Monday, August 4, 2008

Day 111

That's Dagan, one of my two red dobermans. He pretty much sticks to my side like glue.
This is the gadget I use to set my machine.

Reached 112 degrees at my physical therapy session today. Time seemed to stop every time the physical therapist stretched my knee. I am sure he held it in place three times longer than usual. Brutal, just brutal today.
I'm using my new Continuous Passive Motion device machine now for three hours a day. My knee feels stiff and sore in the morning and by later in the day it's sore and tired. I might have turned a corner but my knee is still fighting me. I wish it would just give up because I know I'm going to win anyway.

5 comments:

ladedah said...

OMG Thanks for writing this... just wish I'd read it before my surgery. I'm day 7 post PCL AND ACL surgery to make it worse they had to take a hamstring graft from my good knee!!! My Surgeon is also a close friend so I suspect he was playing down the recovery and seems to have only mentioned the first 6 weeks of recovery... I must be dumb as I didn't ask about the weeks after!! It's been good to see that my leg looks pretty normal and I'll try to stay as positive as you:*) Good luck and I hope you're running really soon... I'll keep tuned in.
La x

Skinnygurl said...

Nice to meet you Ladedah,

How did you hurt your knee?
As you can see, you're in for a rough ride. Listen to your knee and don't try to rush your recovery. This recovery time is the biggest investment in your future. It truly is. This is where you have to be patient for a very long time. Wow, day 7. You're still a baby. tee hee. Please, keep me posted on how you are doing. Thank you so much for letting me know you're out there! It is my pleasure making this blog to help anyone that needs it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ladedah:

Skinnygurl has a great blog here. It's full of information about her recovery and rehab. I explained my injury and surgeries (Lateral release, PCL/MCL reconstruction, MUA and lysis of adhesions) in an earlier posts. At your stage, please follow all of the orders given you by your doctor and PTs, especially regarding non-weight bearing and not letting the lower leg sag. Let the narcotics be your friend for now, too. There will be plenty of time to wean off of them later. I'm looking forward to reading more about your recovery here. You will have good days and bad. Don't let the bad ones take you down; there's a good day right around the corner (especially about 10-14 days after surgery, when the fog lifts).

Molly

ladedah said...

Cheers Guys it's lovely to know I'm not alone in my knee misery! I actually hurt my knee originally nearly 10 years ago in a car crash. I had an ACL repair which failed at the time. Having gone through that I decided that the giving way was fine by me as long as an Orthopaedic Surgeon wasn't let loose around me again.... 10 years on, 3 years of which I worked in management at our local Trauma & Orthopaedics department and I was told that if I don't have the surgery my knee will get worse and a knee replacement and subsequent revision surgery would be a must. Hence my decision to take my friend up on his offer to fix my PCL and repair the failed ACL reconstruction. I'm a wee bit scared at the moment though as I've just spoken to the Physio in the closest hospital to my home and found out that she's never actually provided PT for a PCL reconstruction never mind a combined op - aggghhhhhh!!!

Sure we'll speak soon... I'm off to watch day time TV zzzzzzzzzzzz!

momofsprinter said...

Hey ladedah - your PT might find this PCL rehab protocol really helpful. My son's PT had never worked with a PCL repair either but he was able to follow this protocol. Just have your doctor review it to make sure it will work for you.
My son is 19 years old and is 9 weeks post PCL with quadriceptendon autograft. He is doing really well. The first 3 weeks were difficult but he worked diligently, at PT and at home. Now at 9 weeks post op it has really paid off. He has started walking without crutches in functional brace, has good range of motion and just a little aching from time to time. Now he has to build up muscle strength.
It does get better with hard work.
Here is the website

http://www.cincinnatisportsmed.com/protocols/PCL.pdf

Skinnygirl -you have made amazing progress in the past few weeks. Definately turning the corner. Thanks for so generously sharing with us all.