Day 20

Yesterday morning, a phone call woke me up quite early. I checked the incision scar habitually, and the swelling was the smallest I've seen it yet, it looked almost completely gone. This was not very surprising as I did ice it before bed the night before. I went back to sleep after the phone call, and when I got up later, the swelling was back to full size, about as big as I've ever seen it. Strange.

I realized I haven't taken any photos that show the swelling, so here's a couple that show what it looks like these days:

Leg flexed to around 90 degrees

Leg partially flexed, around 45 degrees from fully extended

The incision is almost completely healed. There is just one spot with a small scab remaining:

It looks bigger than it is - actual length is almost exactly 5 cm

Today it's been mostly business as usual. I'm descending stairs almost normally now, just a little hitch here and there. I had a nice walk, forty minutes at least, and it felt quite good. There weren't any big oscillations in the size of the hematoma during the day - even after the walk there was no noticeable increase in swelling. All in all, feeling better and better, looking forward to more physio exercises tomorrow.

Day 10

The stitches are finally out! That feels a bit better. I can't really tell what the scar looks like yet as I have a new adhesive bandage over it, not to be removed for two more days; luckily, I can shower with this one on.

In other news, the swelling around the incision is actually the hematoma doctor told me to expect - I thought a hematoma would include more visible bruising for some reason. I told the doctor I wasn't really icing it so far since the thick adhesive bandage on it make it really hard for the cold to actually reach the site. He urged me to start using ice regularly now. Other things to look forward to are:

• Start physiotherapy next week to rebuild the quads.
• Free to start swimming next Wednesday.
• Free to start cycling and/or running in six weeks, so beginning of September. I can do very short runs or rides before, but nothing longer than 20 minutes.

Otherwise, the knee is improving slowly. I'm walking up stairs almost normally now, though it still hurts a little. I'm also going down stairs facing forward (no longer sideways), but with a sort of a hop-skip on the left leg to avoid the painful eccentric contraction. Still doing glute and hamstring stretches daily, but I've given up on hip flexors and TFL, it seems to hurt more than it helps at this time.

Day 8

I will be doing two day updates now, not enough is changing daily I think.

I had the bloated, swollen feeling in the knee again yesterday, but feeling just fine nothing today.
The knee is feeling better all around, the little pains during various movements are disappearing (for example, putting my feet up or down when sitting on the sofa). I'm going up stairs almost normally, though not all stabilisation and quad muscles are firing yet. Going downstairs is almost painless when going sort of sideways.

I've started going to the office for work this week. It feels better to change the environment a little during the day, plus the little extra walking should help with the recovery I hope.

The sutures are getting annoying, I'm hoping they will be removed at the follow-up - it will be ten days then since the operation.

I started carefully stretching hams, glutes and TFLs. Trying to do anything to make getting back into shape as quick and easy as possible.

Day 5

No big change since yesterday, improving slowly and steadily. I've been more active today - I've climbed the three floors to my apartment three times today, and while it did hurt a little, it did not feel like a bad pain. Still not using the bad leg when descending stairs though. I'm starting to activate the quads a little when walking and climbing stairs.

I also climbed and walked on the arm and back rests of the sofa to check something around the window frame. It probably looked precarious but I felt quite stable. I was sparing the bad leg and it worked fine.

I feel like at least some of the tension on the knee when extending under load comes from the sutures. Looking forward to getting them removed next week.

Day 4

The knee still felt a little inflamed in the morning. I took an ibuprofen with breakfast for a change and it helped. Feels better otherwise: I'm able to do a few steps up stairs before it even starts hurting, and it also hurts less trying to go down stairs. I actually climbed the full three floor to my apartment semi-normally later in the day.

I'm allowed my first full shower today. I removed the adhesive bandage so I could take a look at the actual incision for the first time too. It's not very pretty, but it looks fine. I won't be embedding a picture directly in the post, but here's a link to it for anyone interested.

I took another ibuprofen with dinner after the shower, just in case. That's two ibuprofen for the day, no paracetamol.

I'm other news, the ankle swelling send to be gone, while the one under and around the incision is unchanged, noticeable only when the knee is flexed.