Note to self:
When you go to your pre-op meeting and they hand you a booklet with 10 kinds of leg/ankle exercises; out of which 4 kinds are leg lifts of varying descriptions, and they suggest you do 20 (per leg) 3 times a day — they don’t mean kill yourself the first day trying to do them all.
That’s 4 x 40 x 3 = 480 leg lifts.
I do water aerobics 3 to 4 times a week, and my inner thighs still have been screaming at me all day.
I am a fat old lady, and I have no business doing 480 leg lifts.
I’m not saying I can’t eventually do 480 leg lifts – but for the love of God (TIDBI), work up to it!
And, of course, I can’t take aspirin, or ibuprofen, or Tylenol.
With age comes wisdom, my (fat old lady) ass.
Thoughts from a Fat Old Lady 
Who’s your physical therapist? The leg Nazi? I NEVER had to go through anything like that pre-op. This must be some new & different method of prepping you for the POST-op pain, which is gonna be a whopper – but they give you the good drugs to take home; in a couple of weeks you’ll be OK. Wishing you good knee!
Yeah, the pre-op routine is pretty intense. Every day for 5 days before the surgery, I have to use Hibiclenz (if you’ve never used it, it’s a antibacterial pink liquid soap). Usually it’s just the day before. And every day for 5 days before the surgery, I have to put this ointment up my nose – which is supposed to kill off the bacteria in my upper respiratory system. Never even heard of that before! Thanks for the good wishes!
It’s ALL much more intense than anything I had to do pre op & it’s only been 3 years since my first knee was done. Things change so quickly in Medi-Land that it’s hard to keep up. Wishing you good knee- whichever one it is (I forget – it’s my old lady brain & you know how that works).
Everyone around here feels the same – it’s way different and more intense. But you got to figure it’s all for the best reasons. It’s the right knee (not that there is any reason in the world for you to know that). The left one is not far behind it – but the damage to that one is different, so I’m going to try those (fucking) shots again. I know, some people never learn!