Bearing Weight

One of the hardest things to do after the ACL revision is three-fold. First, you begin to bear weight on the left side of your body (with the aid of the brace), and begin to walk with the crutches (brace locked and securely in place). Second, at the two week mark, you begin the art of regaining full mobility, bending your knee degrees at a time. The Physical Therapist (PT from here on out, not to be confused with physical therapy, which is pt) sets a certain number of degrees on the brace, and your target is to be able to bend that far by the next session. Hopefully, at the end of four weeks, you have full range of motion, with your heel touching your butt.

And the piece de resistance -- learning to bend your knee as you walk again. Given, the brace stays on for 3 months at least, and you use the crutches probably for 4-6 weeks (we'll see what the PT says at pt). It was excruciating the last time, hopefully not so bad this time.

That being said, for the past two days I have been standing with the aid of the brace, and without the aid of the crutches, bearing weight on the knee. This morning I even managed a few baby steps before common sense got in the way, and I picked up the crutches again. Small victory, but reason for celebration! That will be taking the form of a walk down the block to a little park on the corner (after Wayne finishes mowing the lawn). Total round trip is under 1/2 mile, but just doing that and being active helps. Especially since my brain is remarkably clear and active this quickly post surgery. Weaning off the pain meds is probably half the reason for that clarity of thought and vision, but will lead to the redhead getting very, very bored.

This is something my father has noted in email just as recently as this morning...Wayne found this great service, Simplify Media, that you share with 30 of your friends. When you install it, you can share your music libraries (without the evils of downloading the content, just playing), and play your friends' music either on your computer or your iPod Touch or iPhone.

I sent the email invite to my dad, and he replied that I had too much time on my hands!

He's right. Thus the blog was birthed, and I now have something outside of MouseHunt and Aquatopia to keep myself occupied!!

Aloha for now!

Starting out in blogville

Well, here I go starting to blog. Figures I would begin this on a weekend!

On Tuesday, August 26th, I had my second ACL reconstruction (therefore a revision, not a reconstruction) on my left ACL. I injured it the first time in Germany in 1990, and had a reconstruction done at the 121 General Hospital in Heidelberg. I have a dim recollection of pain, aggressively (and stupidly) accelerating the recuperation timeline, and of pretty much doing it on my own.

Some things have changed since then, some have not. Outpatient surgery, definitely different. Sleeping on a waterbed -- WAY different since I now have a bed partner who thrashes a bit. A lot of pain (more than my threshold) on the first day -- not different. Marginally less on day two, and continued decrease, which enables me to stop narcotic usage -- also way different. Add to that I am in a brace rather than a cast, manipulating the knee from side to side (was sort of squeamish about that one), and exercising my quad and gastrocnemus muscles right away, it all adds up to a totally different procedure. Yesterday (3 days post surgery), I got to take my first shower (woo hoo), put on make up and jewelry, and do my hair. Still grumble about answering the phone, though!

I am going to make sure I take the rehab time at a more reasonable rate this go-round, and will force myself not to overdo it. So far, so good, pretty happy to date (with the exception of the first day). Thanks to my friends on twitter and facebook for keeping me amused, and for wishing me well! I'll keep returning to this forum to update mood, recovery, and all the neat things I attempt to accomplish in my 30 days of being at home.

Aloha!