11 Weeks!

Today is 11 weeks since my surgery! I can't believe it's been that long.

Right now, my main challenge is my IT band pain. This week it has stuck to my quad, and Meghan actually took a sink plunger (yes, you read that right) to it. She suctioned it onto my thigh and slid it around to get it to separate everything out. I can tell you that it did not feel that great, but it worked and so it was worth it. I'm still a little swollen and tender but it gets better each day! I'm still icing a lot too - that helps. I also got on the treadmill this week at PT - very exciting! I JOGGED for 2 30-second intervals and stayed on for 10 minutes total. It hurt to jog but it was bearable. I was so excited - you have no idea.

I'm going to Pure Barre 4 times a week at this point and that is going really well. They have lots of new hamstring exercises that they have rolled out (variations on the horrible one I described a couple of posts back) and they are doing those at every class. I wonder sometimes if Meghan is calling them and telling them to lay into the hamstrings. Seriously though, that is where I need to really build up for both of my legs, but expecially the post-op one. It is getting stronger and that's pretty exciting when I can feel some progress. I don't want to cry anymore in class during the hamstring section. I remember crying at doing simple heel slides after surgery. Wow. I really am so grateful for that class because for the 6 weeks or so before my surgery Pure Barre was really the only exercise that felt safe to me - and now as well. I can't say enough about the method or the wonderful instructors that have been so encouraging and kind to me.

My brace came in! It's really, really nice. I would say that even if I didn't know how much my insurance paid for it. It's very comfortable and has 6 straps! They are numbered so that you use them in the right order. It's super lightweight and I think it will be great as I start jogging. I don't think it will be so good for me at aerial or dance, but that's okay. I've got a long way to go before I can get back there anyways.

9 Week and 6 Days - ouch

I had a great weekend of walking, friends, good food, and Pure Barre! Everything felt great (beside the hamstring torture exercises) and one of my teachers even commented on how much more stable I am looking. Then yesterday happened. Aching on the outside of my thigh, near the femur hardware, that got progressively worse. By the end of the day it was really painful to go down the stairs and I was limping. Boo!

I went to PT this morning, and was grossed out at the verdict. Apparently, with my hardware being placed a little differently, it is irritating my IT band - which is responding by sticking to everything around it, including the scar tissue on the hardware. So my morning was spent having it separated from all of the surrounding tissue - apparently this may be an issue that will come up over and over again. It was absolutely as unpleasant as it sounds - I will need to be more vigilant (and apparently more aggressive!) in foam rolling that area.

But the good news is that my worst case scenario fears were not true - everything really is okay with the graft! So that is the most important thing, especially during the first 12 weeks when it's the weakest. We'll keep trucking!

9 Weeks, 2 Days. Dear Hamstring, Please come back. Love, Me

This week was good! Besides the encouraging news at the doctor, I had some good therapy sessions too. Today, the representative from the brace manufacturer came out to my work to measure my leg for the new brace! He showed me a picture of the brace and it looks pretty high tech! It's also very pricey - whew, am I glad to have insurance. It looks like something Darth Vader would wear. Apparently, according to the rep, this is the brace that pro football and basketball players wear and if I watch games, I will see them all the time. So if it's tough enough for the big boys, it should be fine for little old me.

Attractive, yet functional

I went to PureBarre this morning and got my ass kicked. Bad. There is a very intense hamstring exercise that is awesome, but to someone missing a piece of hamstring apparently it is not going to be a good time.

Looks innocent enough...

The exercise looks like the above picture, but we were squeezing a ball in the back of our knee as well. So you do tiny squeezes with the ball, while lifting the whole leg in tiny, tiny movements. I almost blacked out. I think my inner thighs felt sorry for my missing hamstring and decided to pitch in and try to help, because when I walk they feel like they are on fire. I love it and can't wait to recover so I can do it again. Quite possibly tomorrow, but I would skip any additional hamstring torture. I don't want to push too hard with them.

I really, really, really miss aerial. October seems like forever from now- but I will have to keep myself occupied in the meantime. I watch a ton of youtube and have lots of ideas for the trouble I can get into when I am ready. Can't wait!

Sweet, sweet freedom - just under 9 weeks.

See the round circle in the head of my femur?

So, long story short - I got out of the giant brace! I'll keep it handy in case I need it, but my doctor is having me fitted for a new brace this week, just for activity. I had to ask if the brace would let me go back to aerial early, but he said no. It never hurts to ask!

He said everything looked good - I will see him in about a month. I'm still in the most vulnerable time for the graft - until it has time to set and revascularize (so creepy, but cool at the same time) it is the most prone to rupture. It's also a dangerous time because you start feeling more normal and want to do normal things, and you can't yet. I am not taking any chances.

He said the pain I'm having is normal and that as long as it's not severe it's fine. I was a little obsessed with the xrays - it is so bizarre to see your bone with new accessories. He was all excited to tell me about it, especially how the washer (used to secure my pin since my bone is so small) was lined up just perfectly on my femur - not too far to the back, but not too much on the side. Looks like he did a good job! In the picture above, you can see a perfectly round circle in the head of my femur. That's the washer. I don't think you can see it in the picture here, but in the office if you looked carefully you could see the screws in my tibia. They will actually dissolve over time and will be replaced by bone. Medicine is so cool - I wish I was better at science in school. Or maybe had just paid more attention.

Onward and upward! Thanks for reading!

8.5 Weeks

Ever since my surgery, I have been wondering when I would start to feel a little more normal. For me, it was about 8 weeks. That's how long it has taken for me to be more confident moving around in public, to be able to go up and down stairs, and get around. Sticking to my rehab plan has been key - I've been really consistent with my sessions and at-home exercises. I started bouncing on a mini-trampoline, which is a pre-cursor to determining if I am ready to start some light jogging! It didn't hurt at the time, but the outside of my knee has been a little tender and achy ever since. So I am going to take it easy.

In the meantime....I am back at PureBarre! My first class was last Wednesday and I was pretty nervous. Not that the exercises would hurt, but everyone has all their equipment (balls, rubber tubing, hand weights) and all I could think about was not tripping over it. Fortunately, I didn't! It felt so good to be back. There were some exercises today where you were on all fours doing some of the leg presses, so I did those laying on my tummy. It definitely still worked - my hamstring is still pretty weak, but this will help. I'm also still doing a ton of bridging, and more work on the Pilates Reformer. I can't wait for my legs to be the same size again - ha!

I see my surgeon on Monday, so we will see what he has to say. He's going to take an X ray, so it will be so weird to see my bones with washers and screws in them. I am going to try to sneak a picture!

7.5 weeks....

I'm getting to the point where I am feeling a little more back to normal - even though that usually leads to some icing and ibuprofen! I'm doing 20-21 minutes on the bike each day and more squats and bridging than you could imagine. I feel like my hamstring is slowly coming around - but my quad is still very atrophied. The intermittent swelling is to blame for that - Meghan said that it keeps it from firing correctly. So I will keep icing it up!

My brace is now unlocked so I can bend it to 90 degrees! I am able to go up and down stairs pretty well, which is exciting to me. I was in the stairwell at work yesterday, grinning like a fool, and some people in my building were like, why are you taking the stairs?? And why are you so excited about it?

I've been doing lots of stability work on discs and balancing on one leg - my rehab will step down to twice a week. I see the surgeon on 6/13 and am really hoping to get out of the brace. But in the meantime, here is the really big news - next Wednesday, I will get to try a PureBarre class. I'll have to modify a lot of things, especially if there is kneeling involved in the exercises, but I don't care. I will be so happy to be back in a class! If it goes well, I can do the 6am class during the week on my off days from rehab. Back to the burn - I love it.

I went shopping today at the outlet mall and bought some summer clothes, shorts and tees and stuff. I even bought a little romper - I am very excited about it - it's so Three's Company. Come and knock on my door! It's awesome to be out and about again, and to be feeling better. My new knee rocks!