Friday, June 5, 2009

Slowly coming around

For the first time in 2 weeks, I'm starting to feel like I won't have to live the rest of my life crippled.

I am recovering!

Yesterday, I was having a bad morning. Really swelled. Trouble walking. Pain in my quad. I was sitting at my desk, and I just could not pull my leg to 90 degrees. Pain and suffering.

THEN, I went to PT. Since Colorado is a no-referral state, I was able to pay out of pocket and go on my own, against my egotistical orthopedic surgeon's orders. Thank goodness for this.

We started out on the spin bike, where I could make it 1/2 a revolution one direction, and then 1/2 a revolution back. It was pathetic! So off to the weight machine, where we just extended my legs in the seated position. THEN, he had me latch my ankles on top of the bar and start going down..... He was asking me about LIBOR, since I told him I was more familiar with that than single family mortgage rates. Halfway through my diatribe, I looked down and saw I was at 90 degrees and said, "You don't want to talk about interest rates -- you are trying to distract me!" He just laughed. Tricky, tricky.

After the machine, I went back on the spin bike, where after 3 tries, I made 1 whole revolution and then continued spin for 10 minutes! Holy cow! It was like a vice around my quad had released. Even though it felt uncomfortable every single time, I was 100% better than before. In fact, I could see my knee again...the swelling sitting above my knee in my quad just sort of dispersed. It was....magic.

So we went over to the bench and we worked a little farther on getting the knee bent, gently moving it forward and backwards. I measured 117 degrees of flexion, only 3 degrees from where I am supposed to be on Monday! A small miracle.

Therapist didn't want me to walk with a limp anymore. He said even if I have to walk slower than a turtle, it's better than walking with a limp. So I've been grandma-walking for two days now, but I'm seeing improvement!

Anyway, it's all very exciting. And to think my prick of a surgeon didn't think I needed PT?! I'm a pansy....I need to be pushed....but I also needed someone who has experience with regaining range of motion. I'm so angry it's taken me THIS long. I should have been in there last week. Seriously, I've had it up to here with my surgeon's massive ego. I really think he didn't want me doing PT because he thinks he has made my knee perfect and he doesn't want me attributing any of the surgery's success to somebody else. Insanity.

On the home front, we are apparently still under contract. I haven't seen the signed version of this contract, but they have my check. So if all goes well, we should be moving at the end of September/sometime in October!

Time to get versed on interior upgrades and hit up Home Depot for some estimates on things we may want to do on our own.....

3 comments:

SixTwoThree said...

Hey girl, CONGRATS! That sounds like some serious progress to me. Head on over for weekly dose of inspiration! This one is extra special :-)

Leah said...

PT worked wonders for me after my stress fracture. I still do my exercises. Glad to hear things are getting better, even if it's slowly.

Shawna said...

I'm glad you're feeling better! You felt better after one session? I've never had PT but that does sound quite magical!

Shawna's Study Abroad