Nymeria soaks in the bacta tank - (ACL reconstruction and rehab log)

[Nymeria]

PT was canceled, so I won't be getting any reassurances that everything is normal. I really hope my therapist is feeling better by Thursday, so I don't have to miss another session.

Looking back, I probably exerted myself more than usual over the last several days. On Friday, I was taking care of my son all day by myself, which meant a lot if standing and walking. On Sunday, the trip to the gym involved a lot of walking. I guess it's normal to have extra swelling and soreness.

I still did my morning home PT exercises, but more gently than usual. I'm also making a point of spending more time sitting with my leg elevated today. Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow.

[cobaltsword]

my fingers are crossed for you getting better soon and that you may join the next challenge don't overdo yourself please, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself again keep it up Nym

[KB Girl]

Sorry you feel so scared Hope thursday comes soon so they can tell you everythings alright! 

Good job taking some extra care.

 

 

 

Gym workout: 3 sets of lat pulldowns, rows, overhead press, and bench press. All of these were on cable machines.

This sounds like a real actual workout, that mustve been nice!

[MasterOfCows]

Did you end up using a cyrocuff at all?  I've heard great things about controlling swelling with them.

[Nymeria]

I took it easy today, and my knee is feeling a bit better. My quads and calves are pretty sore, which is probably why the knee is a bit more tight. I hope I can get squeezed in for another PT session this week, especially since there's a good chance my Thursday session will be canceled too (snowstorm coming).

I didn't end up using a cryo cuff. I have a cheap ice wrap that seems to work just fine. I also didn't feel like paying for one, since they're pretty expensive.

[Nymeria]

I guess I worried for nothing. This morning, my ROM was great, so backing off a little bit yesterday seems to be the right call.

I managed to get squeezed in for a PT session this evening. On the good side, at least I won't risk a whole week without being seen. On the down side, it's with a different therapist. I hope it goes well.

Tonight through tomorrow, they're predicting a snow-pocalypse, with maybe 10+ inches of accumulation, so I'm really glad I'm squeezing in the PT before the snow begins to fall.

[obax]

It's great to hear things are loosening up again. And that you got into PT before the snow flies, even if it's with someone else it'll still be good.

[Nymeria]

Yep. Lots of snow. I'm so glad I got into PT last night. The PT office is closed today, and the follow up with my surgeon has been postponed until Monday. Even if things were open and the roads were clear, I'd be afraid of slipping on the walk from my front door to the car.

PT was good. The (new) therapist thought my knee motion looked good, but my limp was terrible. Normally, they would be working on walking without a limp by now, but I think my normal therapist was waiting until I was out of the leg brace. I only measured at 123 degrees, but I'm not too concerned.

Next challenge, I'm probably going to do upper body stuff 3 times per week and the iron fist workout 2 times per week. It'll be nice to start looking forward a bit, rather than being too fixated on the injury.

[cobaltsword]

it's funny how every where the snow falls with bucketloads and here not one snowflake fell this year Oo

i'm glad to see you're doing so wel you're healing so wel it makes me happy ^^

[Nymeria]

The snow has been just crazy this year. Normally, we just get a couple light dusting a each winter. This year, the kids have had about 10 snow days. The official measurement was 13.5".

There isn't much new to report with the rehab. I'm at 4 weeks, 1 day post-op. Although the whole thing has been painful and frustrating, I have yet to skip or slack off with my daily PT sessions. Monday, I will see my surgeon and hopefully ditch the leg brace as well as get cleared to drive my car. The slow recovery is so frustrating.

[Nymeria]

Today is exactly 1 month after the surgery. The milestones I've reached are that I have full extension, over 120 degrees of flexion, decent quad control, and I've been walking reasonably well.

The negative side is that I still have a huge limp (mostly from the leg brace), I'm paranoid whenever my knee feels weird (which is fairly often), I'm still largely sedentary, and the whole process is very slow.

I've been reading the twitter accounts of my NFL "rehab buddies", and both of them had vaguely whiny posts recently.....which oddly makes me feel better. . If big football guys are totally frustrated by the slow rehab, it makes me feel like less of a whiner.

[cobaltsword]

still despite the slow recovery, your knee is recovering ^^ and that's the important part, that you'll be up and running again. A little paranoia won't hurt, just make sure you rest and that leg get's better

[obax]

I agree with cobaltsword, a little paranoia might be a good thing, keep you from overdoing it when things feel good. And completely understandable too, I'd be paranoid as all get out if I was in your shoes. You seem to be keeping a good balance though, not letting the paranoia rule, but not getting ahead of yourself either, which seems like a good path to take.

 

Don't be so hard on yourself about whining either, I think everyone here understands, and it's good to have a sounding board for that kind of thing. If you need to vent, I think your fellow rebels are more than happy to accommodate.

[Nymeria]

Today was a big day, since I had PT and then my follow up with the surgeon.

At PT, the therapist said that the rehab was perfectly on track, and we'd be changing the exercise program as soon as I was cleared by the surgeon. We added 1 lb weights to the leg raises, added half squats, and we are working on eliminating the limp next session. I also was cleared to start walking in the pool as well as cycling for 15 minutes at low (but not zero) tension. Woot!

Then my surgeon checked knee tightness, thought everything looked great, had me ditch the leg brace, and cleared me to start driving. More Woot! Admittedly, it scares me a bit to walk without the brace, but I'm glad that everything is progressing. Even though it was scary, I did manage to walk out of the doctor's office and half a block to the van sans brace. So, I'm good at suppressing fear and doing what I need to do anyway.

Even though I'm still not cleared to do much, I'm ready to jump back into the ring for the next 6 week challenge. I just need to figure out the details.

[Prairie]

Sounds like good progress, Nymeria. I don't envy the recovery process you're going through, but I hope you stick it out and stay active on the forums. 

[Nymeria]

Thank you so much for all of the support. This injury has made me feel much more emotionally needy, and the encouragement really helps.

I'm still chugging along, so there isn't much to report. Instead, I'll elaborate on the weird sensations that are common while going through ACL rehab.

1. Feelings of looseness and instability: I was sure that things weren't healing well, or that I re-tore the graft. But, after talking with my physical therapist, it sounds like the looseness is because my supporting muscles are weakened, I no longer accurately sense my leg's position in space, and I'm used to wearing a heavy, somewhat rigid brace, so my leg feels overly light and free without the brace.

2. Random nerve pains at the incision: nerves are cut during surgery. Weird, unpleasant feelings result when they repair themselves. Most of my feeling is back at the big incision site, which is great. I didn't particularly want lingering numbness.

3. Random leg bruising and feelings of wetness: knee surgery =prolonged swelling. And then gravity does its job with the excess fluid, so you end up with bruises and wet sensations at the back of the knee (when you're sitting all of the time). Then, as you get on your feet more, the bruises and weird sensations travel down your calves.

4. Lack of feeling for where my leg is in space: if I'm doing quad stretches with my leg pulled back, I could swear that my heel is practically touching my rear, even though that's far from being the case. I frequently feel like my leg is twisting at the knee, even though a visual inspection says otherwise. I feel like I'm bending my knee much more than I actually am. Part of the PT is re-training my coordination and perception. It's weird.

I can't wait until tomorrow, when I get a bunch of new exercises! I'm getting so bored with the current set.

[Nymeria]

4 weeks, 6 days post op:

At about 125 degrees of flexion. I also got some new exercises and harder variations of old ones. Standing hamstring curls (bending knee to lift the ankle toward my rear) with even a 1 lb weight are really tough. At least from what I've heard, hamstring strength rebuilds quickly, even if hamstring tendons were harvested to form the acl graft.

I expected to be wimpy and slowly wean off of the leg brace, but instead I've pretty much stopped cold turkey. Woot! I also learned that while I tend to limp, I'm capable of walking without limping, as long as I concentrate on my motion.

I've been watching the Olympics, but it's tough watching so many people tear their ACLs on the ski slopes. I end up with massive sympathetic pain.

[BigWill722]

Great news to hear that the leg brace is gone, I always hated braces. I can totally relate to the sympathy pains, anytime I see a knee injury I cringe. Good progress and keep up the work! You'll be back in no time. 

[KB Girl]

Seems to me you've handled this injury like a champ! It's good to see you on the mend  

For you it's probably slow and frustrating, but from this side things actually seem to be progressing quite quickly. What's the eta on being cleared for all activities?

[Nymeria]

@Will: The worst for me was watching Navarro Bowman's knee blow out in the NFC championship game. I'm not sure whether it is from just how gruesome it was or whether it's from being only a few days post op at the time (thus having actual knee pain along with sympathetic pain), but I can't watch, see pictures of, or even think about that injury without shuddering.

@KB_Girl: in early- mid April, I'll be cleared for easing into yoga, jogging, and swimming. I have to wait until July(!) for a full return to activities. The ACL won't technically be fully healed and at full strength until sometime in 2015. Technically, I won't be cleared to climb until July, but I will probably try one legged climbing or climbing with very minimal right leg use before then.

[KB Girl]

It takes an injury like this to consider the big differences between yoga/jogging and things like climbing.. At least you'll be back and hopefully stronger than ever!

[Nymeria]

Still chugging on with the PT. One huge benefit of being consistent and disciplined with workout routines before getting hurt is that it's not really very difficult to keep up with the 1.5-ish hours of daily PT after.

The new strength exercises are really tough, but I'm glad that I'm being challenged a bit more. I'm finally at a point where I've been driving without much of a problem, other than my knee getting a little stiff. Also, while it was tough, I managed to take care of my 3 year old all day and all by myself Thursday and Friday.

Occasionally, when I'm going about normal daily activities, I'll even feel normal enough that I forget for a moment that my knee is still in a very sensitive stage of recovery. It gives me some hope that I'll soon feel normal and fully functional for regular (non-athletic) life.... Which is especially good since my temp handicapped tags expire in April.

[KB Girl]

Temp handicapped tags? Joke or a real thing? And how does that work if it's a real thing?

And yay for taking care of your child all by yourself all day I know that was a big thing for you.

[Nymeria]

Real thing. I keep forgetting that there are a lot of non americans on here. Having a handicapped tag means I can park my car in the spots closest to the gym, store, or whatever. This is especially helpful, since even though I am walking, I'm not sure that I'd be able to cross an entire parking lot. Plus, the spots tend to be wider, which helps since I can't get into or out of the car unless I can open the door all the way.

[MasterOfCows]

Sounds like things are going really well for you!  Yay for (semi) normal days!

 

Is your PT really 1.5 hrs every day?

Not really looking forward to that...