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
You didn't post pics!
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