PT today was wonderful, as always. Progressing like a champ. I went home afterward and decided to lay out to tan/study for the GRE/ go for a dip in the pool. As I was splashing around I saw a hornet on the pool ladder handle and decided to try and knock it off into the water with the thermometer to get it to the skimmer to kill it! To my dismay this little sucker fell into the water but jumped out and flew off above my head which scared me, made me jump, and as a result tweaked my knee. My doctor said I could get in the water and jog/use a kick board...he didn't have any directions for my unfortunate situation. "Remain calm when a hornet flies toward your head to keep from hurting your knee".. That should be written out for me. I decided to get out right afterwards to give my leg a break. Later on I went to the gym and when I walked in some brotha with a foot boot was on my hand bike machine! I had no choice but to hop on a regular bike and get to pedaling. No one is ever on the hand bike machine. So on this day where my knee has already been tweaked I decided to bike for 30 minutes, not even sure if I'm really allowed to do the cardio workout that I did...but it felt so good! And now my knee hurts and I haven't taken ice off in hours. Maybe I'll only do that once a week.
Milestones:
Actually able to keep the bike ON for more than 2 seconds, and 30 minute cardio on bike.
Water jogging--almost.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Discomfort
I imagine 2.5 weeks after surgery is the same for everyone... Not feeling outrageously terrible so we don't take pain meds but feel so uncomfortable that we are unable to sleep, and thus must take pain meds. I'm not sure if my inability to fall asleep at night is due to my discomfort with my knee or my discomfort with my daily activity. I feel as though I have so much energy balled up inside me and can't get rid of it no matter how hard I work the hand bike at the gym, no matter how many situps I do, etc. I think it's only a feeling that running can get rid of. I didn't fall asleep until 4am two nights ago, I was so upset about it!
Yesterday at physical therapy he had me walk backwards on a treadmill to help me naturally straighten out my leg in a walking motion. Everything else was pretty much the same. He didn't measure my flexion angle but it's definitely getting better each visit. (see picture below). Emily, a PT student at VCU, is doing her clinical with my physical therapist and she copied my surgery date down as 7-1-11 when it was really 7-11-11...so my PT, Tony, had thought all along that I was 4 weeks post-op and when he realized I was only 2 weeks he said "man, i thought you were doing good for being 4 weeks post-op!" Needless to say things are progressing very well :)
I asked my physical therapist if I could swim this week once I am able to get my wounds wet and he said no. He also said I can't bike for more than 15 minutes twice a day, and he didn't want me doing things at the gym to make my leg stronger. So this week brought news that was disappointing for me. If you know me you know this is upsetting. Thankfully I've had wonderful friends to hang out with all week and a wonderful boy who sent me flowers to help me cheer up :).
My PT says that my new ACL is at it's strongest right now and at 10-16 weeks post-op I am going to feel my best and want to try new things, but my ACL will be at it's weakest in all of recovery until it revascularizes after 16 weeks. Interesting!
After asking my physical therapist over and over to be able to swim I finally got the okay to do water jogging and kicking lightly on a kick board. So when I went home yesterday I took off my adhesive stitches ready to hop into the pool and unfortunately it took the scabs with it and opened up the wounds again--I put another butterfly adhesive stitch that we had here in the house on it to make sure it closed tightly...so I have to wait even longer to be able to put my leg in a pool for an extended amount of time.
Happy Thursday everyone! Go run and bend your knees :)
Yesterday at physical therapy he had me walk backwards on a treadmill to help me naturally straighten out my leg in a walking motion. Everything else was pretty much the same. He didn't measure my flexion angle but it's definitely getting better each visit. (see picture below). Emily, a PT student at VCU, is doing her clinical with my physical therapist and she copied my surgery date down as 7-1-11 when it was really 7-11-11...so my PT, Tony, had thought all along that I was 4 weeks post-op and when he realized I was only 2 weeks he said "man, i thought you were doing good for being 4 weeks post-op!" Needless to say things are progressing very well :)
I asked my physical therapist if I could swim this week once I am able to get my wounds wet and he said no. He also said I can't bike for more than 15 minutes twice a day, and he didn't want me doing things at the gym to make my leg stronger. So this week brought news that was disappointing for me. If you know me you know this is upsetting. Thankfully I've had wonderful friends to hang out with all week and a wonderful boy who sent me flowers to help me cheer up :).
My PT says that my new ACL is at it's strongest right now and at 10-16 weeks post-op I am going to feel my best and want to try new things, but my ACL will be at it's weakest in all of recovery until it revascularizes after 16 weeks. Interesting!
After asking my physical therapist over and over to be able to swim I finally got the okay to do water jogging and kicking lightly on a kick board. So when I went home yesterday I took off my adhesive stitches ready to hop into the pool and unfortunately it took the scabs with it and opened up the wounds again--I put another butterfly adhesive stitch that we had here in the house on it to make sure it closed tightly...so I have to wait even longer to be able to put my leg in a pool for an extended amount of time.
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| 2.5 weeks post-op flexion |
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| 2.5 weeks scar |
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| 2.5 weeks leg..can you see that knee cap?! :) |
Happy Thursday everyone! Go run and bend your knees :)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Milestones
I hope that the lack of posts that have been written over this past week are an explanation of how much I have not been laying around!
Here's some pics to start off!
Mostly I feel good all of the time. Whenever I spend most of the day walking around I am hurting pretty badly the next day. I think I iced my knee for at least 12 hours yesterday--I was in so much pain. I am so thankful that my body has allowed me to walk! If I had to go any longer feeling so inadequate and robbed of independence I may have gone crazy. In terms of strength for my knee it's getting much better. In PT they have began putting weights on my legs as I do leg lifts and they have me balancing on my one leg, doing calf raises, and mini squats against a wall. The joke of the day today in PT was the intense difference in size between my legs...my guy Tony couldn't stop staring...if I didn't know any better I'd think he was checking me out! Really he was staring to make sure my leg was stable in all of the exercises he had me do.
Milestones:
1.5 weeks- begin walking without crutches
2 weeks- able to do a full rotation on the bike in PT
2 weeks- 119 degree flexion in PT!
Today was the first day I was able to get my leg to do a full rotation on the bike! I was so excited! Before the appointment Tony said he wanted me to have 125 degrees of flexion within the next week (Thursday it was 110) and then I whipped out 119 degrees! It was painful, but worth it. At the end of the appointment Tony sincerely assured me that I was progressing wonderfully and told me he even uses me as an example to his other patients throughout the day!!! Whoever said I shouldn't get knee surgery in the summer time I'd like to tell you that it was totally worth it. Granted I can't run in this 125 degree heat index..............rats! ;)
I'm so happy with the way things are going and my ability to do whatever I would normally do. I'm so glad that I did it during the summer to be able to focus on my recovery. I'm just so glaaddd I did it!
Natalie
Here's some pics to start off!
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| Knee's post-op less than one week |
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| This is how I had to wrap my leg to shower before I could get my wounds wet! |
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| Typical meal |
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| Knee's pre-op (as seen in one of my first posts) |
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| Knees post-op 2 weeks! |
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| Knee flexion post-op 2 weeks |
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| Sister Lauren not having fun filling up my ice |
Mostly I feel good all of the time. Whenever I spend most of the day walking around I am hurting pretty badly the next day. I think I iced my knee for at least 12 hours yesterday--I was in so much pain. I am so thankful that my body has allowed me to walk! If I had to go any longer feeling so inadequate and robbed of independence I may have gone crazy. In terms of strength for my knee it's getting much better. In PT they have began putting weights on my legs as I do leg lifts and they have me balancing on my one leg, doing calf raises, and mini squats against a wall. The joke of the day today in PT was the intense difference in size between my legs...my guy Tony couldn't stop staring...if I didn't know any better I'd think he was checking me out! Really he was staring to make sure my leg was stable in all of the exercises he had me do.
Milestones:
1.5 weeks- begin walking without crutches
2 weeks- able to do a full rotation on the bike in PT
2 weeks- 119 degree flexion in PT!
Today was the first day I was able to get my leg to do a full rotation on the bike! I was so excited! Before the appointment Tony said he wanted me to have 125 degrees of flexion within the next week (Thursday it was 110) and then I whipped out 119 degrees! It was painful, but worth it. At the end of the appointment Tony sincerely assured me that I was progressing wonderfully and told me he even uses me as an example to his other patients throughout the day!!! Whoever said I shouldn't get knee surgery in the summer time I'd like to tell you that it was totally worth it. Granted I can't run in this 125 degree heat index..............rats! ;)
I'm so happy with the way things are going and my ability to do whatever I would normally do. I'm so glad that I did it during the summer to be able to focus on my recovery. I'm just so glaaddd I did it!
Natalie
Friday, July 22, 2011
Progress
Haven't been on here in a while but I've made a lot of progress this week! I had PT twice this week and saw my doctor for my post-op appt on wednesday. They took X-rays to make sure the screws and buttons and all that were in place and they were perfect! Thursday the 21st I woke up and said "today im going to walk" so I walked yesterday and have been walking well ever since! My girl Christina came into town yesterday to visit, poor thing spent 2 hours in traffic, and she went to PT with me! PT yesterday was tough, it made me cry and then Christina made me laugh at the same time which made things a lot better! Christina also loves my physical therapist. My physical therapist loved my socks. So I was in pain after PT but C and I went downtown Fredericksburg last night anyway. We went to capital ale then the otter house where we saw Tim Bugge and Sam Astley among other high school friends! Why is this Tim's second shout out in my blog?! We stayed out longer than we expected cause the otter house was poppin with a dj and so many people our age! Today my knee hurt real bad to walk on so I used the crutches when C and I went to get starbucks/manicures! Now I'm icing, hoping the pain goes away, potentially about to study for the GRE and chill out for the day! Swelling has gone down significantly but is still there. Overall things are looking up!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Post-op: 1 week!
It has been exactly 1 week since I had surgery and I hear things only get better from here!
I went to the gym last night for the first time since surgery! I was beginning to experience cabin fever and felt myself becoming irritated at the littlest things my family said or did so I knew I had to get my butt to the gym to snap out of it! Granted I couldn't do my typical cardio workout on the treadmill/bike/stairstepper/elliptical I was pleasantly surprised the hand bike machine that I used made me sweat and gave me a bit of a cardio workout! I did that for 25 minutes and then proceeded to the floor area to do abs on a ball, one legged squats/calf raises and then worked out my arms and shoulders. I left there feeling uplifted, definitely the most cheerful I've been all week! I hope to go again late tonight so not many people are there :).
It's crazy how long it takes me to do the smallest things nowadays! It's a big hassle to close the door behind me or to get up to get something from across the room..etc. I wrapped my leg in cellophane and put a rubber band at the top to keep water from getting under in the shower--works so well! I showered and got dressed/ready in 30 minutes...crazy town how long it took. My physical therapy appointment today was at 9am. When I got there he put me on the bike and I knew I wouldn't be able to do a full rotation, he didn't expect me to, and I didn't. I rocked the pedals back and forth to the point of pain and went the other way. He then had me lie down and hooked me up to a machine that stimulates/shocks my leg muscle. The vastus medialis muscle (medial quadricep) is commonly the muscle that is first lost after a surgery of this caliber and it often needs help to reactivate, basically. So we did some exercises while shocking the muscle, did other standard exercises that were the same as the ones on my take-home workout sheet, and then we did ice for 10 minutes. I'm muuuch much better at leg lifts than I was on Friday, it's crazy how much of a difference I saw in just 3 days! I mentioned in a post on Friday that I couldn't even lift my leg while laying on my side in order to work the adductor muscles, but I did 30 today with no problem!! :):)
I've begun putting more weight on my leg and just finished doing a few laps around my kitchen/living room with only 1 pit stop for some blueberries and yogurt :)...and a chip with dip. The PT thinks that I should be walking without crutches by the end of the week, I vote by Wednesday! Whenever I walk and put little to no weight on the crutches I am able to take steps but I have to make sure the knee is stable before I follow through, I can feel that the muscles around the knee definitely aren't up to par to be able to support me walking without the straight leg brace just yet.
You know how I've been wearing the ace wrap all week? I thought this dressing was very necessary under my brace and at all times. It reduces pain and swelling and without it whenever I stand up I feel an immense amount of pain--which you also may have read about in one of my previous posts! But the physical therapist, Tony, who is a different guy from the one who did the evaluation on Friday- he's younger, big like he used to play football, and has a lot of personality and wit- looked at me and said:
Tony- "why are you still wearing that ace wrap?"
Me- "well! Dr. Zijerdi put it on me after surgery and it helps a lot with pain whenever I stand up, and reduces swelling!"
Tony- with a smile but trying not to make me feel bad "Dr. Zijerdi is going to laugh at you if you're still wearing that when you see him on Wednesday...that's supposed to be a post-op dressing"
Me- "Tony I like it, it helps me."
Tony- "okay let me help you put it back on"
Me- "are you telling me I've been looking really dumb with this ace wrap on all week?!"
Tony- "I didn't say it."
Hahahah..fail. Needless to say my physical therapist talked me out of wearing the ace wrap, so my knee is now exposed to the world-- which is good because it's probably the sexiest part of my body. I'll post pics tomorrow!
My goal for Wednesday is to walk in the straight-leg brace without crutches, to have more visible quad muscles, to be able to straighten my leg and increase my ROM! I accidentally pronounced muscle in PT today as "mus-kul"...who am I?!?!! My PT definitely thinks I'm retarded.
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and to all of my friends who have jobs/internships..I would trade lives with you in a heart beat..keep on keepin on!! <3
I went to the gym last night for the first time since surgery! I was beginning to experience cabin fever and felt myself becoming irritated at the littlest things my family said or did so I knew I had to get my butt to the gym to snap out of it! Granted I couldn't do my typical cardio workout on the treadmill/bike/stairstepper/elliptical I was pleasantly surprised the hand bike machine that I used made me sweat and gave me a bit of a cardio workout! I did that for 25 minutes and then proceeded to the floor area to do abs on a ball, one legged squats/calf raises and then worked out my arms and shoulders. I left there feeling uplifted, definitely the most cheerful I've been all week! I hope to go again late tonight so not many people are there :).
It's crazy how long it takes me to do the smallest things nowadays! It's a big hassle to close the door behind me or to get up to get something from across the room..etc. I wrapped my leg in cellophane and put a rubber band at the top to keep water from getting under in the shower--works so well! I showered and got dressed/ready in 30 minutes...crazy town how long it took. My physical therapy appointment today was at 9am. When I got there he put me on the bike and I knew I wouldn't be able to do a full rotation, he didn't expect me to, and I didn't. I rocked the pedals back and forth to the point of pain and went the other way. He then had me lie down and hooked me up to a machine that stimulates/shocks my leg muscle. The vastus medialis muscle (medial quadricep) is commonly the muscle that is first lost after a surgery of this caliber and it often needs help to reactivate, basically. So we did some exercises while shocking the muscle, did other standard exercises that were the same as the ones on my take-home workout sheet, and then we did ice for 10 minutes. I'm muuuch much better at leg lifts than I was on Friday, it's crazy how much of a difference I saw in just 3 days! I mentioned in a post on Friday that I couldn't even lift my leg while laying on my side in order to work the adductor muscles, but I did 30 today with no problem!! :):)
I've begun putting more weight on my leg and just finished doing a few laps around my kitchen/living room with only 1 pit stop for some blueberries and yogurt :)...and a chip with dip. The PT thinks that I should be walking without crutches by the end of the week, I vote by Wednesday! Whenever I walk and put little to no weight on the crutches I am able to take steps but I have to make sure the knee is stable before I follow through, I can feel that the muscles around the knee definitely aren't up to par to be able to support me walking without the straight leg brace just yet.
You know how I've been wearing the ace wrap all week? I thought this dressing was very necessary under my brace and at all times. It reduces pain and swelling and without it whenever I stand up I feel an immense amount of pain--which you also may have read about in one of my previous posts! But the physical therapist, Tony, who is a different guy from the one who did the evaluation on Friday- he's younger, big like he used to play football, and has a lot of personality and wit- looked at me and said:
Tony- "why are you still wearing that ace wrap?"
Me- "well! Dr. Zijerdi put it on me after surgery and it helps a lot with pain whenever I stand up, and reduces swelling!"
Tony- with a smile but trying not to make me feel bad "Dr. Zijerdi is going to laugh at you if you're still wearing that when you see him on Wednesday...that's supposed to be a post-op dressing"
Me- "Tony I like it, it helps me."
Tony- "okay let me help you put it back on"
Me- "are you telling me I've been looking really dumb with this ace wrap on all week?!"
Tony- "I didn't say it."
Hahahah..fail. Needless to say my physical therapist talked me out of wearing the ace wrap, so my knee is now exposed to the world-- which is good because it's probably the sexiest part of my body. I'll post pics tomorrow!
My goal for Wednesday is to walk in the straight-leg brace without crutches, to have more visible quad muscles, to be able to straighten my leg and increase my ROM! I accidentally pronounced muscle in PT today as "mus-kul"...who am I?!?!! My PT definitely thinks I'm retarded.
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and to all of my friends who have jobs/internships..I would trade lives with you in a heart beat..keep on keepin on!! <3
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Post-op day 6: I talk too much
I've been reading other blogs written by fellow human-beings who have endured the recovery process of ACL reconstruction as well and most of them write a post once a week or once every two weeks. So I'm beginning to think I talk (write) too much! In my defense their blogs are very dry and don't have much personality/color..although most of their blog titles are ON POINT, which mine lacks, obviously.
This morning was pretty horrific painwise. I woke up unable to mentally make myself move my knee. My mom had come into my room at 6am, I was dead to the world--bless her heart, and put ice on my knee. I'm pretty sure I made the wise executive decision to take that ice off relatively instantly the moment my bedroom door shut in order to sleep more comfortably, you know, priorities! Noooott wiiiiseee Natalie. I ended up sleeping until 9 and this is when I woke up in immense pain including my back, it was sore too! I must have been in a funky position!
So I finally mustered up the courage to get out of bed, get changed, wash the face, brush the teeth, and make my way down to the couch and turned on HGTV. They should probably be paying me for the amount of time I've spent watching their show this week! Basically I know what my dream house looks like already and I'm determined to be on House Hunters (international, preferably) when I'm of age! After an hour of watching TV the family decided to go outside and lay by the pool to enjoy the weather so I hobbled on my crutches out to a lounge chair and the pain was definitely a 10 at this point, the tears were rollin down my face because of it--but I wasn't crying! Once I got the leg elevated the pain decreased significantly. So I got about an hour of sun before our neighbors came over for a cookout lunch and the rest is history. Also this was my opportunity to have the cheeseburger that I raved about in my most recent post, but I didn't have one! I asked for grilled chicken instead. :)
Because the percocet wasn't sitting too well with me the doctor prescribed Vicodin yesterday and I gave in to taking one of those. Needless to say I am laying in bed right now on the verge of falling asleep, pretty apathetic about any spelling or grammatical errors I may have made thus far. Tonight I'm getting out of the house again! We're going to a Thai restaurant with the same neighbors we had lunch with (John, Louise, and child--John is the guy we had the party for last night) ...we love them. I wonder how the employees at this Thai restaurant will receive the fact that I'm definitely going to be propping my leg up under their table.
Before I go I just wanted to note to myself that A) I need to wake up intermittently during the night to turn the ice machine thing on, B) I need to keep the ace wrap on during the day to control the swelling when I'm standing to keep from putting excess pressure on the knee joint, C) I need to never get surgery again.
Hope everyone else is taking a nap along with me
Loooove Natalie
This morning was pretty horrific painwise. I woke up unable to mentally make myself move my knee. My mom had come into my room at 6am, I was dead to the world--bless her heart, and put ice on my knee. I'm pretty sure I made the wise executive decision to take that ice off relatively instantly the moment my bedroom door shut in order to sleep more comfortably, you know, priorities! Noooott wiiiiseee Natalie. I ended up sleeping until 9 and this is when I woke up in immense pain including my back, it was sore too! I must have been in a funky position!
So I finally mustered up the courage to get out of bed, get changed, wash the face, brush the teeth, and make my way down to the couch and turned on HGTV. They should probably be paying me for the amount of time I've spent watching their show this week! Basically I know what my dream house looks like already and I'm determined to be on House Hunters (international, preferably) when I'm of age! After an hour of watching TV the family decided to go outside and lay by the pool to enjoy the weather so I hobbled on my crutches out to a lounge chair and the pain was definitely a 10 at this point, the tears were rollin down my face because of it--but I wasn't crying! Once I got the leg elevated the pain decreased significantly. So I got about an hour of sun before our neighbors came over for a cookout lunch and the rest is history. Also this was my opportunity to have the cheeseburger that I raved about in my most recent post, but I didn't have one! I asked for grilled chicken instead. :)
Because the percocet wasn't sitting too well with me the doctor prescribed Vicodin yesterday and I gave in to taking one of those. Needless to say I am laying in bed right now on the verge of falling asleep, pretty apathetic about any spelling or grammatical errors I may have made thus far. Tonight I'm getting out of the house again! We're going to a Thai restaurant with the same neighbors we had lunch with (John, Louise, and child--John is the guy we had the party for last night) ...we love them. I wonder how the employees at this Thai restaurant will receive the fact that I'm definitely going to be propping my leg up under their table.
Before I go I just wanted to note to myself that A) I need to wake up intermittently during the night to turn the ice machine thing on, B) I need to keep the ace wrap on during the day to control the swelling when I'm standing to keep from putting excess pressure on the knee joint, C) I need to never get surgery again.
Hope everyone else is taking a nap along with me
Loooove Natalie
Friday, July 15, 2011
Caution: Sexy pic
Now that I am off pain meds (as you may have read in the last post) I didn't sleep as well last night as I have been sleeping all week but I guess that's to be expected. Also now that I'm off pain meds I'm outrageously bored...I can only make myself take so many naps a day or be okay with so many hours of sitting on my butt doing nothing without meds to make me chilllll out. Thankfully I had my physical therapy eval appointment today so I got to leave the house! Basically all he did was measure my knee, ROM, and intruduced a few exercises for me to do on my own time--whiiich, because I'm such a good patient, have already taken upon myself to do a set of the exercises today. One set of the exercises took about 20 minutes and he wants me to do THREE sets THREE times a day...brotha that is 3 hours a day! I'm mad like I have something better to do.... Anyway, I already see an improvement in my ability to do leg lifts while laying down on my back and stomach! The side leg lifts to work the adductors are pretty painful and I can barely lift my leg off the ground. Abductor lifts are fine. I think he said I bent my knee 84 degrees and was 4 degrees off from being able to straighten it all the way. So things are looking good! I think! Here's a pic of my knee!
I talked a little bit about where I thought the incisions were made in one of my previous posts. I guestimated that there were incisions below my knee to the right of my shin, above my knee to the left, and I couldn't feel the third one, but thought there was a third. The picture above showwsss exactly what I predicted! There was another incision below my knee to the left, but my skin around that incision is still numb so that's probably why I couldn't feel it. The incision to the lower right (lower left looking at it from this view) may have two incisions? Also this is the only incision that appears to have external stitches, all the others are internal..hopefully that means the scars won't be as apparent in those spots!
My family is having a little going away party for our neighbor John this evening who is going to Iraq for a year. He's a stellar guy and it's seriously unfortunate that he has to go away for so long! While planning for the event my mom began listing off the types of food that will be here and she said "we're going to have pizza, wings, sausage dip, etc..and i know you don't want to eat any of that so I think in the fridge we have snap peas, cucumbers, squash, green beans, carrots, lots of lettuce...." Great. I can't wait to watch everyone drink margaritas on the deck and indulge in mountains of greasy goodness while I'm snapping my peas and squash upstairs icing my stinkin' knee. I guess this is the way it has to be! I am determined to not gain any weight while I'm forced to be inactive! So bring on the veggies!
CAN SOMEONE BRING ME A CHEESEBURGER?!
But don't really. I just watched the episode of the Fresh Prince where the whole family put the dad on a diet and therefore he paid Will to sneak him junk food all week. As result he had a heart attack when he ate a sneaky cheeseburger. So that show taught me that you'll have a heart attack and die if you pay someone to sneak you food and defy your family's wishes. TV is so educational. I have more self control than that. But I'd say since I've already written 5 lines about a cheeseburger, I still really want one. But don't. :)
SUP FRIDAY
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| Knee 5 days after surgery |
| Flowers I received from my Aunt and Uncle while writing this post!! |
My family is having a little going away party for our neighbor John this evening who is going to Iraq for a year. He's a stellar guy and it's seriously unfortunate that he has to go away for so long! While planning for the event my mom began listing off the types of food that will be here and she said "we're going to have pizza, wings, sausage dip, etc..and i know you don't want to eat any of that so I think in the fridge we have snap peas, cucumbers, squash, green beans, carrots, lots of lettuce...." Great. I can't wait to watch everyone drink margaritas on the deck and indulge in mountains of greasy goodness while I'm snapping my peas and squash upstairs icing my stinkin' knee. I guess this is the way it has to be! I am determined to not gain any weight while I'm forced to be inactive! So bring on the veggies!
CAN SOMEONE BRING ME A CHEESEBURGER?!
But don't really. I just watched the episode of the Fresh Prince where the whole family put the dad on a diet and therefore he paid Will to sneak him junk food all week. As result he had a heart attack when he ate a sneaky cheeseburger. So that show taught me that you'll have a heart attack and die if you pay someone to sneak you food and defy your family's wishes. TV is so educational. I have more self control than that. But I'd say since I've already written 5 lines about a cheeseburger, I still really want one. But don't. :)
SUP FRIDAY
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Post-op day 4: Sans pain meds
This morning was weird. I woke up at 5:45 (typical these days) but both of my arms were asleep in the region that the ulnar nerve innervates (think bone on pinky side to hand) and after that sensation went away my whole body started itching. My legs, stomach, back, arms, feet, head..all of it just needed to be scratched! I took a percocet at 6am because I only have one ocyxontin left and feel as though I may need to save that for after my physical therapy appointment tomorrow. Guess what comes with the physical therapy appointment?! PICTURES. I can't wait to see my knee. I bet it's going to look 100% better than it probably did post-op day 1 but it's killing me to not be able to see it. I tried to look at it again last night by taking the ace wrap off and peeking under the white wrapping and freaked when I saw a dark blob just above my knee--turned out to just be my own and my doctors signatures! Phew!
So aside from itching all over my body I've felt very lethargic, nauseous, and have lacked an appetite all day. It took me over an hour to eat a bowl of soup as I regretted taking each bite. My mom was annoyed that I didn't feel like talking all day, but whenever I did a new wave of nausea would come over me and basically tell me to stop talking. Essentially 6am was the only time i took a pain med and it lasts 4 hours, I'm hesitant to take another percocet in case I'm reacting to it in some way regarding the itching, nausea, and numbness. As long as I don't make any sudden movements or stand up often my knee won't hurt that bad so I think I'm okay without the pain meds for now.
Why am I SO lethargic?! This is unreal. My neighbor and family friend, John, heard about this lethargy and considered it way out of character for me. He said to my mom "I saw how she worked out at the beach, she is used to working out every day and producing adrenaline for hours, I bet she's dying laying in bed all day. She needs one of those machines that are like bikes for your arms---" and my mom says "she's been lifting weights in bed each day!" and he rolled his eyes and said "of course she is" and laughed. I didn't even think that my serious lack of exercise could be resulting in such a lethargic Natalie. No fun. I muust go to the gym!
Here's pics of flowers and gifts:
So aside from itching all over my body I've felt very lethargic, nauseous, and have lacked an appetite all day. It took me over an hour to eat a bowl of soup as I regretted taking each bite. My mom was annoyed that I didn't feel like talking all day, but whenever I did a new wave of nausea would come over me and basically tell me to stop talking. Essentially 6am was the only time i took a pain med and it lasts 4 hours, I'm hesitant to take another percocet in case I'm reacting to it in some way regarding the itching, nausea, and numbness. As long as I don't make any sudden movements or stand up often my knee won't hurt that bad so I think I'm okay without the pain meds for now.
Why am I SO lethargic?! This is unreal. My neighbor and family friend, John, heard about this lethargy and considered it way out of character for me. He said to my mom "I saw how she worked out at the beach, she is used to working out every day and producing adrenaline for hours, I bet she's dying laying in bed all day. She needs one of those machines that are like bikes for your arms---" and my mom says "she's been lifting weights in bed each day!" and he rolled his eyes and said "of course she is" and laughed. I didn't even think that my serious lack of exercise could be resulting in such a lethargic Natalie. No fun. I muust go to the gym!
Here's pics of flowers and gifts:
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| Happy Flower's From Dad! |
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| Wonderful gift basket from Dee/the O'Bakers! |
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| Get well soon balloons from the Romines! |
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| Pretty flowers from the Koretke's! |
Thanks to everyone who has not only sent me a get well gift but supported me throughout this entire week!
It means a lot to me!
It means a lot to me!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Post-op day 3: Mellow
The pain today remained at a constant 8 on the 1-10 pain scale. I woke up at 5:45am again hoping my mom would be coming with medicine soon or else I don't know that I could have gotten out of bed. Took an ocycontin at 6 and slept for a while after that. Had soup and crackers for lunch which sat much better in my stomach today than yesterday--I also hadn't had any percocet at this point. After lunch I decided to take a percocet with some vegetables and was totally fine! I don't understand why yesterday was so horrible! I imagine my stomach just isn't used to all of these intense meds because I don't even take anything as minor as advil or tylenol everrr on a normal day.
Whenever my leg is propped up i seem to forget about the pain until I move it. It's especially annoying with pain whenever I'm about to fall asleep, the myclonic jerks tweak the joint so much! I spent most of the day in bed, sleeping, but did take time to walk out to the mailbox today with my mom--on crutches, though--and by the time I got back my leg was very tired of holding itself up. My driveway isn't a mile long or anything..it's probably the length of 3-4 cars. Ha...
Overall I feel like today was a healing turning point in terms of being able to handle the pain with only 2 meds and just being content with the situation I am in. I received flowers from my Dad, Louise, and a wonderful gift basket from Dee O'Baker/Family that I'll put pics of up soon! Thanks everyone!
I tried to take off the brace and wrapping today when my mom was at the gym (shh) but there was an intense white padding wrapping type thing underneath the ace bandage that looked like it shouldn't be taken off. Rats!! I want to see it so badly! When I took the brace off I changed the flexion to 30 degrees so my leg doesn't stay completely straight all day--the doctor suggested I do this! Makes it much easier to sit down from a standing position!
Hopefully I'll feel even better tomorrow and be able to get myself out to the gym! I'll keep you posted on that event :)
Feeling: tired. dizzy. pain. love my friends.
Whenever my leg is propped up i seem to forget about the pain until I move it. It's especially annoying with pain whenever I'm about to fall asleep, the myclonic jerks tweak the joint so much! I spent most of the day in bed, sleeping, but did take time to walk out to the mailbox today with my mom--on crutches, though--and by the time I got back my leg was very tired of holding itself up. My driveway isn't a mile long or anything..it's probably the length of 3-4 cars. Ha...
Overall I feel like today was a healing turning point in terms of being able to handle the pain with only 2 meds and just being content with the situation I am in. I received flowers from my Dad, Louise, and a wonderful gift basket from Dee O'Baker/Family that I'll put pics of up soon! Thanks everyone!
I tried to take off the brace and wrapping today when my mom was at the gym (shh) but there was an intense white padding wrapping type thing underneath the ace bandage that looked like it shouldn't be taken off. Rats!! I want to see it so badly! When I took the brace off I changed the flexion to 30 degrees so my leg doesn't stay completely straight all day--the doctor suggested I do this! Makes it much easier to sit down from a standing position!
Hopefully I'll feel even better tomorrow and be able to get myself out to the gym! I'll keep you posted on that event :)
Feeling: tired. dizzy. pain. love my friends.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Post-op day 2: Thumbs down, way down.
Here's some pics from the day of surgery, before and after.
Okay so to say the least, today was miserable. Still is miserable. I woke up at 545 in excruciating pain and called for my madre to bring me medicine. She brought me an oxycontin and a bagel/mango/blueberries breakfast on a cutie pie tray. Because I had eaten so well yesterday and had no problems with nausea after eating we thought that eating hearty meals was an okay idea for today as well...which turned out to be sooo false it's unreal. After I had breakfast I went back to sleep and got up at 9:30 to go into my parents bedroom where I took 2 percocets and had some vegetables and watched TV. I slept until 11:45 when my mom brought lunch up: grilled chicken strips with roasted red pepper hummus on lettuce and grilled vegetables. It was soo good. And then from 1:30-5:45 I lost all of that even though I took anti-nausea medicine. Sorry that's really cute to hear. I was in the bathroom asleep on the toilet for the longest time, and whenever I thought I was okay to go back to bed, I wasn't. Basically I went the entire day unable to keep anything down, including medicine. Needless to say the pain was unreal the entire today because of this. It hurts to stand up without even putting pressure on the leg, it hurts to sit, it hurts to lay, it feels as though my entire shin bone is cracked/broken from the knee joint to the ankle. Whenever my muscles on that leg are used it puts a severe amount of excruciating pressure on the joint and when I'm drifting off to sleep and my leg twitches randomly, that's a pain I don't even want to talk about either. Remember my pain analogy in one of my prior posts? Let's add 4 pianos and broken bones and burning joints to the mix of sprained knee and 1 piano. Overall pain scale average for today = 9.5... :(
I'm hesitant to take another percocet because I'm thinking that is what made me unable to keep anything down today--but why didn't this happen when I took manyy more percocets yesterday? In any event, I'm having some saltines and sugar free applesauce and ice with water right now! No more heavy foods for this girl! I will take a percocet right before I crash.
Hope everyone had a lovely day :) Thanks for reading!
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| Mom was so proud of her new camera skills..this is me before everything! |
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| Blood pressure in bottom left hand corner, so relaxed even before Valium! |
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| This picture may be Natalie on Valium |
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| Post-op day 1: Posted up in my parent's bedroom after the surgery. Feelin' great, thumbs up! |
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| Post-op day 2: Worst day ever...this is later on in the evening when i was feeling much better than I had been the rest of the day, but both thumbs way down |
Okay so to say the least, today was miserable. Still is miserable. I woke up at 545 in excruciating pain and called for my madre to bring me medicine. She brought me an oxycontin and a bagel/mango/blueberries breakfast on a cutie pie tray. Because I had eaten so well yesterday and had no problems with nausea after eating we thought that eating hearty meals was an okay idea for today as well...which turned out to be sooo false it's unreal. After I had breakfast I went back to sleep and got up at 9:30 to go into my parents bedroom where I took 2 percocets and had some vegetables and watched TV. I slept until 11:45 when my mom brought lunch up: grilled chicken strips with roasted red pepper hummus on lettuce and grilled vegetables. It was soo good. And then from 1:30-5:45 I lost all of that even though I took anti-nausea medicine. Sorry that's really cute to hear. I was in the bathroom asleep on the toilet for the longest time, and whenever I thought I was okay to go back to bed, I wasn't. Basically I went the entire day unable to keep anything down, including medicine. Needless to say the pain was unreal the entire today because of this. It hurts to stand up without even putting pressure on the leg, it hurts to sit, it hurts to lay, it feels as though my entire shin bone is cracked/broken from the knee joint to the ankle. Whenever my muscles on that leg are used it puts a severe amount of excruciating pressure on the joint and when I'm drifting off to sleep and my leg twitches randomly, that's a pain I don't even want to talk about either. Remember my pain analogy in one of my prior posts? Let's add 4 pianos and broken bones and burning joints to the mix of sprained knee and 1 piano. Overall pain scale average for today = 9.5... :(
I'm hesitant to take another percocet because I'm thinking that is what made me unable to keep anything down today--but why didn't this happen when I took manyy more percocets yesterday? In any event, I'm having some saltines and sugar free applesauce and ice with water right now! No more heavy foods for this girl! I will take a percocet right before I crash.
Hope everyone had a lovely day :) Thanks for reading!
Party in my knee
I slept surprisingly well last night with the help of pain medications obviously. They were supposed to wear off at 4am and by golly did they ever! My plan was for my mom to wake me up at 5 when she got up for work to give me the biggest pain med..so here I am at 6am telling you that the pain I felt yesterday is NOTHING compared to today--which was to be expected. I'm icing it, took pain meds, etc and am hoping to fall back asleep. It feels like someone had a party in my knee and threw up everywhere, for lack of a better description. Imagine spraining your knee and being pinned under a piano at the same time? Any feeling on that?
I would rate the pain about an 8, hopefully that's just typical of mornings and gets better throughout the day though! It hurts more when I move the knee so hopefully trips to the bathroom are minimal today.
I can't see my knee but if I had to guess the exact spots in which there were a knive/object inserted I would vote on two places right now. Below my knee cap on my shin to the right and upove my knee on my thigh to the left. That's what I feel right now and I'm not a fan of feeling entry/drilling sites. Hope these meds kick in soon! :( We'll see if my predictions of point of entry are accurate when the wrapping comes off on Friday. I think there are going to be 3 holes though, I just can't feel the third one.
Perhaps pictures later today if this pain gets better, and perhaps a blog!
Have a wonderful day!!! INSANO heat advisory for today! Stay cool lovelies.
I would rate the pain about an 8, hopefully that's just typical of mornings and gets better throughout the day though! It hurts more when I move the knee so hopefully trips to the bathroom are minimal today.
I can't see my knee but if I had to guess the exact spots in which there were a knive/object inserted I would vote on two places right now. Below my knee cap on my shin to the right and upove my knee on my thigh to the left. That's what I feel right now and I'm not a fan of feeling entry/drilling sites. Hope these meds kick in soon! :( We'll see if my predictions of point of entry are accurate when the wrapping comes off on Friday. I think there are going to be 3 holes though, I just can't feel the third one.
Perhaps pictures later today if this pain gets better, and perhaps a blog!
Have a wonderful day!!! INSANO heat advisory for today! Stay cool lovelies.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Post-Op Day 1:
Helllooo world! I know many of you may be thinking "how is Natalie able to be on the iPad typing right now?"...I'm feeling great! Mostly because the femoral nerve block is still in effect. Surgery began at 10:20am and I came to around 12:00pm! Prior to surgery I got vAlium which didn't have a huge loopy effect on me but the anesthesiologist (sexier than my doctor!!!) said it would feel like I had 4 margaritas-without the calories-which I'm all about!! After the Valium he went to give me a nerve block in my femoral nerve. The external iliac artery and vein are grouped with the femoral nerve in the pelvic region but he had a hard time finding the nerve via a pulse from the artery because my blood pressure was so low! All of the doctors/nurses were impressed that my blood pressure was so healthy, 97/58, except the anesthesiologist clearly wasn't fond of it ;).
Once I got the nerve block they rolled me back into the operating room where it had to haveprobably definitely been 37 degrees max! They wrapped me up in many warm blankets, strapped my arms and legs and core down to the bed, and took my pulse again--they asked if I was a runner!! "YUP and I'll be running out of here." The other anesthesiologist (I seriously had 4 nurses, 2 anesthesiologists, and 1 doc) told me to think of my favorite place as he put the gas mask on me-naturally I thought of the mountains at JMU with all my lovely friends :) andennnn I was out!
And then I started dreaming--although I can't recall exactly what about. Andennnn I woke up IN THE OPERATING ROOM! Which freaked me out at first but as soon as I saw that my knee was wrapped up and in a brace I knew surgery had been completed. I popped my head up above all 62 blankets I had on and said, very brightly, "how did it go?!?!" My doctor and anesthesiologist laughed and said they've never seen anyone that perky RIGHT after surgery and told my mom that it was almost bizarre :). I'm still not sure if I should be upset about waking up in the OR instead of the Stage 1 recovery room or if I should be pumped that the anesthesiologist was so stellar at his job that his perfect dose allowed me to wake up as surgery had juuuuust ended!
I was rolled into the Stage 1 post-op recovery room where everyone as surprised how well I was doing: no nausea, totally coherent, ready for some ice chips, ready to get dressed, and ready to leave! I think I stayed there for about 10 minutes and rated my pain level at 4 to the nurses..and then it went up to a 6 shortly after so they gave me a percocet and rolled me over to Stage 2 recovery where my mom as allowed to come in! The nurse asked me if I wanted anything to eat and said that she had "Grahams" and...who wouldn't respond to that with "Teddy's?!?" So... I got some plain Graham cracks in my stomach, which I was a little nervous about because after my last surgery eating made me feel very nauseous! 30 minutes later after talking to a few nurses and my doctor we were free to go! Mom drove me home and I am posted up in my parents bedroom currently which turned out to be a better idea than any of my previous options (see 'pre traumatic stress disorder' post below)! I've got Netflix, memory foam, and a bathroom that I could hop to if I'm feeling ambitious ;).
Because of the femoral nerve block, the pain has only been localized to the back of the knee and I just recently began feeling pain below the anterior of my knee-perhaps because I have a hole drilled through my tibia?! In any event I have medicine to tame nausea and need to start taking more pain meds when this nerve block wears off-I can feel it happening. I've been eating fine, moms homemade chicken soup and lots of veggies/nuts!!
The doctor said tomorrow will be the worst day of pain for me, which im not looking forward to but am trying to stay positive about! I won't have knee pics up until Friday because the physical therapist has to take the wrapping off and I see her Friday..but my mom took pics today that I'll put up as soon as I feel up to dealing with all that!
Honestly this blogging is going to keep me sane through the pain right now and with the more intense pain I will be feeling the rest of the week. Knowing that you all are reading keeps my spirits up and makes me feel very supported/not alone. You all are like pain meds, but better, mentally! I appreciate all of your support and good wishes :)
About to take the strongest pain med and watch Despicable Me with the rents and then logging out (as seen said by Tim Bugge :)). Sorry I'm not sorry if I fall asleep in my parents bedroom and they have to sleep in the guest room? ;)
Love y'all! Hope this post isn't obnoxiously long I can't see it all. :):):):):)
Oh! Also, apparently my ACL tore closer to my femur so he was able to strap it up with my new ACL for more support/strength... AWESOME! Let's all pray that I'm this perky tomorrow, if I don't blog that's how you know that isn't the case :(
Once I got the nerve block they rolled me back into the operating room where it had to haveprobably definitely been 37 degrees max! They wrapped me up in many warm blankets, strapped my arms and legs and core down to the bed, and took my pulse again--they asked if I was a runner!! "YUP and I'll be running out of here." The other anesthesiologist (I seriously had 4 nurses, 2 anesthesiologists, and 1 doc) told me to think of my favorite place as he put the gas mask on me-naturally I thought of the mountains at JMU with all my lovely friends :) andennnn I was out!
And then I started dreaming--although I can't recall exactly what about. Andennnn I woke up IN THE OPERATING ROOM! Which freaked me out at first but as soon as I saw that my knee was wrapped up and in a brace I knew surgery had been completed. I popped my head up above all 62 blankets I had on and said, very brightly, "how did it go?!?!" My doctor and anesthesiologist laughed and said they've never seen anyone that perky RIGHT after surgery and told my mom that it was almost bizarre :). I'm still not sure if I should be upset about waking up in the OR instead of the Stage 1 recovery room or if I should be pumped that the anesthesiologist was so stellar at his job that his perfect dose allowed me to wake up as surgery had juuuuust ended!
I was rolled into the Stage 1 post-op recovery room where everyone as surprised how well I was doing: no nausea, totally coherent, ready for some ice chips, ready to get dressed, and ready to leave! I think I stayed there for about 10 minutes and rated my pain level at 4 to the nurses..and then it went up to a 6 shortly after so they gave me a percocet and rolled me over to Stage 2 recovery where my mom as allowed to come in! The nurse asked me if I wanted anything to eat and said that she had "Grahams" and...who wouldn't respond to that with "Teddy's?!?" So... I got some plain Graham cracks in my stomach, which I was a little nervous about because after my last surgery eating made me feel very nauseous! 30 minutes later after talking to a few nurses and my doctor we were free to go! Mom drove me home and I am posted up in my parents bedroom currently which turned out to be a better idea than any of my previous options (see 'pre traumatic stress disorder' post below)! I've got Netflix, memory foam, and a bathroom that I could hop to if I'm feeling ambitious ;).
Because of the femoral nerve block, the pain has only been localized to the back of the knee and I just recently began feeling pain below the anterior of my knee-perhaps because I have a hole drilled through my tibia?! In any event I have medicine to tame nausea and need to start taking more pain meds when this nerve block wears off-I can feel it happening. I've been eating fine, moms homemade chicken soup and lots of veggies/nuts!!
The doctor said tomorrow will be the worst day of pain for me, which im not looking forward to but am trying to stay positive about! I won't have knee pics up until Friday because the physical therapist has to take the wrapping off and I see her Friday..but my mom took pics today that I'll put up as soon as I feel up to dealing with all that!
Honestly this blogging is going to keep me sane through the pain right now and with the more intense pain I will be feeling the rest of the week. Knowing that you all are reading keeps my spirits up and makes me feel very supported/not alone. You all are like pain meds, but better, mentally! I appreciate all of your support and good wishes :)
About to take the strongest pain med and watch Despicable Me with the rents and then logging out (as seen said by Tim Bugge :)). Sorry I'm not sorry if I fall asleep in my parents bedroom and they have to sleep in the guest room? ;)
Love y'all! Hope this post isn't obnoxiously long I can't see it all. :):):):):)
Oh! Also, apparently my ACL tore closer to my femur so he was able to strap it up with my new ACL for more support/strength... AWESOME! Let's all pray that I'm this perky tomorrow, if I don't blog that's how you know that isn't the case :(
Sunday, July 10, 2011
T minus 7 hours
So today was my last day of "freedom" as Christina Finotti says.. and what I did was A) run at the gym until my knee hurt, then did the stairstepper for 30 minutes and weights. B) got a smoothie from the tropical smoothie inside of the gym--apparently the smoothies are slightly more expensive there than they are if you drive down to the shopping center to grab one and tell them you're a member of Sport & Health for a discount...convenience fee anyone!?!?! C) laid by my pool to get a little tan on while sippin my smoothie, killed a few spider egg looking things also at this time. D) went to dinner with my cousin nick/his girlfriend and sister nicole for a few hours! E) went to see "Horrible Bosses" with my friend Andrew and then we went to WaWa to get food/drank at 11:45 because I can't eat past midnight!
I think my day was pretty fulfilling--the only other way it could have been better is if I were running throughout the entirety of it, really wearing down the knee joint, ya know?
My cutie pie mom has the car packed with my BAB (big a** brace) that extends from my upper thigh to ankle, my crutches, and my pillow! Surgery is at 9:30am, call-time is 8am, and surgery is approximated to be 110 minutes! It's 1am right now, which I'm not even concerned about because I'm going to get the best 2 hour nap of my life tomorrow! And I'll probably be sleeping all day erryday. Thanks to everyone who has already wished me luck, I appreciate all of your support :D
Mom's going to be working the camera tomorrow, mom doesn't know how to use cameras, we'll all see how those pictures mom takes turn out!
<3
I think my day was pretty fulfilling--the only other way it could have been better is if I were running throughout the entirety of it, really wearing down the knee joint, ya know?
My cutie pie mom has the car packed with my BAB (big a** brace) that extends from my upper thigh to ankle, my crutches, and my pillow! Surgery is at 9:30am, call-time is 8am, and surgery is approximated to be 110 minutes! It's 1am right now, which I'm not even concerned about because I'm going to get the best 2 hour nap of my life tomorrow! And I'll probably be sleeping all day erryday. Thanks to everyone who has already wished me luck, I appreciate all of your support :D
Mom's going to be working the camera tomorrow, mom doesn't know how to use cameras, we'll all see how those pictures mom takes turn out!
<3
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Is there such a thing as "PRE-traumatic stress disorder" ???
I was just now explaining to my parents the anxiety that I am feeling about my surgery coming up. It is so bad that I experienced something called "sleep paralysis" last night! I was obviously in my REM cycle of sleep so my muscles were relaxed and basically turned off and I was dreaming that I was under anaesthesia and should be waking up because my surgery had been completed. I remember feeling the need to stretch my legs out but when I tried to do so I was physically unable to make my leg move. I then tried opening my eyes but could only open one eye to save myself from being under anaesthsia...and it was the biggest struggle I've ever experienced in trying to open my eyes (except when I've had pink eye ;) ) it was like my eyelids weighed a ton! Crazy huh?! Has anyone else ever experienced this?! My parents think that I convinced myself when I was dreaming that I had gotten knee surgery that I was actually getting the surgery and I tried to wake myself up because I was aware I was dreaming. Convinced that I actually had surgery but aware I was dreaming? I could be admitted for that kind of thinking.
Mi madre and I went clothes shopping today for school--got some super cute things that I can't wear until the fall because I don't know when I'll be able to shop again until then!!
I'm not sure where to post-up after my surgery. I could take over: A) the basement living room with a couch and TV that doesn't have DVR or Netflix, with a bathroom that is accessible without having to go up stairs..we also talked about maybe putting an extra twin bed that we have down there in the couch area, B) the main living room next to the kitchen, 6 stairs away from a bathroom, but with a TV that has DVR and Netflix, and a big window allowing me to see to the outside world--if i chose this I would also be in the way of my family when they try to watch their mindless weeknight shows...or C) my bedroom without a TV but a big bed I can dream about rolling around in and a bathroom 10 steps away --this more and more sounds like the worst post-up idea yet. Let me know your thoughts! Which would you choose?!
In any event, if there is such a thing as PreTSD ...I've got that..fo sho.
Nat
Mi madre and I went clothes shopping today for school--got some super cute things that I can't wear until the fall because I don't know when I'll be able to shop again until then!!
I'm not sure where to post-up after my surgery. I could take over: A) the basement living room with a couch and TV that doesn't have DVR or Netflix, with a bathroom that is accessible without having to go up stairs..we also talked about maybe putting an extra twin bed that we have down there in the couch area, B) the main living room next to the kitchen, 6 stairs away from a bathroom, but with a TV that has DVR and Netflix, and a big window allowing me to see to the outside world--if i chose this I would also be in the way of my family when they try to watch their mindless weeknight shows...or C) my bedroom without a TV but a big bed I can dream about rolling around in and a bathroom 10 steps away --this more and more sounds like the worst post-up idea yet. Let me know your thoughts! Which would you choose?!
In any event, if there is such a thing as PreTSD ...I've got that..fo sho.
Nat
Friday, July 8, 2011
Pre-surgery knee pics
My left knee still isn't as defined as my right knee but it has come a long way since the injury in December!
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| 2 Days before Surgery (Left Knee). Visible scars from prior arthroscopic meniscal repair in 2004. |
So yes, I'm nervous, I sometimes get emotional about it, then snap out of it! CANT WAIT to have a functioning ACL!
The nurse who registered me today told me not to wear any hair pins, earrings or other bodily piercings, bracelets/necklaces/anklets, toe nail polish, chew gum, not to have shaved legs, not to wear make-up, and not to eat, drink, chew gum or mints after midnight prior to surgery. I responded to her with "so basically everything that I'm doing and wearing right now..." and we laughed together.
The last post lied because I can't do math/never know what day it is. TODAY is T-minus 2 days until surgery, the first post was 3! It's like I gained an extra day!
Pre-op 2 days: How it happened
The first post may be a little long as I have 7 months to catch up on. This blog is mostly for me to track my own progress to look back on for motivation-- and for you if you so desire to read through the thoughts, pain, pictures, etc of my entire rehab experience. I tore my left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on December 2nd, 2010 playing intramural soccer (but it wasn't really even as serious as intramurals) at James Madison University. At this point I was a Junior, had recently joined the Club Cross Country and Track team, and was playing on a few intramural soccer teams. I had torn my left medial meniscus in the summer prior to entering my freshmen year of high school, and they aren't kidding when they say you are more prone recurrent knee injuries after the first one.
The quick lateral and twisting motion on the artificial turf field, 27 degree weather, apparently wasn't one of my finest moves that I've ever made. The sound was unbearable; it was an audio sensation that I would not wish upon any of my worst enemies to ever have to hear. The moment it happened, I knew what I had done. I don't remember falling to the ground but my knee swelled up immediately and all I remember saying was "this means I can't run." Thankfully I had some wonderful friends in SigEp and my girl Caroline McGraw in Alpha Phi to help me off the field and to the hospital. Best friend Shawn was called almost immediately and he came my apartment and did what he does best: told me I was overreacting, to stop being a baby, and calmed me down. :)
So at the hospital they took an X-ray of my knee, which I had always thought was unnecessary when it's a ligament tear, which proved to be an accurate diagnostic tool because of the immense amount of synovial fluid they saw in my knee--only representative of ligament damage. The rest is kind of history..I went home to get an MRI, found a doctor, didn't like that doctor so I found a new, not to mention sexy, doctor that I like a lot.
I have been able to carry on with everything I love to do besides soccer, racquetball, anything with quick jolting or side to side movements. I've been running since February, although my knee/lower leg/foot often goes numb after about a mile and a half--nothing taking a short break doesn't fix, have been swimming since a few weeks after the injury date, and have been cycling/lifting etc as I please. It's basically like I haven't even done anything to the knee although sometimes it gets irritated and moody--it is in a girl's body, after all. ;) My doctor didn't seem pleased that I had been running without a brace but he was really ecstatic about the amount of muscle that I have been able to regain since the injury (I was on crutches for 2 weeks post-injury) and thinks that my rehab prior to surgery will be very beneficial towards a rapid recovery after surgery!
The first doctor was with Kaiser Permanente in Springfield, VA and I chose not to continue this journey with him because A) I had to wait 3 hours in his waiting room every time I needed to see him and B) He wouldn't do cadaver allografts for the reconstruction. He told me that it wouldn't be wise for me to use a portion of my patellar tendon because my knee cap is already very close to one of the condyles of my femur and that would make the patella tighter to the bone and cause arthritis when I'm older. So the only option on his watch was to use my own hamstring muscle. I know this is a common selection for most people but I still don't see why I should take a tendon from a perfectly good portion of my body and cause a slow down in my recovery. To me, a cadaver ligament is just as good, if not better. So my new, sexy, doctor is using a cadaver Tibialis Anterior muscle (the muscle just lateral when relaxed, almost on top of your tibia or shin bone when flexed, depending on how built it is)...this muscle just so happened to be my favorite muscle in the entire human body when studying anatomy! Nerd alert?!
Because of the whole switching doctors ordeal and being at school on the 3rd floor of an apartment building from January-May, I decided to wait until summertime to get the reconstructive surgery. So July 11th, 2011 is the date! Which is also a national holiday, basically---FREE SLURPEES at 7-11! WOO!
Look forward to pre-op and post-op pictures soon! Everyone go on a run with your stable knees, don't ever take them for granted!
Natalie
The quick lateral and twisting motion on the artificial turf field, 27 degree weather, apparently wasn't one of my finest moves that I've ever made. The sound was unbearable; it was an audio sensation that I would not wish upon any of my worst enemies to ever have to hear. The moment it happened, I knew what I had done. I don't remember falling to the ground but my knee swelled up immediately and all I remember saying was "this means I can't run." Thankfully I had some wonderful friends in SigEp and my girl Caroline McGraw in Alpha Phi to help me off the field and to the hospital. Best friend Shawn was called almost immediately and he came my apartment and did what he does best: told me I was overreacting, to stop being a baby, and calmed me down. :)
So at the hospital they took an X-ray of my knee, which I had always thought was unnecessary when it's a ligament tear, which proved to be an accurate diagnostic tool because of the immense amount of synovial fluid they saw in my knee--only representative of ligament damage. The rest is kind of history..I went home to get an MRI, found a doctor, didn't like that doctor so I found a new, not to mention sexy, doctor that I like a lot.
I have been able to carry on with everything I love to do besides soccer, racquetball, anything with quick jolting or side to side movements. I've been running since February, although my knee/lower leg/foot often goes numb after about a mile and a half--nothing taking a short break doesn't fix, have been swimming since a few weeks after the injury date, and have been cycling/lifting etc as I please. It's basically like I haven't even done anything to the knee although sometimes it gets irritated and moody--it is in a girl's body, after all. ;) My doctor didn't seem pleased that I had been running without a brace but he was really ecstatic about the amount of muscle that I have been able to regain since the injury (I was on crutches for 2 weeks post-injury) and thinks that my rehab prior to surgery will be very beneficial towards a rapid recovery after surgery!
The first doctor was with Kaiser Permanente in Springfield, VA and I chose not to continue this journey with him because A) I had to wait 3 hours in his waiting room every time I needed to see him and B) He wouldn't do cadaver allografts for the reconstruction. He told me that it wouldn't be wise for me to use a portion of my patellar tendon because my knee cap is already very close to one of the condyles of my femur and that would make the patella tighter to the bone and cause arthritis when I'm older. So the only option on his watch was to use my own hamstring muscle. I know this is a common selection for most people but I still don't see why I should take a tendon from a perfectly good portion of my body and cause a slow down in my recovery. To me, a cadaver ligament is just as good, if not better. So my new, sexy, doctor is using a cadaver Tibialis Anterior muscle (the muscle just lateral when relaxed, almost on top of your tibia or shin bone when flexed, depending on how built it is)...this muscle just so happened to be my favorite muscle in the entire human body when studying anatomy! Nerd alert?!
Because of the whole switching doctors ordeal and being at school on the 3rd floor of an apartment building from January-May, I decided to wait until summertime to get the reconstructive surgery. So July 11th, 2011 is the date! Which is also a national holiday, basically---FREE SLURPEES at 7-11! WOO!
Look forward to pre-op and post-op pictures soon! Everyone go on a run with your stable knees, don't ever take them for granted!
Natalie
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