Cortisone

Today I went to see my doctor because my therapist wanted me to have a cortisone shot. Things have been very slow with progress and he throught that the cortisone would give me the boost that I need.

I was quite prepared for the worst because my oh-so-caring brother warned of how incredibly painful it is and how my entire day and following day would be ruined.

I politely thanked him. ;)

As a matter of fact... I felt nothing.

Probably because that side of the knee is still completely numb, but I think they also applied a topical numbing agent.

7 Hours later... I'm not noticing any change yet.

We talked about my current state of improvement or lack thereof.

He is quite concerned.

In the middle of the appointment he left the room to go talk with my therapist (who is next door down the hallway). They agreed to order one of those braces for me that helps me to slowly bend my knee further and further as I am comfortable.

After that he talked about how my quads are locking at times and won't allow my knee to bend. He said that I'm subconsciously protecting the knee and that we just have to retrain the muscles.

I reminded him that its not about just retraining the muscles because of surgery, but going all the way back to the injury a year ago. I was never able to get to the point where I trusted my knee, so we have to undo a year of bad habits. :/

He commented on the possibility that something is wrong inside there and.....

(drumroll)

We may have to go back into surgery, so that he can check things out.

We didn't talk about what that surgery would entail. In two weeks I will see him again to check on any improvement. I believe that at that time we will or will not talk about details of surgery. All depending on improvement.

9 Weeks: Back to therapy

I went back to therapy on Tuesday after a 2-week break. Bending is now at 80 degrees... I was expecting it to be a little farther.

I started a few new exercises.  One of them being the treadmill... backwards. Yes, I walk backwards on the treadmill.

Yesterday's appointment showed no improvement, so we talked about a brace that I could put on when I'm sitting down. The brace has a mechanism that I can crank and slowly it bends my leg. I bend it as far as I can without causing pain and stay in that position for 5 or 10 minutes. Then I crank it a little more (like a degree at a time) and stay there for another 5 or 10 minutes. I continue to do this for as long as I want, so this is something that I could do at work or while watching a movie.

I guess my therapist is going to talk to my doctor about this option.

I just got a call from my doctor's assistant. She said that she received an email from my therapist requesting a cortisone shot for me, so I will go in on Tuesday to have that done.

I have less than 2 weeks of therapy left (that insurance will cover). I don't feel like that is enough time at all, but I am, however, getting to the point where progress should speed up a little. And hopefully that cortisone shot will make a big difference too.

Yesterday I tried driving for the first time. I could drive completely normal except I needed a little help from my left foot to depress the break peddle all the way.

Hah... I just realized that in a couple days will be a year since I injured the knee. An entire year of limping. I'm going to need to see a chiropractor after I'm through with this!

8 Weeks: Puerto Rico

We just returned from our vacation to Puerto Rico.

LOVED IT!

The waves were pretty rough at most of the beaches, so I was unable to get into the water.

Then we found Crash Boat Beach.

As you can see the waves toward the pier were a little bigger than the waves on the right.  I found the calmest area to get in and with a little help from Micah I got out far enough to float around on a boogie board. After 3 days of just sitting on the beach and watching Micah snorkel getting in the water was such a treat!

After awhile I got brave.

I started timing the waves so I could go up over them at their highest point.

Micah stood a few steps back and enjoyed being pummeled by them.

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

And then I miss-judged a wave.

It plowed into me and I was tossed around under water. I tried to stay limp except for my right leg, keeping it stiff and directed away from the bottom.

I started to get up... and then inevitable happened.

I got hit by another one.

And then another.

Thankfully nothing bad happened to my leg, but because I only had the one leg to support me every time I tried to stand up I was easily knocked down again. I have a nice scratch on my back and on the back of my arms from being drug along the bottom.

We were only there for 5 days, but we did a lot!

We saw whales.

Went to 5 different beaches.

Micah got stuck in a current and almost drowned.

Micah left the rental car keys in his pocket and got into the ocean.  The computer chip in the key was ruined and therefore would not start the car, so we had to call Avis who did NOT have a spare key (what?) so we had to call a tow truck. (FUN)

We ate.

A lot.

(Almost every restaurant was open to the outside)

And now that we are back I realize that I made a lot of progress while on vacation.

I'm not sure if it was the climate or the hot tub, but I can bend my knee further.

Maybe another 15 degrees further than before.

I was walking around a lot without any crutches. Obviously I was very slow and limping severely, but I was walking!



7 Week Re-check

Today I went back to see my doctor.

The good news is that the x-rays showed good healing of the shin at the tibial osteotomy and at the femur where he drilled for the added tendon.

Four weeks ago I could actually see on the x-rays a line in my shin bone and the hole in my femur.

Today I saw nothing!

I didn't say anything, but I think the calcium supplements helped.

In other news... he's not happy about my bending progress. He even called over to my physical therapist to tell him to work me harder. And in a couple weeks he will most likely give me a cortisone shot if he doesn't see marked improvement.

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to Thursday's therapy session!

He said he really wants to get things moving because it's been a "bumpy road."

Makes me think that I'm not progressing the way he would like.

Or maybe he's just referring to the little things like the itchy rash that covered my leg (a reaction to the orange stuff they put all over my leg) and the insomnia... I can't think of anything else he would be referring to. Oh, maybe the numbing that's left in my foot which is down to just a tingling in my toes now.

I've been taking Benadryl and Tylenol to sleep at night for about a week now. It's nice to get sleep, but he told me that Benadryl doesn't give you "good" sleep. If it persists I'm supposed to go see my family doctor.

He also adjusted my brace so that it will rotate to 120 degrees and suggested that it may be doing me more bad then good at this point. I'm only supposed to wear it now when I feel like I need some protection. The same with the crutches. Use one or both as needed.

Apparently I need to focus on walking correctly too because he stopped me as I was leaving to show me what I was doing wrong.

Walking is so complicated!

Day 41: Progress and Normalcy

Monday at therapy I made some progress. I'm always surprised  at what I'm able to do once he asks me to do it. He added an exercise: Step ups. Basically like stepping up onto a stair that's only 3 inches high and then back down again. For just a second or two with each step 100% of my weight is on the bad leg. And more then that it is bent! It felt really good to be able to do that. Then at the end, when he tortures me by helping to bend my leg farther then I'm able to bend it on my own, we were able to bend it to 65 degrees.

I finally got fed up with the insomnia and took 2 benadryl and 2 tylenol... it worked! 6 Hours of sleep! I did that two nights in a row and then last night took a break from it (I don't want to be dependent on drugs to sleep) and only got about 3 hours. I usually sleep for the first 2 hours and then wake up and roll over constantly for several hours and then fall asleep for another hour before waking up around 6am. The trick is to find a position that doesn't make my knee feel like it is swelling.

I've been doing a lot more around the house. The other day I made homemade pretzels!
(LOVE Pinterest)
It was a recipe that utilized the bread machine for the dough cycle. So no kneading!

I can vacuum small areas at a time, clean up Elliot's toys, do the dishes... I even did a load of laundry! Though it was kind of tricky getting the basket down the stairs with crutches.
I feel so much better being able to do "my job" around the house.
Doing nothing, sleeping never, sitting always... it's just a bad concoction. Being able to accomplish a task here and there gives me just the little bit of confidence I need to keep pushing. Keep stretching. Because the knee is completely stable for the first time in... well... ever. I'm pretty sure that I'm physically able to do much more then I'm mentally allowing myself to do. It's going to take some time to learn how to trust it again.

Day 36: 5 weeks post op

So today is 5 weeks since the surgery...

Kind of hard to believe that it's been that long, but at the same time it feels like forever!

Ever since the doc unlocked my brace 3 days ago I feel like I'm making better progress with bending. I try to bend it a lot more throughout the day.  Even sitting in normally in a chair with it stretched out in a slightly bent position. I'm just bending it enough to feel a stretch.

Yesterday I tried to do way to much! I made cookies, rice lasagna, spaghetti and homemade bread sticks. My good foot was killing me because I put about 80% of the weight on it all the time. And my bad hip was also nagging because I was constantly using it to pull the weight up off my bad leg.

Despite all that I did yesterday I still only slept for 1 hour. 1 HOUR! I have no idea why. I think it was my worst night so far.

I need to learn how to sleep again. BEFORE we go to Puerto Rico!

Day 34: Remembering how to walk

Yesterday I had a physical therapy appointment. As usual he pushed me pretty far. Bending is the main focus right now and we didn't make a lot of progress since my last appointment 6 days ago.

It felt really stiff over the weekend, so I expected not to show much progress. Towards the beginning of the bending section I was able to bend it to 52 degrees (with a lot of help... and grimacing!).

Towards the end he took another measurement... 57 degrees. That is the same measurement that I had 8 days ago. I'd like to see a lot more progress over an 8-day period.

My goal was to flex an extra 10 degrees each week.

I'm a little behind now.

Immediately after the therapy I saw my doctor.

He said I was progressing as expected and suggested that I try sitting more often throughout the day with the brace off... allowing the knee to bend until I felt a nice stretch.

He also unlocked the brace to 60 degrees. The brace has hinges on either side of the knee that were locked to prevent any bending. Now I can flip some switches and it will bend up to 60 degrees. I can do this whenever I want to practice walking correctly.

It's quite odd feeling.

For 4 1/2 weeks I've been crutching around with that leg straight, swinging from the hip. (Which I think may be one of the big culprits to my hip discomfort... there's definitely and alignment issue.) Now I'm trying to relax the hip and allow the knee to bend and actually use my quad muscles to assist in walking...

Weird...

In less then 1 year I've had to go through this process of learning how to walk twice!

It's funny how you can take little things like walking for granted.

I had a friend over yesterday for a play-date and it was amazing and depressing at the same time to watch her jump from her chair to help her child or climb the stairs so effortlessly.

Take it from me... as long as you can walk, walk. As long as you can run, run.

Stupid things like laziness can cause your muscles to weaken

which causes injuries to happen

which require surgery.

Shut off your computer.

Get up.

Do something.

Because God gave you the ability!