Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I have a surgery date!

My surgery date is set for July 16th, just over 8 weeks since my injury. The doctor told me the most important thing now is to build up my quads. I have had a lot of muscle atrophy in my quad and my calf. It is striking how much my right calf muscle has shrunk. Compared to my left, it looks like somebody deflated me with a pin!

I have decided to go with a patellar graft after much research. The thing that has been really scaring me is the notion that I would have pain in my knee while kneeling for the rest of my life. My doctor told me that regardless of the type of graft I have, there is the possibility of kneeling pain because there will be a scar there. That being the case, I decided to go with the "gold standard" graft.

I was going to use this "down time" to work on strengthening my upper body and my core, but there really hasn't been any "down time" at all. I am spending so much time exercising and stretching my knee/quads that I just don't have any more time to work on anything else.

I miss tumbling terribly, but I have continued to do handstands and some light bar work. I am coaching and just being in the gym is helping me mentally. I will work until the surgery date, then I will take off until the fall session starts up again in September.

Monday, June 14, 2010

WOO HOO! Lookie what I can do!



One week of physical therapy and I've gone from barely being able to lift my foot off the floor to closing in on my butt! I am really happy. I also took my bike off the stationary stand and started riding around the neighborhood. I am sick of staring at the wall in my garage.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Huge strides

I went back today for PT session number 2. In just two days, my range of motion increased by 50 degrees! As soon as I got it moving again, the swelling started coming down and I can move so much more freely. I'm even going down the stairs normally. I was initially really afraid of the physical therapy. Now I know that it is the only way to really get better.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Started Physical Therapy

I went to my first PT session yesterday. A lot of time was taken taking measurements of how far I can move my knee and leg in different directions vs the other knee/leg. Once we got down to business, I was given two sheets of exercises to do to strengthen my muscles and stretch. I was shocked when my therapist pointed out to me how much muscle tone I have already lost in my right quad. After the exercises, I spent five minutes on the bike. The first few pedals were hard, but it got much easier.

The good news is that I seem to be making progress considering where I was only three weeks ago. I am hoping to have surgery in another 3-4 weeks, so I have a ways still to go.

In these pictures, you can see that I have made some real strides in my range of motion just in a few days.



Saturday, June 5, 2010

Back to the doctor

I went back to the doctor the other day so he can see how it's going. The doctor won't do surgery until I have pretty much full function in my knee. That was discouraging for me. I was really hoping I could have the surgery just after July 4th weekend. It can still happen, but my knee really needs to do some healing between now and then.

I am in a cool new knee brace that makes me look sort of bionic. I like this one. I hated not being able to bend my knee. Driving is easier now too that I have some support. I was previously driving with no brace at all.

I start physical therapy (pre-hab) on Tuesday. I will do that for the next three weeks to try and get my knee moving again. I'll update the blog after my first session.

Ivy