Three months later

3 months post op

It's been three months!!

I have been as lazy of a rehabber as I've been a blogger. I hate to say it but I've quit physio and have instead been going to the gym not quite enough and working specifically on rebuilding my leg muscle not quite enough.

I'm bad.

But I feel pretty good! I can do almost anything. I can kneel on very soft things like beds and folded up yoga mats. I can go down stairs basically normally.

My knee gets stiff when I sit at my desk or in a show for a while.

And the scar isn't really looking that great in some spots that were more scabby during the earlier recovery days. Let's take a look.


I try to remember to put special scar oil stuff on it twice a day but it's hard to say now whether that helps.

But all in all I'm doing well! I'm going back to the surgeon next week for another follow up so we'll see what he has to say.

My First visit with the surgeon

Post op week 7

I had physio yesterday and apparently I need to strengthen my hamstrings and improve my balance. Psh. I'm getting tired of going to physio. Can I stop now?

I didn't have a chance to go to the gym yesterday or today, though. :( Did I go Monday? Hmm. I can't recall.

Today I met with my surgeon and all was great. I thanked him for his good work, and he thanked me for being a great patient. He said everything is going according to plan. Apparently I'll be feeling perfect by three months but still can't do real sports for six months. Six months! That means I can play ultimate again in the Spring season. Yay Yay!!! :) I'm excited to play play play.

And I'm thinking of takng up running. What do you think about that?

Anything else new with the knee? Well, no, not really. I can dance a jig, more or less. Probably just as well as I ever could before, in fact. I feel almost normal! I still can only kneel on a thick mat or a pillow and even that feels weird. And my leg feels sore if I have to stand for an hour, say, at the Of Montreal concert. Otherwise I'm very happy!!

Updates!

Six weeks and six days post op

Yesterday I hurried up the subway stairs in a jog-like manner! It wasn't quite as fast as a normal jog up the stairs, but it was a jog up the stairs nevertheless.

Three days ago I began working out once more on the elliptical trainer, in addition to the stationary bike.

Tomorrow I've got physio and Wednesday is my first follow up appointment with the surgeon. Alright!

Range of Motion continues

Six weeks and two days post op

And now we're onto week six of this ever-exciting adventure in knee surgery land! Welcome, boys and girls!

Let me think, what happened in the last week. Well, for one, I went hiking in the Canadian Shield. Yes, that's right. I traipsed up and down through the rocks on a two hour hike. I can't say it was easy - I had to go very slowly, particularly when descending, and my left leg felt it the next day because I depended quite a lot on it to climb up things, but hey, I did it! I twisted my right knee oddly once and feared for my graft but all seems fine.

Yesterday at physiotherapy I had good news and bad news. I'll start with the good. I have 135 degrees of bend!!! That's a mere five off from normal! Wow! And we weren't even really pushingit to its max when it was measured. How sweet it is to be almost normal. The other good news is that my physio had me walk across the room for him. I did that no problem. Then he had me JOG across the room for him. And I did it too! It was the first time I'd tried jogging and it was no big deal. I've since jogged a couple of times here or there, like through the halls of my condo on my way to the garbage shute, for example. It feels good.

My bad news is that my extension, which is supposed to be zero degrees and which was zero the first time I went to physio so I figured it must still be, is off by two degrees. I now feel like I must straighten that bad boy out. Extension is very important, so they say. My physiotherapist was less concerned about it that I was.

The other day I decided enough is enough. I'm sick of limping down the stairs. So I've been taking the stairs down whenever possible and working hard on using the muscles required to do so normally. I believe it's the quads that really deal with descending. I think in the two days that I've been making this conscious effort I've started to feel an improvement, though it's still quite slow going.

I went to body pump today and actually put a bit of weight on for the squatting section. I forget now how much weight it was. I think 5 pounds in total. I also went swimming this week as well as biking at the gym. On the bike I've been doing 3o minutes of actual cardio biking and then five or ten minutes with the seat as low as possible, working on my bend. It seems to loosen things up.

That's all the week six knee news for you. Oh, except I've now spent about $500 on knee-surgery related expenses (most physio). I very much look forward to NOT having a $55 a week physio expense. Though happily I've been managing to pay for it out of my normal monthly budget instead of going into savings like I feared I'd have to.

Next week I have my first follow-up appointment with my surgeon!

I got new shoes!

5 weeks

It's been five weeks since surgery and here's where I'm at.

I think about my leg 65% of the time.

I've done two bodypumps and two bodyflow classes with no trouble. Except I can't kneel so that can get ackward.

When I walked around a lot on Queen street my leg got heavy and tired and uncomfortable.

Going up stairs is painless though I can feel my muscle is not strong, meaning it takes a bit more effort to do.

Going down stairs is still difficult for me. There's a strange interior pain that's almost like a block somewhere deep inside that kicks in sometimes when I go downstairs. My muscle is not strong enough to lower my bodyweight smoothly from one step to another. I can do it very slowly, quicker with a handrail or two, and even quicker if the handrails are close together and I can "crutch" down. But that doesn't count.

I haven't been elevating or icing, except the other day when I walked too much.

I started up with a new physio today. My old physio recommended that I alternate between the two for a variety of physio styles. This one had me do a much more physical session as opposed to the relaxed massage-esque sessions of the last five weeks.

I did:
- about ten minutes of the muscle stimulation machine(is this a crock or what?)
- 3 sets of ten leg lifts lying on each side (so adductor and abductor muscles, I think.)
- 4 sets of seven hamstring curls, which had me standing with the front of my thighs against the edge of the bench and a five pound weight on my calf, lifting the weight up behind me by pulling my heel up.
- 3 sets of ten things where a strap attached to a weight machine went around my knee, and I had to bend and straighten as if I had a ball between my knees, sort of. I felt the same "going down the stairs" pain during this one.
- some supported squats
- a few step ups onto that squishy half ball thing
- a bit of balancing on a balance board.

Everything was easy.

This physiotherapist had a helper girl who kind of did all the work. The guy himself wasn't particularly friendly and I didn't feel motivated or cared for or encouraged like I do usually when I see my other guy. :( They haven't measured my flexion in two weeks!!! Booo. Next week I will insist.

I'm thinking about biking to my friend's house this evening without any approval to do so. Hope that's okay...

Back in the pool! Back in group exercise classes! Back in the game!

Post Op Week 4

Don't even ask me how it's possible that four weeks are behind me. Please. Don't ask.

Things with the leg are really great.

Yesterday I went to the pool which I've only just recently discovered. It's two short blocks away from me and it's free! What the?!?!

I went to a lane swim and I started off doing arms only. I did 20 lengths to just get some cardio action on the go. That felt fine and the leg didn't complain at all. Next I took a flutterboard and did some light kicking for ten lengths, picking up the pace as I went on and realized there was no pain or discomfort really. Finally I realized that I was good to go, and I did 20 more lengths of full crawl. It was great! It's so nice to be able to feel like I'm really burning calories while stengthening.

Today was yet another milestone. I went back for the first time to the group exercise classes that I really love at the gym. In fact, I did them both, back to back, after doing a quick ten minutes on the bike. Maybe it sounds like I'm overdoing it. I hope I'm not overdoing it but I don't feel pain or any reason to stop. So I did a Bodypump class, modifying the heavy weighted squats and lunges sections so that I was just lightly squatting with no added weight. The rest of my major muscle groups were happy for the attention. We'll see how they feel tomorrow. Following that, I did a nice, relaxing Bodyflow class, a class that combines yoga, tai chi, and pilates. There were a few kneeling things that I couldn't do (I can't bend fully yet and I can't put full weight on my knee) but other than that I did some great stretches, strethening exercises, and balance work. My balance on the operative knee is pretty much as good as it was before.

So that's where I'm at four weeks post. I am extremely pleased by this speedier than anticipated recovery.

Overall, I should add, my knee is feeling funny most of the time, but not painful. It feels heavier and kind of achy when I keep it in one position, so I end up moving it around quite a bit, from straight to bent and back again. My walk is almost perfect. The stairs are still tricky on the way down.

Here are some week four photos for ya! Look at that bend!

Three weeks and five days

Physio session #4

post op: 3 weeks and 3 days

I had another successful physio visit today. He says I should be used in his advertising, but he says it in the same tone of voice that he says his encouraging, "hold just here" that makes me think he tells that to all this patients. Whatever works, right?

Today it was another relaxing session with him doing some soft and relaxing leg massaging and a few of the same old exercises that are all basically just very light muscle work for each of the muscles in my leg. The hardest thing for me that he asks me to do is he puts a rolled up weight under my knee and then has me tighten my quad and lift my foot up off the table, holding it slightly elevated for a few seconds. The rest of the exercises are easy as pie and not at all painful or anything as I've heard many people describe their physio sessions.

So either I'm a superstar or my physiotherapist is doing it wrong.

In any case, I've officially graduated from his little shoe-box office at this clinic and I now have to see him at his other office at the Atrium on Bay (a further walk from my house, but still walkable). I think he has more real equipment there. He wants me to alternate between seeing him one week and seeing his colleague another as they apparently have differing techniques that will compliment each other well.

In other news, I reached and just surpassed this week's goal for flexion with a whopping 122 degree bend. Yahoo! I'm only 18 degrees away from normal! The physio said that the biggest hurdle is getting to 90 degrees and after that it's just a matter of time and not so much working at it before it gets back to normal. I'm not sure if I agree.

I asked him why he thinks one person might heal faster than another, besides age as a factor. He said that I have very supple joints, or lots of flexibility, which helps a lot. Other people get very stiff and have a more difficult time healing.

After physio I used my motivation to go to the gym where I biked for 20 solid minutes on the "cardio" setting and actually worked up a sweat. It no longer feels like a stretch when I pedal around the bendiest part of the rotation so I'm good to go on that. I can finally get some cardio in. I also did a bunch of ab work and some calf raises, leg lifts, and ham work with the ball. I didn't bother with any upper body stuff... because I'm lazy.

Didn't make it to the pool after all but I did get the seal of approval from my PT to sit in a hot tub which I plan to do all weekend while surrounded by the beauty that is autumn. Yay!

must. keep. blogging.

Post op: three weeks and one day

It's been three weeks! And here I am, still alive.

I haven't been diligently blogging, but here's what's up on the knee scene.

For one, I've totally ditched the crutches. I am now crutch free and loving it! I've seen THREE different people using crutches since Monday, if you can believe it, and felt a marked affinity towards them, though they couldn't tell that I too am one of them.

My current focus has been trying to walk without a limp, and it's more or less working I think. The effort is kind of funny. I have to be conscious of swinging my arms because in my attempt to walk without a limp I end up holding my arms very still. This looks bizarre, in case you've never noticed it.

I have two newish difficulties now, too. The first is stairs. Going up I'm not too bad. I can use both feet and walk slowly but normally, though when my operative leg is the one stepping up, my muscle has to really work hard to lift the weight of my body. I guess that must be due to the weakness of my quads and hamstrings. Going down the stairs is much worse than that because my operative knee simply hurts when I do it. Sometimes I do it anyway, sometimes I step down with only my left and look like a bit of a weirdo, and sometimes I use railings to lower myself down. It depends on my mood.

The other difficulty is that after any prolonged walking my whole leg hurts. Actually I'm kind of in a state of constant "uncomfortable-leg". My calf muscle and the muscles in my thigh are all tense and angry, maybe because they're getting used to being used again, but it hurts in a nagging kind of a way and I don't enjoy it.

Despite this I've returned to my normal work and play schedule, ish. I think about my knee probably 90% of my waking hours. This week I have been biking at the gym twice as well as doing a few other things (leg press, ab work, leg lifts, whatever I can think of, stretching, sometimes arms) and I've managed to activate the audio on the televisions! I noticed a big improvement on my range of motion while biking on Monday, after a few days off over the weekend.

The incision is so close to being completely closed and scab-free. I hope to go swimming this week still. Maybe Friday after physio. I stopped by the pool on my way to the gym today (it's really so close!) and found out the lane swimming hours. It appears that swimming there is free. Is that even possible?

Oh, and before I go, I promised to talk about weight gain and knee surgery. Well. I was sure that I'd been packing on the pounds as I lazed around the house eating too much of very unhealthy things. But when I stepped on the scale the other day I was three pounds lighter than I think I was before surgery. I think the explanation is that I've lost some amount of muscle mass and along with that I've lost tone. I'm basically becoming one flabby girl.. but I don't care because it's just the numbers on the scale that count!!!! wink. wink.

Sleeping time.

Walking around like crazy

Post Op: 2 weeks and 5 days

This weekend I became a normal person again. I went to visit Steve in Hamilton on Friday and brought one crutch and my brace with me, but ended up really just using the crutch. We walked what is normally a half an hour walk and though I did it, my leg was really swollen and tired by the time we got home. I sat in a bar for a while feeling fine but did still feel better with my leg propped up on a chair throughout most of the evening.

This is my leg swollen after too much walking.


Saturday I walked around St. Lawrence market - again with just the one crutch.

And today I went to the apple orchard and traversed difficult terrain on my new-ligamented knee. I also went to my parents house without any crutches and managed just fine, trying now to walk without a limp which keeps me moving slowly but steadily.

Here's my leg in the apple orchard. I'm a little obsessed with photographing my legs these day...


I'm feeling pretty great, I must admit. This busy schedule has, however, distracted me from my exercising and tomorrow and for the rest of the week I'll be back at the gym. In some ways I feel like just walking on my leg is progress and exercise. The more I use the muscles to do normal, everyday things, the better they will fare, right?

One question I asked my physiotherapist is, "how much is too much?" His response to that is that the surgeon made sure during surgery that my full range of motion was there. The only reason I don't have it now is because of swelling and stiffness. So... in other words, I should work it out as much as I like as long as I don't feel too much pain or strain. I also, obviously, need to make sure not to do things that are not suitable for an unstable knee.

And one more leg shot from today for good luck.


As far as pain and discomfort go, it's still at this point heavy and noticeable pretty much at all times, but I wouldn't really call it painful unless I've really been walking for a long time, and even that is improving. Sitting in a chair with my leg bent for a long period of time is also not very comfortable.

It's hard to believe three weeks have almost alread passed. Stayed tuned for tomorrow's entry where I'll wow you with... body weight and knee surgery!!!

Physio session #3

post op 2 weeks and three days

My goal was to reach 105 degrees flexion by today and guess what it was?! 110!! Yahoo!!

I went from 60 to 95 to 110. Normal is 140. My next physio appointment is one week from today so let's shoot for a 125 degree bend by then. Go team!

He said the best exercise by far for working on my bend is the stationary bike so I'm just going to contine doing that. I imagine it will get more and more comfortable as the days go by. Soon maybe I'll even be able to start activating the audio on the televisions! Also I think I'll start swimming next week when my incision is a little more healed up.

I feel ready to ditch one of either the brace or the crutches and he said that the brace can be the first to go. But the protocol from the surgeon said that I'm supposed to wear that thing for five weeks so my physio suggested I call and inquire about that.

I'm feeling quite good about my progress and if anything I'd say seeing the physiotherapist is good for my motivation. He doesn't reall DO all that much. A little bit of gentle massaging, some exercises like pushing my leg in various ways against his resistance, and today he worked on my walking, telling me to remember to bend my leg and things like that.

And that's it! I've gotta go!

I can't believe it's almost October...

post op 2 weeks and 2 days

Not much is up with me and my knee since Tuesday.

I went on the stationary bike for three days in a row and it was quite good. I went slowly but made the full rotation and feel hopeful that tomorrow at physio I'll have increased my flexion degree from 95 to 105. Come on big bend!

I was thinking about going swimming today but my incision is not perfectly closed up just yet and I want to make sure I don't get an infection. As luck would have it, there's a public swimming pool just down the street from me that I stopped by the other day and saw the lane swimming hours. Too bad I forgot them... I wonder how much it costs, too.

Today was supposed to be payday but I see no pay in my account which makes me feel a little tense but not totally screwed. Usually I get paid immediately so hopefully there's no trouble with my last invoice. Boo.

So, the leg continues to be less than perfect but making progress. I've been misbehaving and breaking the rules a bit. I haven't been wearing my brace around the house and I haven't really been wearing it out of the house unless I am walking actually. When I do wear the brace, I haven't always been using crutches. For example, going from the car to the restaurant last night with my parents, I went crutchless and it was fine. I'm a crazy rule-breaker!!!!

I'm excited for physio tomorrow! Let's see how it goes!!

Strong Legs Plan continued

2 weeks post op!

Wow! I've made it to the two-week mark! And I'm feeling pretty great since yesterday when I made excellent progress and gained some confidence in my leg.

Today I made further progress. I went to the gym again but this time I used only 1 crutch to get there. At the gym I used the stationary bike again, starting off slowly in the lower part of the pedal rotation and then gaining enough flexion to make the full circle. I tried to pedal fast enough to activate the television audio but no dice... subtitles it was.

So I rode the bike for about 15 minutes and then went upstairs to the leg press. I did 15 presses with my bad leg only on the lowest weight which I think was 15 pounds. Then I did 15 with both legs on a higher weight, then 15 again on the bad leg and lower weight, then back to both legs. I thought about doing some hip abductors, and tried it a bit, but then wasn't sure if I was supposed to do a thing like that. So I went down on the mat and did some abs and some lying around elevating my leg against the glass of the squash court. Ahh, workouts.

I don't have a very clear workout plan. All I know is that my PT told me I can do the bike and the leg press so that's what I did. I should figure out a more extensive upper and core body workout plan to compensate for my self-pitying overeating. I didn't weigh myself before this all started for a reason...

At home I've been much more comfortable the last couple of days. It's like my quad muscles kicked in once again and are suddenly now somewhat useful. I can lift my leg up onto the couch using my quadriceps instead of turning around and lifting it up with my hamstrings. I can also lower my leg slowly to the ground. These are things I was not able to do for the first week and a half or more. Actually, it might have been just yesterday that I suddenly felt the change.

I've also been walking around my place without the brace on and without having to hold onto furniture for support. I know this goes against my doctor's orders, but I feel like the longer I am stuck in the brace the more muscle mass I'll lose and the less opportunity I'll have to work on flexion. I've been very careful and haven't had any mishaps. Yet.

As far as how my emotional state is, I'm feeling really great. Getting back to work and the gym, and seeing real improvement has done a lot for me. Yes, it sucks to be kind of missing a beautiful time of year, but I think I'll survive. I should try to get outside a bit more and stop letting this leg keep me all cooped up.

And finally, here are my 2 weeks post op photos:

Look how the bruise has just about disappeared!

My scar looks beautiful except for a spot or two of bloodiness that hasn't cleared up yet. And pen marks that haven't washed off.

The most progress yet!!

Day 13

This afternoon, after visiting the office for the first time today since the surgery (though I've been fine and working from home since sometime last week), I went back to the gym! I haven't been to the gym since maybe two weeks before my surgery when I came down with a cold and the never returned.

I actually hesitated going because the image of a girl hobbling around with crutches in a big brace, entering the gym seemed too much for me to handle. But I had already declared publically that I was going to give it a shot, so off I went. For those out of the loop, my gym is a three minute walk down the street.

It probably took me ten minutes to crutch over there.

Once there, I definitely attracted some attention, the front door girl asked me what I did to my leg immediately. Other people held the doors for me, and later my friend the Kung Fu instructor/Fitness Orientation guy who has been asking me about my knee since he oriented me came by to say hello and see how I was doing.

I went over to the stationary bikes section and got onto a bike with a good view of the TVs. My physio said this morning that I could go on the bike but I probably wouldn't be able to do a full rotation on the pedals. Even just pedalling back and forth on the lower part of the rotation would be a good start, he said. I've read accounts of others online who say that getting on the bike is great for helping with the healing process. I think it releases some kind of acid or fluid or something that helps to increase range of motion. After about five minutes of pedaling back and forth, I was actually able to do a full rotation pedal!! Then I continued to cycle for about ten more minutes! I didn't want to overdo it but it felt pretty okay. I mean, it wasn't like I was burning many calories. I was going so slowly the bike's computer didn't even register my efforts and therefore I couldn't even activate the audio for the TVs, but man, it felt great. It was pretty difficult at the bendiest part of the pedal-action, such that I had to use my other foot to kind of pull the pedal along instead of pushing it with my bad leg. I feel confident that by Friday, if I continue to go to the gym and work on the cycling, I will achieve my 105 degree bending goal. Maybe even beat it!

After around fifteen minutes on the bike I figured that was enough so I went over to the mat area where I did a bunch of crunches, first with my legs bent and down and then with them up on the ball. I used my legs to pull and push the ball around, I did some bicep and tricep work, and I could even do the plank on my toes (without the brace!) I'm not completely sure as far as leg exercises what else I should do, or maybe what I shouldn't do, but I'm not really pushing it and nothing I've done has caused me any pain yet.

I left the gym feeling so great! It's nice to be back doing some of the things I enjoy, even if it's not quite the same. It feels wonderful to see real signs of progress. It even just feels good to be working on getting better in a busy and full of life environment like the gym where everyone else is working on the same goal, if for different reasons.

Then I came home and ate ice cream, souvlaki and nachos Iin that order) with friends while watching Heroes.

Here's to my two week anniversary tomorrow!!! My how time flies.

Cabin Fever for me and my primary caregiver!

Post Op day 12 and some 13

Sunday was day 12 and we went out for Brunch and coffee and dinner with various people. In between the eating, lying around watching the Office on a sunny early Autumn sunday got us itchy for some fresh air, so we packed up our reading material and went to the park across the street from my condo. Ahh, it really hit the spot.


My leg seems to be improving by very small increments daily. I am feeling increasingly more okay to sit in a normal chair with my foot down, though I still need to alternate between up and down throughout a meal. I crutched all the way down to Queen St. W from Dundas which usually takes five minutes but took me probably closer to 15.


Last night, after all of that action, my knee felt very heavy and uncomfortable. So now I think I've learned that the more activity I do during the day, the more Tylenol, icing, and elevating I need in the evening.

I also ate lots of french fries last night. Oopsies...

This morning I woke up and went to my second physio appointment. As you may know, I've been worrying about the speed and quality of my recovery with only once-a-week physiotherapy visits. I expressed this concern to my physiotherapist and he seemed to think that it will be fine as long as I seem to be making improvements. And I am! Last week I was able to bend my knee to 60 degrees flexion, 6 days post surgery. Today, 13 days post surgery, I was at 90 degrees! Hurray! I have another physio appointment on Friday and I hope to have improved to at least 105 flexion. Go me!

At physio I did a number of relatively easy exercises. In on he wanted me to extend my leg straight out in front of me while seated on the table and hold it up and out with my own muscle. I really didn't think I'd be able to do it, but lo and behold, my muscle kicked in after the first try or two and I was able to hold out my leg on my own. Another success!

My physio seems perplexed at my surgeon's instructions to continue wearing the brace for such a long time (6 weeks). I told him that I'd been kind of moving around my place without it despite those instructions and he thinks it's fine, as long as I wear it when I'm walking around outside and in less contained environments. He said that I might as well start using my leg if I'm planning on using it for the rest of my life.

I asked him when I'd be able to get on the stationary bike and he said that if I want to go to my gym and just try pedaling, it would be beneficial to improving my bend. He said I won't be able to make full circles around, but if I just work on it by pedaling back and forth on the bottom of the rotation, it would be good. He said that the leg press machine would also be a good exercise to work on at the gym.

I feel like I need to be very pro-active with this physiotherapist, making sure to ask questions about specific exercises and steps in my recovery in order to get the information I need. That feels kind of weird, but luckily I'm on the ball with this... I think.

At one point I was standing up and doing some hip related exercises and I started to feel very faint. I think it might have been the fact that cheerios suck for energy and the lights in his stuffy little office are very hot. I lay down and got a head massage out of the deal. :D

After physio I actually dropped by the office and said hello to my office mates. It felt nice to be there after almost two weeks! I actually felt like a real person again.

I think I'm going to head to the gym later today to give those exercises a try! I'm excited to get moving!! Things are on the move!

No sleep for the healing

Post-Op Day 11

It's 7:18am on Sunday morning and I've been awake for an hour now. And here I thought my 9AM alarm for an early morning breakfast plan was rough enough.

But I can't sleep very well these mornings lately. I wake up early feeling discomfort in the leg and can't get back to sleep. So I've relocated to the couch this morning with my intricate elevation device in place and two Tylenols down the hatch, and hopefully after I finish this blog I'll be able to catch an hour or so more of sleep.

Yesterday was day 11 and I tried to rest my leg more than I had the day before. I stayed in pretty much, except for a few hours spent up on the 8th floor of my building hanging out with some of Steve's friends and their friends who happened to live here too. How convenient!


Steve also went out to Kensington to pick up the ingredients we needed to do a cooking extravaganza. We made lasagna and peach crumble! They came out so very well! I sat across the three bar stools and shredded cheese while he stood in the kitchen chopping veggies and boiling noodles. It was a pretty good deal.


Mmm.. I'm hungry now just thinking about it.


My leg felt pretty decent yesterday actually. I think I felt like I increased my angle of bend a bit more so that's positive. I've been still hobbling around with the brace and without crutches, and in fact I've been breaking the rules and going around my apartment with my brace off, holding onto furniture for dear life, or to make-shift walkers like a bar stool or Steve, or using crutches. I probably shouldn't risk it but the brace is so big and strappy and hot and restrictive. I haven't been sleeping with it either, but my surgeon says you don't have to.


I'm looking forward to returning to see my physiotherapist tomorrow. I plan to ask him whether seeing him once a week is enough to make the optimal recovery. It's a tricky thing to balance funds with quality, but at this point it's really in my best interest to have a full recovery instead of a few extra hundred or thousand dollars in my bank. Right?

We'll see how that goes.

Stitches out!

Post op day 10

Ack! I'm falling behind on my blogging.

So yesterday was post op day ten and therefore time to get ye olde stitches taken out. I made an appointment with my doctor and Steve, who came back into town for the weekend, drove me up to Yonge and Eglinton where my doctor is.

I sat in the waiting room and some lady struck up conversation with me. Having this leg thing is kind of interesting. People are not at all shy to ask me what happened to me, or what's wrong with my leg, or to make jokes about taking care of my leg. If it were my permanent condition I wonder how that would feel...

The stitch removing was a breeze. Though my doctor didn't actually know how to do it. She used the tweezers provided by the surgeon to tug gently on the bottom blue string that was sticking out. Nothing happened. She tugged on the top. Still nothing. So she went to ask her colleague. As they were walking back towards my examination room I heard her saying, "...so maybe I should just tug a little harder? I don't know..." He came in, glanced at my knee and said, "yup, just pull harder." Great. She pulled harder on the bottom string and slowly the blue stitch on the top started to disappear. The stitches were all internal so when finally it was all out, it looked crimped from the work it was doing inside. It's kind of crazy that it's safe to just pull that out and there's no damage to the healing. I'd guess there were about 8 to 10 internal stitches in there.

The rest of the day I was quite active. We went to get lunch and I sat on a bench seat, we went to a grocery store and an eye-glasses store and I hobbled around. We went to Steve's parent's house and I sat mostly but also walked up and down stairs, around a backyard, and to other places. We stopped at the mall to return something and I went into the store, and finally I sat at his grandmother's dinner table alternating my knee between un-braced and bent, foot resting on the ground, and leg supported up on a chair beside me.

By halfway through the dinner my leg was very uncomfortable and did not like to stay in any of those positions for longer than a few minutes. By the time we got back downtown to my place I was in actual pain and discomfort, and unable to to my last set of exercises for the night.

:(

I'll try to take it easy today and tomorrow so I can be in top shape for my physio appointment Monday.

Mendy Mend Mend

Post op day 9

I didn't have a chance to post yesterday but, in case I forget, day 9 was the same exact thing as day 8. I didn't go out. I did my exercises religiously and felt an improvement in flow and ability but not necesarily in increased flexion angle. I worked. I had wonderful friends visit me at night. And that's it. Oh, except I pulled off all the steristrips.


Today is day ten and I will definitely be leaving the house because I have an appointment with my family doctor to remove my stitches! I hope they're ready to come out because it's day 10 in the 7-10 day window of the FAQ sheet's directions.

I hope it doesn't hurt too much...

Hump Day!

Post Op Day 8

I didn't leave the house today.

Never the less, I was productive, and actually spent a good part of the day working. I also did my physio exercises three times very thoroughly and threw in a few exercises here and there whenever my brace was off for icing. I'm starting to see some improvement.

For example, sitting on my kitchen countertop with the breakfast bar stool out in front of me, I am now able to very slowly extend my toes and raise them up to rest on the footrest of the chair without using my other leg as a lift.

It's unclear whether the angle of my bend is improving but I can say with some certainty that it's feeling less difficult to bring the leg to a bend whenever I attempt it.

The above picture shows the two legs flexed. Notice the difference. Also notice the bruise on my left foot from when my crutch fell on me. Beware of damn crutches.

My bruise is fading. Aww, goodbye mammoth bruise. May you be the bruisiest bruise I ever experience forever-more.

Besides spending the day working and exercising, I also managed another shower (showering feels soooo good), to make myself breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and to wash dishes. I can walk around my place in my brace without crutches and without clutching the furniture or walls as I go. Once or twice I've felt an uncomfortable shift in my leg within the brace so I have to be careful.

In the evening I had a lovely visit from Jordy, Pipa, and Adam. We watched "So you Think You Can Dance Canada" which is quite wonderful, and played with the colour effects on my camera. Ooh la la.

Look! The artist reunited with his work!


All in all not such a bad day. No longer am I emotionally unstable.. at least not today. I feel good about my motivation to exercise and am keeping a positive attitude towards getting back on my feet!

One week later

Post op day 7

It's already been a whole week since surgery! Golly gee.

This sucks. I don't recommend it to anyone. :( I'm having a feeling-sorry-for-myself kind of night but let me start from the beginning so you don't feel too deprived without the details of my entire day.

The day started, as usual, with downing some drugs. My drug of choice has (yay!) officially switched to Tylenol. I did not take a single percocet all day nor do I intend to swallow any more. Progress! I woke, really, to the call of my lovely mother offering to come visit me at lunch and take me to the food court under my building for a little outing. I happily agreed.

This invitation left me with precious time to get my morning activities out of the way. I had to go to the couch, ice and elevate (while checking email and facebook, of course) and then do my exercises. The bending is still very difficult for me and it's hard to say whether I'm making progress. Ooh hoo hoo.

After the exercises - think me sitting on my kitchen counter trying with all my might to lift my foot up from dangling position to the foot rest bar on my stool. Hey, it might be worthwhile to describe how the exercises feel. For one, I have no quadricep muscles left. Imagine the action of your foot when the doctor knocks on your knee with that knocker thing. Doing that on your own not as a reflex is a piece of cake, right? I can't do it. Only with great great effort can I even move my foot about one foot higher than its dangling place. It sucks. I've been working on resistance, with my good leg supporting my bad, and then pushing both against each other, trying to draw the bad one down into a bigger bend. I've also been doing some similar exercises with an elastic band thing. I think I'm around 90 degrees flexion but it's very hard to tell from my angle. I need someone with a protractor.

Anyway, I took a shower and got dressed just in time for my mother to arrive. But I was knocked out from the effort of those things alone. We went for lunch and again, the discomfort of sitting in the food court without full leg support was almost too much for me. I don't know how people go back to sitting at a desk at work with this leg. It's ridiculous.

After lunch (thanks mom!!) I came home, relaxed for a bit, and then had a bunch more visitors. Yorgos came to hang out, then D'Arcy arrived soon after.

D'Arcy gave me a lovely massage. She used to work in a physio clinic and she'd massage people's swollenness right out of their bodies. She worked on me for a while. It felt very nice and may have helped but the thing is still a swollen beast.

Here are the one week leg shots for you:

As you can see, the steristrips are still on so it seems like the stitches are not ready to come out, but I'm supposed to have them removed by my doctor. Hmm... any doctors around want to remove my stitches for me?

Wendy came over once again and the two girls took such good care of me. They made me dinner and cleaned up and kept me company and brought me ice and moved around furniture. I'm lucky to have such great friends.


We watched ridiculous TLC and 90210.


And we may have eaten some very sinful Mcsnackcream. Shhh. I'm going to get so fat, I'm sure.


Then Wend went home and Darce and I watched a very sad Israeli movie that had us both crying by the end. She stopped crying when it was over, but I had a little bit of an emotional breakdown.

Really, I can't walk. I can hobble around with my brace but without it I'm totally screwed. I know it will get better and I know people deal with a lot worse, but for a moment there tonight I just about lost it.

I'm really thankful for the people visiting me and for french fries, because without that I'd really go crazy.

How silly, eh? I'll be on my feet again in no time. It's just one of those days...

Another day...

Post op day 6

Today went by in the blink of an eye!

I tried to do some work and managed about a half an hour before falling asleep. I read a little bit. I iced. I elevated.

I only did my exercises once just now, so twice today if you count the time at physio. Off to a great start, eh?

Some friends came by tonight and fed me and kept me company and all was well.

As for the knee, I'm making good progress on getting off the percocets. I only had a half a tablet this morning before physio and I'm trying to hold off on taking any more. I think I can handle it. The extra strength Tylenol's are working alright.

The exercises are still difficult for me. I'm still not at 90 degrees flexion I don't think. I don't know what normal progress is and I think I'm fine, but I'd like to get to a 90 degree bend by, let's say, Wednesday.

And finally, my bruise is so gruesome. It's like an exciting game to check it out each morning. How far will it have crept up my leg this time!?!?

Getting Moving

Post op day 6 - first day of physiotherapy

With a 10:00am appointment, I set my alarm for 8:00, planning to be out the door by 9:30 and leaving plenty of extra time for unforeseen obstacles.

I woke up at 6:00 and couldn't sleep so puttered around online until 7:00 before falling asleep and resetting my cell phone alarm in a sleepy haze, finally waking up at 9:10, only twenty minutes before I was set to leave. Also, my pain meds had warn off and I was tired, cranky, sweating, and in pain. Crap.

I popped some Tylenol and got up, heading to the bathroom to attempt a quick standing sponge bath to freshen up for the physiotherapist. I then collapsed for a moment or two back in bed in exhaustion before forcing myself up and into shorts and a t-shirt. Choosing which t-shirt to wear proved rather difficult. I was going to go with the one I got in Thailand after bungee jumping but thought the image of my hobbling down Dundas St. in brace and crutches with that t-shirt would be too ironic. The same went for my "Ambassador of Nova Scotia good times" Alexander Keith's t-shirt. I went with a simple "Canada" t-shirt instead.

Time was ticking and I went into the kitchen to prepare something to eat. I was feeling anything but hungry but knew I needed to eat something before heading out so I spooned some yogurt and Harvest Crunch into a bowl, got a glass of orange juice, and hobbled over to the table. My leg was throbbing so I also hauled my plastic bags of peas to the couch. I stretched out on the couch, icing my leg while trying to eat my granola and check the weather and the address of the clinic in only a few minutes. At one point I was trying to put the bowl on the coffee table and I kind of knocked or tipped it, sending granola all over the floor. It's still there. I have to work up the energy to sweep it up. :(

Anyway, I finished eating, found the information I needed, and by that point it was already 9:35. I sadly had to forego brushing my teeth so that I could have enough time to put on my socks and shoes. I hadn't worn socks since the surgery. They were very difficult to put on, as were my sneakers, and I finally left the house at 9:40 feeling anxious and unhappy. I almost considered taking a taxi but decided to buck up and walk the three blocks to the clinic.

It was fine. The cool morning relaxed me and I was careful not to rush for fear of falling. I wonder if I look like a spectacle walking down the street in such a condition.

I arrived at the clinic with five minutes to spare, my leg throbbing mildly, and was asked to fill out some paperwork before taking a seat in the waiting area for a few moments. Man, sitting in a regular chair is the pits. It is exceedingly uncomfortable - even painful - to sit with my brace-straightened leg hanging down to the ground. A footstool would be better, but even that is painful without any support in the middle of the leg. I need full leg support to feel at ease.

A few minutes later my physiotherapist Michael came and introduced himself. He shook my hand and led me into his little office. It's TINY! This clinic is not one of those larger sports medicine clinics with many people getting treatment at the same time. It's a small, multi-purpose place that has homeopathic treatments, massage, and all kinds of other things. There is only one physiotherapist on site. I hope he has the expertise and equipment necessary for this treatment.

Anyway, he asked me a few questions about the history of my injury and what has happened so far. He then asked me to walk for him with crutches and gave me some constructive criticism on my technique. I need to step with my back leg and the crutches as the same time to distribute weight properly. He took some measurments of the circumference of my thigh and knee, had me do a few very small exercises involved flexing and pushing my foot and my knee, and he did some weird massaging that almost felt more like he was just holding my leg in different places, only moving his hands very very slightly. It actually felt very nice and soothing, but I wonder what the effects are. He did the same kind of gentle massaging/holding of my head. It was quiet and lovely. I don't really know...

Oh, another thing he did was pull out a big coloured book of anatomy and actually took the time to show and explain what exactly my injury was and how exactly my doctor repaired me. The surgeon never took the time to really give me a good explanation of these things. It really amazes me.

Apparently, the surgeon cut out a small central stip of my patellar tendon along with a small piece of bone from the kneecap and from the bone in my shin. This piece of tendon with bone attached on either side was drilled into place where my Anterior Cruciate Ligament was, though the bones of the femur and Tibia (I think). The ACL is typically a ligament with very little blood flow which is why it doesn't heal and when torn it just sort of shrivels up and dies. By drilling and attaching the tendon graft though the bones, which have a healthy blood supply, a new ligament grows along the graft within however many months, leaving me with a brand new ligament. So the patellar tendon is not acting as a new ACL like I thought, but is instead the scaffolding for a new ligament to grow. Fascinating!!!

All in all I really appreciated the soft, calming nature of this physio and the fact that he really took time with me.

I told him about my lack of health insurance, though told him that I don't wish to compromise the quality of the therapy because of it. He suggested meeting once a week (I've heard people go for physio three times a week...). This week I am to focus on icing and elevating to get rid of the "gunk" and working on regaining my range of motion. I've got a 0 degree straight leg, which is perfect, and I think he measured me at 60 degree bend on the operative leg and 140 on the good leg. There's a goal if I've ever seen one...

This initial visit cost me $90.00 and every subsequent visit will be $50. Great... It sucks to have no health insurance. But I guess it's good we're only meeting three times a week.

Oh, one last thing. He showed me how to properly elevate and ice, and apparently I've been doing it wrong all week.

To elevate, you can use a regular chair flipped over with pillows resting on the bottom of the seat. Lying flat back, put your leg up against this structure so that the knee is a good many inches above the heart. This allows the swelling and fluids and "gunk" collected during the day to get outta there.

For icing, do ten minutes on, ten off, then ten on again instead of 20 minutes all together. The first ten prep the leg for the second ten. I'm not sure how. Instead of using a towel (or tea towel as I had done) wrap the leg in saran wrap to keep germs away from the incision but to allow as much coldness to come in contact with the leg. Then put the ice (or frozen peas as I've been doing) directly onto the saran wrap.

An hour later I paid my $90.00 bill, made another appointment for next Monday, and was out the door, hobbling back home where I arrived and began elevating and icing as directed.

Let's see how the rest of the day goes. Mom is on her way over with lunch!!

Keepin' it real downtown

Post Op Day 5

Wow, the days are going by! And here I sit, on my couch, my leg up and supported of course, debating the worth of getting up for any given need or desire. To reach my camera to post these pictures? Maybe not worth it. To get my frozen peas for an icing? A bit more valuable.

Last night I woke up at 4:30 feelng pain. On a scale of 1 to 10 of pain I've probably not felt anything greater than 5 or 6 throughout this whole experience, opting instead to load up on drugs whenever I expect the going to get tough. So early this morning I awoke to maybe a 5 or 5.5 pain rating, and despite my efforts at weaning off the percocets, I popped one along with a couple of Tylenol. I think I took Tylenol at that point anyway... hard to recall. I also had a middle of the night bathroom break.

Speaking of bathroom breaks... for those of you who are unawares, percocet does a pretty efficient job at both making me drink lots of water which makes me have to pee quite often, and also keeping my bowels from doing their thang. I went from Monday to Saturday before I got any kind of action in that department! And I think the only thing that got me going was a stool softener my mom gave me along with the reduced pain killer intake. The bagels and chili and everything else I ate all week didn't seem to play a role. Also, getting to the bathroom can be a real challenge. There's only so fast I can crutch and I don't know if I always experienc that kind of urgency or if this is special, but I suppose I can usually react far more immediately.

I digress.

I slept fine for the rest of the night, waking up arond 10 or so. I took the requisite daily leg shots. Check out my bruise! I have great pride in it.

Overall the knee doesn't look too excessively swollen or anything, eh? I'm feeling okay about it.

Steve made a plan for us to meet his friend who had spent I think it was 8 hours at the Sunnybrook ER with a twisted shoulder. Another ultimate frisbee injury paying the Sunnybrook doctors' salaries. He lives in my condo building so we all met at this new breakfast place in the awesome Grange foodcourt.

I thought it would be funny if Steve showed up with a tensor bandage wrapped around his head. Instead he decided he'd like to slip and fall on the floor of the food court. All he had to show for that, though, was a headache and a frown.

I felt like absolute crap in the food court. I think it was either because of the percocets or because I hadn't had a percocet since 4:30 and I've become an addict, but I felt clammy and feverish and without apppetite and close to tears. A quick fix took care of the problem and I was good to eat my BLT with the rest of 'em.

After breakfast we headed on our way to Loblaw's. We'd called ahead and made sure the electonic cart was available for use. It was! We went through the store, trying to figure out what I'd need for the next couple of weeks or so. Man, this surgery would suck without lots of help. And varied help too.. I don't think Steve could stand it if he lived in this city. Poor guy... Maybe we were pushing it by going out.

Anyway, almost $100 later I think I'm stocked for a while now. Riding in the cart was pretty fun. Though it sucks that you can't reach the things you need and that the crowded aisles are three times more annoying when you're not agile and can sneak by people and things.

Overall I'm doing okay here on day 5. It's now evening and after an afternoon of watching DVDs provided by my lovely friends I'm feeling rested and pretty okay. I'm definitely not ready to go out and return to work, but I could perhaps start getting some work done from home over the next few days.

Steve is leaving for Hamilton tonight and I've been arranging visits for the next few days. Come by anytime! I'll be here. Except tomorrow when I have my first physio appointment at 10am. I wonder how long it'll take me to crutch over to Dundas and University... Looking forward to getting started on that stuff.

That's all for now. Thanks for the messages and calls, my friends. They're very much appreciated!

crazy going slowly am I... just kidding.. today was good!

Post op day 4

I missed my telephone alarm in the middle of the night to take my pills! So I woke up at 7 instead of 4 or 5 or whatever it was supposed to be, hours late and wasn't sure what to do. I can't even remember what I did, actually. I think I took two percocets. Then at 1pm I took one percocet and one extra strength tylenol. Then five hours later I took half a percocet and two e.s. tylenols. Then at 11pm I took 2 e.s. tylenols and no percocets. I'll probably take a percocet before I go to sleep, but my pain is still under control and my sense of overall good-feelingness is much improved.

So today was characterized much by a visit from Mike in Thornhill where we sat around talking about Canadian Idol and our life plans, as well as making various things for lunch from my parents kitchen. Then when Steve arrived at 3 Mike went home and Steve helped me pack up all my stuff and take off down the highway toward the city. I think we were both a little stressed about the amount of stuff I had plus my inability to do anything plus the fear that I'll be kind of screwed when he goes back to Hamilton.

Through the torrential (mild) downpour (drizzle) Steve unloaded my clean laundry and books and magazines (what was I thinking, bringing EVERYTHING to the suburbs?) as well as a shower chair and special pillow, etc. etc. I sat idly by watching and feeling grateful. We loaded up the elevator, unloaded it, and brought everything into the condo, me working not to fall on my face using the crutches all the way along the hallway. I hope I don't fall on those things! I probably will.

It's nice to be home. My place is so small that I can ditch the crutches and basically make it from place to place just by holding onto walls and furniture and working on balance. It's not too bad. Steve put everything away in its rightful place while I lounged around, icing and giving directions. I showered (glad for the shower chair) and he got us dinner. We ate and then did all my physio stretches! I'm doing really well I think. I'm pretty sure I got my leg to bend to around 90 degrees! Hooray! What does a normal leg bend to, I wonder? I wonder what my goal is...

We just had some friends over to play Pop 5 Cranium and guess what? A busted leg doesn't keep me from ROCKIN' it at hummdingers, baby.

So, yeah, all in all it was a good day. I felt much better not taking too many percocets and it feels good to be making progress both in location and in exercises.

Tomorrow I'll need to get groceries and do a few other daily life tasks so we'll see how that goes.

I am slowly going crazy, 1 2 3 4 5 6 switch!

Day 3 post op

Day three, day three.. where to begin. How about the morning.

I woke up at some time in the morning feeling pretty good. In fact, compared to the day before I was feeling great. I had slept wellish, (woke a bit more between my med alarms) and my leg seemed more alive and useable than it had the day before. I got up and decided enough is enough. It was time to get clean. My mother brought a shower chair up to her and my dad's shower that allows you to walk in without taking any big steps. So I crutched over to their bathroom, my two huge and heavy Pantene Pro V bottles and a towel somehow in tow (carrying things while using crutches is a real feat!) and prepared myself. I took a seat on the chair, removed my brace, tossed it aside, and got the water going. From there, because my leg likes to remain straight, I had to leave the glass door ajar while showering. Luckily there were no flash floods in the kitchen later that day. From this position I was very comfortable washing myself and my hair. I tried to keep my wound out of the direct hit of the shower head, and though I soaped around it I didn't do anything to it directly. I later re-read in my FAQs that I should have covered it with a plastic bag but the nurse the other day said nothing of the sort.

All clean and dressed, I made my way downstairs to the couch, feeling pretty worn out from all that intense exertion. There I lay, icing the leg. I think I noticed a tiny bit of fresh blood (two little droplets) escaping from behind the steristrips. The FAQ sheet says that more than a teaspoon is cause for concern. So that was fine. I took some photos of how she looks.

From what I can tell, the bruise is growing. Also, the steristrips are now cleaner than they once were. Is the swelling going up? I cannot tell, but probably. It feels quite stiff and full of whatever swelling consists of. I miss seeing the form of my kneecap. There is also numbness all around my knee and the front and sides of my leg, as well as a lot of heat radiating throughout the wound. Jealous?

Anyway, after this I promptly fell asleep. I think. I can't quite account for the morning, actually. Today was a grey, humid day. It's Steve's birthday and he's back in Hamilton having fun and doing birthday things. Nobody visited. My mom was here taking care of me, and my dad was out and about. My mom and I got bored.

She brought me a bagel and peaches to eat before I fell asleep, and so around lunch time I wasn't too hungry. Nevertheless I thought eating would be a good thing to do so I hobbled about heating up the vegetarian chili she'd made the day before and grating cheese over it. I took a few bites and realized I couldn't eat it. What? Since when does not being hungry stop me from eating?! It was tres bizarre. I felt generally lethargic, kind of clammy, and just unwell.

I can't remember whether I did exercises at this point. I feel like I did but the day is a blur of percocet making me feel pretty crappy. I went up to my room and watched Arrested Development (thanks Emily!) and played facebook scrabble with my brother in Montreal and my mom who kept calling from the other room when I took longer than two minutes to play my turn.

As far as discomfort goes, the bulk of it really was coming from the medication more than the knee. I've been sticking carefully to the two pills every four hours routine and my knee hasn't really been in pain at all, not counting a slight twinge or painful bump every now and then, or the strange heavy/useless feeling it has. I decided to start the process of weaning off the drugs, so I waited five hours instead of four for my next dose. Then the next time I waited six hours. I think I'll stick to two pills every six hours overnight, and tomorrow I'll start on one percocet and one tylenol every six hours. Hmm.. we'll see how that leaves me. I don't want to get the addict shakes or anything.

I was lying in bed chatting on gmail at around 5 or 6 when I started feeling very hot and feverish. My mom came in and got worried, bugging me to go to a walk in clinic. I was pretty sure a fever is relatively common, so I wasn't too concerned, but I hobbled downstairs again and went outside for the first time today, kicking up my feet on the backyard hammock while re-energizing with a delicious frozen apple juice box snack (This is a trick I developed in highschool: freeze the juice box, cut open the top, scrape with a spoon, enjoy!) The fever disappeared immediately! My parents and I sat outside debriefing ever more about Rick and Carina's wedding. I guess when you spend more than a year and a half planning something you don't just let it go like that.

Soon it was suppertime and they went inside to prepare while I iced. I've been trying to ice as often as possible but still I can afford to do it more. I need a personal ice assistant. Any takers? I came into the kitchen and, with newfound frozen apple juice energy, performed almost all my physio exercises! I have a list of things to do given to me at the pre-op. So today I did squats against the wall, sitting on the table bending, and standing with an elastic band stretching the operative leg out to the side and out behind me. I am finding the exercises that focus on bending FAR more difficult than the ones that utelize other muscle groups. Thank you, Body Pump! Working those muscles pre-op was a definitely plus. I wonder what the physiotherapist will say on Monday about my prognosis. I must work on my bends.

So, we ate a lovely dinner of chicken broth and salad (still, my appetite is not quite normal but the soup was a good thing) and then watched Hotel Rwanda and Before Sunrise back to back. I practiced some bending while I watched, and also fell asleep during both, one time dreaming that Romeo and I were in a movie with Ivan Rietman, and when Steve called my cell to say hello during a cut, Ivan answered. Maybe Romeo Dallaire's name came into my dream or something...?

It's now just about two and I should really get to sleep.

I'm planning to return to my downtown home tomorrow though the thought of getting all my stuff back home now is a bit overwhelming. I need my personal ice assistant to come help me out. Steve will be back tomorrow with his car so that'll be good.

Back in Toronto I'll be lonely and sorry for myself. I can already feel the process starting after a lousy day of nothing much like today. Please pay me a visit, friends. I will feel happy.

Lastly, as far as ability, I was able today to walk around with two crutches easily, with one crutch with some effort, and without any crutches shakily for fear of buckling I think, but weight bearing on the bad leg is no biggie.

Let's hope for some further improvement tomorrow! And also some drug weaning! Yay!

Could be worse

Day 2 post op

After the discomfort I felt yesterday evening, I got more regulated on the percocets (2 pills every four hours on the dot) and have been feeling pretty good today for the most part.

I woke up at around 9:15 having slept like a baby all night except for when I woke to my alarm for more pills. From there I hobbled downstairs and lay on the couch for the morning, talking to my mom and Steve who were still around here for me. They're lovely.

The knee itself wasn't feeling too badly. I think my muscles in my hamstring, quads, and calfs are pretty much useless at this point so my whole leg feels extremely heavy and hard to shlep around. Stairs, walking with crutches, and especially moving on or off my bed or the couch can be quite a challenge without working muscles. Still, that scooping technique, along with taking it slow or having help is working enough.

In addition to that, some parts of my body are feeling weird from the strange angles and muscles I have to use to do ordinary things like get on and off the toilet, sit up, or whatever. My right hip/side abdomen is feeling sore, along with my neck and shoulders.

At around 12 we called Dr. Mark's office to make my 6 week post-surgery appointment and to ask whether I could take off the bulky bandage around my knee. I felt it was compromising the affect of the ice as well as keeping my leg feeling numb, being such a tight bandage. She said I could go ahead and remove it so I did, revealin a swollen, bloodied knee with a bunch of steristrips hiding the actual incision. During the course of the day I could see the swelling increase as well as the bruising around the back of my leg spread. Mmmm mmmm.

I had two visitors today, Jordana and Clara, which was lovely, mom made a veggie chili while I sat at the table keeping her company, Mom, Steve and I played Scrabble outside on the deck, AND we all went out for Swiss Chalet tonight just to get out of the house. It was nice to be out but not really very comfortable or easy. I think it was a bit premature.

In the afternoon, Steve and my mom got on my case about doing some physio exercises. I tried a few (not all.. I got dizzy and had to lay down) from the handout I got at my pre-op. One I did had me seated on the kitchen table and trying to bend my operative knee, using my healthy knee kind of as a weight. This is very difficult because I've been keeping the knee straight in its brace all this time and because gravity is not really my friend. Instead I used my healthy leg as a lowering device, and slowly allowed gravity to bring the leg down to a bend. It wasn't exactly painful per se, but it felt very strange and uncomfortable, like I was forcing my knee to do something it didn't want to do. Despite that feeling, the bend continued to increase until I actually was able to switch my healthy leg to cross of the front of my operative ankle and use it as a bit of a weight to increase the bend.

The other thing I worked on a bit today were 1/4 to 1/3 squats against the wall. I found these to get easier as I went, but had to cut the physio session short due to dizziness and excessive thirst. I probably could have gone harder and should try my best to work to maximum capacity in the future if I want to make this surgery really worthwhile. I'm scared that my physiotherapist will have less patience with me and my reluctance to push too hard. We'll see on Monday.

So, overall my pain management was very good today. No tears, no major issues. Just a bit of serious sleepiness and sensitivity from the drugs. I feel like my hearing is more sensitive at times, and that I'm a bit dizzy, but that's really the extent of the side-effects.

C'est tout pour maintenant. I'm going to sleep early tonight!

Day 2 post op photo op op oppy op

Mmm... looking good.

what a pain...

post op day 1

Today was my first day of recovery after the ACL surgery. After that pretty decent sleep in the hospital, I got a ride home with my parents and went up to my room feeling pretty upbeat. I thought I was going to be a lucky one.

Throughout the day I continued feeling pretty good. My appetite was perfectly normal. I was able to "scoop" or use my healthy leg to maneuver my splinted leg onto the couch or the bed. I was easily able to crutch around, up the stairs, to the bathroom, around the hallways of the house... I've been trying to elevate and ice when I can, though I don't think I'm icing as frequently as others do. It's unclear how to ice when my knee is wrapped securely in bandages.

As for medication, I'd taken two percocet equivalents in the hospital at 8:30. The packaging says to take 1-2 tablets every 4-6 hours as needed. So I took 2 tablets four hours later at 12:30. Soon after I took them, right when Wendy was by for a visit, I began feeling clammy and unwell. I lay down and slept, and an hour later was feeling pretty okay again. I then decided it might be better to take one table every three hours, so I took one at 3:30 and again fell asleep for about an hour after that. At 6:30 I took another one and I'm now starting to lose track of what I did.

Later in the evening I started to feel the pain coming on. Up until this point, you must realize, I had not really experienced any pain at all. It was still rather numb around my knee and though I felt some discomfort I never felt pain.

Twice during the day I followed Dr. Mark's plan for physio exercises post surgery day 1. These included pressing the back of my knee down into the ground, 2) bending slightly and pressing my heel into the ground, and using a towel to pull my thigh up and create a bend. This straightened out leg does not particularly want to do a thing like bending.

Now I feel pain. It is surrounding the front of my knee cap, I guess where the patellar tendon was removed, and despite the two percocet tablets I took at 11:30, it never really diminished. Or maybe it did. I can't quite remember. With one hour to go until another round of pills at 3:30, I know that I'm feeling the burn of pain in my knee in a way that makes me feel sorry for myself.

I guess I couldn't expect to be so lucky I felt no pain, right?

Ouch, Charlie.