Sleeping Post-Op / Day 13

Sleeping:

First time I slept through the night without getting up!

I am a fitful side sleeper so this was one of the biggest challenges for me (especially without painkillers). I hate lying on my back like a log with my leg elevated and my brace on.

I’ve gotten used to the leg brace and perfected my sleeping position with a fort of pillows. I also bought a body pillow which has radically improved my comfort and has given me the ability to easily switch up positions at night. I start off lying on my back, and as the night progresses I switch to the side using my body pillow and a pillow at the bottom to maintain at least a slightly elevated leg.

I also turned off the screen 1h before bed, took 5mg of melatonin, and made sure I didn’t eat or drink 2h before bed.

Physio:

We progressed to some additional exercises at physio yesterday.

I managed to obtain 90 degrees ROM – because of my meniscus I’m not allowed to extend past 90 degrees for 6 weeks. No issues with knee extension still.

My physio added the following exercises:

• prone hamstring curls – It was shockingly hard. I could barely lift my injured leg more than a few inches off the ground … I was wondering what hamstring weakness felt like – well, I feel it now!
• side lying hip abduction – important to activate the glutes
• prone hip extension – again focusing on glutes

Thankful things seem to be going on track so far… still eating well, hydrating well. My stitches come off tomorrow!

I’m also going (slowly) back to work and realised there are still so many things for me to do including:

• insurance claims
• creating a vision board to keep motivated

I hope I can continue to remain motivated as I return to “normal” life. I need to be mindful not to try to do too much – I tend to go out guns blazing and once momentum dies, start slacking off…