How it feels.

I'm back to work and kind of back to a normal life.  My husband and kids still have to do a lot for me as they did before the surgery and I'm thankful for it but I am not even back to where I was before the surgery.  I don't think.  That last week before the surgery was pretty awful, with my knee sliding out of place and having to miss work, so I'm not sure if it's better or worse now, I just know it's not great.

Yesterday I had to work, so I went to bed at about 10:00 p.m. the night before and tried hard to sleep, but my knee and my back were working against me.  I've aggravated my old back injury this week.  So, I can't really sleep on my sides because it hurts my knee and I can't really sleep on my stomach because it hurts my back and I've never been a back sleeper.  I just can't do it.  So, I got some sleep, but not enough.  When I woke up, my knee was stiff and I could barely walk.  I got it into the shower, barely, and took a shower, got dressed for work and got (with difficulty) in the car for my 45-minute commute.  About half an hour into the drive, my knee feels done with it, but I can't really stop there and rest - I gotta go to work.   So I get to the parking garage and start my walk.   It's quite a ways.   I manage to make it to my desk, but at this point, I'm pretty tired and hurting and want to go home, but I'm too sore to do that, so I stay and work for the next 6 1/2 hours.  I'm lucky I have a light schedule right now.   I spent a lot of that time with an ice pack on my knee and one on my back, doing my medical transcription, which, fortunately, is pretty sedentary.  It was hard putting the hours in, because I was just plain hurting, but I did it.  Then I had to commute home, 15 minutes walking and 45 minutes driving, only there was a traffic jam and I ended up doing an hour and 15 minutes of driving.

Today, I'm so sore I can barely walk.

Next week I have to work the whole week because a co-worker is taking vacation days.  Do I feel ready?

Um, that would be no.

This is the third-to-last hallway.  Almost there.