Where is my leg?

Yesterday and today have been weird.  I've consistently felt like my lower leg is detached whenever I am walking and have to pick it up and place it in front of the other leg.  I'm wondering if my little knee give-out at the gym on Friday could be causing such a sensation.  I expressed my concern to my physical therapist today and he didn't seem phased and told me my knee would "feel like your own knee soon" which doesn't really help.  He's never had surgery so I don't think he understands!  Also when I do some exercises it still feels as though the screw is being yanked out of my shin bone, but that's old news and something I have to get over.

So at physical therapy I'm doing wall squats with a band around my knees which requires me to push outward for resistance, one legged bridges, the hamstring curl machine (last week i had to use my right leg to help my left curl 15 pounds but today i used only my left), two up one down calf raises, backwards walking, cycling, standard leg lift exercises with 4lb weights on the ankle, among other previously mentioned exervises, and i skipped ice today because my knee wasn't hurting afterward and it wasn't looking swollen!

Off to the gym!  My mom made me eat ice cream last night cause I was grumpy. :)

Natalie D

Just killin' it

Today marks 4 weeks and 4 days since surgery!  Overall I feel great, but that's not to say I'm completely pain-free and carefree. Physical therapy today was somewhat exciting only because it was slightly different than it has been these past two weeks!  Usually I do the leg press practically laying down..let's say level 4 (L4) was a 30 degree angle, which I've been doing for a week. Today he said he was going to put me on L5, but instead moved me up to L6! Which had to be a 45 degree angle or steeper, for sure.  It was pretty difficult and it's hard to make sure my leg doesn't buckle to the inside when putting pressure like that on it, but I got through it.  It's standard for me to balance on one foot on a rubber oval shaped thing for 30 seconds 3 times, but today he put me on a gel-like pad thing and as I was balancing on one foot he threw a ball at me and I had to catch it.  He decided to play along with me...he wasn't very good at balancing. Killed it.  As mentioned in a previous post my PT had thought my surgery was 2 weeks earlier than it actually was, and I think he still does!  He looked at me walking and said "we're gonna get you out of that brace today" and I said "really?!"  and he said "yeah, 6 weeks is a big stepping stone for you, your muscle is definitely ready for it, i can tell"  ...hey Tony, it's been 4 weeks, check my chart or something. :)  In any event, I'm OUT OF THE BRACE!  This is great because A) it's a pain in my butt, B) it put pressure on where I think the screw is in my shin bone, C) it started squeaking whenever i walked, D) it really was a biiig pain in the butt...   This is not good because A) people will see me limping and not know why, B) people will see my leg which is a fraction of the size of my good leg and wonder why it's like that, C) i feel less confident and stable while walking.

Right after PT today I went to the gym and walked on an incline for 40 minutes, 2 miles, and then did the arm bike for 15 minutes, came home and did p90x biceps and back. When I was about to end my 2 miles walking on the treadmill my knee kind of buckled and gave out, which is probably not a good thing, but instead of totally giving out like it would prior to surgery I felt it catch and keep itself from sliding out of place---yay for ACL's!!!  Hopefully this didn't do any damage to the ligament as it hasn't revascularized yet.  I may wear the brace in the gym just to be sure this doesn't happen again any time soon!

This incident makes me somewhat concerned about returning to school.  I have 3 classes back to back on opposite sides of campus, and I definitely want to walk but am nervous about doing so.  I guess we'll see how I feel when the time comes!

On another note, I think I have a cold and it's not fun but I'm glad it's here before school starts.  Also there is a really creepy old guy who walks around my neighborhood drunk all the time..I don't know what to do about him.  And yesterday on my way home from dinner with my main girls Jeannie and Allie, I saw an accident where a car had flipped and a house on fire...I was on the main road headed to my house and had to pull over for emergency vehicles about 6 times! It was unreal!

Here's pics for mild entertainment..

Scar below knee, two incisions on knee, on little dot above knee

Flexing my left leg...little muscles that could!

4.5 week flexion

Thanks for reading! 
Nat

Not a post for the weak stomachs

Just finished up my 3rd week of PT and Monday will be 4 weeks since surgery...time sure has flown by! Let's reminisce with some pictures the surgeon took during my surgery. 

Not sure what this is..perhaps the PCL up top? Meniscus down below..?

This is one of the holes they drilled into either my femur or tibia to anchor in the new ACL

These are all pictures of my new ACL! So sturdy lookin'!

I feel as though talking about progress would be redundant right now as there hasn't been much of a difference in milestones but rather just improvements of those milestones aforementioned in prior posts.  Overall I'm walking much more smoothly, cycling like a champ, and getting really good at balancing on my leg and all that. Today in PT he put me on the leg press machine because I had maxed out the resistance bands. My knee was super swollen today from walking around Occoquan all day yesterday and not really ever giving it a rest...I can't wait for the day that my knee is over the whole swelling thing!

Tuesday I went to the Capital Ale in downtown Fredericksburg for "steal the glass" night and when I walked in I saw my surgeon at the bar!  He asked how I was doing, made me flex my knee in the middle of the bar, etc.  I was really surprised to see him in comfortable clothing, he was kind of punk-rock-ish, definitely edgy looking! Mighty fine.

Tomorrow I'm going to JMU with my mom to vacuum and shampoo the carpet in my room/apartment and get rid of some clothes...basically get it move in ready, for a new year :)  It will be nice to be back in the 'burg, for sure.

I have two weeks left of PT here in Stafford and when I go back to school on the 23rd I'll have to continue PT somewhere there--hopefully my insurance allows me to go that far! I'm calling them today to find out or else I'm doomed! My PT Tony said that if I can't get an appointment in Harrisonburg that I need to email him and he'll basically instruct me and rehab me remotely. Mostly he is concerned about what I shouldn't do..cause I ask him if I can push the limits every time I see him. He's sending me a PDF he has from Harvard that has basic do's and don'ts for each stage of recovery which should help me out a lot while I'm away on my own :).

Happy Friday, everyone!