Getting There

It might take me a while, but I'll get there.  Slowly and surely.

Left the crutch in the car today for first time.  Well, left it in the car yesterday when I got home. I'm still walking with a hitch so I'm not confident to give the crutch up completely. (I should just be walking with a cane but I don't want to spend money on a cane).  Knee definitely feels a little more sore the more I use it. I can get used to that if that's the way it'll be. I suspect the more it heels the the better it'll feel. I'm coming to grips with the fact that several holes were drilled thru it. ha.

At the last PT appointment, was the first time he physically worked on bending my knee more. Oh man that shit hurt so bad. No pain no gain. I know. And I know it needs to bend more. But man, as I laid there and he did his thing, it definitely hurt!  After he was like, how do you feel, and I'm all like great if you don't do that again!  Knew that day was coming, it came.  Will have to brace myself for next time, which is tomorrow at 1.

But anyway, just a quick update that I'm sorta walking now. It's still not pretty. I can almost imagine what it will be like to run again but I'm definitely a few months away from that. I have been getting good at doing the stationary bike, and getting it to revolve all the way around front and back. Still positive that I'll make a full recovery by next summer. Just hoping I won't slip or anything this winter, that would suck!

Trick or Crutch!

Still progressing.  Still using the crutch. Despite having a decent day last week without the crutch, my PT guy basically advised that I should use a cane (or the one crutch) until I can actually walk normal without a hitch. I'm still hitching quite a bit though each day is still getting better. Slowly but surely.  

I had hoped to be able to walk the neighborhood sans crutch for trick or treating over the weekend, but couldn't. I put on my running gear (which was nice since I hadn't in forever :sadface:) and took to the streets with my kids as an "injured" runner!  Hilarious, I know!  It was actually my first time around the loop since the injury. As tired of running the loop as I started to get, I'd do just about anything right now to run it again.  Couple more months.  Got a couple comments about my costume from other parents.  "Costume".  

I'm still icing almost every night and I'm still working on my exercises at home. I've kicked up my PT to go twice a week now. I'm a little frustrated that I'm not further along than I am but I still know that it's part of the process. Can't believe that it's almost been two months since the surgery and that time is still doing it's part. I hope by the end of this month, if not sooner, I'm more confident and comfortable walking. I should be.

There was a couple significant knee injuries in the NFL that I'm keeping my eye open on MRI results today. Hoping for the best for those gentlemen.

"Injured Runner"

Pumpkins!

First No Crutch Lap

And on the 87th day of using crutches, I was able to do a full lap around the parking lot at work (a half mile).  It's not exactly pretty but I made it.  I've been getting a little more comfortable walking on this leg the past few days or so.

I can't exactly say that I left the crutch at home or in the car. I used it to get to my desk this morning, but that's as far as it's gone.  Tomorrow I will plan to leave it in the car.

As this month has gone by I've had it in mind and have been hoping to be able to walk on Halloween for trick or treating. Assuming the rest of the week progresses like this, I should be in good shape and even more ready for that.

Hopefully as a few more weeks go by walking will feel normal again cause right now it certainly doesn't. Feels like about a 75/25 split between the knee and leg needing to be stronger and sturdier and my mental psyche of whether or not to trust it.  Time time time, every day is better!

Almost There

Not quite off the crutches. I'm trying. I've been using 1 crutch since Thursday 10/15 and I'm mostly okay on just 1. Definitely still feels weird and I'm concentrating on every step. Doing my best to step consistently. To not shift my balance too much as I go. To land my foot exactly the same. To bend my leg exactly the same. I've never been good at consistency.  I can get around the house a bit without the crutches but it's not exactly pretty.  I'm sure my PT guy will prefer to see me walk in with no crutches tomorrow and I'm trying but I'm just not quite there yet!  Sometimes it just feels like it bends weirdly. Some of it is mental, I understand that. I certainly don't want to re-injure it before it's healed. I'm willing to accept some degree of elongating the recovery if the result is less setbacks. That being said, I'm 80+ days into this now and I'm of course looking forward to giving up the crutches completely. Obviously I want to! Ultimately my goal is to be able to walk on Halloween. It's crazy, I was just thinking how this whole ordeal really put a damper on my summer, and it did, but it's crazy to think that it's almost November already. I can't exactly say the past three months have flown by, but they have gone by, and that's saying something!

It's Nice To Almost Walk Again

I am slowly easing into full weight bearing on this right leg. I'm still using both crutches. I have been able to use only one in times of need, like carrying a plate of food. I can do some walking without but not enough to quite ditch the crutches at home. It's only been a couple days. Though I'm not quite yet there it's nice to be able to at least crutch walk and not be wary of any weight. It's coming. Slowly but surely. One day at a time. One step at a time.

I should also note that yesterday I was able to get my first lap in around work since the surgery.  It was great to finally get outside and get some fresh air!

Relearning To Walk

Relearning how to walk has been one of the more interesting and challenging experiences of my life. I injured myself on July 30th and put hardly any weight on my right leg for 2+ weeks. On August 17th after my followup with the doctor, he advised that I start putting weight on the leg. (still wish I had bumped that appointment up earlier since I had a two week gap after the MRI was done and that but oh well).

I started physical therapy on August 19th and learned the initial set of exercises I needed to work on to strengthen up the rest of my leg. Some people do not need surgery as a result of this injury if they are able to walk and are not trying to play sports. For me, I've always played sports and I know I'll need the surgery to return. In the meantime I needed to work on regaining leg strength to be able to walk. Quad strength being a lot of the focus.

Before the PT appointment on Wednesday, I worked on crutch walking Monday and Tuesday. It made quite a difference. Before, I had to use all upper body to get from place A to place B. Now, I could sort of walk, albeit with the aide of the crutches and pretty slowly. But it was a start!

I was slightly nervous for the PT since I knew there would be some bending of the leg in ways it may have not been quite comfortable yet. And it did. But it wasn't so bad. I did some knee bending and some leg lifting. I was given a print out of the exercises to work on and left with the homework assignment of doing those three times a day. Not too bad. He also said I need to ice it down every night which I had not been doing.

On Thursday I asked Matt if he wanted to do a lap outside. Fresh air breaks at work has been a daily ritual for us to take a step away from our desks, breathe in the good air, and stretch our legs a bit. It had been almost three weeks since I was able to take a lap around the property and I was ready to snap that streak. One lap around the entire premise is a half mile, so it's a decent amount of distance. We did it, slowly, but it felt good. Later Thursday I went to my kickball game and the bars afterward to celebrate victory and at the end of the day my fitbit "printed" out a 3.47 mile for the day. I had gotten up to 2 miles a couple times before but this was my best day so far.

Of course with that being said, I was pretty sore for the rest of the weekend. It got tricky doing the exercises at times. A couple nights over the weekend I did wake up in the night with it not feeling so awesome. A couple It's Always Sunny episodes were quality medicine as I was able to transfer some brain energy to laugh at those idiots. That helped. I had to buy four new tires Friday morning for my car to pass inspection. That didn't help. We had a pizza party Saturday night with some friends. That helped. (Thank you again Sara for making the pizzas). And generally, I took it pretty easy over the weekend. I wasn't able to go to Magnaball (wasn't planning to), but I watched the live streams each night and that was super awesome! All three nights were fantastic. The boys are on fire.

Yesterday I went for my second PT appointment. I was able to use the stationary bike. I got full rotation on the pedals but wasn't able to pedal all that fast. That was nice. I showed him how I had been walking on crutches and told him I over did it on Thursday. He asked me to show him how I walked without crutches and I just stood there. Not quite ready for that. I'm hesitant because I don't want to fall. I'm slightly hesitant to somehow make this worse before it's repaired. I haven't tried without crutches yet so yeah I'm a bit nervous about that. He showed me a couple new exercises I can do now to work on shifting my weight from side to side (formerly my goto dance move) and extending up from my tippy toes distributing the weight evenly. I'll work on those and try to attempt some without crutches walking at some point.

To a lot of people, having PT before surgery seems a little different, but I understand why. I need to strengthen everything else up in my right leg prior to surgery so that after surgery that strength is still there while my new ACL gets ready to take over it's functions.

The doctor had said last week that I didn't need to wear the leg brace all the time so I've been keeping it off when I'm just at home.

I have another followup with the doctor next week and another PT appointment this week. Hopefully by next week the doctor likes the progress he sees. My daughter starts Kindergarten on the 8th and I do not want to miss that, but they are welcomed to open me up the following week if everything looks good to them.

Relearning to walk is one of the weirdest things I've ever done. I don't recommend you try it.