Winning a few Mini Battles.

I had physical therapy again. This time I had some really good results! They put me on the bicycle no resistance, and just wanted to see how far I could go before my knee would stop me from finishing the revolution. I did a full revolution on the first try! I had to go slow, but it was great! I did about 30 revolutions and then got to go onto the next activity.

After that I did the inclined sled (i cant remember the name at the moment) and di small leg presses to get my quads to strengthen.

I was given 2 more at home workouts to do and an at home stretch as well. I love getting new things to do because it’s just more advancement on my knee!

We measured my range of motion again, and only checked two measurements, the two that matter,flexing and straightening. I am at –5 for straightening my leg (5 degrees off from my leg being straight, it wont get all the way there until the swelling goes down. AS for flexing my leg, well the big news is I gained 15 degrees of movement!! I went from 95 degrees bent, to 110 degrees bent! that’s a 15 degree gain!!

The final thing my therapist did was put this webbing of kinesio tape on my knee. She said it would somehow help encourage the draining of the swelling away from my knee.  My knee looks like I have two fighting tan squids on them.

My First Post Op Physical Therapy

I had my first physical therapy appointment Monday. It was a huge eye opener. I’m kind of worried. I’ve never had a bad therapy appointment but oh my lord, I have to relearn everything. I am working on the most basic things like walking, going up and down the stairs, how I sit, I can’t even think of it all. My physical therapist is actually upset that I am back at work and walking on a wet floor. Oh well, I’m not sitting at home while I need to work.

My biggest issue right now is the atrophy to my Quadriceps. I can’t get them to fire enough to straighten my leg. So I’m doing lots of little workouts, just to get my quads in my left leg strong enough to fire as soon as I try, not struggle to get them to work properly.

We did measure my range of motion though, I’m going to try and get constant updates (if I could take pictures of the numbers I would…) But here are the results thus far. I can get my knee to bend to about 95 degrees. If I am standing without my knee brace, I am 15 degrees off of straight, if the knee brace is on, 18 degrees, when I am sitting down trying to get my knee to straighten I am 5 degrees off. So my issue  is that strength… I have to get it back so my leg will be able to straighten.

I just keep hoping, and working… I want to get back on the mats, back to no pain, back to a normal life. Not that life is ever normal, but back to a not so pained place. Oh and one other thing, I went to practice Tuesday, it was gi class, and we actually did some side control work. I got to work a few of the techniques I won’t lie I felt like I was breaking the rules, but it was totally worth it. I made sure I went slow, and didn’t push anything. The rest of the techniques were too difficult to do without using my legs so I only went through the upper body motions, and stopped. One day at a time…

Working on this knee…

I’m in week three of trying to recover from surgery, and it is rough. I knew it would be but after starting to feel so good with my knee before surgery, this just stinks. I’m knocked back down to about the same amount of pain, range of motion and ability as I was when I first got injured. Most of my pain is in my toes or hip, I’ve actually stopped walking as much as I was and am now using crutches again. I’m not sure what is going on but it’s kind of stinking.

My knee is still swollen, it bends to about 95 degrees, but it can’t straighten yet… The pain sucks... It’s the worst part, it never goes away, not even when I use pain medicine, so I’m just working on dealing with it. The good news? They took my stitches out, my cuts are tiny, and not only that the doctor says I am on track with my healing. My doctor lost pictures of them doing surgery on my knee, I really wished he wouldn’t have so I could  have possibly put the pictures up on here.

I can’t wait to be back at practice. I’ve done almost 3 weeks, 3 months is the mark for techniques. I’m walking (with a decent limp) I can feel when I  stretch the graft a little too much, it feels crazy, not really painful, just weird. I’ve started back at teaching kids class again (they’re adorable) and they are fascinated with the cuts and all. I’m dressing out for practice of my own, but just sitting and watching, helping where I can with what little things are missing when people are doing techniques. It’s amazing how much I am picking up, even though I can’t actually try the techniques, I can sit and watch and help with little issues that arise.

I start real physical therapy next week.. wish me luck!!

Knee Surgery

So Tuesday, August 2nd I had surgery on my knee!! I woke up from surgery and heard 2 good things, #1 my meniscus had healed back. I guess it’s possible, I had no idea. #2 My ACL was better than they thought. It was still torn, but I didn’t need to have it fully replaced! Instead they wove the cadaver ACL in with what was left of my ACL. I am now part zombie!

So now all of that work I did in therapy, seems almost like a waste. I know it wasn’t, it will hopefully help me recover. But its a little frustrating to be back at the exact point I was at when I injured myself. Lots of aches and pains, minimal walking (mostly crutches) minimal range of motion, eh this stinks.

Anyway here are some beautiful pictures of my knee. I ice it every night, work through my few stretches and exercises. There is of course swelling and cuts, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!

My birthday cake!

So for my birthday my work gave me an amazing birthday cake... It's dedicated to Bjj! My work knows me way too well.. It was pretty much the highlight of my day. Here's a cute picture of it. Heck they even wrapped my desk in superhero wrapping paper :) I've gotta love my work. It was a good 30 lbs of cake... Good thing I had 40 lifeguards to feed!


Tomorrow is ACL/ meniscus surgery. I'll be up super early getting my knee cut into. I just need to keep thinking happy thoughts!

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