Three Weeks

Yesterday's therapy report:
Bend is 97, a big improvement over 90 the last two times.  I had lost about 4 of my steri-strips, but he pulled the rest of them off!  After some stretching (holy crap!!) and the measurements (my straightness was 5, down from 17 before surgery), we went to the parallel bars.  I had to two minutes of rocking back and forth on a half cylinder (foam roller cut in half), then two minutes of "marching" - touching alternate feet  to the tops of soccer cones, trying to step straight up with the bad leg, not swinging it out to the side to get it up there.  No real problems with either of those.  Then we worked on stairs of various heights.  Then he had me walk across the room and back twice. He says from the back, he would not be able to tell which leg had surgery - a huge compliment!!  From the front, of course, in my workout shorts, the long pink scar tipped him off.  :)  I left there feeling really good!  Other people who haven't seen me in a bit have said that I am walking well, too - better than before my surgery.  For some reason that surprised me.  I guess I never thought that I limped or showed pain, but I apparently did.  But now that I have thought about it......yeah, I remember that bent-over heavy limping that I used to call walking.  I realize that I am standing straighter, too.

The back of my knee suddenly feels normal.  The front of my knee is still tight.  The incision looks surprisingly clean and healed.  It's still a little lumpy and puckered, and he told me to use my Vitamin E oil to do a 2-thumb massage across the scar to help flatten it out. He told me it's still going to be swollen at the end of the day for awhile, just expect it.  He also suggested putting heat on it, then stretches and exercises, then ice.  I can not wait to get back in the pool!  I will wait for my doctor appointment on Oct 4, though.

Oh yeah, most of the thigh pain is gone.  There is still a "numb but not numb" area on the outside of the incision and some pain on the inside.  Massaging the scar is a little creepy.  The oil loosens all of the little staple scabs, so it feels gritty, and touching it makes it tingle.  I'm not sure if I am putting too much pressure on it or not enough.

One milestone - my first standing shower!  Up to now, I have been using a shower stool.  I probably could have done away with it sooner, but I was scared of slipping.  It's time to let it go!