I have the stabbing pain by my incision too. It's been over 2 months since the surgery and I'm JUST NOW walking a little without any crutches. Not by dr's orders or anything, but I feel comfortable and ready to do it. I pay the next day if I'm on it too much. I'm bending 135 degrees now too. Before surgery it was 143 with pain. I think I'm doing good. I have only 3 more weeks of p.t. once a week so they must think I'm doing great.

 It's normal to be impatient during the first month or so. All the restrictions, and orders and whatnot. I was very impatient the first month or so because I couldn't do anything. Nothing at all. I couldn't go to the restroom without someone walking with me to make sure I got there ok. I couldn't cook or clean or anything. I was happy I had good friends to help me out with all that. Family was tremendous help too. I stayed with my mom, and I'm 26, for about the first month because I couldn't do anything. It was me, mom and the boys.

 Trust me, you WILL need the pain meds. P.T. can make recovery helpful, yet painful for you. It was very painful for me, but of course I had an immobilizer on for 3 weeks without bending or standing or anything. I had to keep it up and was only able to go to the restroom. My P.T.'s have been painful to the point that I took 2 pain pills before I went and was in tears when I was done. I still have alot of atrophy in the muscles but at my p.t. evaluation they said it could take months for that to come back. Good luck with your recovery. I wish you the best.

Amy