week 12, day 2

i'm embarrassed that it took me so long to write a new post - sorry! life has been busy.

four weeks ago was a big turning point: my physical therapist told me i had full range of motion back and wasprogressing nicely. accordingly, she cleared me to reduce my PT sessions to once every 2 weeks and told me that i no longer needed to use a crutch while walking around (!!!).

i still need to do daily physical rehab at home: i'm primarily working on strengthening (my quad and calf in my bad leg is still weaker than my normal leg) and balance. for strengthening, i'm doing a lot of leg lifts, calf raises, lunges, and assorted other motions. for balance, i'm doing theraband exercises, standing on one leg and catching balls being tossed to me, and standing on a pillow with one foot.

i'm still wearing a brace, just to be careful, but am definitely gaining in my confidence in my knee. when i walk, i dont notice my knee anymore. however, i notice a slight amount of pain in my bad knee when walking down stairs (though going up stairs isn't a problem anymore). nonetheless, i feel that my knee is slowly progressing, so i'm not concerned.

week 6, day 6

It's been a while since I've posted. The good news is that there isn't much to report. Physical therapy is still going strong. We've added a number of new balancing exercises that involve me balancing on wobbly things. We've also been working hard on small steps, so that I can start to get back to the point where I can go up stairs with a normal gait.

On Friday I had a bit of a scare. I was in a restaurant with marble floors and didn't notice that the floor was wet. I slipped a little bit (even though I had my crutch with me) and it really scared me. Thankfully, I didn't fall or injure anything seriously. But for about an hour after the slip my knee felt a little sore - almost like I had a very minor sprain. Within a few hours, I couldn't feel any difference though. This was a good reminder that I still need to be very careful and that I'm still vulnerable to reinjury.

week 4, day 5

so, i've been on my own here at grad school for about a week now. i'm wearing a neoprene brace on my knee and using one crutch (though i'm not bearing any weight on the crutch - i'm using it more for stability). so far, i've managed pretty well. walking on flat ground is pretty simple - my only concern is other pedestrians jostling into me, but the crutch seems to scare people away and give me some more space. stairs are still really difficult - i need to go up and down them like a baby does and it takes a long time - which is tough since i'm in a third floor walkup apartment. additionally, normally i need to carry my crutch in one hand and hold onto the rail with the other. this can be problematic, because i can't really carry anything up and down the stairs (such as groceries or my laundry) . i've been finding that a backpack is a time-saver because i can just stuff a bunch of things into it and still navigate the stairs.

i had my first physical therapy session since coming back to school yesterday. it was good - my new physical therapist seems great and she really knows her stuff. she said my extension is pretty good (about 1 or 2 degrees hyperextension), my flexion is good (about 120 degrees) and my leg strength is on track. she also tested my balance, by making me close my eyes and balance on my bad leg - i was so wobbly, it was kinda crazy. she said that it's normal and we'll work on it. she gave me a whole bunch of new exercises to work on at home in addition to the stuff i was already doing. the whole set of exercises will probably take me about 45 mins to an hour to do every day - a big time commitment, but necessary.

hamstring isometric exercises - sitting in a chair, raising my toes up and flexing so that my hamstring gets worked out. (there are a few variations based on positions for this).

quadriceps isometric exercises - sitting in a chair, with my foot flat on the ground and flexing so that my quads get worked out (again, there are variations based on slightly different positions).

balancing exercises - i tie this elastic band between a table leg and and my good leg, then i stand balancing on my bad leg and try to pull the elastic band with my good leg. at first glance, it looks like i'm working out my good leg, but it actually is helping with the balance issues on my bad leg.

week 3, day 3

yesterday i headed back to grad school. up until now i was enjoying the comfort of living at my parents' home and having them serve as my personal nurses. yesterday my dad and i packed up the car and drove 12 hours to my school. the car ride was difficult at times as my knee got tight from being in the same position, since i couldn't really bend it that much. i was able to drive part of it and the trip went well. i'm now at school and my dad is staying here a couple of days until i set up shop. the real test will be in two days after he leaves and i'm here on my own.

week 3, day 1

i've seen a lot of progress in the last few days. i've been practicing walking around without a brace and without crutches - i'm able to make it around with just a slight limp (but at a snail's pace).

yesterday at PT i was able to make my first revolution on a stationery bike - it sounds like a small feat, but it was totally satisfying to accomplish such a modest task for the first time. all in all, i'm seeing a little bit of progress every day and i'm pleased with how things are coming along!

week 2, day 5

i had my second followup visit with my surgeon yesterday. he was really happy with the way my leg was progressing. he took off the steri-strips that were covering my sutures, snipped off the ends of the thread sticking out of my sutures and said that my incisions were clean and that i could finally shower without covering them with saran wrap. the sutures are bioabsorbable, so, they'll go away when the wound heals.

the doc also told me that i was cleared to stop using my crutches and my brace as soon as i feel comfortable. i am still not at the point where i can walk around, but i'm determined to become brace-free and crutch-free in the coming days. i've been walking around the house a lot without my crutches and am slowly gaining more confidence. my leg gets pretty exhausted quickly (because of the muscle atrophy), so i'm going to spend the next couple of days walking on it a lot without the crutches. when i feel comfortable enough, i'm going to lose the brace too.

all in all, yesterday was a good day, and i feel that things are progressing nicely.

week 2, day 2 - the usual

everything seems about the same today. the biggest problem right now is the calf tightness that i've been experiencing for the last few days. i can't tell if it's swelling or a tight muscle, but whenever i stand on it, my calf is in a lot of pain. it's frustrating, because i feel like this tight calf is really holding back my ability to walk on the leg. no matter how much i stretch it, it still feels tight. i'll talk about it with the doc tomorrow during my follow-up visit.

week 2, day 1

yesterday was pretty uneventful - did my PT exercises at home and worked on putting more weight on my knee.

had my second PT session this morning. my physical therapist said there was marked improvement from just two days ago. we did the same exercises we did last time, plus added a couple more.

stationary bike - basically sat on the bike with no resistance, and slowly rocked my feet back and forth to get improved flexion. i still can't make a full revolution, but it definitely helped my flexion.

hamstring and calf stretches - these muscles were really tight the last few days, so my therapist showed me how to stretch them out effectively.

week 1, day 7 - physical therapy

today was my first physical therapy session. the first things my physical therapist did was measure my extension and flexion in my knee.

extension - how straight i could make my leg - i got to 0 degrees which is fully straight - a large part of that had to do with the fact that i wore a knee brace for the last week

flexion - how far i can bend the knee - at first, by myself, lying on my stomach, i got to a measly 30 degrees, because i hadn't tried bending my knee at all since surgery. later on in the session, after doing some exercises, i got it all the way up to 90 degrees, but i get ahead of myself.

the therapist then ran me through some exercises, with a few goals in mind: (1) regaining my old range-of-motion - full extension and full flexion; (2) strengthening my leg muscles so that i can get back to putting all my weight on it; and (3) preventing scar tissue buildup which will limit my
wall heel slides - basically lied on my back with my butt to the wall and let the knee bend under the force of gravity until i felt it was tight, then held it there. rinse and repeat. this was to get flexion back. by the end of doing this, i was up to 90 degrees of flexion.

various isometric leg lifts - basically got in in different positions laying down and lifted my leg to strengthen leg muscles. these were kinda tiring, as i hadn't done my much with my leg, but i felt a difference.

quad sets - flexing my quads (the muscle on the top of your thigh) and holding it for 10-15 seconds, repeatedly. this was surprisingly difficult - it's as if my mind doesn't quite remember how to do anything to that muscle - i had to really concentrate to get results.

patella mobilization - this involved me manually moving my kneecap with my fingertips in different directions to prevent scar tissue from building up.

finally, at the end of the session, the physical therapist taught me how to start walking with more weight on my knee using the crutches. up until then, i'd been mostly hopping around on my crutches, only putting weight on my good knee. it was absolutely liberating to put more weight on my bad leg and gain some confidence in walking (albeit at a snail's pace and with two crutches holding a lot of weight). the therapist said i should try to walk around like this as much as possible as it will help me get to the point where i can walk without crutches all the more faster.

on the whole, the first physical therapy session was great - i realized i can do a lot more with my knee than i thought, and i know some exercises to start actively recuperating instead of sitting around and watching law & order all day long.

week 1, day 6

today was pretty uneventful. the only notable thing today is that i noticed that my ankle below my knee is a little bit swollen and my temperature is slightly above normal - 99.6 degrees F. my mom (a physician) thinks i should be watchful of these symptoms as these could be signs of an infection. the increased swelling has caused some more pain in my leg when i stand (and the blood rushes down to the leg), but otherwise, it's not a big deal. we'll see how things go tomorrow.