1. I still had a lot of stiffness. Think 85 year old woman stiffness upon waking. I'm 16. Not cool.
2. My bones were forming funny since there's such little weight bearing force and I was setting myself up for pre arthritis.
3. My flexion and extension STILL sucked regardless of daily exercises, dry needling at PT, constant stretching and quite a bit of screaming at PT. This resulted in a limp.
So they took me back under. Pre op was much in the same, I had a great care team at the University of Colorado Lone Tree Surgery Center. My PT, Evelyn Massey was there for my surgery and my surgeon, Dr. Armando Vidal, is pretty highly recommended. Having my pt there gave me a world of peace of mind. She knows my knee better than anyone in Denver. And she's a little bossy (in a good way!), so I had no doubt she would speak up and tell my surgeon "ok that's how far her knee can go so be gentle past there!". Bossy people love other bossy people.
So what did they do this second surgery? They went in through my portal holes and made one more small hole and scraped out the scar tissue build up that's been hindering my range of motion (ROM). They also cranked on my knee to bend and straighten it. It took just over an hour. I woke up about 30 minutes after, groggy with pain at about a 7 in the back of my knee where the nerve blocks didn't reach. My nurse immediately drugged me up and gave me pudding, tea, ice chips, and graham crackers till pain was at a 2. I left about 45 minutes after.
What's different about this recovery? Well for one I have a CPM machine, which is a constant passive motion machine. It cradles my leg and passively moves it through a preset ROM so scar tissue is prevented from building up and stiffness is decreased. It's not as bad as it looks, and I know it's for the best. I'm in here 8 hours a day, everyday, for 2-3 weeks. 
I still have an ice machine of course so I'm pretty much attached to one machine or another or at PT all day. I should get discharged out of my immobilizer today, rather than being kept in it for weeks.
I started PT yesterday, a mere 4 hours post op just for more mobilization. My knee bent to 121 degrees and I got to 2 degrees extension- much better! Today may be a little worse with no nerve block but I'll power through like I always do.
My muscles haven't been stretched that far in FOUR months, so yesterday my calf was super tight and sore. Ankle pumps and water is your best friend for this.
The unraveling:
Doesn't look nearly as monstrous as my first post op unraveling! I'm on crutches again at least through today and then weight bearing as tolerated. This week should be... Interesting. But I'm over the scary part and back to square 1 with recovery!
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