Welcome to ASA and good luck with your procedure.
Harv

Hi!
I just had a knee arthroscopy on Friday July 2nd.  My leg was also
much bigger above the knee than below it, like yours.  I'm not sure
exactly what my surgeon did because I haven't seen him yet for the
follow up appt....it's this Thursday....although he told me after the
surgery that my knee was full of arthritis and my meniscus was folded
over.
I stepped off the bed and could stand right after the surgery.  They
told me that some people can walk out of the hospital....depending on
what you had done and how much pain you can tolerate.   I wasn't
expecting to be able to stand in the hospital, but the nurse said to
try it and I did fine.  I was supposed to be a couch potato for three
days, which I did except I moved around the house on crutches a little
too much the day after and had more pain on Sunday.  I called the doc,
got stronger pain meds, stayed down that day and things improved
quickly.  The pain was minimal overall....in fact, other than Sunday,
the pain was not any worse than the pain I was living with for months
previous.  I was using only one crutch by the fourth day and by the
fifth day, I was walking around without crutches.  Even when I was
using the crutches, I could put some weight on the knee.  I have steps
to get into my house and I went up the steps slowly, but easily with
the crutches to support me when I came home from the hospital.  I was
concerned about the stairs because I have two flights of stairs to get
into my house, but it was a piece of cake!!
I have two holes in the knee that are stitched...very small holes.
I'll have the stitches removed on Thursday and my surgeon is going to
show me pictures and go over what he did.
My knee is not in good shape even though he cleaned up what he could.
From what the surgeon told my mom, I will be wearing a brace.  He said
I should have relief for 6 months to a year, but many of my problems
cannot be fixed.  I've been wearing an ankle brace for almost 2 years,
so I'm used to braces.  I can't take anti-inflamatories, but I'm on a
couple of RA drugs.  I have RA and have had problems with me knee for
a number of years.  The knee feels weak, but I have very good range of
motion in it now...and it's only been a little over a week after the
surgery.   It feels better if I keep it wrapped with the ace bandage.
Actually, I can't believe how easy this surgery was.  Of course, it
depends on the person and what was done, I'm sure.  I moved my knee
right after the surgery....slow and easy but I did bend it and move
it.  My doc's instructions said that knees heal faster if you move
them.  I iced the knee constantly for the first 24 hours and kept it
elevated almost all the time for the first 3 days.  And I had minimal
swelling.  In fact, my knee is half the size it was before the
surgery!  They gave me a cooler with ice that had an ice pack with it.
It's an Aircast Cryo Cuff.  It was great!!  I still ice it a couple of
times a day.
From what I've read and been told, the recovery time for an
arthroscopy is 6-8 weeks depending on what you had done.  This means
that you still have to take it easy and not go to full activity til
after that.  I'm not sure you'll be able to get on the exercise bike
for awhile, but you may have to go to PT....the PT will be able to
tell you how soon you can start back on the bike.  I definitely would
not be doing anything but walking around til my doctor told me I
could.

My neighbors both had this same procedure and they have been very
surprised at how much I've been able to move around without crutches.
They said they were on crutches for the whole first week.  I think
they think I'm doing more than I should be, but according to what I
was told, you go by the pain....I don't have much pain at all compared
to what I had before.   From what the doc said, it doesn't hurt the
knee to use it....although you have to be careful.  I can tell when I
need to sit down because it hurts....not bad, but I can tell it's had
enough.  I'm not sure what my doc is going to tell me, but from what
I've gone through so far, I'm really glad I had the surgery!  Wish I
would have done it a lot sooner!

Good luck!  You should do just fine!   Let us know how things went.
(and remember that everyone situation is different, so if you're not
able to kick the crutches right away, don't worry about it.)
Carol