........for the second time... so this 30 years in CMA can also translate to...I'm getting old
September 23, 2021 It appears I'm getting a knee manipulation while I am under anesthesia. I will get a call soon to set up a date to get it done.
October 03, 2021 Well, the knee replacement recovery is not going as it should and they are going to do a manipulation to break up the scar tissue this Friday.... I am so over this whole knee replacement thing.... and they still tell me I should get the left done as well..... and the left is not at all happy having to do the bulk of the work since June... but unless things go bad fast, if I do the left, it will not be until 2023
October 07, 2021 Well, sometime after lunch (USA EST) tomorrow, I will be unconscious and the Doc will be bending and straighten my leg to break up the scar tissue in my knee....multiple times....