This post is about my experience 10 weeks after a total knee replacement. If you’d asked me back then how recovery would feel, I would have pictured a straight line: surgery, rehab, back to swimming, walking, cycling, maybe even running again. Turns out recovery doesn’t work like that. Not for me, anyway.
About four weeks ago, I fell down the stairs. One wrong step and I tore a piece of the tendon that attaches to my quad. A week after that, I couldn’t walk at all. I was back with the walker. My quad simply wouldn’t fire, no matter how hard I tried to activate it. The pain was relentless. I was on pain meds around the clock, and honestly, I couldn’t see the end of it.
Then, a week after the fall, I threw out my back. The pain shot down my leg and made everything worse. I ended up at a local chiropractor, who helped take the edge off. About a week later, I started physical therapy again, round two. I’d been going to Spear in Bellmore and the city, but after talking with my friend Sharon, I decided to work with her practice once a week and handle the other workouts on my own.
Small Wins and Getting Back in the Water
Three weeks after the fall, I got back into the open water. I swam three days, and each one felt like a gift. The bay was calm, the weather was perfect, and for those minutes I felt like myself again. No pain meds, no walker, just water and rhythm and breath. That’s the magic of swimming when your body is healing. It carries you when your legs can’t.
This morning, I walked from the Tobay lot toward the marina beach. But between the rough water and the wind, I turned back. A few months ago I might have pushed through. Today, with no race on the calendar, I chose judgment over ego. That decision felt like recovery too. Knowing when to back off is its own kind of strength, and any athlete who’s trained through an injury understands that.
Choosing Patience Over the Push
Walking down the hall to my building’s gym yesterday, I caught myself thinking I could run right now. The urge was real. But I’m not chancing it. Not yet. I want to rebuild my quad and recover fully before I even think about a run/walk. Outdoor biking can wait too. For now, my focus is PT and steady, patient work.
Hopeful, Stuck, and Showing Up Anyway
So where does that leave me? On one level, I’m hopeful. On another, I feel stuck in a place I don’t want to be. Both are true at the same time.
If you’re rehabbing right now, hold onto this: healing isn’t linear, and slow progress is still progress. Keep showing up. I’ll keep showing up too.
