Surgery + 27 Days: License to Drive

Things are going well. The most exciting news is that I got the okay to start driving and have made a "full-time" return to work. So far so good on that front with today, Monday, as my first day back. I'm still on crutches, though, and hope to be off of them this week or next.

PT has also evolved, as well. I no longer have 20 minutes of quad stem which is hooking up the quad to electrodes. This makes it amazing that the sessions are still running 2 hours or more. Today, I had:

• 10 minutes of sitting stairmaster,
• stretches of calf and hamstring,
• range of motion heel slides,
• 10 minutes leg stretch with leg hanging off the table at the knee while I'm on my stomach and a weight at my ankle as well as weighted heating pad,
• 2 exercises to practice standing/balancing on the surgery leg,
• practice walking up and down stairs (about 4 inches for stepping up and about 2 inches for stepping down),
• walking & balance practice with half medicine ball,
• 2 different weight machines - super leg press and another (the weights for the super leg press are at 100 for both legs, 40 for single leg up down and 75 lb for both legs up single leg down
• 20 minutes of ice with shock electrodes on the knee to reduce swelling

All that before 9 a.m. - actually today it went pretty long - from 7 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. You know you've been at therapy for a while when you recognize faces and know backgrounds for other patients. I feel like a veteran when a new person comes in and starts out the first day. I can tell them "I've been there and know it will get better."

Surgery + 20 Days: A Long Weekend

My St. Patty's Day Weekend was pretty low key. I spent a lot of time getting work done around the house and also for my 2nd day back at the office tomorrow. Also, I devoted time to "fixing this knee". I feel like I've hit a pretty low point because I don't see a lot of progress in getting my knee straighter. I'm going to try to take a picture comparing my right and left leg sometime this week. I've got to make more progress quickly! The other bummer is that I am so stiff every time I start moving around. I'm hoping that once I'm able to start moving around, driving, getting out, that the pain will be less. On to another week...almost three weeks post surgery!

Surgery + 17 Days: Back to the Grind

It's funny how the warmth and sun of Florida makes everything feel better! I was so glad I made the trip. However, I returned to therapy Thursday after five days off and could definitely tell I'd taken a break.

The main focus (nothing new) is straightening and range of motion. I continue to have difficulty getting my leg to the right degree of straight, maybe five degrees away. The things I'm doing now to get it fixed, electrode machine and laying on my stomach with my legs hanging off the table and a weight attached to my ankle are painful. However, I hear that there is a "torture chair" that will have to be used if I don't make my knee comply. This is incentive enough beyond the simple need to do what the doctors say must be done. The rest of things are progressing well. My quad has made progress. I can now lift 55 to 60 pounds on the leg weight machine on my bad leg. This is a good thing.

I'm left home alone this weekend to work on my leg and get caught up with work and keeping the household under control. I'm sure I'll be ready for Jeff to get back upon his return from St. Patty's in Chicago. In the meantime, hopefully I can make some knee progress.

Surgery + 2 Weeks: Here Comes the Sun!

While I haven't really gotten to enjoy the full beauty of Florida sunshine after four months of Michigan winter, just seeing light out my hotel room window is great. So far so good on my trip to the conference. I had one slip - or maybe I'll call it a slide - which hurt my knee. I didn't actually fall down. I don't think there was permanent damage. A highlight, though, was a trip on a roller coaster at Universal Studios - so good to be moving fast after two months of snail pace. Otherwise, I've been moving around pretty well, attending good sessions, and able to get in my PT exercises at the beginning and end of the day. I'm planning to take a mini-break this afternoon to see what this warm weather is all about. So far, it's been non-stop since I arrived Sunday and went straight into a session. I'll be ready to get back home and back in the rehab routine, but I'm so glad I made the trip!

Surgery + 9 to 11 Days: Back to Work

I've accomplished a lot in the last few days. I had a full day of work Thursday thanks to Jen who graciously chauffered. I got my stitches out as well. The knee looks much better than last week. There is one hole that I'm working on closing up, but otherwise very good.

Tomorrow I venture to Orlando for a work conference. It's the most work I'll be able to do for a couple weeks because I'm still not released to drive for two weeks. I've been practicing getting out and about with a trip out to dinner and to the mall today and attendance at the U of M gymnastics meet yesterday. Everything went well and I think I'll be ready for the conference with the hotel room to rest in just upstairs if I'm in too much pain.

My doctor's appointment went pretty well. He said the swelling is doing well and the 90 degree range of motion is a good start. He's not as happy with the quad development so I got an electrode machine to help stimulate the quad - 20 minutes a day three to four times a day - lots of work!

Surgery + 8 Days: Wisdom Inside Dark Chocolate

I found today's inspiration inside the Dove Dark Chocolate my friend Gerri gave me. Here's the wrapper:


What a great reason to eat chocolate!! Anyway, I would say today was a very good day.

Therapy was quite challenging and we made it on time in spite of six more inches of snow we were blessed with overnight. I swear that it has snowed 90% of the days I've had 7 a.m. therapy and with salt supplies running out in Michigan the roads have not cooperated. Today wasn't too bad, though.

I did the electrode stimulation for my quad for 15 minutes, "NuStep" modified sitting stairmaster for 10 minutes, range of motion exercises, calf stretch, standing work with exercise tubing, ankle pumps, and the newly introduced modified squat - a whopping 55 pounds with both legs and 30 with the knee alone - but not bad for 8 days post surgery. My therapist says I'm on track but he would like my leg to be straighter - this is painful! If you look at your leg, straight is actually a bit inverted and I'm not there yet. I do have 90 degrees range of motion - something I thought would be impossible last week.

I had a really good day of work today, too. Chloe was decidedly hands off. She must have tired herself out yesterday. I'm making my first non-therapy venture out of the house tonight for a board meeting for the soccer association. Tomorrow it's my big debut at work. Probably good so I don't get too used to working at home. It will be so exciting to wear something that isn't pajamas or sweat pants!!!

Surgery + 7 Days - The Stand of the Wounded Knee

That title is at the suggestion of new mom Laura - probably my only loyal blog reader :-)

I don't know how much it has to do with the post. My knee did take a stand overnight and thwarted my first attempt to return to work. I was tossing and turning until about 3 am when I gave in to take a ramped up pain pill hence throwing off my plans to hitch a ride to work today and actually be at the office. I'm hopeful that my next attempt - Thursday - will be more successful.

The other bummer news is that Jeff pulled a muscle playing basketball yesterday. We make for a sorry couple right now but he's handling it all with a stiff upper lip. No soccer for him tonight, though!

I did manage to get quite a bit done from home today which was reassuring. I had a constant office helper - Chloe the cat. She loves the heat of the laptop and likes to lie as close as possible to it. She loves the tapping of typing and wants to type herself, so she walks over the keyboard. When I listened to a conference call on the cell phone, she tried to eat the phone as the source of the sound. Wow! She would not be the best permanent office mate.

Therapy is at 7 am tomorrow - YAWN!

Surgery + 5 & 6 Days

I've finally got cabin fever which means it must be time to take the next step and start getting out of the house! Sunday was a long day. I've still been staying on the couch as much as possible trying to focus on staying elevated. I did PT exercises twice on Sunday (I had done them three times on Saturday). I think I'm at about 45 degrees on ROM although when I sit up and let gravity do the trick, I can go much closer to 90 degrees.

Today (Monday morning) was welcomed with a 90 minute PT session. They say I need to focus on straightening the leg as much as possible "so they don't have to torture me in a month or so". Amen to no torture! Jeff thought I had somehow deserted him in the waiting room. There was 20 minutes of electrodes stimulating my quad muscle, calf stretch, two range of motion exercises, 8 minutes on a sitting stairmaster, leg lifts, modified squat, and 20 minutes of ice with electrodes to reduce knee swelling.

The one thing still holding me back is pain management. I've pretty much given up the prescription painkiller except at night where it's not strong enough to keep from waking me up in pain. This is complicated from muscle cramps I'm getting during the night - probably from the PT. I'm going to keep struggling with that.

The one thing I've missed today - first day home alone is company. This was especially apparent as I knocked over a full glass of water about 5 minutes after Jeff left for work for the day. It was so nice of Mom to come and visit for five days and do way more helping out than she should have - I owe you big time, Mom! Other friends, Sue, Joanne, Skeeter, Jason, Connor, all have helped to brighten my days with visits. I also had two bundles of energy visit last night - Jen's twins Jadyn and Jordan - they were fun and brought yummy chocolate chip cookies. The two giant care packages from my work and our soccer team/Jeff's work have been so amazing and all the warm thoughts, cards, e-mails, etc have been so great. And, of course, the biggest helpers have been the residents of the house - Jeff who has been chauffeur, nurse, and jack of all trades and Bethany who took off work Wednesday to help me out and is always so handy. THANKS SO MUCH!

No Pain No Gain

One of the unfortunate side effects of PT is the pain that comes with it. I know I'm making progress just in 24 hours of exercises. It's already easier to do PT today than yesterday. Heel slides are currently my nemesis. I had about 125 degrees Range of Motion (ROM) pre-surgery. I would be surprised if I was at 40 degrees today. I need to get to 90 degrees ASAP!

Anyway, the PAIN part! All of the focus on strengthening the quad/upper leg is that those muscles feel used!!! Unfortunately, during the night the accompaniment to tired muscles appeared - cramps! Not only do leg cramps hurt a lot, but when you also are scared of an out of control tightening leg making your knee hurt more, there is pain and nerves attached. I probably got up in pain five or six times, but made it through. I'm anticipating a few more of these nights as I make progress, but am still so glad to have aggressive physical therapy to get me back on the road more quickly.

Other big news - I got a hsower - yippee! I would definitely recommend that if you have knee surgery, you buy some sort of chair for your shower before surgery. We hadn't done that so made a quick trip to the store first thing this morning - it was definitely necessary. I feel so much better now that I know I can refresh and renew with a shower every day. I know some doctors make you wait to shower until after your stitches are removed - I'm so glad I'm not in that boat!