At Last

There is only one word for therapy today:

GOOOOOOOAL!!!!!

Bend is, indeed, 120. I have one more scheduled appointment on Friday so I don't know if I'll be done then or not.  Tomorrow is eight weeks.

Hamstring machine was on 67, leg press machine was 90, sled was 85.  I had to do the steps up frontward and sideways, but they didn't really hurt, they were just tiring.  I got kind of a cramp in the back of my knee but it stretched out OK and it doesn't hurt now.

Seven Weeks

Supposed to have 45 minute appointment today, but he needs to leave early, so it's only 30.  Measurement was still 116.  I am bummed, though he says every doctor will tell you that it will be 6 months to a year before you feel it's at 100%.  Yeah, yeah, whatever.

A couple of new things today - rocking back and forth and side to side on the wobble board (how do they dream these things up, anyway?), and pushing and pulling a "sled" across the room.  The sled is like a lawnmower with no wheels.  It had 70 lbs plus the weight of the sled.  I could have sworn it was at least 200.  I had to do it three times.  Hamstring machine was on 50, leg press was on 80 - he actually made me sweat today!

Whatever

Therapy today - bend was 116.
They changed all of my remaining appointments to 45 minutes (from 30) because that girl doesn't think there's enough time to get everything done.  My copay is the same, so why not? Nothing else was new.

Small Victories

I changed my mind yesterday and went to the pool anyway.  Only stayed 45 minutes, but it was productive.  I'm so excited because, at least in the hot tub, I can get on my knees!  I can also squat way down.  One thing I do is sit on the steps of the hot tub and see how far I can pull my feet back on the step below, the goal being to get my heel to touch the back of the step, as I can do with my other leg.  I hadn't been able to get my big toe back past the edge of the step, but this afternoon - ta daaaa - I did it!  I hope it translates into a good number at therapy tomorrow.

Six Weeks

Physical "day off" today. I'm sore from Monday, and therapy yesterday, and swimming yesterday.  I'm finding myself in a weird position.  Being so much better in most ways, the remaining "not that much better" makes me think I'm never going to finish getting better, that I will never get the rest of the flexibility back, etc.  Make sense?  Even a little? But yesterday I had him show me where 65 degrees, my starting point for therapy, was.  Six weeks ago, that was the best I could do.  It felt then like 112 feels now - but I got beyond it.  And I will get beyond this.  It's just 21 more to match my other knee.  I keep wondering what it will be like in a year, when this tightness will be (hopefully) a dim memory.  Will I be plotting the demise of knee #2 by then?  I will have been to Spain and back again by then (finances willing, of course).  One of the best things to come out of this is to find out that fixing my knee also fixed my ankle.  Remember those days when I had to ice my knee and my ankle because of pain and swelling?  Since surgery, I have had no pain or swelling in the ankle at all!

Geecmom Returns

Yesterday was really great!  I spent the afternoon in Champaign caching with niece Courtney (our third annual caching day).  The first cache we went to required a 1/4 mile walk (and back) and it was totally pain free!  I am still so amazed by that.  In all, we were out about five hours and did 14 caches.  One was down a creek embankment with weeds and vines and uneven, sloping ground and it didn't make me cry.  It didn't even hurt!  Remember when downhill slants/ramps were my worst thing, guaranteed to induce bone-grinding agony?  No more! But five hours of driving and walking yesterday didn't bode well for therapy this morning.

I'm tired, and my measurement is still 112.  Oh well.  We do a lot of talking about things, pretty much confirming what I have been wondering about, like the quad taking so long to stretch because the knee was so bad for so long that it is really tight, and that it makes sense that my ankle flexibility is better now that my knee is better.  You know, that old "foot bone connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone connected to the leg bone" thing.  Everything affects everything else.

Hamstring machine was at 50, leg press was 75.  He was pleased that I had been doing stairs yesterday, too (no choice - Courtney lives on the 3rd floor), with no problems.  In my head, I would like to be done with therapy before election day (the end of my current schedule).

New Challenges

Today was the first time in over a week (except therapy on Tuesday) when I have had to take anything for knee-related pain.  It doesn't feel very good today, so I'll shower and heating-pad it until time for therapy.  Yesterday I would have said that I expect to be at 110 today.  Now I am not at all sure.  What happened?? Dunno.  It felt great last night.  I wasn't on it yesterday.  Discouraging, though, and I have that girl today, so it's less likely that I will make my goal, anyway.  :(

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Woot woot!  112!  (See, what do I know?) True to what I expected, when she first measured it, she said it was 106.  But this time I said, "Nah, I can do better than that" so she let me get set and tried it again. Yay!  Other activities included the half-cylinder thing, slant board (which was a big issue with my ankle, but simple for this), two kinds of balance boards (front to back and side to side, which was harder).  The tough one was the BOSU ball. I had to step onto the ball side with my bad leg, step down the other side with my good leg, then step back over.  The step down was a little ouchy, but the step back was darn near impossible.  I was basically pulling myself up on the parallel bars to get back.  Then leg press and hamstring machines, then stretching.

She had never seen anyone use an iPod during stretching before.  That's kind of surprising to me, but it does work.  I've used it for years at the dentist, too (the longer they drill, the louder I turn it).  "Healing rain, it comes with fire...."  Sometimes that's very true.

Real Progress

Today, as the therapist was stretching me, he said, "105 or better".  I had my iPod on, so I turned it down and asked if that's what he wanted or what he thought.  He said it was what he wanted but also what he thought it would be.  Reality was even better - 107!  That's only 3 degrees from their standard goal of 110.  Next time I have that girl, though, so I don't know if I will make it then.  The swimming/walking is really helping!

The weight on the hamstring machine was raised to 47, and the leg press was raised to 75, I think.  He was pleased that I was doing so much in the pool (I showed him my notes about what I had been doing), but I don't think I will go today.  Three days in a row might be too much, and I have a few other things to get done today (including a nap, I think.

Side note: my original plan with the iPod was to listen to different things, whatever suited at the time.  I have settled, though, on a single song that I listen to every time - Healing Rain by Michael W Smith.  It is five minutes long, which is how long the stretches are, to start with, but the lyrics also help me get through the really tough parts ("healing rain, it comes with fire, so let it burn and take us higher").  It always reminds me that, yeah, it is hurting now but I can get through it.  It won't last forever. I wonder if the therapist can hear that I am only listening to one song.  :)

Slow Progress

Feeling really great, and the front of my knee seems less tight.  But when I try to increase the bend, my thigh muscle still seems so uncomfortable.  I'm sure it's getting better in tiny stages, but I wish it was more noticeable day to day.

Therapy is at 9:30 in the morning, so we will see.  I haven't been taking really any pain stuff lately.  I will do so tomorrow, though, for therapy.  I've also stopped taking the Vistaril.  With my increased activity level, I fall asleep easily, anyway, and I think I actually sleep better.

Pool Problems Begin

When I went to the pool today, the hot tub was quite a bit less than hot.  The pool was chilly, too, though I warmed up as I walked.  Later, even the shower was cold.  Oddly, there was a notice posted that the water was off in the building on Oct 3 for installation of a new water heater.  Hmm.  The shower got warm for a couple of minutes, then went cold. I reported it to the front desk, but I'm not sure how much they will care about it since it's closing in three weeks for the remodel, anyway.  It would suck if they left it that way for the next three weeks, though.

Today I really concentrated on walking.  I was trying to take an exaggeratedly high step to stretch the thigh muscle through the whole step (like our old marching band steps, back in the olden days when they didn't yet know the more humane roll step that they use now).  It seems looser now than it was, but we will see how it feels in the morning.

Ouchie Birthday to My Knee

Happy one month birthday to my knee!

Therapy went well today.  Slant board, stair stepping (regular stairs, not lower ones), hamstring curl machine (40 lbs), leg press machine (70 lbs), then stretching.  The combination of the iPod and a Norco taken an hour before therapy really helped.  My measurement today was 103!  The most painful thing is when he presses down on my knee to try to get it flat, particularly if my ankle is on a block.  It feels like it will snap in half backwards, and I find myself resisting it instead of letting it stretch.  He assures me that in all of the years he has done this, he has never, ever snapped someone's knee in half backwards.  But....you know.... not yet.

I got my hospital bill the other day - $39,383.74.  Of that, I will pay $300.  I will also pay a $100 copay for the CT scan, and a $500 copay for the surgeon, and copays for the therapy ($25/per session).  There may be some random smaller ones, still, but all in all, I am incredibly lucky that I have such great insurance.

Water Therapy

I saw John, the PA who assisted with my surgery, instead of Novotny because he was operating today.  He gave me the cutting jigs that were custom-made for my bones as a weird little souvenir.  They actually have my name engraved on them.  He showed me on a model how they were put on, and how the cuts were made.  All was well, and I go back in two months for more xrays.  I asked the all-important question - can I swim?  OK, I was pretty sure the answer would be yes, so I had my suit on under my clothes.  It was OK'd, and he said the hot tub wouldn't hurt, either.  YAY!!!!

I could hardly wait to get out to the gym.  I had to unpause my membership, which seemed to take forever, and then I was free!  I didn't take my goggles or any other equipment, since I didn't intend to swim swim.  I had designed a walking/stretching routine for myself that I could do in the shallow side of the pool, which took maybe an hour all together (including a 10 min warmup in the hot tub first, and another 15 min afterward).  It felt so good to be in the water, though, that it was hard to not do more.  It wouldn't have been very smart, though, since I have therapy in the morning.

After I was good and warmed up, I tried a few laps of breaststroke with a (gentle) frog kick.  It was a little tight, sure, but none of that grinding pain that I had before.  Hardly any actual pain, in fact.  I had to keep reminding myself that this was my first day back.  I'm curious to see how I feel tomorrow and how it will affect therapy. Better? Worse? I'm taking my iPod with me tomorrow because the pain of the stretching is getting to a point where I can't "breathe" it away.  I'm hoping the iPod will distract me enough to make it more bearable.

Turns out that the pool will be closed from Oct 27-Dec 3 for a major remodel.  I can refreeze my membership again then if I can't do anything else at the gym (like the machines) by then.

Insight:
Overall, this whole process has been so "nothing", compared with breaking my ankle, that if a day ever comes that I need the other one done, I will not hesitate to do it.  Looking back, it kind of bothers me how much time I spent trying to deny this problem, or minimizing it, while it obviously was so bad that I constantly mentioned it in journals, emails, etc.  I should have accepted that, like a cavity, it can't get better unless it is fixed.  It will not heal on its own.

Four Weeks

My thighs are feeling the machine work from yesterday, but not terribly.  I just wish I could get the bend better - it still feels so tight!  I have quit trying to "test" it at night because it's always swollen then (or at least it feels like it is, but doesn't look it).

I've been massaging the scar several times a day with the oil, and I can really see a lot of difference in how it looks.  I weighed myself this morning and was kind of astonished to find out that I have gained nothing, in spite of eating anything I want, and being basically a slug for the past month.  I guess healing uses a lot of calories - but I better get the random eating under control before it does start to matter again.  Of course, I do expect to be adding swimming to my exercise routine (tomorrow!!!).

Dr appt - 9:30 xrays
                9:45 doctor
               10:45 Gold's Gym pool   :)

One other little note:
Yesterday, on the hamstring machine, I felt a clicking in the knee, when moving both up and down. I asked the therapist about it and he said that it might go away but some people "will never again be able to sneak up on anyone", but even that is normal. So I guess we will just see what happens as time goes by.

I keep finding myself going longer and longer between pain medication. It's 3:30 p.m.and I have had nothing today - but it's time.

New Therapies

Therapy report:
Bend 98 degrees
Today, after the stepper and probably the most painful stretching I have had so far, I started some strength training.  First was 30 reps on a machine where you push your own weight up an incline.  (The Gold's Gym version of this is a machine where your upper body stays still and you push a plate (with adjustable weight) with your feet, from a bent position to a straight one). Then was the hamstring curl machine.  You sit with your thighs clamped down and your feet under a bar, and you raise your lower legs to straight, then let them down slowly. Then some cone touches (2 min.), some cylinder rocking (heels touching the floor, then toes), then 2 min of stepping up onto a step, bad leg first.  That one was a little uncomfortable.  They say that that is the last thing you get back all the way - stairs.

After ice, I made a new series of appointments.  He says most people are in therapy 8-12 weeks (Wed will be four for me), and I'm guessing I'll be more at the 8 end of that range.  I had to change one appointment because the time was too close to my IRS test appointment in Peoria on Oct 30, so I will have therapy at the should-be-illegal hour of 8 a.m. that day.  That will actually give me time for a little nap and some review before heading to Peoria (have to be there at 12:30 for the 1:00 test).