knee update

[altagirl]

I think the lack of adrenaline is finally getting to me. I don't know how else to put it. I swing back and forth from feeling totally fine to feeling frustrated and it's just strange. I'm not like this when I get to actually DO stuff. I can't wait to feel normal again - even doing normal stuff at the gym would feel good right now...

I'm getting frustrated with my swelling which seems to stay exactly the same no matter what I do. I iced and elevated and did nothing other than ROM exercises/stretching every 2 hours all weekend and when I'm not at work this week - absolutely nothing else. Not even my normal upper body routine at the gym (okay I did a few sets of pullups Saturday, but that's not a workout by any means). Exactly the same on Monday afternoon as it was on Friday afternoon and we can't get past 125 degrees because the swelling above my patella is in the way. I did get to zero extension on my own though (still sucks getting there though). At therapy they'll to all this edema massage to get the swelling down - I stand up and 2 minutes later it's right back where it was. Ugh.

I dropped in and saw my surgeon for a minute. He checked the graft, said it felt nice and tight. He said the swelling looks typical, I'm doing fine with ROM and he's not concerned about anything, keep up the good work, blah blah blah... He gave me a neoprene sleeve and a prescription for Celebrex for the swelling. (Both of which I think were because I asked and it was in the spirit of "if it will make you feel better....")

So yes, I'm insane.

Anyway, yesterday I decided to try acupuncture. My therapist said she had a couple patients try it and it helped them - maybe it was in their heads but worst case it's a waste of time, and my insurance should cover it. So what the hell. Despite a serious irrational fear of needles, I went and did it. I didn't look (I'm a wuss) but I could barely feel it at all. She stuck 5 needles in my knee and then put them under a heating lamp for like 30 minutes. Which felt kindof funky/tingly during and afterwards, but that was about it. No real pain or anything and not even a tiny speck of blood. Last night/this morning it looked like the swelling had improved, but today I think it looks about the same again. I don't know. I did feel good on the bike and elliptical trainer today at the gym, and I'm up to 25 minutes on the bike and 10 on the elliptical, and it's feeling good there. I guess that's improvement. I don't know why I'm being so freaking impatient with this...

Actually I kindof feel better now that I wrote it out.

[altagirl]

I hope you can find other fun things to do to keep your mind, in a good place. Make Mr AG get you that sled.

Actually I think that's probably it. At least I do have Thanksgiving coming up and I'm cooking for a big group, so I'll be planning and shopping for that soon. I'm going to start making pecan pies this weekend. That's something anyway. And I'm going to start taking classes to get a real estate license. That'll keep me busy too.

What we need is for Rotney to go and buy sleds. I don't want to pay for one... just have it available, ya know?

[skibe]

[QUOTE=altagirl] And I'm going to start taking classes to get a real estate license.

Good idea AG. I will need an agent when I sell my home. Oh yeah, it sucked not seeing you at the bird Saturday. On an up note I didn't get my ass kicked by a girl on the mountain ! It was good to see the MR. AG and make some turns with his crew.

[Nohillsnearby]

Actually I think that's probably it. At least I do have Thanksgiving coming up and I'm cooking for a big group, so I'll be planning and shopping for that soon. I'm going to start making pecan pies this weekend. That's something anyway. And I'm going to start taking classes to get a real estate license. That'll keep me busy too.

What we need is for Rotney to go and buy sleds. I don't want to pay for one... just have it available, ya know?

What time is dinner?

[altagirl]

What time is dinner?

When everyone's done skiing... Normally on Thanksgiving I get up at like 5am, cook for a few hours, go up for opening and ski all morning, come back to a turkey that's mostly done and just finish getting ready. I guess at least I don't have to get up super early this year...

But actually, I am psyched - Dinner is at someone elses house, I'm just doing the cooking. I love to cook, hate to clean up afterwards... so I just get to do the fun stuff. Don't have to clean the house for company either.

On a side note - this morning on the way to work I was thinking I wish I could just turn the Subaru into a rally car. That would keep me entertained while I can't ski.

Sorry I missed you up there B-. Heard you guys had a good day. I'll see you this spring though...

[Agent 00X]

good going on the rehab! Glad the meniscus and other tissues are not too damaged. Keep the updates coming. All the injured folks on this thread: rehab like altagirl! go! go! go!

About rallying the Suby I say Yes! Good fun. I don't formally rally but when I can't ski etc. I drive plenty silly on select, twisty, dead end, (after dark, sweep down to check for traffic and drive silly up, repeat) snow covered roads. I do credit doing so with becoming skilled in 'unusual driving circumstances' that enabled me to avoid getting into a wreck with a big elk one snowy night out in the middle of nowhere and not over-correcting and loosing it.

[altagirl]

Thanks! Well something (acupuncture/neoprene sleeve/celebrex, maybe all of the above) is helping. I had 2cm of swelling on Monday, and on Thursday after my 2nd acupuncture session I had .6cm of swelling (mid-patella measurement). ROM was 2-127 on Thursday (we worked flexion first and that was an improvement, not to mention it's easier to switch from flexion to extension), and then 0 (yay!) to 121 yesterday. I was only supposed to have 2 PT visits this week but the therapist said I could stop in when they weren't busy yesterday and we'd just work extension. The flexion was just a quick stretch and measurement - she didn't write it down because we didn't work on it and patients that were actually scheduled started coming in.

But I'm feeling better about progress on both ends of ROM. I'm off to the gym and acupuncture. And after looking up the weather for Mr.AG I don't think I'm missing out on skiing today either.

[Arnold Babar]

Way to go AG. Keep the posts coming. You have no idea how much it helps those of us still in your wake. It's good to be able to anticipate the emotions that will be inevitable, and hopefully take steps to head off their deliterious effects. It sound like you're doing awesome, and just need to take a step outside of yourself, and view things rationally. You're waaaay above average, but still human, and healing takes time. Some things are out of our control. Just take care of the things that you can control. You seem much more than capable of that.

[altagirl]

I'm at about 6 weeks now. Haven't done an update in a while so...

Just got back from PT. Extension is back to being good. I can fairly easily get zero on my own, the therapist can push it into hyperextension. Phew. No more serious pain involved in that - just a little uncomfortable.

Since I needed to work on both, I've been starting with one or the other. Today was an extension day. Did extension no problem, then worked all my quad exercises right afterwards, then did balance work, rode the bike and worked on flexion, then hamstring stuff. I could only get to 120 today, which sucked. Therapist keeps telling me to chill out, that it's tough to do both well in the same session (well, for my stiff PITA knee anyway) and I'll be back to 130 on Wednesday when I start with flexion. I think from now on I'll be fine starting with flexion every time I'm at PT.

I'm finally allowed to use the regular leg press at the gym - 60lbs (single leg) feels good but she wants me to up the weight slowly, so that's where I'm at. A week or so before I hurt it I was doing like 450 on the sled (though that was with both legs) so it's feeling pretty wussy, but gotta start somewhere.

I've been doing 2 hours of cardio a day, split between elliptical, treadmill, bike and stairmaster. I took the day after Thanksgiving off of cardio completely, for the first time in.... I don't know, a long time. But I just needed a break - I was getting sick as hell of being in the gym, and probably spent too much time standing cooking dinner, but it turned out awesome and it was great seeing everyone. The break did me good. Now the gym is feeling fun again, and I was able to spin fast enough this morning to almost get my HR up pretty well.

Balance is going really well and we've pretty much run out of things for me to add to the routine. My legs are almost feeling equal on balance. I went and bought a new toy over the weekend - like a stability ball but like 14" wide and about 4" high - stand on it and it's like standing on a waterbed.

And that's about it. I'm off to the gym.

[Vinman]

Congrats AG sounds like you are killin it at rehab. And your PT is right don't get too reved up about those numbers. They will come back in time as the swelling goes down and it is better not to rush them anyway.

I love the balance stuff. I have been doing some myself to get ready for the season, mostly with a BOSU ball. It is basically an exercise ball cut in half, mounted on a flat platform and inflated so that you can stand on it. Lots of fun. Also been using our ski fitter to get that muscle memory firing again.

Keep at it and don't rush it, it will all come together.

[altagirl]

Congrats AG sounds like you are killin it at rehab. And your PT is right don't get too reved up about those numbers. They will come back in time as the swelling goes down and it is better not to rush them anyway.

I love the balance stuff. I have been doing some myself to get ready for the season, mostly with a BOSU ball. It is basically an exercise ball cut in half, mounted on a flat platform and inflated so that you can stand on it. Lots of fun. Also been using our ski fitter to get that muscle memory firing again.

Keep at it and don't rush it, it will all come together.

Thanks! Means a lot to hear that from you!

I love the balance work too - this time I'm starting a collection of balance exercise equipment so I can keep working on it all the time.

I was looking at a BOSU ball, but my PT said I should hold off on getting that one for a bit since it's a little higher up and if I manage to fall off of it, it could be bad news. So I'm starting with the SPRI Xerdisc for now - it's lower to the ground but still fairly challenging.

I'm also going to pick up one of those mini trampolines on e-bay. Not to jump on, but to set at an angle out on the deck. Then you throw a weighted ball - like the size of a softball but plastic and filled with sand so it weighs like 3lbs - and bounce the ball off the trampoline from like 10 feet away while standing on one leg (when that's easy stand on a pillow, or the Xerdisc or whatever). That was one of my favorite exercises at the PT clinic I went to when I was in the Army. I found the weighted balls on e-bay for like $10, and it looks like a cheapo trampoline is around $20. We'll have the AG rehab clinic going on by the time I'm done.

Which is a good thing... Oh, I forgot to mention, I guess our dog felt left out. He sprained his tail on Thanksgiving, wrestling with his brother and a couple other labs over at Rotney's house. Unbelieveable. The next morning his tail was hanging straight down and he wouldn't sit down - he'd just hover and flop on his side. Vet said he must have had his tail up in the air and flipped over backwards on it - the bones are too small to break, so he must have torn some ligaments. So he's on anti-inflammatories and doing much better. It was so bizarre to see a dog that never stops wagging his tail with it just hanging there. Anyway, I wish I healed as fast as he does...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I was wonderin when you were gonna update this!!

Sounds great! So at 6 weeks it sounds like you're doin pretty good. I'll be at 2 weeks out tomorrow....and you're post has me really stoked at what's to come. Meaning, I can't wait to get the F on a bike, stairs, weights, all that shiz....

I can't wait to get on the bosu balls. I was talkin with my PT about ski specific exercises we can do wwaaaaayyy wwwaaayyy down the road from now and one of them involved sitting up a bunch of bosu's, and then I'd have to parallel hop from ball to ball down a hallway while keep my upper body completely still. We talked about doin the medicine ball / little trampoline thang to. I'm lookin forward to it. Thanks for the update.

[altagirl]

I was wonderin when you were gonna update this!!

Sounds great! So at 6 weeks it sounds like you're doin pretty good. I'll be at 2 weeks out tomorrow....and you're post has me really stoked at what's to come. Meaning, I can't wait to get the F on a bike, stairs, weights, all that shiz....

I can't wait to get on the bosu balls. I was talkin with my PT about ski specific exercises we can do wwaaaaayyy wwwaaayyy down the road from now and one of them involved sitting up a bunch of bosu's, and then I'd have to parallel hop from ball to ball down a hallway while keep my upper body completely still. We talked about doin the medicine ball / little trampoline thang to. I'm lookin forward to it. Thanks for the update.

Once you can start passing some time on the cardio machines without it being a stretching exercise... it'll feel soooo good. Heh - take some time now to download music to keep yourself entertained.

That sounds like a really cool idea with the bosu's for way in the future. I saw a girl at the gym today doing jumping lunges with like 30 lbs of weights. Like she'd leap up like a foot in the air and land in the opposite lunge - and do like 15 of them as fast as possible. Damn. I wanna do that! Then she took a 45lb plate and was doing stationary hops. Jesus. I talked to her in the locker room and she had an ACL done 6 years ago. I love hearing that.

Oh, and another thing I did at PT today - when I was feeling like crap working flexion doing wall slides and such, I grabbed a stability ball, laid on my back on the floor, put my toes on the ball and rolled it in, squeezing my hamstrings. I was at like 105 on the wall, and got to 120 rolling the ball in a matter of minutes. Just a thought if you're feeling like you're going insane with the wall slides. Same concept worked for me when I was having trouble with extension - I went to an active extension exercise, where I used the little e-stim machine you use for quad sets but did them standing with a theraband behind my knee for resistance, leaned forwards and concentrated on the stretch in my hip and could get to zero pain free (on a day when sitting in the floor with a therapist pushing down on my knee wasn't getting me there - just causing tears). Maybe it's just me, but I tend to fight the stretching when I'm trying to relax, so finding a way to do it where I'm making my opposing muscles work in the right direction is more successful (I guess I'd rather focus on muscle burn than plain old pain). I guess that's not typical, but if you get stuck with the normal stretching it's worth a try.

[altagirl]

So I'm at 8 weeks tomorrow.

As of Friday, I had:
2 degrees hyperextension (yay!)
133 degrees flexion (meh...)
.7cm swelling at mid-patella (which is hindering the flexion)
1 cm atrophy (excellent - they expect 2-4cm)

I saw my doc today for a follow up. He said my knee feels rock solid. I should be getting fitted for my new Defiance in the next 2 weeks. And he said that as long as I stick to going in straight lines and don't wreck, I can XC ski, though he prefers I wait until I get the brace. I can do that.

He also lifted the restrictions on weightlifting, so as long as I'm careful he said I can pick up and carry whatever weight I want, do whatever I want for upper body, etc. And he cleared me for SLDL's and such (well, to be honest I've been doing those with light weight for a while) but he said I can increase the weight gradually - no weight restrictions on leg press, just to keep increasing gradually and make sure I have no pain. I'm up to 85lbs on that (one-legged). Getting there...

Stairs feel fine as long as I'm kindof sideways - I get a little patellar tendon pain trying to do them straight unless it's a smaller step, which PT says is due to the swelling interference. It's gradually improving though.

And that's about it. Finally sleeping totally normally. No pain really except when I'm stretching. Just got to get rid of the dang swelling. I don't have another follow up until 5 months - which is mid March. And hopefully I'll get some "you can ski groomers" or something about then. Fingers crossed.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Nice AG..thanks for the update. That's awesome that your doc says your knee feels solid and that he lifted the weight restrictions.

[Snow Ranger]

Very nice AG. Reading your knee update is really helping me right now. You are only 8 weeks out and have made great progress. Keep it up.

[Arnold Babar]

Right on, AG! I was wondering if light xc was going to be an acceptable acivity, that's awesome!

[altagirl]

Right on, AG! I was wondering if light xc was going to be an acceptable acivity, that's awesome!

Yeah, I'm psyched about that too - even with the no turning and stay on flat stuff - I can't wait... Hell I was trying to convince my PT that I could/should be able to put on my tele gear and do lead changes/lunges in place in the snow in the backyard. Of course now all the damn snow in the yard melted... but she thought I was insane since she'd never heard that kind of request before. Hell, I just figure it's outdoors and on the snow... it would have to feel good.

I wish I already had my new brace but I guess I can survive another couple of weeks of waiting. It'll really be more like 3 months by the time I have it in hand. I am keeping busy doing real estate courses now too, so that helps.

[Arnold Babar]

Heh. You have the best attitude.

Why does the brace take so long, and why can't they order it earlier? Am I going to have to wait that long too? (it's all about me). I should get them going on it now. I want my brace now

[altagirl]

Heh. You have the best attitude.

Why does the brace take so long, and why can't they order it earlier? Am I going to have to wait that long too? (it's all about me). I should get them going on it now. I want my brace now

It only takes a few days for them to actually make the brace. The time delay is that they have to put in the order with the insurance company, who sends an approval to the DME company who actually does the transaction with the brace company. Once it's approved, you get to meet with the orthotist/brace fitter, who measures you and puts in the order for the brace. Then you meet with him again once it comes in and actually get your new custom brace. They estimate 1.5-2 weeks before I'll get to meet with the brace fitter. But it may vary depending on your insurance company and brace fitter's schedule, etc.

Ordering it too early is bad, because you'll still be building muscle back, most likely and while Donjoy offers one re-fit within 6 months, you want it to work, and there's no sense in getting it before you're going to be doing some activity where you need it. Not to mention, getting it earlier probably would encourage you to do stuff you're not ready for either...

[altagirl]

13.5 week update:

Picked up my two shiny new yellow DJ Defiances yesterday. They built me a brand new one for my left leg too (since I lost weight it wasn't fitting right anymore). Luckily insurance covered 100% for both. Yay! Can't wait to use them for something...

I started running a bit last week. Not that I plan on doing much running at all, but about 2 weeks ago I was late for something, ran down the hall and realized that while running didn't hurt - my body didn't seem to remember how to do it at all. So at 12 weeks I decided to do a 2 minute jogging on the treadmill test - next to the mirror at the gym so I could watch myself, hang on to the rails and get my body to do what it's supposed to. Knee felt fine then and the next day - feet felt like crap. Which would be because my running shoes were several years old and I shouldn't be running in them. I went down to Salt Lake Running Co. where they did video analysis of me running on the treadmill to make sure my ankles were staying straight, etc. Which was cool. And I got some new super cushioned running shoes. I'm still just doing little 2 minute segments of running every few days to break up the endless elliptical trainer and bike sessions. But it feels as good as it possibly could seeing as how I haven't gone running in 5 years or so...

I went to PT yesterday. We didn't even measure formally, but since I can contract my quads and get my heels virtually identically far off of the ground, we called that good and when I contract my hamstrings I get my heels equally close to my butt, and I'm fully squashing calves against hamstrings, we called that good too. If I try sitting on my heels, my left knee is more flexible, but since that's not necessarily good for either knee she said not to worry about it. Best thing is that getting to that point in either direction involved no pain whatsoever. We pretty much came to the conclusion that I was pushing myself too hard before on ROM. Every time I worked ROM, I made my knee swell up and it then was a nightmare just to get back to where I was a few days ago. Leave it alone more and it just naturally regained ROM.

Strength wise - I'm doing 130lb single leg presses (still only working the surgical leg) and regular 65lb stiff legged deadlifts - about every other day or every 2 days depending on if I still have soreness, + 45-90 min of cardio a day. I still have about .75cm of atrophy in my quad. Calves are identical. I've been doing cariocas and box drills and such. Yesterday we added some star pattern mini-lunges and side to side stalls. Still using the xerdisc at home for balance work regularly.

And that's about it. I've been super busy with work and getting my Real Estate License lately, so I'm looking forward to getting a chance to do some XC skiing this weekend when I have some time off.

[altagirl]

Woohoo!

My hamstrings are at equal strength again! I haven't been working my "good" leg at all (well except for stiff legged deadlifts and all the cardio I've been doing) until last night when I decided they were starting to feel about the same and tested out single leg hamstring curls and both legs max out at right about the same weight/reps, and then doubling it and doing dual leg sets worked fine too. Quads aren't quite there yet, but they're coming along. I did some XC skate skiing the other day. God damn is that a workout. I quit as soon as my muscles started feeling shaky - didn't want to risk anything, but it felt good. And I've been cranking up the resistance on cardio lately and doing more stepmill and backwards/high incline treadmill to try and hit my quads. If I push too hard I start to notice slight patellar tendon twinges, which scares me (don't want to have to take time off for tendonitis or anything...) So I've been trying to be careful and not go too crazy...

And in other news... real estate license exam is done!

[Crinkle]

just checking in here, glad to see how far along your progress has come, hopefully a day on snow is not that far away, and then again neither is mtb season.

Keep up the good work, definitely a inspiration for those on the mend.

[altagirl]

just checking in here, glad to see how far along your progress has come, hopefully a day on snow is not that far away, and then again neither is mtb season.

Keep up the good work, definitely a inspiration for those on the mend.

I'm thinking Day 1 back is going to be March 8. Seeing as how that's when I can ski Deer Valley for free with work. DV groomers should be a good first day back, no?

[Arnold Babar]

Nice. Hey how did you find x-country for the first time since injury? Did you do much of it? Did it help? Any close calls of re-injury? I'm getting stronger, and every time i get on the bike it's better and better. Wouldn't mind maybe gettin' some smoove x-country in. Have fun at Deer Valley.