Broken Patella...

Yesterday I was approached by someone who works on my floor...

"Did you break your patella last year?" she asked.

The next 15 minutes went like this...

She and her friend were at a pool on Saturday when her friend slipped and, you guessed it, broke her patella. (The picture you're seeing is neither her knee or mine...)

The ambulance arrived and took her to the ER. They admitted her and on Sunday she had the surgery. She was to be discharged today...

My coworker was asking me what she could do for her friend... and also what to expect.

Oh man... I know EXACTLY what her friend has ahead of her this year... one rough year!

So I told her what was important to me: Bath chair, walker, socks with skid pads, snacks, Netflix gift card, a "grabber," and all of the support (cards, visits, emails, meals, etc).

I said, "The most important thing you can give her is yourself. You have no idea how much it means just to have a friend or relative be there for you."

My heart just breaks when I hear of news like this. Today I went to Physical Therapy and two people struck up a conversation in the waiting room.

One was a guy in his 30s. The other was a teenage girl on her way to college. Both had torn their ACL - he was 2 weeks from surgery, and hers was last week.

(NOTE: It's amazing to me to see people in PT so quickly after surgery, but I guess I just have to remind myself that mine was different)

Anyway, both of them blew it out playing basketball. He also said that his doctor had to repair the meniscus.

"Hmm... sure wish mine had thought of that!"

Interesting, both had the same doctor! Funny...

So once I went into therapy, Kendra wanted to watch me do my exercises. I've been doing them twice a day since Friday. Everything hurts... but I'm pushing because it feels good to be doing something "right" for once.

Anyway, I guess I passed because she said I was doing a good job. She also is glad I've moved up from 30 to 45 clamshells on each leg.

Then she took me into the machine room and had me get on their version of an "elliptical." It really isn't one... I think it's called an "Air Rider" or something like that. Anyway, once I was up and "running" I felt immediate pain.

It was like "bone on bone." She only wanted me to do it for 5 minutes, but it was a very long 5 minutes. I could have stopped, but the motion was so "free-ing" to me. I haven't been able to "run" in over a year, and I kept thinking it was like Forrest Gump running when he was a kid and the braces were breaking off.

Well, it wasn't that good... it was still very painful. She is concerned with the pain... especially because it's not on the side with the tear in my meniscus. I then moved on to a stationary bike, and that was a little better.

So my next session is the following Wednesday. She thinks that might be my last one with her until I go see the doctor. I think she sends the information to him so he can see my progress.

In the meantime, I'll continue to do my exercises twice a day... biking at least once a day for 8 minutes if I can take it... (it's just all kinds of bad pain)

There you have it...