Catching Up...

If you noticed, I haven't updated the blog since Tuesday.

Well, something happened on Wednesday: I started back to work.

I got really busy. Even though I was working from home on Wednesday and Thursday, I was still attending therapy sessions. When I finished up work, I had my own therapy session to work through.

So, my time is very constrained now.

Friday I went into work. I'll get to that in a bit...

On Wednesday at therapy, Kendra introduced some new exercises that I can only do at the clinic. One is for me to lie on my back on an incline machine. I guess I would call this similar to a leg press, in that I have to push myself up the track.

However, I am not to do a full knee bend or a knee lock. Once I get up to the end of the extension, I need to drop it down a few inches. After I do a few of these, I have to remove my right leg and just put all the weight on my left.

Believe me... it's incredibly tough. But, I really like this because I can feel the burn... I can tell my muscles are working and getting stronger.

Another exercise I do at the clinic is a "board balance." Think of a piece of plywood that is probably 20x15 inches. Underneath is a 1-inch board that runs the length of the plywood. I stand on this and balance (try to balance) for 2 minutes. It's rockin' and rollin' - but it forces me to use muscles that I've lost. It's very intense. Then I switch and do it a different way... so the first way I'm going side to side. The second time I'm working on balancing front to back.

In addition to these two exercises, I'm also doing clam shells and bridging (see picture above). Clam shells is me lying on my side with my legs together and lifting the top leg like a clam shell. This puts the focus on the hips, which adds muscle and puts more weight on them rather than the knees. I can do about 50 each of these.

Bridging is pretty tough. When I go up, you can see the intensity is on the bent knee. I have to try and hold it for 2-3 seconds, and then come back down. I can do 50 of these as well.

So those are my new exercises... which, added to the current ones, just lengthens my therapy sessions. Plus, I'm still riding the bike at 25 minutes a session... doing it 2-3 times a day.

On Friday I went into work. It was a long walk from the train station to my office. I actually stopped twice to catch my breath/let the pain subside. I walk pretty slow, too.

When I arrived, my boss/coworkers were surprised that I was wearing jeans... that I wasn't on crutches... and that I seemed to be walking good. Apparently they thought I would be in pretty bad shape.

My day was busy, and I need to not walk around as much as I did. I think that wore me out. When I got home, I was so tired/sore that I just didn't have it in me to do a therapy session. I ended up parking myself on the couch and going to bed around 10.

Saturday was a good day in terms of workouts - I completed two lengthy sessions and felt like I accomplished a lot.

My schedule this week is to go into the office on MWF and working from home Tuesday/Thursday. Those two days are my therapy sessions with Kendra.

So there you go - wanted to catch everybody up.

Today's Dr. Visit...

It's been two weeks since my last visit to see Dr. Ramsey , so I was interested to see how he thought I was doing.

His first comment was regarding the healing of the knee. Apparently it looks good... of course, compared to a normal knee, it still looks like a train wreck.

I then had to lay on my back while he checked my strength and mobility. He was very pleased with how far I could bend my knee, as well as the muscle tone. I told him I've been working hard with Kendra.

Then it was time for him to remove the stitches. Four of the holes that he made had stitches that would dissolve. However, the large one below the knee needed regular stitches. This is the one he went through to remove the suture.

He wanted to remove them before they became a part of my body. While he was taking them out, I guess they proved more difficult than he expected. A few times he was grimacing and saying, "I'm really trying not to hurt you."

Well, as long as he wasn't sticking another needle into my knee, I wasn't complaining! Actually, I don't have much feeling on the surface of my knee. I guess whatever was going on, he must have thought it was causing me pain. I didn't feel a thing.

Once he finished, I noticed him doing something and then I figured it out - he was getting ready to put a bandaid on my knee. Why do I need one of those? I soon figured it out - apparently I was bleeding.

We then had a talk.

The previous two visits, I was either about to pass out from the pain (knee draining) or I was still a little loopy from being on the pills. I wanted to find out what my life is going to be like now that he's done all of that cutting.

Stairs: When I'm at work, my office occupies two floors. The stairs are right outside from my desk, and it's very convenient to take them. He wants me to avoid stairs as much as I can in the future. However, for the next four weeks, he wants me to put them out of my mind completely. I'm to take the elevator.

Appearance: My knee hasn't looked normal since April 26, 2009. I don't care about the scars on the outside, but I'm wondering will it ever not be so swollen? He said it will never look like a normal knee, but it will look a little better (compared to the other one). He wants me to get on a regimen of taking Aleve twice a day... for a very long time. He said it's not for pain, but for the swelling. I couldn't take this during the past few weeks because the body needs to heal inside without fighting the anti-inflamatories. Now, I'm ready. Hopefully this will do the trick.

Walking: He wanted to know how far I have to walk to get to work. I told him it's about two blocks from where the train drops me off. He asked if I wanted a handicapped tag - he has the form that I could get for 6 months. It's tempting... but right now I told him I'd see how it goes. Besides, it's so much easier taking the train from where I live compared with driving.

Exercise: He's told me this before, but my future cardio will come from biking... or swimming... or elliptical. My knee can't take any sort of pounding. I've really been pushing myself on the biking (stationary), so I'm hoping to try doing some outdoor biking in a few weeks. Jason has already said he'd bike with me once a week. I figured if I could bike on my own and then have a good "long" day on the weekends, that'd be a pretty decent plan.

He wants to see me in 4 weeks - 2 days shy of my 40th. Overall, he thinks everything is looking great and he said I need to keep up with the hard work.

That's my plan...

I think last time I trusted my previous doctor in that all I needed to do was to walk and everything would fall into place. This time around, I'm discovering that I need to work at it AND I'm encouraged to work at it!

I can see the results... my therapist and doctor can see the results. And hopefully, the harder I work, the more "normalcy" will return to my life.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm fighting for "my life" here. I want it back. Badly! And I'm very determined to get it back through blood, sweat, and tears!

Who Wants to See My Knee???

These are the pictures from my surgery. If you are squemish, then don't watch because they get a little more disturbing towards the end.

Otherwise, enjoy!

"What Are You Doing This Weekend?"

Would you believe I was asked that question 3 times on Friday?

Given my little "situation," I found that humorous. I guess some people were giving me more credit than I expected...

My focus this weekend was going to be on continuing my exercises. Period. End of story. That's it.

I wanted to be very productive with my time. In fact, I wasn't going to take the weekend off just because it was there...

As of Friday, I've been in Physical Therapy for one week. When I arrived, Kendra got me on a table and I started doing my stretches.

They had someone "observing," so she asked me a lot of questions ("What happened? Were you active before the accident? How much has your life changed?"). This girl was a student at the University of North Texas and was deciding if she wanted to go into therapy.

Oddly enough, after one of my exercises, my knee started bleeding. It was coming out of the left side of the knee - the area where the lateral release was. Kendra asked me if that ever happened before, and I said no. It's still very swollen, so the skin is just very tight around that incision.

I finished up on the bike (2o minutes and I got my cadence/rpm up to 55!), then left. I needed to go to the grocery store, and I wasn't looking forward to it (I was very sore). But, as soon as that task would be over, I could get home and rest on the couch.

Friday afternoon I did one therapy session, then ended up grabbing a nap. I think everything was catching up to me on the week. I was very sore and tired.

I spent Saturday working my tail off on the exercises, and I was able to ride the bike 3 times at 20 minutes each. It gets pretty boring riding the bike - so I play "Tetris" on my iPhone while I'm on it. Ha!

When I wasn't exercising, I was smoking... meats! I smoked two chickens and two racks of ribs. They turned out great - I'll give one of each to my folks. If you know anything about smoking, it takes 3-4 hours for each session.

Sunday was a mirror of Saturday without the smoking. However, I was pretty tired from Saturday's exercises so I only did two therapy sessions.

To me, I believe all of this hard work is starting to pay off. While I am much more comfortable when I'm on the couch, the knee isn't hurting as much when I walk on it. It's still big... but I think I'm starting to develop the muscle mass to support everything.

I have been thinking about this a lot - not going through therapy before, I don't think I had the strength to support myself (or as much strength as I have on my right leg). Thus, the traumatized knee was probably taking all of that weight...

At least that's what my "couch potato" thought process came up with...

This week I start back to work (Wednesday). I plan to work from home Wednesday and Thursday, then go into the office on Friday. My therapy sessions this week are Monday/Wednesday/Thursday.

Oh, and Tuesday I go see Dr. Ramsey. I'm interested to see what progress he thinks I've made in the last two weeks.

So if you're wondering, "What does Regan do all day?" - the answer is "exercise!" It takes me about an hour and a half now to get through a session. Once I'm through, I take about an hour break and then I get into it again.

That's my plan this week... at least Monday and Tuesday. When work starts up, I'll lose that time... Which is why I'm pushing so hard right now to take advantage of what I have while I'm at home.

Changing the Subject...

About a month ago, I shared pics from my Cruise. It was an awesome vacation, and we had a lot of fun. If you missed them, here is a link to the blog: Link

Well, above are the pics from when David and I went snorkeling in Cozumel. Given the heat we're going through in Texas, this is like a tall glass of iced tea!

Enjoy!

Making Progress...

Today was my 3rd Physical Therapy session, and I was really interested to see the progress I've made.

Since Tuesday, I've been a "focused indoor athlete." I went through a combined 6 workouts between Tuesday and Wednesday. That's a lot... especially knowing where I was this time last week!

I rode the bike 4 different times, and was able to get my time up from 10 to 15 minutes in a workout.

So, walking into today's session, I was excited to show Kendra what I've been doing.

Did you notice I said, "Walking?" Yes... I haven't used a crutch since Wednesday. And on that day I used it sparingly. It was weird leaving it at home... but I walked (albeit, very slowly) into the room with an approving Kendra following.

As I went through my exercises, I got a lot of "good job!" and "you're doing awesome!" comments. She increased the difficulty on that meter that is attached to my quad... it was tough but she said I did great.

When it came time to do my favorite exercise (heel slides - and yes, sarcasm!), she brought over the ruler to check my flexibility. On Friday I could only bend it 85 degrees. Today I'm up to 110 degrees... and our goal is to match my other leg, 125 degrees. She was like, "only 15 more to go!"

Kendra also introduced a new exercise - clam shells. I did that prior to the surgery, but I think she held back due to the stitches. Anyway, I lie on my side with my legs bent and together... then I lift the top one. She asked me to do 30 on each side. I did 50. :0

I then did 5 laps walking over the cones... I'm OK on that, but my balance is still off unless I'm concentrating. It's odd trying to learn how to walk straight.

Finally, it was time for the bike. Kendra said, "If you're doing 15, try 16... 17... or 18." Well, I did it for 20 minutes. It was tough, but I really wanted to press forward and see if I could do it.

More impressive, at least to me, was I could only keep the RPM on Tuesday around 25. Today I was able to maintain 45! I'm trucking along!

I go back tomorrow to see Kendra, and then I have 3 sessions next week again. She told me I'm doing fantastic. It's very motivating having someone that encouraging behind you...

So I drove home and I got a wild hair. I've been walking a lot in my house... what about on a straight-away? What is my endurance level... how far can I go? I put on my iPod and decided to try and walk to the end of my street and come back.

That was the goal... but I told myself I would turn back if it felt weird. Well, I made it about 3/4 the way and I was really feeling it. But, if you know me, I'm a bit stubborn. Seeing that the end of the street was just a little bit further, I pushed on but I walked slower.

Anyway, I made it. Down and back. I was very proud of myself.

The human body is amazing... last week at this time I was still using the walker and wasn't too excited about having to stay at my folks house (someone to watch me). I was hooked up to the ice machine still, and I was in a lot of pain.

Today, I walked to the end of my street. I biked 20 minutes... plus an additional 15 when I got home. I underwent two different workouts, and I'm being told everything is going great.

You really don't know what you had until you've lost it. I'm still struggling with pain, swelling, and general weakness. But, I'm finally seeing progress!

I can't wait to see where I am this time next year!

Still a Bit Swollen...

I've been asked quite a bit, "How's it going?" In fact, I get a daily phone call from my mom around 5 asking the same question.

So, here is my knee... in all its glory.

What you're seeing is it side-by-side with my right leg. I wanted to show the comparison.

It's still swollen, but I think it's going down a little bit each day.

You're also seeing 4 of the 5 holes. The 5th hole is just over the outside of my leg (if you see that white-ish mark at the top of the picture, it's just beyond that).

Each hole contains at least one stitch, except the one on the original scar - there are 3 or 4 on that one. Why so many? That's where he had to do cut out the sutures (from what I was told), so he needed to make a larger hole.

Most of my pain is on the outside of the knee. It is very sore to the touch, and has most of the swelling. This is where he had to cut (internally) my kneecap from the outside of my knee. This is also the area that looked like a sausage was stuck under my skin a week ago!

Speaking of, can you believe it's been 2 weeks? It seems like a month! I was still trying to understand/absorb the reality of having a machine attached to me at this time on the 21st. I was wondering how long this would be on me, and if it would impede me going back to work on that next Monday.

Little did I know how bad things would turn...

I appreciate all of the warm and encouraging comments. I think everyone is hoping this is it... this is the surgery/therapy that finally fixes this problem. I know I do...

As my cousin Lori says, "We gotta believe!" So, I'm believing it!

Believe with me!