Sometimes the door is too far away

Do you ever have those days in which the weather is absolutely beautiful and perfect for running (66 and sunny with a slight breeze, are you kidding?!) but you just can't find the motivation to leave the house?  That was me, today.  I think I said I was going to go on a run at 11:30 and when I began looking for my iPhone arm band that I had packed to take to NYC, it was NO WHERE to be found! I spent 38 minutes looking for it in my tiny bedroom, I kid you not, I even looked in the trash can.  Ultimately I really needed to find this armband today in particular because I just purchased a new song that motivated me to run--I wouldn't allow myself to listen to it until I was out and running.  I purchased "Home" by American Idol star, Phillip Phillips.  It is SO catchy!

So I ended up running anyway sans my iPhone and had the best time.   It is often nice to go on a run and have nothing entering your head except your original thoughts, sounds of the breeze tackling the fall leaves, and dogs barking incessantly as you pass. I never ran with music my entire life--trained for a half marathon without music--and it wasn't until a year ago I found the brilliance that was "running to music."  It used to make me run faster than I desired and tired me out, but now I can tame myself ;).

Yesterday I said I would put pictures up of everything I have cooked here at home so far!

Squash spaghetti and a sweet potato/cauliflower mash with asparagus

Brown rice medley: carrots, eggs, brussel sprouts, onions, mushrooms, chicken

The medley plated with feta cheese on top

Broiled salmon on a bed of spinach with avacado salsa and roasted potatoes

Quinoa with butternut squash, spinach, onions, cranberries and pecans on a bed of green beans

This may not look so great, I'm no food photographer!, but it was a BLT with turkey bacon, no mayo but spread avacado and the side was just a leftover pasta salad that the neighbor made over the weekend

I'm also trying to get better at taking pictures of food...do they have classes for that? Tonight I need to use the rest of the butternut squash and give my stepdad some meat! I took sausage out of the freezer and I'm thinking I'll just throw it in a pan with the squash and some brown sugar and some raisins and add it to brown rice and probably some onions and have a side salad for a little greenery!  Sister Nicole- Adam told me he didn't like butternut squash last night but then he ate it and loved it! Cheers to expanding people's horizon's with food.

Remember how I went to Savannah and made friends?

Kelsey, me, Emily--weekly girl's night!

Jeff, Eric, Emily, me--Savannah Craft Brew Fest!

I still talk to everyone I met and am actually headed back down in 1 week to take a test and I can't wait to see all of them!


What motivates you to get out the door when it seems like getting to the door itself is 2 miles away? Check out this guy's tips if you need something more than Phillip Phillips to get you runnin'.
Do you run with or without music and why?!

HAPPY HUMP DAY

Home cookin'

As most of you know I lived in Savannah, GA for two months this summer! I had the TIME of my life.  I met the greatest of friends who I plan to keep in touch with and fell into a deep love with the city.  I will upload pictures of my friends and good times soon--I'm trying to get Google+ to work. I just installed it onto my iPhone and am uploading my pictures I think (hope)..if you have any beginners tips for WHAT IN THE WORLD this app is/does..I'm all ears!

Lately my hip has been feeling great! I would say it only hurts  during 1/12 runs or about twice a month.  When it hurts it is only while I am running and the pain occurs as a sharp pinching type pain in my right hip joint--which would be characteristic of a meniscus tear in a knee joint but this seems less extreme.

More than physical ailments I have had more mental/emotional ailments from the accident itself.  It has left me feeling overly cautious, jumpy, and paranoid around cars.  My boyfriend is the most understanding when he thinks we can cross the road but I'm all hesitant like...

Honestly I MUST have been the most frustrating person to walk around NYC with this past weekend. Pictures to come!

So I recently moved back home to Stafford, VA to save some ca$h money to apply for grad schools (Physician Assistant schools) and to apply for jobs as a nurse aide.  The first night that I was in town with my parents I asked what they had planned on for dinner and they said "hmmm we were kind of thinking about chicken nuggets and tater tots---I about died! So I impulsively told my parents that I would cook them dinner every night while I live with them and of all the things my mom forgets daily, this statement unfortunately wasn't one of them.  So last week I went on a massive trip to Wegman's and made dinner every night that I have been here.  I took pictures of everything that I will post as soon as I know how to make Google+ my friend. 
I have been looking on food blogs as referred by Caitlin Boyle at Healthytippingpoint.com and other websites such as SkinnyTaste.com and magazines laying around the house! It has been going well so far!

It's RAINY outside today and I don't have a gym membership in this city so I think I'll just have a date with Tony Horton and then the coffee pot as I apply for jobs on jobs on schools on schools today!

Please send any of your favorite healthy recipes my way! Tonight I plan to incorporate butternut squash into a meal with quinoa.  And any pointers on Google+, I mean ANY, are greatly appreciated!

HAPPY TUESDAY!!

Goal for the day

Today was orientation for my nurse aide training course! Yes I am the youngest student.  Yes I am 1 of 2 white people.  Yes I don't mind any of this.  I knew I wanted to wake up early and ride my bike to class so I woke up at 6:45 with the intention of leaving at 7:30 to get there by 8, and I did just that!  I realized about 10 minutes into my ride that I forgot to wear my helmet..which made my pedals slow down for a sec..but then I figured I had to keep truckin' along.  No one in Savannah wears helmets on their bikes anyway.  It's a very bike friendly town, but I definitely won't forget to wear it next time as I'm venturing away from DT Savannah. There are bike lanes EVERYWHERE in this town which really puts a rookie bike rider like me at ease. I'm sure it makes the drivers feel more confident while trying to pass us cyclists, too. Another thing, along with my helmet, that I don't want to forget ever again is my water bottle!

Speaking of water bottle, I realized last night how dehydrated I was.  Whenever I stood up I would get really dizzy and this morning my urine was a dark yellow.  It was probably a 4 on this Am I Hydrated? chart.  So my goal for the day is to get hydrated and stay hydrated!  It's hot here in Savannah but not too much hotter than back home in VA so there really shouldn't be any reason I can't keep up with my body's need for H2O!!

What do you do to stay hydrated on a daily basis?  How do you motivate yourself to get up early each morning?

I should blog

So I've been in Savannah for about a week and I'm loving it so far!

I'm not very used to the road system they've got going on down here.  It's almost like Richmond, except better.  The roads do this thing where you can only go ONE way sometimes and two ways other times.  Most concerningly they allow people to parallel park on streets dangerously close to the intersection so that you really have no way of knowing whether or not a car is approaching you as you try to get across unless it's nighttime and you can see their headlights. This gives me anxiety. I'd rather walk. Or ride my bike.

Speaking of bike! It's at the shop right now. Gettin' pimped I'm sure.  Actually they're just pumping up the tires, fixing the anterior breaks, switching the pedals from clip-ins to shoe-ins? (until I get more comfortable riding it), and lowering the seat a tad.  If anyone has ever ridden a bike in which the seat is even a hair too high for you--imagine me in that situation.  So it should be all tuned up by tomorrow--just in time for me to ride it to my first Nurse Aide Training Class!

Speaking of Nurse Aide Training Class, that's why I'm here!  Well not THE reason I'm here, but it's what I'm doing while I'm here. It goes every weekday from 830-1230 until the end of August. After I graduated from JMU in May I realized my lease was going to end in July and I would have to start paying my own rent after that. So why not pay my own rent in Savannah, Georgia instead!? I'm currently looking for a part time yob- preferably at a gym so I don't have to splurge on a membership. This is where I pay rent..

Almost everyone in Savannah is so thin and active, or those are the only people who come out of their houses, and I just know I'm going to fit in here in that aspect!  Almost everyone has a dog: I won't fit in with that aspect but I love dogs, and taking pictures of other people's dogs! Everyone must love coffee: Check.  Almost everyone plays an instrument:....I can whistle sometimes?.  Everyone has a bike: Check!

Just got a call from the bike shop telling me my bike was ready for me! That was fast! I'll go pick that up here in a sec.  So far my favorites of things in Savannah:

Coffee shop: The Sentient Bean and Foxy Loxy is in a close second.  Sentient Bean doubles as a venue for artists, workshops, galleries, etc.  They use organic and local products and fair trade beans.

Club: 51 degrees.

Place to run: Riverstreet or Forsyth park

Beach:  private beach on tybee island where I probably wasn't supposed to go.  I went on a run in the commercialized beach area and then found this little cutie nook to cool down at-- if cooling down is even possible here.

Hair place: The Living Room Salon is so cute. They are moving to a bigger building and it won't actually be in a living room anymore but if you walk into this place you just know that you oughta trust it.  This guy took my hair from drab to fab in about 20 minutes.

I will update with more of my favorite places as they come.

HI MOM!

Is this gonna be forever?

But really...I didn't think when I got hit that this would change my daily life in the long run.  I tried running in Bridgewater a week after the accident. I went 2 miles on quiet roads without any pain but finishing up the last 2 miles was quite a challenge. And then to top it off when I got back to my car I realized I had locked my keys into it which is a whole other story! Special thanks to Jeannie and Steve and Brooke for saving my life.  The rest of the day I was in great pain from my run.

So I took it easy for the past 5 days and went on a 5.75 mile run today and it started hurting after 1 mile...I thought about turning around but figured it would ease up soon enough.  At mile 4 I had to stretch it, walk it out, etc. I don't know why it still hurts so bad! I'm wondering if it's just a severely brusied joint/bone, torn cartilage, or sprained ligaments?  When I slowed down at the end of my run I was limping so bad, almost in tears, and wanted to just hop on one foot instead of putting weight on it.  I am pretty irritated that recovery is going this way because running is a big part of who I am. 

Note that I was SO paranoid about cars on the roads where I didn't have a sidewalk who didn't blatantly move over into the middle of the road around me and you wouldn't believe how many people aren't paying attention at crosswalks! I had the "walk" signal for at least 13 seconds before a car waved me on across. 

I do hope this gets better really soon. I guess I should just be glad I can still walk.

I'm going to Nicaragua in a week--I have to get at least one good run in while I'm there!
Jesse comes to America in less than 1 week! Is anyone reading this?  If your day feels a little brighter on Thursday, it's because he's on the same continent as you, I bet.

Toodles.

I didn't realize it was going to get worse before it got better..

...but it's so true!  It was hard to sleep well last night.  While laying in bed around 6am trying to force myself back to sleep I could barely move my leg-when I tried it was excruciatingly painful.  It took me about 15 minutes to decide to get up and try to walk around.  I was able to hobble to the bathroom but each step brought more shooting pain into the hip joint and I felt like I was having to swing my right leg in front of the other to get the walking motion to actually happen. 

The bruise extends all the way to the corner of my hand

This is probably the most skin you'll ever see me post online. Hope it's awesome.

Anyway I'm on the hunt for crutches.  I have an exam at 1:00pm that I've barely studied for and it kinda determines the rest of my life...so that's cool.  Guess I should get to studying for that somehow.

Hope everyone walks, drives, runs, bikes-safely today! I'm so paranoid now whenever I see active people on the streets.  I'm all like "they don't know what's about to hit them!"  Hahaha.. it's irrational, I know.  Just be safe :)

One wrong move

I am about 9 months out of my ACL surgery and everything is awesome.  Knee is perfect and pain-free 99% of the time and I am able to run on it just fine.  So I have been working on getting back up to long distances running-wise and in leu of graduating in ONE week I decided to strap on (tie) my shoes, grab my iphone and headphones, and set out into an unknown abyss for a long run until I couldn't run any longer. Note: [hoping that A) when I was done running my friends would be willing to pick me up, B) my friends would be able to find me, and C) my phone would work in order for me to be able to call my friends to pick me up].

Unfortunately for me-plans A, B, and C didn't pan out as they should have.  My phone wasn't sending or receiving calls my entire run.  I know this because my work couldn't contact me and they had to text me to tell me that I HAD to be into work at 5 regardless of my exams coming up...may have pissed some people off there.  But my phone WAS working well enough to take pictures along the way.  I stopped along 42 and got these great pictures from it..

This picture doesn't do beauty any justice.

These cows loved me.  They watched me from the moment I slowed down near them to the moment I left.  They were so aware!

A few weeks ago I had driven along 42 to go to a Post Office in Dayton to mail out my graduation announcements and it was SO beautiful and inspired me to run there.  So I continued on this route all the way to downtown Dayton and from there I found another road that looked pleasant and just took it.  I think they call it "RT 257."  Along 257 I saw an abundance of signs that suggested I maintain awareness for horse-drawn carriages.  I was going to take a picture of the sign...but then I found something even BETTER to take a picture of...

A real life carriage! With a real horse! And real mennonite children peeking out the back!

In all 4 of my years here at JMU I have never seen one..so this was great, a great day.  Along this very same road I found every child's DREAM house..

Would we not have been the most popular kids in 3rd grade if we had this in our backyards?!

  Eventually after going through the most beautifully pleasant neighborhood in the world, I arrived at...

Bridgewater!

Bridgewater! Home of the tiniest McDonald's you ever did see and mennonites walking around everywhere!  It was so great! Downtown Bridgewater was the cutest place in the world.   So I proceeded to run through DT Bridgewater which pleasantly ended with a cutie pie bridge leaping over a babbling stream with aesthetics to please anyone's eye.  There was a girl who was running behind me that had turned left after this bridge and I kept going straight--unknowingly -- on a two way street with little-to-no road for runners or bikers..in hindsight, I should have followed her!

At mile 11 on my run I came face to face with a runner's worst nightmare, my families worst fear, and what turned out to be the single most frightening experience of my life.   Yesterday I saw a van approaching me in a 55mph zone [yes, I am completely insane for running on a 55mph road...but I had no idea that was the speed limit, I had just left downtown!] and it  didn't look like it was trying to avoid me, in fact, it looked like it was coming right at me.  So I moved over onto the left shoulder and before I knew it I was laying in the ditch.

It happened right behind that "reduced speed ahead" sign, and the van that swiped me is up yonder.  I was sitting in the grass looking at my legs and crying in shock of the whole event.  It happened SO quickly yet SO slowly.  I watched the van drive by to make sure it was going to stop and I tried to get its license plate number but I couldn't see with my eyes welled up in tears.  Thankfully she pulled over and ran over to me and asked if I was okay.  I replied "I'm not sure" as I looked down at my leg and saw a tire mark on my ankle.  It took me a minute to decided to try and move my legs while she dialed 9-1-1.  Ultimately I decided to move them and I was relatively unscathed in that department.  But how?  When I got up to walk I felt a little pain in my right hip/butt area but that's about it. Talk about Adrenaline!

Tire marks on ankle

So Gwendolyn (the lady who hit me) and I walked over to a driveway nearby where a farmer came running out and said he heard a thump from inside his house and was wondering if I was okay.  Gwen said she thought she hit a mailbox and began crying when she saw me on the side of the road in her rearview mirror.  The paramedics and EMTs thought they were going to arrive on the scene to find me dead in a ditch.  I didn't realize the severity of the situation, or what the situation could have been, until my paramedic told me that they see the most runner-vehicle accidents resulting in death on this road in particular and said "darling you have got a guardian angel with you today."  Did I jump and turn my butt toward the van? Who knows.  The mirror was laying on the ground beside me.

But you should see the looks of Gwen's side mirror.

Good men.  

 When I was sitting in the ditch and I heard the sirens I thought "omg I'm so embarassed."  So a firetruck, which arrived before the ambulance, an ambulance, two cop cars, and a mobile paramedic were on the scene.

After filling out accident reports and such, the sheriff handed Gwen a ticket and said "I'm going to have to give you a ticket for reckless driving, I don't think I have to explain why...this could have been much worse."  The sheriff who drove me home was great.  I asked him so many questions and learned so many top secret state police insiders that I can't tell anyone!!!!!!!  That's a lie.  But I did ask him if we could go 110mph and he said no. Maybe next time? 

Good thing I have a stinky iPhone 3 instead of the iPhone 4 or else my camera would have flashed and he would have known I took this picture.  But then he's a sheriff and investigates things so he probably knows I took this picture..

So this guy took me home.  It was a LONG drive home.  How did I casually run that?  When I got home I was all alone in my apartment and I think things just started setting in for me.  I surely seemed so nonchalant and unaffected at the site of the accident but when I got home I kept thinking about what COULD have happened.  If I were looking at the mountains to my left or the cows to my right I wouldn't have seen the van coming and I would have essentially been dead on the side of the road right now.  If I wouldn't have made the move out of the way when I did, my head could have gone through her windshield, my legs could have been broken, my ACL could have torn?! ( :D) 

Watching a van coming straight for me at 55mph is a feeling that I would never wish upon anyone.  It was the most frightening experience of my life and I can't help but think about what could have been and wonder why it wasn't worse.  Jeannie came over for a little while and let me cry on her lap and listened to my story and was so sweet.  She took me to Festival so we could get some dinner cause I hadn't eaten all day and then offered to take me to the hospital if I decided I wanted to go.  I am so thankful to have wonderful people in my life!

I ended up going to the ER later in the evening just to make sure nothing was cracked or chipped (per my mom's request) and all was good.  I had a severe headache all night, and accidentally put shampoo on my loofa, but other than that I was fine.  I woke up this morning headache free and have much more hip pain than I did yesterday and it hurts more to walk but that's to be expected.  I think the shock of the accident has affected me the most.

Have you ever had a near death experience? How did it affect you?  How long did it take for the shock of the situation to wear off?

Thankful for: having legs that allow me to run, lungs that allow me to breathe, and a life that allows me to live.

Pending purchases: Road ID, brighter running clothes, sidewalks for every road in the world (donations accepted).

It's strange that this happened to me because on Friday night I was talking to my anatomy professor at the bar and telling him that I think I should write an "advance directive" because you never know when something could happen to you.  Even though I'm not of dying age I think it would be a good thing to do.  Do you have a living will or advance directive?!

Gwen said she wasn't paying attention to the road and that she was looking down.  I vow to always pay attention to the road, to never text while driving, and to eliminate any driving distractions to the best of my ability.

I'm so glad that I made it home from my run yesterday. One wrong move could have changed mine and Gwen's lives forever.

Take care,

Natalie

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!

Ooops!

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.

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.



2.5 weeks post-op flexion



2.5 weeks scar

2.5 weeks leg..can you see that knee cap?! :)

Happy Thursday everyone!  Go run and bend your knees :)

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!

Knee's post-op less than one week

This is how I had to wrap my leg to shower before I could get my wounds wet!

Typical meal

Knee's pre-op (as seen in one of my first posts)

Knees post-op 2 weeks!

Knee flexion post-op 2 weeks

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

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!

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

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

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!

Knee 5 days after surgery

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!

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

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:

Happy Flower's From Dad!

Wonderful gift basket from Dee/the O'Bakers!

Get well soon balloons from the Romines!

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!