Oh, my quad,

I am almost 4 weeks post op and my quad is what't giving me the most pain. I think I over-did it on the home strengthening exercises. I was at the point last week where I had difficulty walking with the crutches. I couldn't finish walking my laps in the garage. I had pulled my quad muscle getting up from the bed the saturday before, it radiated all the way down my shin. My doctor agreed to having me try a muscle relaxer with regular tylenol which I only took for 2 days because they made me feel weird. I stuck with regular Tylenol because I thought I was ready and was trying to come off the Percocet. Well, I was starting out patient PT that wednesday and stopped the muscle relaxer and started taking the Percocet again. It made a world of difference! That and asking God to take some of the pain away. I really couldn't handle it anymore.

As of today, I still need help down the stairs. I almost fell a few times because I lose my balance. I am working on putting equal weight on my legs but it was tough when I was having that excruciating quad pain. I am down to taking only 2 Percocets a day, one in the morning before therapy, and one at night. I haven't driven yet and am in no rush to do that. The only household chores I do are kitchen sink dishes. I have a sit down rolling walker that I use there which comes in handy.

Once the quad muscles are stronger and are used to their new place in my body, I am hoping the quad pain gets less and less and goes away. I have a feeling I will need the crutches for a while past the 6 weeks. I have a follow up appointment with Dr. Buly in about 2 weeks. Then I will get my xray and see the hardware in my body. This I am not looking forward to!