It's been nice to be able to walk around without the compression stocking. It's a lot more comfortable without it. My knee has been feeling great, and I've been keeping up with my therapy exercises, and I've added more to the mix.
I've been doing some wall squats, and Scott gave me some balancing exercises that incorporate elastics. I can tell that my knee is getting a lot stronger. The scars are fading quickly, along with the bruising. I can start swimming as soon as the scabs are gone.
When we measured my motion today, my extension was still at 0*, but my bending had increased to 125*. Biking is becoming a lot easier now too.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Day 14-15
I've seen even more improvement with my movement and muscle. I was able to open my brace as far as it could go, which is somewhere around 120*.
On Tuesday I went into Scott for some more therapy. He measured my ROM, and I could extend my leg to 0* and I could bend it to 114*. I did some balancing exercises, squats, and rode the bike.
Scott called Cooley's office, and because of my improvement and how much I've been moving around I don't have to wear the compression stalking anymore.
It's been almost exactly 2 weeks since my surgery, and I'm already walking with the brace opened up and without the Stocking. I'm pretty far ahead of schedule.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Day 12-13
On Saturday, I went in for some more physical therapy with Scott. I'm starting to do more strength training to get some of my muscle back in my leg. My Range of Motion is coming back nicely and when he measured it I could bend to 105*. My extension is still a little slower coming back.
Sunday morning my right knee actually resembled a normal knee. In the prior days, I had been seeing more of a melon than an knee. The swelling is going down quite a bit, but the bruising is still pretty bad. I'm not sure if that will go away before I'm done with the compression wrap. My motion started coming back even more since Saturday morning. By the end of the day, I had moved the brace to the highest setting. So from this point on, I'll have to gain my ROM outside of the brace. I'm trying to work on my extension even more, and I'm pretty sure I can get my leg to 0*.
The biggest improvement I see is the muscle in my right calf coming back.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Day 10-11
Yesterday, I did some more physical therapy, and my knee felt great. I moved my brace to 100* and I'm making some progress on my bending mobility. My leg is still pretty stiff when extending, and it doesn't quite go completely horizontal yet.
At Rehab, I was able to get on the exersice bike, and I did some other balancing drills. My knee is still very swollen, so I'm going to do my best to get that to go down.
Today my knee felt great. It really isn't that sore, and it starts to feel even better after the PT exercises. I did a little more cycling on an exercise bike, and that seems to help a lot.
At Rehab, I was able to get on the exersice bike, and I did some other balancing drills. My knee is still very swollen, so I'm going to do my best to get that to go down.
Today my knee felt great. It really isn't that sore, and it starts to feel even better after the PT exercises. I did a little more cycling on an exercise bike, and that seems to help a lot.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Day 9
This day can be explained by one word. Soreness
After pushing my knee hard yesterday, it was very very sore this morning. I was able to take a shower this morning, though. It was kinda unnerving to be walking without a brace.
The compression stocking they gave me is causing quite a bit of bruising (as they said it would).
I did some more of my Rehab exercises, and then I was able to drive over to the Bagel Shop. I hung out there for a while and then I went to the farmers market. Driving wasn't bad, but my knee hurt a bit after I walked around for a bit. While wearing the brace, I have a constant ache in my knee after I walk around, and my knee tightens up pretty quickly when I stop moving.
I'm getting some sharp pains when I bend my knee to 90*. It feels like its my calf muscle, but I'll talk to Scott about it when I see him tomorrow. It was nice to be walking around, especially when I had surgery not much more than a week ago, but I'm definitely going to need to tone it down a bit in the coming days. I'll try to avoid being so sore.
I have a PT meeting at 12:15 tomorrow. I'm hoping that I've made some improvement since my last visit.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Day 8- Rehab
Exactly one week aftet I was being operated on, I had my first physical therapy appointment with Scott McGaw of Access Physical Therapy. I was able to walk from my house to the office (it's about a tenth of a mile). He started by removing my brace and taking some measurements of my range of motion and swelling. My brace was locked at movement 60* below horizontal, after he removed it I was able to bend it to 85* before it got too painful.
The most interesting thing about recovery is the mental aspect of knowing you have an injury. I still don't feel comfortable pushing past pain, even though both doctors told me that bending would not hurt anything fixed in the surgery. I've just had to convince myself that I'll be fine, even if it hurts a little.
We did a few leg ROM exercises. He did a lot of bending and pushing, and there was quite a bit of pain and soreness. After all the exercises I had gaind a full 9* of bend in my knee, and he changed my brace from locking at 60* to 90*. He gave me some activities to do at home, and we scheduled another appointment for Thursday at 12:15.
Here is a PDF of Cooley's guidelines and a lot of the exercises I'm doing http://rcmclinic.com/protocols/knee/anterior_cruciate_ligament_rehabilitation.pdf
My knee was incredibly sore afterward, and the Ice felt great.
The most interesting thing about recovery is the mental aspect of knowing you have an injury. I still don't feel comfortable pushing past pain, even though both doctors told me that bending would not hurt anything fixed in the surgery. I've just had to convince myself that I'll be fine, even if it hurts a little.
We did a few leg ROM exercises. He did a lot of bending and pushing, and there was quite a bit of pain and soreness. After all the exercises I had gaind a full 9* of bend in my knee, and he changed my brace from locking at 60* to 90*. He gave me some activities to do at home, and we scheduled another appointment for Thursday at 12:15.
Here is a PDF of Cooley's guidelines and a lot of the exercises I'm doing http://rcmclinic.com/protocols/knee/anterior_cruciate_ligament_rehabilitation.pdf
My knee was incredibly sore afterward, and the Ice felt great.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Day 7
Today's the day of my first real improvement. I went in to the clinic and had my wrap and brace removed for the first time. The gauze was coated with blood, but my leg didn't look too bad. They gave me a compression stalking to wear, but the Iceman Pad is off of my knee.
The highlight news of the day is that they're letting me walk. Slowly, carefully, and with the help of the crutches, I was able to walk out of the doctors office. I visited Adam at the bagel shop, and then I went home. At home, I successfully climbed my stairs and walked around a bit. Now I'm able to be walking with only one crutch or a cane. By tomorrow I think I'll be walking around the house with little need for support. I'll still be using the crutches for stairs and longer walks.
Less than a full week after the surgery and I'm already walking around. I couldn't have hoped for anything better. I'm starting real physical therapy tomorrow at 8:30.
Day 4-6
These were just a few more recovery days. I completely stopped taking the percocet, which has an up side and a down. I felt horrible the day after I stopped, but its nice to now be thinking clearly.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Day 3
I'm still not in much pain, and I've been easing down off my pain killers. I went from 10 PM last night to 10AM this morning on one set of Percocet with no problems. I was able to get out of the house and go to lunch at Davanzas. Later in the day I went to a barbeque at Madison's house. Well see what happenes tomorrow.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Day 2
Nothing interesting happened today. Stayed in bed almost all day and only left to go to the bathroom.
Day 1-Surgery Day
Yesterday, I had my ACL surgery. I arrived at the Hospital at 7:30 and got into the prep room pretty soon after that. I put on my gown, and a funny shower cap type thing, and they put an IV into my hand. Another nurse came in and instructed me to write "Yes" on the knee that I wanted them to work on, and then she proceded to rid that knee of all it's hair. For those of you who know what my legs look like, this must be a pretty entertaining idea, especially because she left a little ankle boot of hair. I'll have to take care of that when the wrap comes off.
Cooley came in around 8 to brief me on my surgery. We talked a little bit about the pro skier Tanner Hall, that he'd be working on in a few weeks and then he was off for his first operation of the day.
8:15 Rolled around and I was getting a blood sample drawn from my right arm. My blood pumped out pretty quickley so they took a few extra viles. They use the blood to create a super dense growth patch of condensed blood. I guess over the weeks it can increase the healing process incredibly. Pretty cool what they do these days.
8:50 I was being huled out of the prep room and into the surgery room. This was when I started to get nervous for the first time of the day. To ease the tension I made a joke about how they were trying to set time trial records on the surgery. I got a response from one doctor, that told me he was training his pet monkey to do it.
8:5? The anastesia mask came on and out I went.
11:?? I woke up in the recovery room next to my old AP Chem teacher Bill Kahn. I talked to him for a little while.
They gave me a few pain killers and soon enough I crutched my way over to the wheelchair that was going to take me to the car.
The rest of the day I took it pretty easy. I had some friends come over and visit with me, and I was able to get some sleep.
I have yet to feel any real pain, even without taking pain medication over night. The first day is usually the best so we'll see how the future days go.
Cooley came in around 8 to brief me on my surgery. We talked a little bit about the pro skier Tanner Hall, that he'd be working on in a few weeks and then he was off for his first operation of the day.
8:15 Rolled around and I was getting a blood sample drawn from my right arm. My blood pumped out pretty quickley so they took a few extra viles. They use the blood to create a super dense growth patch of condensed blood. I guess over the weeks it can increase the healing process incredibly. Pretty cool what they do these days.
8:50 I was being huled out of the prep room and into the surgery room. This was when I started to get nervous for the first time of the day. To ease the tension I made a joke about how they were trying to set time trial records on the surgery. I got a response from one doctor, that told me he was training his pet monkey to do it.
8:5? The anastesia mask came on and out I went.
11:?? I woke up in the recovery room next to my old AP Chem teacher Bill Kahn. I talked to him for a little while.
They gave me a few pain killers and soon enough I crutched my way over to the wheelchair that was going to take me to the car.
The rest of the day I took it pretty easy. I had some friends come over and visit with me, and I was able to get some sleep.
I have yet to feel any real pain, even without taking pain medication over night. The first day is usually the best so we'll see how the future days go.
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