First Physical Therapy Session...

I stayed at my parent's house Thursday night so that it would be easier on everyone to drive me to my therapy session.

Kendra called me in around 9:30. The first thing she said to me was, "You survived the surgery!" I looked at her and thought, "If you only knew..."

Well, she was about to find out the truth.

As I made my way to a table, she commented, "Your moving pretty good." I told her I've had 9 days of practice on the crutches.

I then walked her through everything: Dr. Ramsey performed a lateral release, cut out all of the scar tissue, and removed one or more sutures. Also, he didn't have to repair the meniscus.

She said, "So what happened this week? You canceled your appointments because he wouldn't clear you?" I then told her about me doing exercises the first 3 days, and then being unable to lift my leg Saturday-Monday. Going to see Dr. Ramsey and the knee being enormous, and then him having to drain the knee.

"Do you know how much he drained?" I told her 40cc's. Her eyes popped out and she looked at me, "Oh my gosh! That's a lot!" She then said, "No wonder you couldn't lift your leg. That's a lot of pressure on that knee."

I showed her my pictures from the surgery, and she explained everything in even more detail than Dr. Ramsey. It was extremely interesting/informative. And, I learned something about that lateral release.

She said we're going to have to adjust some of the therapy because it causes "complications." She then went on to explain that it the kneecap is going to be a little more unstable since it's not connected to tissue on the outside of my leg.

I asked if this means I'm at risk for a dislocated kneecap... she said it's just the contrary. Because the kneecap was being pulled so far over by the tissue, it could have easily been dislocated had I experienced some sort of trauma.

We then unwrapped the knee because she wanted to see it. (Nosey Rosey!) She saw all of the stitches and swelling and said, "Well, you may not think so but it looks pretty good." I said she should have seen it on Monday and she said she could only imagine if he pulled out that much fluid and blood.

Speaking of, there are 4 little "marks" on the outside of the knee that she said is where he went in with the needle. So maybe he wasn't actually moving it around... it was him going in multiple times. Sheesh!

Then, it was time for work.

Most of the exercises I was familiar with - having gone through them prior to surgery. However, some were new. After about 10 minutes I was already sweating.

One exercise is very odd to me: I have to lie down and rest the heel about 8-10 inches above the ground on an object for 10 minutes. It sounds easy... but after about 5 minutes, I really start to feel it. The reason I'm doing this is my alignment is off. This helps to develop my muscles to straighten out. No wonder I walk with a "strut."

The final exercise was me walking over small cones. It was to teach my leg to come up from the toe and land on the heel... and then to lock the knee. After my first down and back, she had me remove my left crutch. I then had to go down and back 2 more times.

While I was doing that, I said it was very awkward and that I'm used to using the walker. Kendra asked if I'm on a walker for stability, and I said yes... and that it's just easier to get around with.

Then she wrote something down in my file... hence, the comic above (I saw that this week in the paper). How ironic...

My homework is to do my exercises all the time, 3 times a day... meaning, every 30 minutes I'm to do one of the exercises. The goal is to keep the blood flowing through the knee.

She also said that I'm to keep the knee unwrapped when I'm at home and I don't have ice on it. When I go out, though, it needs to be wrapped.

Oh, and she told me I'm to lose the left crutch. I need to be working on one crutch now... this puts more weight on the left leg, thus building up those muscles.

Believe me, it's not easy... NONE of it is easy... but I'm trying and adapting.

I go back to see her on Tuesday. Then Thursday and Friday.