On Wednesday I ran for the first time and it felt strange, but awesome! I was allowed to run for 10 minutes at 3 mph. At that pace I could have walked faster, but the motion and pressure of running were there. My PT wanted me to watch for swelling that night and the following day. If it didn't swell up then she said I would be ok to run on my treadmill at home; starting at 10 minutes and slowly increasing the time each day. I didn't experience any swelling from the run, so I ran another 10 minutes the following day. Day 2 came a little easier and I didn't feel as much pressure. I'm going to plan on alternating between riding the bike and running at home. Onward and upward!
The same day she cleared me to run I asked her I could start jumping exercises. She told me no because I wasn't at the 16 week mark yet....one day shy! I had to try! So, I went in today (16 weeks + one day) and asked her again. I think I saw her eyes roll when she told me to wait until next week. I might drive her crazy before all is said and done!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Cloud 9
Today rocked! The first person I saw at my appointment was the medical student working with the doctor. He checked out my knee, said "great, I'll go get get the doc so we can get you out of here". After he didn't say anything about the strength test I asked him if I would be doing it today. He said probably not, but he would check with the doctor. He returned 2 minutes later and said yes the doctor thought it would be a good idea. So off I went.
After warming up I met with the physical therapist and she said "you requested this? you want to do the test?". I didn't realize it was that unusual of a request. I replied, "yes...I want to start running and getting to this point has been a goal". I did the test; single leg press-right first, then left- 175 lbs- 15 times each. I started struggling at about rep 8 on my surgery leg, but pushed through it! I was so stoked after finishing it!
After the strength test I met with the doctor and he said I was ok to start on impact exercises at PT. I'm not quite ready for full jogging, but will work toward doing that next month. For now he said it would be more of starting/stopping exercises and jumping...starting to get agility into the workouts. Since it was a new doctor I asked him about his typical recovery timeline for patients. My first doctor was fairly conservative and told me to ideally hold off on doing anything for 9 months. My new doctor is good with 6 months. He said I could go back to full duty at work beginning Dec. 1st...a full month before I had expected to. There's my cloud 9! I'm so sick of sitting at the desk and 4 less weeks of it will be awesome! He also said that I'll be good to go with taekwondo by January. Obviously I'll let my knee be my true guide, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's still out of reach, but at least I can see it.
After warming up I met with the physical therapist and she said "you requested this? you want to do the test?". I didn't realize it was that unusual of a request. I replied, "yes...I want to start running and getting to this point has been a goal". I did the test; single leg press-right first, then left- 175 lbs- 15 times each. I started struggling at about rep 8 on my surgery leg, but pushed through it! I was so stoked after finishing it!
After the strength test I met with the doctor and he said I was ok to start on impact exercises at PT. I'm not quite ready for full jogging, but will work toward doing that next month. For now he said it would be more of starting/stopping exercises and jumping...starting to get agility into the workouts. Since it was a new doctor I asked him about his typical recovery timeline for patients. My first doctor was fairly conservative and told me to ideally hold off on doing anything for 9 months. My new doctor is good with 6 months. He said I could go back to full duty at work beginning Dec. 1st...a full month before I had expected to. There's my cloud 9! I'm so sick of sitting at the desk and 4 less weeks of it will be awesome! He also said that I'll be good to go with taekwondo by January. Obviously I'll let my knee be my true guide, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's still out of reach, but at least I can see it.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Vacation
I'm back and loved every minute of vacation! We had a wonderful time and this may have been one of the most relaxing vacations I've had...enough time to really forget about work, spend a lot of time outdoors and just spend good, quality time with the kiddos.
I went into this vacation wanting to workout everyday, but over the 13 days I felt like I wasn't really doing anything. In hind sight I was...I just wasn't doing my conventional PT exercises, push-ups and sit-ups. I swam laps in my in-laws pool, we went on several hikes in the mountains (very carefully) and I rode my mother-in-law's bike 4 miles one morning. They weren't my usual workouts and it wasn't as much as I might normally do, but maybe that was good for me. A nice break from the PT routine.
Swimming laps was a great workout and something I want to do more of. I felt tired while doing it and upper body soreness the next morning. Call me crazy, but I miss that!
Tomorrow I have an appointment with my new surgeon. I'm pretty sure that I'll have my first strength test. I didn't realize it until today, but I'm already at the 16 week mark post-surgery. I'm not sure how the strength test will go...I know that I haven't done my body weight with the one leg press even once, let alone the required 20 times. And my understanding is that between the 16-18 week mark and upon passing the strength test most people are cleared to begin running. I want to give them my pre-injury weight for the leg press (no TKD and my summer Dairy Queen addiction= a few added lbs), but rumor has it they actually weigh you in so you can't fudge it! I'm going to give it my all and see what happens. Maybe I'll surprise myself. It's only 40 more lbs than what I'm able to do now. Hoping for the best....
(On a side note reference my last post about my mysterious illness: I ended up going to the ER the following morning because it was getting so bad. Doctor said I had Fifths Disease. My son had had it a few weeks earlier and had the typical body rash. The doctor said it can present very differently in adults and some adults feel like they've been hit by a truck. That about summed it up. All the the symptoms were gone within a week.)
I went into this vacation wanting to workout everyday, but over the 13 days I felt like I wasn't really doing anything. In hind sight I was...I just wasn't doing my conventional PT exercises, push-ups and sit-ups. I swam laps in my in-laws pool, we went on several hikes in the mountains (very carefully) and I rode my mother-in-law's bike 4 miles one morning. They weren't my usual workouts and it wasn't as much as I might normally do, but maybe that was good for me. A nice break from the PT routine.
Swimming laps was a great workout and something I want to do more of. I felt tired while doing it and upper body soreness the next morning. Call me crazy, but I miss that!
Tomorrow I have an appointment with my new surgeon. I'm pretty sure that I'll have my first strength test. I didn't realize it until today, but I'm already at the 16 week mark post-surgery. I'm not sure how the strength test will go...I know that I haven't done my body weight with the one leg press even once, let alone the required 20 times. And my understanding is that between the 16-18 week mark and upon passing the strength test most people are cleared to begin running. I want to give them my pre-injury weight for the leg press (no TKD and my summer Dairy Queen addiction= a few added lbs), but rumor has it they actually weigh you in so you can't fudge it! I'm going to give it my all and see what happens. Maybe I'll surprise myself. It's only 40 more lbs than what I'm able to do now. Hoping for the best....
(On a side note reference my last post about my mysterious illness: I ended up going to the ER the following morning because it was getting so bad. Doctor said I had Fifths Disease. My son had had it a few weeks earlier and had the typical body rash. The doctor said it can present very differently in adults and some adults feel like they've been hit by a truck. That about summed it up. All the the symptoms were gone within a week.)
Monday, August 2, 2010
Something's Wrong
Something is wrong and it's not my knee. I woke up two days ago feeling as if I had slept on my left wrist funny. It was very achy and hurt to bend it. I figured it was something that would wear off as the day went on. That didn't happen. By the time the night was over the pain had spread up into my shoulder, collar bone and was starting to creep up the left side of my neck.
I went to bed that day and focused on laying flat while I slept, with my hands at my side. For the most part I was successful. When I woke up the pain was no longer in my left wrist, but had completely consumed my right wrist. My left shoulder and side of my neck still hurt a little, but it wasn't as bad.
Onto day 3...I woke up and the pain was in both wrists and something fierce. For the first hour after waking up it hurt to bend either wrist even a little. Driving to PT was real trip. It hurt to turn the steering wheel.
Now as I type this both wrists hurt (probably shouldn't be typing, but I'm bored) and I can't raise either arm over my shoulders without pain in the shoulder area. Ugggh. My hubby thinks something's pinched or out of wack and I agree. We leave for vacation on Thursday and we're gone for 2 weeks. I'm going to let this ride and see what happens the next few weeks. If there's no improvement when we return I'll go get it checked out.
I went to bed that day and focused on laying flat while I slept, with my hands at my side. For the most part I was successful. When I woke up the pain was no longer in my left wrist, but had completely consumed my right wrist. My left shoulder and side of my neck still hurt a little, but it wasn't as bad.
Onto day 3...I woke up and the pain was in both wrists and something fierce. For the first hour after waking up it hurt to bend either wrist even a little. Driving to PT was real trip. It hurt to turn the steering wheel.
Now as I type this both wrists hurt (probably shouldn't be typing, but I'm bored) and I can't raise either arm over my shoulders without pain in the shoulder area. Ugggh. My hubby thinks something's pinched or out of wack and I agree. We leave for vacation on Thursday and we're gone for 2 weeks. I'm going to let this ride and see what happens the next few weeks. If there's no improvement when we return I'll go get it checked out.
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