Still living that #crutchlife counting down the days until my follow up appointment a week from Thursday. The swelling is going down slowly and slowly. Still swollen. Still tight. Bending it has been tricky and every day I try a little bit more and more. This early stage of PT has felt a bit like a holding pattern since I still can't put weight on the leg. It's annoying and will prolong the recovery a bit but it's better to be cautious with the meniscus repair since I'm going to be relying on that cushion in the future quite a bit once I get back to running and playing. But for now, I'm just hoping to be back to walking by Halloween! August was long. September has been longer. Bring on October!
I've been following ACL injuries in the NFL this year closer than ever before. There were 25 complete tears in the preseason and so far no complete tears during the season. Kiko Alonso of the Eagles did partially retear his. There's been a couple MCLs and knee bruises. Big Ben avoided an ACL tear this past weekend but did damage his MCL. So it's good that there haven't been any yet during the season but all of this has certainly changed my perspective a bit. I watch the games slightly different. I notice all of the knee braces that linemen wear. I scan for injury updates when I see a player go down clutching their knee. My team, the Falcons, are 3-0 and flying high. I can only hope the players stay healthy!
Many players who previously tore their ACL have been playing great this year. Tom Brady. Carson Palmer. Tyrann Mathieu, Jamaal Charles, Adrian Peterson, Rob Gronkowski, Darrelle Revis, Eric Berry, Travis Benjamin to name a few.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
First Week Of Recovery
Been a minute since I've posted so let me see if I can bring us up to speed. In my last post I talked about the surgery and how weird that experience was. Now let me see if I can appropriately recap the past ten days...
The first couple days after surgery were definitely the worst. I didn't put many steps on the fitbit meter the day after surgery! I spent most of the day on the couch. Oh, but I did go in for a followup with the doctor. We got our first look at it under the bandages. And it didn't look all that bad all things considered. The doctor did confirm that I had some meniscus repair and that I wouldn't be able to put weight on my leg for four weeks. We asked about driving and he said that I could when I was feeling able to. He also drained some blood out of the knee cause it was pretty swollen and felt super tight. Flexion was a bit difficult and I had quite a ways to go with that, but I was able to straighten it and that was a great place to already be at. If you can't straighten your leg after this surgery they basically have to do the surgery again. That'd be awful! After the appointment we were on our merry way back home to rest, feeling a little bit better.
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| First look day after! |
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| So pretty! |
On Sunday I was able to keep my podcast on schedule, publishing episode 19. I used a bunch of songs that referenced doctors and knees, haha. I had planned to return back to work on Monday but by Sunday night I didn't feel quite ready to return. I emailed my boss and asked for a couple more days to recover. I did work from home on Monday and was able to get caught up on some of my work. I took Tuesday off. On Tuesday I remember thinking that the previous 5 days or so just slipped by, even though I had spent 98% of that time on the couch. It was time to get out of the house! By this point I had weened off the painkillers. I believe I had 1 at night Monday and Tuesday but other than it not feeling super awesome, it felt alright. Still pretty tight. Earlier in the day on Tuesday I went out to see how it would feel driving. The leg was a bit ginger but I drove around the neighborhood a bit. Driving wasn't all that bad so I planned on driving to work the next day. Wednesday morning I woke up and drove into work. No problems.
The first day back at work was a bit rough. Playing catch up never is fun. We have a lot going on. I felt super tired about half way through the day but was able to, somehow, power thru the day. My oldest started Kindergarten the day before surgery and since she's right next to where I work, I get to pick her up. I managed to crutch into the school to pick her up that day and every day since.
On Thursday I had another post-op followup with the doctor to remove the staples. The doctor again reiterated that I needed to keep using the sticks for another three weeks and that he would see me again on October 8th. (basically the day I am counting down to now). The knee was still swollen but he said that it was looking good and that I was doing great so far. It felt great to get the staples out. I had been looking forward to it for a few days at this point!
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| No more staples! |
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| Let's Party! |
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| Hanging with The Box! |
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| With some of my favorite people from other teams! -- Terri is hilarious! |
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Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Slacking
I owe some posts. I know. I've been thinking about them, but thinking isn't doing. I'll try to write something more real soon and maybe post some pictures of this prettyness, but everything is going ok. Still a bit sore at times. Still a bit swollen. Still crutching until 10/8. Started PT last Friday. Got the staples out last Thursday. I'll write more later but have felt bad about not posting anything in a bit and figured a short update was better than the silence! So look for my next post to talk more about what the past two weeks has been like recovering from this surgery. Until then, have a great day!
Sunday, September 13, 2015
The Surgery
Meant to write this earlier. Of course. But as I sit here watching the first weekend of NFL football I know I've already gone way way late on my deadline. I've been too lazy to do it but I've been thinking about it so hopefully this turns out ok.
Here I am Sunday, a full 4 days since having ACL reconstruction w\ hamstring graft surgery. Right now I feel okay. I was finally able to lift my leg yesterday and it is not easy. Can't wait for another week to go by basically :) Before that, here's a flashback to last Wednesday when I went in for the procedure.
Wednesday morning we dropped V off at school and I enjoyed a couple last chance steps before the upcoming inevitable. Into the school and out. I wish I had taken some video of how far along my progress was with walking. All I have are my memories. It'll do. I was due for arrival at the Bone & Joint Ambulatory Surgery Center at 8:30am for a 10:30am procedure.
Got there, signed papers, Sat in waiting room for about 4 minutes. Got called back. Changed into hospital gown. Got to put on a sock sleeve type thing on my non-operating leg. Just in case anyone forgets I suppose. Okay. Confession: I wore bright red undies just in case, as well.
After getting my vitals all checked she said my blood pressure was a little high. Um, yah. I'm about to get all chopped up here! Ha. at one point the guy across from me was told that his blood pressure was abnormally low and that they may need to give him something to increase it a bit. He said that's what they had to do last time, somewhere else with something else. Must take a lot to get that guy angry in his normal life. He probably just goes about his day not really giving a crap about much either way. Good for him.
I got the IV inserted into my left hand and of course still felt like I had to pee a million times even though the last thing I had was a big gulp of water at 10:30pm the previous night. I think I had a brownie at about 9:00pm. That was my last food. Sara came in and sat and waited with me shortly around 9:15am when I was already prepped and basically ready to go. I still had to pee a few times.
Nearly an hour later the anesthesiologist asked me if I could read magazines in the backseat of a moving car. Um, hm. It's been a while but I can. But it's not awesome. So no, not really. I also confirmed that the epidural anesthesia would be fine. Typing this paragraph in is making me hazy. Just thinking these words again. Anyway, few more minutes went by and then I got the back/spine epidural put in and Sara had left before that and now I was on my back and about to go. They even asked me my name, date of birth, and procedure that I was having done. One last time.
I got wheeled down into the operating room and wow this will sound cliche, okay maybe not. Back step - Right, by the way, before all this the anesthesiologist said that with the epidural I could watch the procedure on TV. Well, that wasn't possible either way cause I didn't have my glasses and I am so so very blind. I was blind for a couple hours during this part of the story so that doesn't make any of my abilities to take in and observe my surroundings any easier. So okay, the cliche part is... When they opened those doors and wheeled me into the actual operating room all I saw and remember was seeing like a dozen of those movable bright lights, like the ones you see at the dentist but obviously way bigger and brighter. The lights were moving all over the place. There was a whole team of people in the room too. They lifted me off the bed and into, ha, or rather, onto the operating bed or whatever. Who knows what they put me on. I sure don't. They could have tossed me down the river at that point and I probably wouldn't have cared much. I was along for whatever ride was about to happen.
I think I remember the surgeon saying hello early on but its very fuzzy. He did stop by the pre surgery staging area waiting room earlier in the day and told us he was doing three ACL surgeries that day. Jeeze. This guy. I asked which one I was and he said 2nd. I "guess" that's good. Who knows.
I don't remember much. Early on, if I had glasses, this would have been the spot where I could have watched the exploration part of the surgery on TV. I never even saw a TV. They could have had it pointed right at me and I wouldn't have known. Usually when I can't see, I just close my eyes and go to sleep. I like sleeping. So I took a little nap.
At one point, I woke up. We were most certainly not done. I couldn't feel anything. I imagine they noticed I woke up cause they gave me more of something that felt cool down my right side. That sensation started in what seemed like my right shoulder and just went down. Yeahh. Whatever. I didn't even care what was going on down there but I did think about it and knew that's why I was there. I was pretty comatose. I can't remember if my face was covered, or not covered, or how much I could actually see in the room. Maybe I tried to look at it at one point? I can't remember. They even started banging on my leg a couple times with something. That was strange. I could definitely feel that it was a bang on my leg, but it didn't feel like anything. It was like a tap through my core with no effect. I cant even speculate as to what part of the process that may have been. It would be cool to get a copy of the procedure on DVD if that's possible.
It seemed like from the point that I woke up until it was all over, not a lot of time went by. It could have been only 5 minutes. I'm guessing it was longer. That was so strange. When it seemed over, I thought, that's it? We're done? Ha. They rocked me off whatever it was they put me on and back onto a bed to wheel me out of there. I believe the nurse told me that I had been back there for an hour and forty minutes. Sure I was, sure I was.
My post op nurse was blonde. I'm sorry. I can't remember any of their names throughout the day. There were at least four or five of them. Five. Maybe more. Very strange post-op experience. My entire body was numb from my belly button down. I of course felt like I had to pee immediately. But I couldn't lift my legs. Either of them. I can't remember when I was given the immobilizer with ice for my right leg. It could have been immediately after, it could have been immediately before I left. Either way, my only job at the moment was to wait until the feeling was restored in my legs. I was able to wiggle my toes. I had to pee. I was given a snack and drink. I got crackers with cheese and cranberry juice. The juice tasted great but I didn't drink all of it. My stomach felt fine as I ate the crackers. Slowly I became able to move my left leg. I was still without glasses and did my best to try to squint and see if I could see the nurse. I was directly across the nurses station and I could barely tell which one was mine. Haha. I had to pee.
They said I would start to feel the pain first in the bottom of my right leg. They were right. Ooh. Yow. Okay. This is the spot where they chopped a slab of meat off my hamstring to make a new ACL. Okay, so that's that. A few more minutes went by and I could move my legs a little better but not good enough to get moved to the next outgoing station. I also had to pee before I could leave. Which I was totally on board with cause I really had to go! Finally she took me to a rest room and I used a walker to get up and get to where I needed to be to do my business. I was ready! I was here... but nothing happened. haha. Maybe in a few more minutes I could go. It felt like she was waiting for me at the door, which I'm sure she was, but that doesn't make things easier for me in general. She knocked on the door and said that it was normal to be unable to at first . Half my body was just put to sleep after all. I got moved to that next phase room and just sat in a chair there. They brought Sara in and she gave me my glasses and I could see again!
They gave me some hot tea to help with the needing to go pee pee part. We waited a bit as the nurses continued to fill out more paper work in front of us. That folder was huge. At every station, the nurse had at least a half dozen to a dozen pages to fill out. Nope, they aren't paperless yet, Nope, you aren't. Who knows how much more time went by. It was around 2pm or shortly after 2pm. and it was time to try to go pee pee again. I got to the spot and was able to release. Sweet sweet glory release of pee. Wonderful.
A few more papers to sign. No more "Needs to Void" labeling for me and I was on my way. Another nurse wheel-chaired me to the car. Again she seemed to be going really fast, but for all I know it was a slow ride. I managed to get into the car and we went home. I got into the house and onto the couch. (Where yes, I've spent most of my time since, haha. jerk).
It all didn't exactly feel wonderful that first night home. Definitely worse than when I first got injured. It's been one of the stranger things, the feeling that it feels worse, but it's fixed, it just needs time to actually heal now. I think I need to wrap this post up now though and talk about the first couple days after surgery in another post. I also had a followup with the doctor the day after surgery that also went well, but I've mostly been chilling since getting home. Each day is better than the previous. I'm able to straighten it good and flex my quads somewhat. I'm nervous about bending it. I can some. I was planning to try to go into the office tomorrow but I'm not sure. The doctor said I can drive when I feel comfortable doing so. Right now I can barely lift my leg and I'm still taking pain killers so I can't drive quite yet either way. Sara is willing to drop me off at work but we'll see. It's all a big hassle. I know. I'll just continue to wait and be patient until it all gets better. It will get better. It will.
Look at me, I'm ready for you to cut this knee.
Here I am Sunday, a full 4 days since having ACL reconstruction w\ hamstring graft surgery. Right now I feel okay. I was finally able to lift my leg yesterday and it is not easy. Can't wait for another week to go by basically :) Before that, here's a flashback to last Wednesday when I went in for the procedure.
Wednesday morning we dropped V off at school and I enjoyed a couple last chance steps before the upcoming inevitable. Into the school and out. I wish I had taken some video of how far along my progress was with walking. All I have are my memories. It'll do. I was due for arrival at the Bone & Joint Ambulatory Surgery Center at 8:30am for a 10:30am procedure.
Got there, signed papers, Sat in waiting room for about 4 minutes. Got called back. Changed into hospital gown. Got to put on a sock sleeve type thing on my non-operating leg. Just in case anyone forgets I suppose. Okay. Confession: I wore bright red undies just in case, as well.
After getting my vitals all checked she said my blood pressure was a little high. Um, yah. I'm about to get all chopped up here! Ha. at one point the guy across from me was told that his blood pressure was abnormally low and that they may need to give him something to increase it a bit. He said that's what they had to do last time, somewhere else with something else. Must take a lot to get that guy angry in his normal life. He probably just goes about his day not really giving a crap about much either way. Good for him.
I got the IV inserted into my left hand and of course still felt like I had to pee a million times even though the last thing I had was a big gulp of water at 10:30pm the previous night. I think I had a brownie at about 9:00pm. That was my last food. Sara came in and sat and waited with me shortly around 9:15am when I was already prepped and basically ready to go. I still had to pee a few times.
Nearly an hour later the anesthesiologist asked me if I could read magazines in the backseat of a moving car. Um, hm. It's been a while but I can. But it's not awesome. So no, not really. I also confirmed that the epidural anesthesia would be fine. Typing this paragraph in is making me hazy. Just thinking these words again. Anyway, few more minutes went by and then I got the back/spine epidural put in and Sara had left before that and now I was on my back and about to go. They even asked me my name, date of birth, and procedure that I was having done. One last time.
I got wheeled down into the operating room and wow this will sound cliche, okay maybe not. Back step - Right, by the way, before all this the anesthesiologist said that with the epidural I could watch the procedure on TV. Well, that wasn't possible either way cause I didn't have my glasses and I am so so very blind. I was blind for a couple hours during this part of the story so that doesn't make any of my abilities to take in and observe my surroundings any easier. So okay, the cliche part is... When they opened those doors and wheeled me into the actual operating room all I saw and remember was seeing like a dozen of those movable bright lights, like the ones you see at the dentist but obviously way bigger and brighter. The lights were moving all over the place. There was a whole team of people in the room too. They lifted me off the bed and into, ha, or rather, onto the operating bed or whatever. Who knows what they put me on. I sure don't. They could have tossed me down the river at that point and I probably wouldn't have cared much. I was along for whatever ride was about to happen.
I think I remember the surgeon saying hello early on but its very fuzzy. He did stop by the pre surgery staging area waiting room earlier in the day and told us he was doing three ACL surgeries that day. Jeeze. This guy. I asked which one I was and he said 2nd. I "guess" that's good. Who knows.
I don't remember much. Early on, if I had glasses, this would have been the spot where I could have watched the exploration part of the surgery on TV. I never even saw a TV. They could have had it pointed right at me and I wouldn't have known. Usually when I can't see, I just close my eyes and go to sleep. I like sleeping. So I took a little nap.
At one point, I woke up. We were most certainly not done. I couldn't feel anything. I imagine they noticed I woke up cause they gave me more of something that felt cool down my right side. That sensation started in what seemed like my right shoulder and just went down. Yeahh. Whatever. I didn't even care what was going on down there but I did think about it and knew that's why I was there. I was pretty comatose. I can't remember if my face was covered, or not covered, or how much I could actually see in the room. Maybe I tried to look at it at one point? I can't remember. They even started banging on my leg a couple times with something. That was strange. I could definitely feel that it was a bang on my leg, but it didn't feel like anything. It was like a tap through my core with no effect. I cant even speculate as to what part of the process that may have been. It would be cool to get a copy of the procedure on DVD if that's possible.
It seemed like from the point that I woke up until it was all over, not a lot of time went by. It could have been only 5 minutes. I'm guessing it was longer. That was so strange. When it seemed over, I thought, that's it? We're done? Ha. They rocked me off whatever it was they put me on and back onto a bed to wheel me out of there. I believe the nurse told me that I had been back there for an hour and forty minutes. Sure I was, sure I was.
My post op nurse was blonde. I'm sorry. I can't remember any of their names throughout the day. There were at least four or five of them. Five. Maybe more. Very strange post-op experience. My entire body was numb from my belly button down. I of course felt like I had to pee immediately. But I couldn't lift my legs. Either of them. I can't remember when I was given the immobilizer with ice for my right leg. It could have been immediately after, it could have been immediately before I left. Either way, my only job at the moment was to wait until the feeling was restored in my legs. I was able to wiggle my toes. I had to pee. I was given a snack and drink. I got crackers with cheese and cranberry juice. The juice tasted great but I didn't drink all of it. My stomach felt fine as I ate the crackers. Slowly I became able to move my left leg. I was still without glasses and did my best to try to squint and see if I could see the nurse. I was directly across the nurses station and I could barely tell which one was mine. Haha. I had to pee.
They said I would start to feel the pain first in the bottom of my right leg. They were right. Ooh. Yow. Okay. This is the spot where they chopped a slab of meat off my hamstring to make a new ACL. Okay, so that's that. A few more minutes went by and I could move my legs a little better but not good enough to get moved to the next outgoing station. I also had to pee before I could leave. Which I was totally on board with cause I really had to go! Finally she took me to a rest room and I used a walker to get up and get to where I needed to be to do my business. I was ready! I was here... but nothing happened. haha. Maybe in a few more minutes I could go. It felt like she was waiting for me at the door, which I'm sure she was, but that doesn't make things easier for me in general. She knocked on the door and said that it was normal to be unable to at first . Half my body was just put to sleep after all. I got moved to that next phase room and just sat in a chair there. They brought Sara in and she gave me my glasses and I could see again!
They gave me some hot tea to help with the needing to go pee pee part. We waited a bit as the nurses continued to fill out more paper work in front of us. That folder was huge. At every station, the nurse had at least a half dozen to a dozen pages to fill out. Nope, they aren't paperless yet, Nope, you aren't. Who knows how much more time went by. It was around 2pm or shortly after 2pm. and it was time to try to go pee pee again. I got to the spot and was able to release. Sweet sweet glory release of pee. Wonderful.
A few more papers to sign. No more "Needs to Void" labeling for me and I was on my way. Another nurse wheel-chaired me to the car. Again she seemed to be going really fast, but for all I know it was a slow ride. I managed to get into the car and we went home. I got into the house and onto the couch. (Where yes, I've spent most of my time since, haha. jerk).
It all didn't exactly feel wonderful that first night home. Definitely worse than when I first got injured. It's been one of the stranger things, the feeling that it feels worse, but it's fixed, it just needs time to actually heal now. I think I need to wrap this post up now though and talk about the first couple days after surgery in another post. I also had a followup with the doctor the day after surgery that also went well, but I've mostly been chilling since getting home. Each day is better than the previous. I'm able to straighten it good and flex my quads somewhat. I'm nervous about bending it. I can some. I was planning to try to go into the office tomorrow but I'm not sure. The doctor said I can drive when I feel comfortable doing so. Right now I can barely lift my leg and I'm still taking pain killers so I can't drive quite yet either way. Sara is willing to drop me off at work but we'll see. It's all a big hassle. I know. I'll just continue to wait and be patient until it all gets better. It will get better. It will.
Look at me, I'm ready for you to cut this knee.
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Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Night Before Surgery
Here we are! I go in for surgery tomorrow at 8:30 and the operation is at 10:30. I'll be getting my ACL reconstructed with a hamstring graft from the same leg.
I'm trying to take mind snap shots of how this feels right now so I can remember after tomorrow morning. I know I'll be restarting my recovery to a degree but at least I'll have a new ligament to teach and train instead of these fizzled out torn up ends. I keep forgetting to post an image from the MRI, maybe next time :)
It's been nice to sort of be able to walk the past couple weeks. It's been nice to be able to carry things around as I move around with one crutch. I'm not exactly looking forward to returning to two crutches and a backpack for my thoughts but it'll be alright. Every day will get easier. And once I'm on the other side of this I'll at least have an end in sight instead of a peak and a valley to get through.
Oh right, as for the kickball playoffs. We did what we typically do. Win our first. Lose our second. It's been a couple seasons now since we got to the finals. It just makes me itch harder and harder to return. Next Spring?, maybe but maybe not. Next Summer?, hopefully. It all depends on how the rehab goes. I plan to stick to the script and not push too hard too fast and not take it easy when I'm not supposed to. I've been doing my pre-surgery exercises multiple times daily and like I've said, I've been walking (albeit gimpily) for a while so it's definitely getting used.
So this is it! This is the big night! No food or drink starting pretty soon and I'll head in for that surgery in the morning! #somanyexclamationpoints lol. It's all good. Of course I'm nervous, but I know it will go fine. Just the typical anxiety I have about everything ever. Hopefully my next few posts after surgery are written in a way that makes sense. I was going to write sensical but apparently that's not a word. That's nonsensical to me. English, gotta love it. Anyway, I wish I could write how this feels now in a way that would capture it but language is limiting. There's no way to describe it. I can only hope that my rambling will trigger the memory in my head like certain smells do occasionally or when certain songs remind you of a time period of your life.
Anyway, enough chat. Time for more hat! Let's do this. Go ahead, fix me up docs! See you on the other side!
I'm trying to take mind snap shots of how this feels right now so I can remember after tomorrow morning. I know I'll be restarting my recovery to a degree but at least I'll have a new ligament to teach and train instead of these fizzled out torn up ends. I keep forgetting to post an image from the MRI, maybe next time :)
It's been nice to sort of be able to walk the past couple weeks. It's been nice to be able to carry things around as I move around with one crutch. I'm not exactly looking forward to returning to two crutches and a backpack for my thoughts but it'll be alright. Every day will get easier. And once I'm on the other side of this I'll at least have an end in sight instead of a peak and a valley to get through.
Oh right, as for the kickball playoffs. We did what we typically do. Win our first. Lose our second. It's been a couple seasons now since we got to the finals. It just makes me itch harder and harder to return. Next Spring?, maybe but maybe not. Next Summer?, hopefully. It all depends on how the rehab goes. I plan to stick to the script and not push too hard too fast and not take it easy when I'm not supposed to. I've been doing my pre-surgery exercises multiple times daily and like I've said, I've been walking (albeit gimpily) for a while so it's definitely getting used.
So this is it! This is the big night! No food or drink starting pretty soon and I'll head in for that surgery in the morning! #somanyexclamationpoints lol. It's all good. Of course I'm nervous, but I know it will go fine. Just the typical anxiety I have about everything ever. Hopefully my next few posts after surgery are written in a way that makes sense. I was going to write sensical but apparently that's not a word. That's nonsensical to me. English, gotta love it. Anyway, I wish I could write how this feels now in a way that would capture it but language is limiting. There's no way to describe it. I can only hope that my rambling will trigger the memory in my head like certain smells do occasionally or when certain songs remind you of a time period of your life.
Anyway, enough chat. Time for more hat! Let's do this. Go ahead, fix me up docs! See you on the other side!
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Playoffs!
Kickball playoffs start tonight. This will be tough to watch too :) We managed to finish the season at 6-3 (2-3 after my injury) to hold onto the #6 seed.
We face Faces Loaded @ 6:30pm tonight in Lincoln Park. The lineup is locked and loaded and we are looking forward to our rematch. We won 15-5 when we played them previously this season and it was the last full game I was able to play.
If we are able to squeak past Faces Loaded, we will once again (in all likelihood) face off again against There's No Crying In Kickball. They knocked us out of the Spring playoffs (and are the Spring season champions) and beat us in a closely contested match up a few weeks ago. Assuming we win our first game and they win theirs, we will hope to finally knock them down a peg.
If we are able to win both games, we will advance to the semifinals next Thursday. If that's the case I am giving myself about a 2% chance of even making it to the game as I will be a day removed from surgery and not very interested in moving at all. But I'm not ruling it out. Let's hope The Box wins so I have to think about it all week.
There's no clear cut favorite here. Loaded Faces is good but not that good. Dr*nk again got lucky against us last week when we were missing 11 players. Crying is good. Menace's defense is really good and they score in bunches. son of a pitch can beat anyone. Wham Bam has two great pitchers. Can't count out Home Run or BUST. Balldozers is a solid team from the limited number of times I've seen them in action. Manatee and Whi$key are better than their records. Let's do this!
Wish I could play, but I can't so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out. Someone better tell me how it goes next week man.
Click to expand these....
We face Faces Loaded @ 6:30pm tonight in Lincoln Park. The lineup is locked and loaded and we are looking forward to our rematch. We won 15-5 when we played them previously this season and it was the last full game I was able to play.
If we are able to squeak past Faces Loaded, we will once again (in all likelihood) face off again against There's No Crying In Kickball. They knocked us out of the Spring playoffs (and are the Spring season champions) and beat us in a closely contested match up a few weeks ago. Assuming we win our first game and they win theirs, we will hope to finally knock them down a peg.
If we are able to win both games, we will advance to the semifinals next Thursday. If that's the case I am giving myself about a 2% chance of even making it to the game as I will be a day removed from surgery and not very interested in moving at all. But I'm not ruling it out. Let's hope The Box wins so I have to think about it all week.
There's no clear cut favorite here. Loaded Faces is good but not that good. Dr*nk again got lucky against us last week when we were missing 11 players. Crying is good. Menace's defense is really good and they score in bunches. son of a pitch can beat anyone. Wham Bam has two great pitchers. Can't count out Home Run or BUST. Balldozers is a solid team from the limited number of times I've seen them in action. Manatee and Whi$key are better than their records. Let's do this!
Wish I could play, but I can't so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out. Someone better tell me how it goes next week man.
Click to expand these....
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Surgery Date Set
Had doctor followup this morning. He was happy with my straightening, bending, and walking progress. We set a next Wednesday date (9/9) for the surgery so that I could come back in for that followup and see him before his end of month vacation. Sounds good. Let's do it.
Once I have the surgery, I'll have a couple more weeks on crutches before I can start getting back to where I am now. Each step I take forward before then will help me after the surgery.
Let's chat more hat, let's do it.
Once I have the surgery, I'll have a couple more weeks on crutches before I can start getting back to where I am now. Each step I take forward before then will help me after the surgery.
Let's chat more hat, let's do it.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Monday Morning Walk And Talk II
Big News, on Friday I was able to take my first steps. This is huge! I'm not exactly walking around yet but I have been able to transition to one crutch and it has made a huge difference already.
I'm going to keep this short for now and maybe I'll circle back later to expand a bit. We lost Thursday night to finish the season 6-3. It was a pretty bad game for us and playoffs start this week. Let's bounce back. I went and watched my work's company softball team win their championship Friday night. Sara and the girls went to PA for the weekend and left me home alone. My sister moved to the area Saturday and some great friends of mine were able to help. My Aunt Maria visited Saturday night in between traveling back to Rochester. The girls came back yesterday afternoon.
All in all it was a great weekend and being able to hobble around with one crutch now is making some things much easier. I have a followup with the doctor tomorrow and I suspect we'll set a surgery date. As many steps forward as I can take between now and then the better. That way when the surgery knocks me back a few steps I won't have as far to go. Lets do this.
I'm going to keep this short for now and maybe I'll circle back later to expand a bit. We lost Thursday night to finish the season 6-3. It was a pretty bad game for us and playoffs start this week. Let's bounce back. I went and watched my work's company softball team win their championship Friday night. Sara and the girls went to PA for the weekend and left me home alone. My sister moved to the area Saturday and some great friends of mine were able to help. My Aunt Maria visited Saturday night in between traveling back to Rochester. The girls came back yesterday afternoon.
All in all it was a great weekend and being able to hobble around with one crutch now is making some things much easier. I have a followup with the doctor tomorrow and I suspect we'll set a surgery date. As many steps forward as I can take between now and then the better. That way when the surgery knocks me back a few steps I won't have as far to go. Lets do this.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
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.
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.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Wham Bam Right In The Box
I'll keep this short cause no one wants to read a 20 page kickball game write up!
This week's matchup vs Wham Bam Thank You Clam was a game I had been looking forward to all season. We love playing against Clam, especially when we beat them. It had been a while. Alan was missing from the game but their two headed pitching monster of Rich & Hank were both there. As long as Jesse made it to our game, I had planned to let him roll the entire thing. Wham Bam was undefeated this season. Heck, they were undefeated last season. The only game they lost was the Spring championships.
Craig somehow won the rock paper scissors. We held serve and kept them scoreless in the first. Jimmy lead off and got on base. Mike bunted and got thrown out at first. Jimmy got to third and the defense attempted to make a play. The ball scattered into left field and he got up and got home. 1-0.
The score stayed 1-0 until the top of the 4th. With 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd Wham Bam popped up to Jesse at the mound and he reacted and tried to get the runner at first out before she could get back to the base. The ball got her square in the back and it was close, but she had already gotten back. The runner on third scored as a result. It was a close play and he knew the run was on him. 1-1.
In the bottom of the 4th Alex lead off and got on base. Jimmy and Mike followed and got on base. Bases loaded. No outs. Steve showed that he was human by ripping the ball to the monster and getting out. A couple feet to the left or right and that would have been two runs! The impressive part of the play was Alex not leaving third and getting tagged out as a result of the play. Alex received 2 box points on the spot for not leaving the base and not getting out. Craig knocked in Alex on the next play and we were up 2-1.
Jesse and the defense played two more great innings and we ended up winning 2-1. Jimmy played the full game at catcher as well. They both could have used a break during that game but sometimes you gotta just ride your horses to water instead of bringing water to your horses.
We hung for quite a bit after the game and our team made appearances at both bars. I've been able to crutch walk as of this week which has been interesting and I'll be writing a post about that soon, (I'm trying to play catch up here!). All in all, I put 3.5 miles on the fitbit thursday. It was a good day! And we Wham Bam'd Them Right In The Box.
This week's matchup vs Wham Bam Thank You Clam was a game I had been looking forward to all season. We love playing against Clam, especially when we beat them. It had been a while. Alan was missing from the game but their two headed pitching monster of Rich & Hank were both there. As long as Jesse made it to our game, I had planned to let him roll the entire thing. Wham Bam was undefeated this season. Heck, they were undefeated last season. The only game they lost was the Spring championships.
Craig somehow won the rock paper scissors. We held serve and kept them scoreless in the first. Jimmy lead off and got on base. Mike bunted and got thrown out at first. Jimmy got to third and the defense attempted to make a play. The ball scattered into left field and he got up and got home. 1-0.
The score stayed 1-0 until the top of the 4th. With 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd Wham Bam popped up to Jesse at the mound and he reacted and tried to get the runner at first out before she could get back to the base. The ball got her square in the back and it was close, but she had already gotten back. The runner on third scored as a result. It was a close play and he knew the run was on him. 1-1.
In the bottom of the 4th Alex lead off and got on base. Jimmy and Mike followed and got on base. Bases loaded. No outs. Steve showed that he was human by ripping the ball to the monster and getting out. A couple feet to the left or right and that would have been two runs! The impressive part of the play was Alex not leaving third and getting tagged out as a result of the play. Alex received 2 box points on the spot for not leaving the base and not getting out. Craig knocked in Alex on the next play and we were up 2-1.
Jesse and the defense played two more great innings and we ended up winning 2-1. Jimmy played the full game at catcher as well. They both could have used a break during that game but sometimes you gotta just ride your horses to water instead of bringing water to your horses.
We hung for quite a bit after the game and our team made appearances at both bars. I've been able to crutch walk as of this week which has been interesting and I'll be writing a post about that soon, (I'm trying to play catch up here!). All in all, I put 3.5 miles on the fitbit thursday. It was a good day! And we Wham Bam'd Them Right In The Box.
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| Miss Daisy at the wheel |
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| Steph and Joel loving it |
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| Alex trying to figure out the Box Point to Ball Point conversion. |
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| Jimmy & Jay celebrating the Box success |
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| Chris and Jesse after Jesse superb outing! |
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| The Box @ lionheart! |
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