Nine Finger Chronicles - Deer Hunting Podcast · Dan Johnson, Sportsmen's Empire

The Last Two Weeks

April 8, 2026·30 min·2 clips

An Instagram user warned Dan that the next two weeks after knee surgery would 'suck ass'—and he was right.

1. Nine Finger Chronicles host delivers a two-week post-operation update on his knee replacement surgery recovery. 2. The host, approximately 45 years old, is the sole speaker and is addressing his regular deer hunting podcast audience while still on limited mobility. 3. The episode asks: what does early knee replacement recovery actually feel like, beyond the optimistic projections? 4. An Instagram follower who had the same surgery at age 55 sent the host an unsolicited and blunt forecast — no sleep, no bowel function, pain meds derailing everything — which turned out to be accurate on every point. 5. Surgery was performed Wednesday the 25th under a spinal block (similar to an epidural); the host felt optimistic three hours post-op due to residual sedation still in his system. 6. That same night at 1:30 AM the pain became unbearable — described as feeling like his wife beat his entire leg with a baseball bat — and his wife drove him back to the ER. 7. ER staff administered three morphine shots over roughly five hours and upgraded his prescription to oral morphine tablets before releasing him. 8. Morphine left the host unable to form sentences and feeling like a cartoon character with his soul floating outside his body; he describes this as effective for pain but brutal to experience. 9. He transitioned off opiates after roughly 12 days so he could drive again, moving to a Tylenol and ibuprofen rotation; at recording time he was 48 hours opiate-free. 10. First physical therapy session was on Friday following the Wednesday surgery; his therapist confirmed he is on track with 115 degrees of knee bend, 10 degrees short of the 125-degree goal at the six-week mark. 11. His stated recovery goal is to safely climb a tree stand by late October or early November for deer season; his physical therapist affirmed this is achievable with the current pace. 12. The mental toll of dropping from an active coaching and parenting schedule to zero activity has been significant; the host says he has felt sad for several consecutive days and attributes much of that to sleep deprivation. 13. The longest unbroken sleep since surgery has been approximately 90 minutes; a post-surgery follow-up visit yielded a sleeping pill prescription he planned to take that same night. 14. Mobility progression: started with a walker doing hallway laps, moved to crutches and 200-yard walks to the bus stop, and by recording day was down to one crutch doing five-times-daily walks to the end of the street. 15. His oldest son stayed home from his daughter's first national wrestling tournament in Kansas City — where she placed fifth — to help care for him at home. 16. The opiate constipation thread culminates at a Hy-Vee grocery store where the stool softeners finally took effect without warning, requiring a one-crutch sprint to the bathroom and a 45-minute session; the host praises Hy-Vee's clean facilities. 17. The episode is recorded as a solo monologue; tone is candid and self-deprecating, covering bodily functions and pain without filtering. 18. The host weaves sponsor reads for Wasp Archery (NFC20 for 20% off), Vortex Optics, Code Blue Scents, and Tacticam Reveal cameras throughout the update. 19. Hunters and outdoors enthusiasts who follow the host's personal life and seasonal hunting schedule will find this most useful. 20. Listeners with no interest in post-surgical recovery details or the host's personal circumstances will find little hunting content here.

As heard by us

A plainspoken knee-replacement check-in, with the sponsor read up front and rehab kept honest.

This one opens with the sponsor read and then settles into a straightforward recovery update after knee replacement surgery. The last two weeks are all there: pain, broken sleep, the first therapy session, and the slow work of getting the knee to bend and straighten again.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a blunt knee-replacement recovery update with family grit and rehab reality.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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