Three Months and Counting
Yesterday marked three months since my ACL reconstruction. I am officially at the half way point now and it feels good to be able to start counting days on the other end of the spectrum until I can go back to karate. Most of my swelling is gone, although a small bit still remains. One of the scars is barely visible; the others will make my summer wardrobe take on a warrior look.
After being so sick last week, I lost seven pounds. I feel like those seven pounds came directly off my recovering leg. PT was challenging last week as I got back into the swing of things. This week, my PT is going to start me on some crazy weighted exercises where he puts a harness around my waist and I get to run away from the machine, pivot and then stand there while the weight tries to pull me back. It’s better than being harnessed to a person on a stool with wheels, which I hear is a common practice for ACL recoverees.
Currently my extension (how flat and straight I can get my leg) is pretty good. But I do have to work at it a bit to get it all the way down. My flexion (how far I can bend my leg) is getting there although these last degrees have been hard to come by. I’m currently fluctuating between 145-148 degrees of flexion, not normal for most people, but not good enough for a gumby-like character like me. My other foot will flop back and easily touch my butt and that’s the goal for my recovering leg as well. 155 is the number that I need to get to in order for that to happen. It still hurts like hell when I’m pushing it to get another degree. I can’t imagine that changing anytime soon, but will look forward to the day it does.
I’m still going down the stairs like Lil C. Bad leg, good leg, one step at a time. It makes for very slow progress, progress that is sometimes too slow for even Lil C. Right now, it’s still putting too much pressure on the front of my knee. I sometimes can’t imagine what it will be like to be able to just run up or down the stairs. I’ve seen many men come back faster in this area and I think it’s directly related to their amount of muscle versus mine (think stick legs).
With spring and summer right around the corner, I’ve become much more concerned about the disparity between my two legs. One goes to -20 extension; the other hits 0 and that’s it. One has a muscular thigh; the other is still lagging considerably behind. I imagine I’ll have a lot of explaining to do as the pants get shorter and swimsuit season arrives.
The biggest challenge of this entire process has been staying on top of my exercises. It’s so easy to just watch "Jon & Kate Plus Eight" or another repeat on HGTV instead of riding the bike. The PT gets very monotonous, time-consuming and frustrating. I think that as the weather warms, I’ll be more inspired to stay on the exercise train. It’s been far to easy to fall off after being sick and nursing the girls back to health as well as keeping our house spotless all the time for potential showings.
I am hoping that in another three months I can report that I’ve survived my first night back in the dojo. Summer is always such a great time for karate. Being able to get outside and work with the bo, and breaking a good sweat at class is always enjoyable. I’m looking forward to being able to do that soon. The countdown starts now.
Three months to go. . .
Crazy Flexion
I had another post-op appointment with my surgeon yesterday. He came in to the room, shook my hand, took a look at the notes from the PT and started shaking his head. "147 degrees of flexion?" he said incredulously. "That’s not normal," he joked, except he wasn’t joking. He asked me what my good leg gets and when I told him 155, he just laughed. "You’re doing great," he said.
He checked out my knee, answered some questions and then we got down to the karate talk. "When can I go back?" I asked him.
It’s still June. In two months I’ll go back to him. He’ll check out my leg strength and whether or not my leg muscles match. Then, I’ll get a functional brace and keep building strength. He told me I’m still not allowed to do any kicking or pivoting whatsoever. He said for the next month, I still have a weak leg that needs protection and I will always need to do strength training for my legs.
For some reason, I felt like he didn’t trust me when I told him I won’t step back onto the dojo floor until he says I’m ready. I assured him that there is no way in hell I’m going through this again and that I would listen. The good news is this: he said I’m doing exceptionally well and that I can start standing and punching my heavy bag. Just NO pivoting or stressing that knee. He doesn’t want me back in class until at least June because he said that even though he trusts me, he doesn’t want me (or him) to have to be wary of others in the dojo. He said if it starts hurting in the front AT ALL, I’m to immediately stop what I’m doing.
I finished up my appointment and went out to the PT room. I heard my surgeon and PT laughing about something. When I went over to the table, my PT asked me if I had heard what he said about me. Apparently my surgeon is so impressed with my mad flexion skills that he was joking with my PT that I could stand on one leg in the quad stretch position and paint my toenails. My feet have been nothing but neglected for months now so maybe I should give that a shot.
I’m feeling very encouraged and I think I’m officially entering the boredom stage that my surgeon warned me about. I do feel though, that I’ve really rounded a corner lately. Yesterday, I got another degree of flexion back. I’m at 148 now. In two months, I’m hoping I can demonstrate my pedicure skills for the surgeon and get that brace ordered. I’m getting there; I’m really getting there.
Kicking Myself
I am about 10 degrees away from being able to kick my own butt. That’s right. At physical therapy I hit 146 degrees this week. My PT said he could have made me hit 147; but I was already pretty much needing my mouth washed out with soap and the pillow just wasn’t cutting it as far as noise reduction goes. There were the ears of those who had recently undergone knee replacements to consider.
He measured my good leg and I can easily get to 155 degrees flexion. I have less than 10 degrees to go. Of course, I have to start being able to get there comfortably, but that’s a whole different story.
On Friday, I’ll be going to physical therapy again with hopes of getting into the very high 140’s. It was only months ago that I imagined I’d be up to something a bit more exciting on this coming Friday, February 15th. I had plans to travel to New Orleans, LA to test for my Shodan, and then the unthinkable happened on a night immediately after a friend and awesome martial artist told me I was "ready."
My instructors and at least one of my dojo friends are there. They’ll be working out in the company of stellar martial artists. They’ll be sampling the local cuisine. They’ll be attending a formal Yudansha test, where nervous 1st kyu’s will be showing their stuff like I had hoped to do. . .
I’ll be trying to kick myself in the butt.
Moving Right Along
On Friday, I reached 142 degrees flexion. I am fighting for every degree lately and it is painful. When I go to physical therapy, I am there for at least two hours and I work like I have never worked before. I also swear into my pillow a lot. It’s paying off though.
I am finished wearing my brace. I haven’t worn it since I walked into physical therapy on Friday.
I’m very nervous about people bumping into me in public. Uneven sidewalk and icy conditions scare me half to death, but I am doing it. The crutches have been packed away and the brace will soon follow.
Of course, I realize that at my post-op appointment in a few weeks, I’ll be fitted for a custom ACL brace but this one will be much less intrusive into my everyday life. This is the brace that will eventually get me back to karate, tennis and Amy Winehouse karaoke.
I spent my birthday weekend eating at a hibachi restaurant with my family, eating entirely too many chocolate cupcakes (thanks Mom), and painting my house like a weekend warrior mad-woman.
We got an idea of what we’ll be able to sell our house for on Friday, and we are excited. Our realtor didn’t balk at our "colorful" family room. He didn’t even mind our pink counter tops (We didn’t do it-We inherited it). He thinks we have a beautiful home and that it will sell quickly.
This comes with many mixed feelings. This is the home we finally put our stamp on and made our own. We spent many weekends stripping flowery wallpaper, and painting beautiful little girl rooms, complete with murals, clouds, flying fairies, and ocean waves.
Much to his surprise, I taught myself how to use suede paint like an expert while Mr. BBM was on a business trip. I fell in love with this house when we bought it and it will be difficult to leave it. Upstairs is the bathroom where I found out Lil C was on her way. I brought Lil C home to this house for the first time and spent many happy times with family and friends inside these walls.
I’ve realized though, that we can make any place our own. Our memories are our memories and they are packed and stored neatly in our hearts and minds. They travel well and they’ll go where we go, where we can make more memories. . .
Over the weekend, we found a house we love. It’s perfect. Saturday night, Mr. BBM and I both had dreams about it. It’s in a great neighborhood, in a great school district and it has just the right amount of space for us. Mr. BBM would have a private office. The girls would have tons of closet space. I would have my own walk-in closet (Can I get an AMEN from the ladies?), and we would have a usable yard where the girls would be able to play to their little hearts content.
Now we just need to figure out if we can get all the options we want on the lot we want and how this whole thing will work out so that we’re neither homeless nor the proud owners of two homes. That would be bad.
2008 may prove to be a year full of exciting changes in the BBM household.
Thanks to everyone for the awesome birthday stories and well-wishes. I have to give a major THANK YOU to Sizzle for singing me a beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday" that made me wonder why she’s not being played ad nauseum on the radio right now. I also have to say that Adam had a story so funny, I actually cried I laughed so hard.
Miscellaneous
The bills are rolling in from my ACL reconstruction surgery. I’ve learned a couple things from my itemized hospital bill that I thought I’d share with you.
First, if you’re going to be in the hospital and will require constipation-inducing medications, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of your own Senokot to take with you to the hospital. If you don’t, you will be charged $3.24 per tablet. Considering you can get them for about 20 cents a piece, I consider this to be a serious rip off. I did not know that hospital Senokot is the equivalent of tablet-shaped gold. Who knew? I would have hoarded those little suckers and sold them on the black market had I known.
You also might want to bring your own ace bandages, should you require them post surgery. You can find them online for about $1. I was given a 4 inch ace bandage that cost $22.00 and a 6 inch ace bandage that cost $24.50. I must have been really out of it from the morphine because I did not think that I had ordered the diamond studded ace bandages.
Normal $1 per ace bandages would have been just fine with me. When you haven’t washed your hair for three days, and you have indentations on your butt from nurses forgetting that you’re still sitting on a bedpan, you’re not really concerned with having flashy and expensive bandages.
When I had those bandages removed by my PT, I told him he could get rid of them. I should have kept them and auctioned them on ebay or something. I had no idea they were so valuable.
I’ve also decided that I’m going to become my own insurance company, as in, I’m going to tell people what I’m willing to pay and what I’m not. I think I’m going to call the hospital and tell them they charged me over the allowable limit for ace bandages and Senokot. I’m also going to tell them that they’re going to need to do a better job itemizing out this:
O.R. Misc Supplies: $735.00
O.R. Misc Supplies: $154.50
O.R. Misc Supplies: $126.70
You’re not seeing double or triple. These are actual charges. If they detail out Senokot tablets, then why can’t I know what constitutes these miscellaneous charges? With those amounts, what could they possibly be?
Piece of gauze: $534.00?
Air in the O.R: $420.00?
Mojito in I.V: $212.00?
O.k., actually forget that last one. I did ask for a mojito in my IV and according to my itemized bill, I certainly got one. Several actually.
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