No, I haven’t become addicted to the Oxycodone that was provided post-surgery. Quite the opposite. I got off it as soon as I could but, man, the side effects. After talking with a nurse confirming the cause of some troubling abdominal discomfort Thursday morning, my mother spent the next five hours researching, making lists, shopping and looking up recipes on high fiber foods.

And y’all wonder why it took me 2.5 months to research my orthopedic doctor and ligament choice.

She fully takes the blame for that personality quirk. I never knew how bad it was until I witnessed it Thursday. Now, she can’t keep stop shoveling quinoa, hummus, vegetables and fruit down my throat. But I’m not complaining. It’s a tasty road to recovery (her chocolate chip cookies help too, now that I finally feel like eating them).

She’s been a saint the past week, dealing with my up-and-down moods and running to the store daily for stuff we need. I could not do this recovery without her. Thanks Mom!

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank all the fantastic support from friends, the tenant and Brian, all of whom have come over to visit, prep food, chat to take my mind off my discomfort and help with cleaning a flooded basement the day after surgery (Major shoutout to the tenant Casey, and Kevin and Maria for that one. And the plumber who showed up at 11:30 p.m.).

So it’s a week post-op. With the nerve block, opiods, Ibuprofen and Tylenol, pain management has not been a problem, even as I transitioned from narcotics to over-the-counter drugs. Leg’s been kept elevated, iced nearly around the clock and while I can put full weight on it (with my brace on), I’m keeping things pretty light and easy and stick close to the couch.

The five-day post-op visit with the surgeon, Dr. Green, was a success. He was excited to see I had full extension of the leg, minimal swelling and could make a muscle with my thigh and do leg lifts.

“You met all my initial goals, this is excellent,” he said. “My job is done. It’s up to you now. Get into physical therapy and start getting to work.”

I started that process today with Ryan, my physical therapist, who was amazed I had full extension of my knee one-week post op (“that’s fantastic,” he said, with a slight shake of his head, in disbelief) and then got to work with gentle exercises, most of which I’d been doing for two months before my operation to build the muscle and muscle memory (leg lifts, ankle circles, tightening of the quad, hamstring and glutes, among others). These are nothing new to me, just… now they’re a bit harder. Especially when trying to bend the knee.

I can get a 30-degree bend in the knee right now.

I remember how this went last time 17 years ago.

I have about 100 degrees to go.

* deep breath *

Here we go.