I've been walking with one crutch for most of this week, and my physical therapist told me he wanted me to be walking without it by the weekend. So today I tried walking with no crutches, and it mostly works. I'm not completely steady, and I don't have great strength in that knee, but I am able to get around the house ok. It's a huge improvement, and it helps my mood tremendously to be able to get around on my own.
We've been sleeping in the guest room downstairs for about two months in order to spare me going up and down the stairs to our bedroom. It's not the most comfortable bed, and it is weird having the kids on a whole different floor from us. Even after two months our son wakes up disoriented and scared when he finds our room upstairs empty (or occupied by his sister, which is more often the case.) It will be good to get back to our own room, our own bed. I think I am probably ok on the stairs now, though it will be a little bit of a challenge, so hopefully we can move back upstairs over the weekend.
I still have a long way to go with recovery. I've only been in PT for about five weeks, and I think the protocol is for at least twelve. Right now my knee is still weaker and more painful than it was before the surgery - theoretically full recovery will result in what my doctor described as a 'pain-free knee.' Recovery has been going a lot more smoothly and more quickly than with the previous surgery I had so I am cautiously optimistic - I can already do squats and gentle lunges, and my range of motion is almost all back.
This also means I am able to carry things now, and help out around the house. Hopefully this will take some of the strain off of my wife who has been shouldering far too much while I've been in recovery. Moving back upstairs might give us a fighting chance of getting the kids back into more normal sleep patterns which would help immensely.