One month

It's been one month since my surgery. I'm now crutch free, but not walking normal. It's very slow and methodical...straighten leg, heel to toe, bend back and repeat. I have to make a conscious effort to recite this to myself every time I walk. It's so easy to just walk with a limp and not focus on getting it right.

I told the therapist my goal was 130 degrees yesterday. My best was 115 degrees prior to that. So I tugged on it and got it to 118. She asked me to remind her what the goal was and I told her....then she surprised me and jammed my ankle toward my butt. Ouch!...122. I'll take it. It wasn't my goal, but it was improvement.

We are moving into more of the pre-surgery exercises at PT...lunges, leg press, walking squats with resistance band etc. I'm improving on the weight with the leg press. I feel ok about already being up to 150 lbs with two leg press, 90 lbs with negatives and 60 lbs with my surgery leg. I was only at 30 lbs with the one leg as of a week ago.

Since I'm weight bearing now I called the surgeon and got the OK to stop my Lovenox shots (blood thinner). I've been giving myself one shot every night, alternating hips. My hips are littered with bruises and very colorful right now. I'm stoked to be done with that!

On a taekwondo note I had a frustrating, emotional day yesterday. Our association's tournament year runs from June to June, ending with our world championship tournament mid-June. At that tournament those that have earned enough points through the year and place in the top 10 of their division are given the opportunity to compete for the title of world champion in our association. I was happy to find that I had placed 4th in forms and 10th in sparring within the top 10 standings. It's very bittersweet given that I'm proud of the accomplishment, but beyond bummed that I won't have the chance to see how I compete against the others. I'm trying to find solace in the fact that it's an awesome honor to even be mentioned within the top 10, but the competitor in me is cringing. I'm missing taekwondo so much right now and this just added another weight.