PCL recovery....: Day 9... stitches are gone!

I got my stitches removed today, and I got to see the pictures from my surgery. I was so glad to get the stitches out, but the larger incision over the tibia, the nurse was peeling off the steri strips, and I apparently had a lot of steri strips, and the thread got stuck on the steri strips, which led to many ouchies taking it off. But at least I don't have regular sutures there, they closed it with a running stitch, so they pulled out one long piece of suture, and there were none externally to remove, so the scar should look prettier. Call me vain, but I'm a girl. It's at least 2-3 inches long, and I like to wear skirts, so I want the prettiest scar possible. Anyway, those are out, steris are put back on over all the stitches.

Here are what my legs looked like once I came home, with the steri strips on them. I have 2 more incisions on the side of my knee that you can't see. And of course, my surgeon's signature basically tattooed with permanent marker until such time that I can scrub my leg. Swelling looks really good, and there is a small yellow bruise over my shin, but it's not horrible. My calves shriveled down to nothingness though. It's kind of upsetting actually, because I used to like my legs, and now one of them is turning into a matchstick.

When I mentioned how little pain I was having, he said that usually, the PCL is not a painful surgery, it's just a long and annoying process. When I asked about walking, I was of course told not yet. He said if this was ACL, I could essentially be walking around as soon as I felt ready, with the PCL, it's a totally different beast, and even though you feel fine, you need to give that graft time to heal. I have a cruise coming up in about 7 weeks, and when I asked about the possibility of that, he said there is no reason not to go, I'll still be in the brace, but I should be full weight bearing by then. I don't mind going in the brace, I just want to go!

The office gave me a list of PT offices near to where I live, since the hospital is too far and inconvenient to go to twice a week, and the first place I called said they're on the second floor and there is no elevator. Definitely not going there, it's hard enough managing the stairs to my apartment, definitely do not want to do it for PT. I just don't understand how a PT office cannot be equipped to deal with people with crutches, in wheelchairs, etc. But I'm going to another location of the same chain of offices which is close to where my boyfriend lives, so it should be fine. I start on Monday. I am so excited, I can hardly wait.

After my visit, my dad took me to my favorite restaurant. The food isn't exceptionally good, but I basically grew up there. My dad used to work across the street from that restaurant for 20 years, and we used to go there at least once a week, so it's like seeing family when we go there. And they make the best chicken souvlaki I ever had. We always get treated like royalty when we go there, which isn't too often anymore because the restaurant is in a part of Manhattan that we usually don't go to. But, the hospital is in the same neighborhood, so it works.

I scanned in the pictures the surgeon gave me cause I'm a nerd and I think it's pretty cool, so without further ado.... the BEFORE