It is so surprising to me, but I should have loads of time on my hands, but I really don’t know where it all goes. Certainly, not on writing and posting my blog

I am home, for the last six months, on the sick, trying to get back walking and pedalling correctly, after first a twisted knee episode and now eight weeks after a TKR, i.e., total knee replacement. Below are my recuperative weapons of choice.

A bike to nowhere, a skateboard and a mini bike sportneer.

Unfortunately I am unable to bend my knee (as yet) enough to turn the pedals completely on the bike to nowhere, and the skateboard is not the correct height to slide back and forth with my gammy leg while I sit on a chair. The good news is I took delivery of the mini bike sportneer (don’t ask me what that means) which I have set up and have been able to turn the pedals right round (slowly and carefully, still, with a fair bit of discomfort).

This has given me a lot of encouragement for my meeting with my surgeon next Monday. He has suggested if not enough progress has been made wrt bending my knee, he will suggest putting me under and forcibly manipulating the knee to get a lot more bend. I’ve been told that sometimes this doesn’t work and you end up with a fair deal of pain after this has been done. I am a complete baby when it comes to pain, especially when it concerns my gammy left knee, probably because of all the painful accidents which I have had to endure that it seems to attract.

I did a dozen turns of the pedals three quarters of an hour ago, and have decided, for the rest of today to try to do this every two hours till bed tonight. To turn the pedals I am sat in a chair a good way back from the mini bike, almost in a recumbent (bike) position. But it’s a start.

This past week I have had three massages, with the aim of loosening up the quad muscles in my left thigh, each time it has achieved me regaining 90 degrees of bend and almost a straight leg. Problem is between each massage and physio exercise the bend and straightness slips back to 80% and 10% off. My physioterrorists all agree that there is a lot of (painful) give in the leg, and the detrimental slippage is getting less between sessions. So I have to give praise to my gang of physioterrorists, Lilly, Ayesha (from Donegal) and Jo. My physio practitioner Jo gave me that very suitable name for herself, a physioterrorist because they invariably cause their clients pain. I think it sums them up just right.

So. I believe some progress is being made, and with this mini bike sportneer, I can, eventually, progress to the bike to nowhere. As far as the skateboard is concerned, I don’t think I will be sailing that ship.

Cheers.