6 month anniversary!

time flew like a fart in the wind!  i can't believe at this time 6 months ago i was all loopy in the recovery room, speaking spanish to my nurse, getting ready to get wheeled down to the car.  Now i'm here able to do a bunch of things i wasn't able/was scared to do since Oct. 16, 2010, the day of the actual injury.  I apologize if my blog entries get more boring from now on because now it's just about me getting back to the things I used to do.  I'd have to say that I'm still high on the idea that I can run freely now!  Let's just celebrate the things i've been able to return to, such as...

RIDE A BIKE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUGuEy2cMGQ

RUN SEXILY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA

BOX!!!

makes me want lobster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnXjISlKLuE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmsjtMkhuhI

WORK FULL TIME...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmsjtMkhuhI
(those are not my nails...mine are usually the same length)

                                                        things i'm not allowed to do yet...

it's considered a "cutting" sport



No rollerblading means no ice skating either.  But that's okay because ice skating isn't really accessible (the fun outdoor kind) until november-ish. 















if i broke the rules and prematurely ice skated, thaaat could happen (look up)... the fall, that is.  plus i'd never be caught in that hideous outfit.  i'd at least have my skating outfit designed by vera wang.  

NO TENNIS

i don't know this player well, just posted this to give an example of the kinds of knee movement involved.  This image still makes me nervous.  I miss Steffi Graf as a player and Monica Seles' grunts.  wah-eeeh!  I don't miss when Monica Seles got stabbed at the French open :o(

waaaaah-ruh-row

So that's just a taste of activity that I've gotten into and am waiting to get back to.  I don't really see any races in the near future, but the goal is to get back into doing them!  urbanathlon? mud races? 8Ks 10Ks, 1/2 marathons?  as lil mama would say, "BRING IT."  So far my hybrid leg has done good, very proud of it considering i didn't even get to go on a date with the cadaver ligament.  total arranged marriage situation.  but i love my arranged marriage!  Scar wise, there really have been no changes with it, just waiting for them to lighten up like my previous scars did from the '99 knee surgery.  I have to keep reminding myself to put sunscreen on the lil guys when exposing the legs to the sun.  Thanks for keeping up with the blog and I hope my experience has been influential- whether it got you through a boring day at work, or educated you, or made you toss your cookies (especially with the first couple of posts from February)... then I've done my job.  Til next entry!   

bust out the pomp and circumstance!

June 25, 2011- I surpassed a major milestone, I rode my bike to work for the first time after surgery!  Finally got the guts to take my bike out of hibernation and bring it out into the world again.  I had already gotten the okay from Dr. Edwards to ride it as soon as June, but I was still nervous.  The weather was quasi rainy on the majority of the days I had to work when June hit, so that was my excuse to keep taking the bus.  But there was one day when i pulled into my parking space and took a look at my bike.  At that moment I decided to do a mini maintenance on it- pumped the tires, wiped the frame off, dinged my bell a couple of times to undo any rustiness, and lub'd up the chain.  Now I had no excuse to not take it out because it was ready to go.  Plus my chicago plus card cracked hot dog way so I couldn't use it.  

July 13, 2011- I graduated from physical therapy!

I went into my session thinking I still had a couple more to go.  But after my warmup ON THE TREADMILL (yes, I ran!), Kim told me that I was close to graduating!  I was stunned, then sad, then excited.  Stunned because the time went by so fast and PT sessions had become routine for me.  Sad because there was no warning (i could've at least prepared baked goods for the accelerated crew!). Excited because that means my knee is generally back to normal and no more copays!  Kim gave me the option to make the session our last, or to have one more week.  I had the whole session to decide.  Anyhoo, here are my last couple of exercises:

Above, each cone is what I had to jump to with one leg at a time with the center of the asterisk being my starting point.  It's also the setup for my squat on one leg exercise when I reach to each cone to pick it up an place back down again, each time doing a one legged squat.  the pic above on the right is my FAV piece of equipment, the balance board!  i kinda want one.  each week I'd advance to a smaller piece placed under the board to balance on, while doing squats.  Such a slow tedious exercise, yet so powerful because you could feel every little muscle in your thighs working to make none of the board touch the flurrrr.  Something new Kim had me do (that rhymed) was jump as far as I could from the bottom of that piece of tape.

here's Kim measuring how far I've jumped

just like mini long jump!

taking off from right leg: 58.75 inches (that's like my height)

taking off from left leg: 56.5 inches

taking off from both legs: 73 inches

Here's me with some of the crew- Kim and Michelle.  2/3 of these cardio machines were my warm up buddies for 5 months.  I liked the elliptical the best.  sorry, stationary bike.  In these past couple of months I have also worked with 2 PT students who worked with Kim.  I'm glad I could be a part of their edumacation :o)

Thanks guys, for pushing me to do things I thought I wouldn't be able to do!  The bending, jumping, shuffling, and squatting hurt so bad early on, but hurt so good in the long run.

This is Maritza, she scheduled my appointments and kept my copays in check, literally!  

other milestones:

remember this was my goal stance?

i can finally do flamingo stance just like nurse Terri from three's company.  wuddup!

first crane stance post op:

first handstand post op!  this was at Virginia Beach

So int he work world, being back at work has been great.  I just took a look at my oldest posts on this blog and saw how much time I had...and how bored I was!  I was scared that I was going to lose my NICU skills being off for a bunch of weeks.  But upon my return, I made some new friends who have made it a nice transition.  If you click on the link, you can learn about their amazing story and how they got through many milestones too:

Celia & Isabel: June 2011

Just because I can add graduate of Accelerated Rehab to my resume, doesn't mean I'm done blogging.  I will continue to share my stories and milestones, funny or not.  you know, scar progression, muscle development, when I start to rollerblade and play tennis... I'm so proud of myself for actually starting a blog so I can't just let it go like that!  

knee celebrates 4 month birthday!

While waiting for the bus to get to work, had a sighting that made me a lil envious...Still a ways til I can do this:

the rollerblading part, not the outfit part.  

May 24: 3rd post op appointment with Dr. Edwards.  I was able to work that day, so it was convenient to have my appointment when I'd be at NMH anyways.  The wait was a lil on the longer side, which made me kinda antsy.  I played with my stuff to stay preoccupied, here's one of my creations with my wallet wrist strap:

A lot of questions were answered once I got called in.  Dr. Edwards said my movement is great and was impressed with the notes Kim PT had written about my sessions.  I was still thinking a lot about this "cadaver" ligament.  She explained a lot more that I wish I had heard earlier in my recovery phase because things made more sense.  Basically, in the OR when she saw that my grafts would be too small to make a new ligament, she asked for the tray of donated ligaments.  Out of the choices, she took the one from the youngest donor, who was 26 years old.  Without the help of that cadaver, my ligament would only be 6mm in diameter.  Sooo, what she did was intertwine the cadaver ligament with my tendons to create one 8mm in diameter.   She even sketched it out for me.  She even drew the little nuk where the ligament looped up and around into, which made more sense as to why my incisions are the sizes they are and locations of them.  When the ligament is put in intitally, it is at its strongest.  But at about 3 months, my body realizes there is something quasi foreign in it, so it starts to act weird.  Hence, some iffy-ness with stability.  Balance and strengthening are what will keep my body from not hating it.  Also at this time, the combined graft with cadaver will learn to like each other and form a bond called KIRS' NEW AND IMPROVED LIGAMENT!  here is the copy of the sketch (she tossed the original):

I ain't no MC Escher

It's that upper outer "screw" that i feel the most scar tissue around.  Everytime I bend my leg/dangle it, I like to put my finger over that incision and feel the scar tissue crunch around in there.  I apply pressure to it while doing that motion hoping it'll break the scar tissue up in there.  Then I sing red hot chili peppers "scar tissue" in my head.  The incisions right on top of my patellas don't have so much scar tissue build up in there.  And the long incision is just puffy and quasi numb.  The last things we discussed were my restrictions.  I brought up running, she said not until July.  Thought about the business casual rollerblader and asked her about rollerblading.  she said NOOOO!  that's in the same category as tennis, hence, not til november :o(.  i was surprised just because Kim had started me on the reebok slide.  oh well, gotta stay patient.  Dr. Edwards said that the next appointment would be 6 months post op, but she realized i may be in California by then, so to make an appointment with her before I go.

With my amazing surgeon/knee doc, Dr. Edwards

While examining my horrendous scar, i tried to look at the positive of it.  it looks like a music note!  i know, it really doesn't, but let's keep praying that that scar will go down and the color will match my skin better.  i have a total of 6 scars on my left knee now.  can you find 5/6 of them in this pic?

separated at birth.

3 month anniversary

(another verrrrrry delayed post)

April 17, 2011- March of dimes walk!  This was my first true test to see how the knee would hold up for the 3mi walk along the lakefront.  My motivation was of course, was the babies.  were the babies?  anyhoo, here's on of them:

march of dimes walk '11, with my old primary, Shayna.  Born at 26 weeks, now 2 years old!

She came to the walk wearing the scarf I made her while I was bedridden!  Everytime I do this walk, it's a refresher as to why I do what I do and makes me appreciate my job even more.  It was great to reunite with old coworkers, NICU grads and their families, and the lakefront!  The last time I was on the trail was during a bike ride home from work late last year.  I noticed that they resurfaced some parts that definitely needed it.  I ended the walk with my coworker Janis and then headed back to the NMH tent for more baby fun

first 3+ mile walk after the surgery!

Here are more buddies who I took care of mostly in 2010- twins Abby and Lucy, and Shai!  All three of them born around 26 weeks.

me holding Lucy, Kari holding Abby.  Shayna's in the pink coat in the background walking around :o)

he's almost half my height at 16months! (his daddy's really tall). They were in nursery 1064 for most of his stay, hence the shirts :o)

Despite all the joy seeing the kiddos, when I got back home the knee was feeling it.  I think with the combo of the chilly weather and walk, the leg felt more stiff and puffy.  So, the rest of the day i was resting and elevating.  Here is an aerial view of the leg at 3 months-

scars are still dark...not pretty

 Kim let me take a 2 week haitus from PT so I could work and go to california for a week.  She said that since I do exercises outside of our sessions, she trusts that I will do them on my own.  I mentioned that Vince has a pool so she told me what kind of resistance exercises i could do in the water.  Made me feel better since I didn't think I'd have access to a bike or elliptical over there.

I prepared for the long flight by wearing my thigh high ted hose for the flight.  But being stuck in the same position in the middle seat for 4 hours straight was no fun.  I forgot to mention the lugging of the luggage down a big flight of stairs and back a big flight just to transfer trains. I did as many ankle pumps and thigh muscle contractions as I could to remind the knee to wake up.  It took a day to get the knee unstiffened with the help of stretching, foam rolling, and icing.  I needed to get it ready for Pat and Caroline's wedding that Saturday!  I used my creative juices to make my own balance routine too!  Here's the end product.  Secret thanks to Vince's roomie for contributing to it, hehe...

makeshift balance board at vince's house
I did the balance board while watching the royal wedding.  Geez, that Pippa stole the show!

After my 1st post op trip to California, came to home to celebrate nurse's week, May 6-12.  During this week we are thanked with little goodies, deals, free food, and more free food.  Here's a lil taste of how we were treated...literally (they were out of filet so i got ribs instead)

free din din at mity nice grill!  happy nurse's week!

The same week, Kim introduced me to a new/old exercise, the reebok slide!  I remember when Nancy Kerrigan was a spokesperson for this, and I always wanted to do it because she was one of my fav US skaters, especially after the Nancy Kerrigan attacks...WHYYYYYYY?

dippin my bootie covered foot on the slide!

I had so much fun on that thing!  The booties i had to put on my feet were just like the booties we wear in the OR for c-section deliveries.  Only, i'm walking on a much cleaner, less bloody, less poopie, more slippery "floor".  The focus was on the pushing off to get to the right side of the board.  It took a couple slides across to get used to it, but was able to do 2 sets of minute sets.

in action

While in California, I also tried to work core.  Vince happened to get the shake weight for a xmas gift.  I saw it lonely and laying on his floor, so I used it and learned to love it!  even though the infomercials target tricep/arm workouts with it, there's also a way to shake it so it works the core.  V saw that I loved it so much that he let me take it home!!!  Here's my new and improved "gym" in my room:

don't hate the shake weight!

Here's the 3 month post op profile pic.  I think the look of the knee has plateaued

it's the 10 week mark!

(verrrrrrrry delayed post!)

I don't know where the time went!  2 more weeks until the 3 month mark, the mark when many say is the shortest recovery time.  Does that make sense?  I hear 3-6months recovery.  anyways, I'm getting there!  PT is still going 1-2 times a week, same balance strength core exercises going on.  I'm just ready for faster movement!  I have to admit, it's nostalgic seeing all the runners outside, even on the treadmills inside.  I've had a couple days off where I was determined to be productive and clean out a lot of junk.  here's is the result of one of my closets:

to some this may still be a lot of clutter, but it's neat to me!

 The weirdest thing happened at my PT session today.  I was foam rolling my legs and doing hamstring stretches.  I looked down at my knee as i reached from my left toes.  When I get that close, I tend to become a microscope and inspect every little pore in my skin down to where a hair could possible sprout from.  On the distal part of my long incision, noticed a "hair" that had sprouted out.  Only thing was that it was a clear hair.  I'm a picker, so of course i form a tweezer with my right index finger and thumb.  I got to pull at the "hair" and the thing just starts coming out of my skin with ease.  This thing turns into a pretty long clear "hair" that finally ends after about 2 inches!  i was like, "what the frick?"  So i turn to Kim, she's busy writing notes.  Then i look back at what i've pulled out and realize i've just pulled out a dissolvable stitch!  In my head i thought, "oh my god, did i unstitch my leg? did i just do a really bad thing?" So i finally tell Kim about what I pulled out and show her, she said it was a stitch and that that happened to her too after her c-section.  phew!  This is what it looked like:

definately not a hair!

On the food front, I made multigrain pancakes, check out the butter slice shape!  i didn't plan it!

butta love

 I've found that my new bffs are medicine balls.  From 4lb-18lbs, i got love for them all

here's me and my 4lb bff.   i guess i like all things 4lbs...babies, medicine balls, melons.  Starting to get tired of my cardio options, so i try to enjoy it with the cardio entertainment.  Here's a dance video remake of Eddie Murphy's "Party all the time".  I found it quite amusing... so amusing that I had to pause my bike stroll to get this shot.  Homeboy looks like Dave Chappelle!

Seriously can't wait to have running as a cardio option.  There's only so much you can take when biking until your bum bum starts to get sore, no matter how much you shift on the padded seat.  Besides not being able to run, another frustration?  the weather!  here's a great depiction of what mother nature has been up to.  are we sunny are we gloomy? hmmm, let's be both!  arghhhhh

mother nature is bipolar

week 8-9, feelin divine!

haha, who still uses the word "divine"?  come to think of it, wasn't that the name of Hugh Grant's mistress back in the 90s?

I remember the most random things...

I completed week 8 which consisted of 2 PT sessions and my 8 week follow up appointment.  At my first session of the week, Kim asked about my plans to move to California.  I got thrown off when she asked that because it made me wonder if I was well enough to do things on my own.  I was guesstimating July.  She talked about how 3-5 months post op is when the graft is most vulnerable.  When you first get it, it's the strongest.  But it's a double edge sword because during the 3-5 months, there are more challenging exercises added into the mix, along with running.  But you have to be careful when doing the exercises because the graft is prone to reinjury.  Continuing the exercises is key because it will strengthen the ligament.  After that 5month mark, the graft will only get stronger.  When I thought about the 3-5 months, that would would be May to July.

I thought about this all while ellipticalling for 10min.  Just made that word up.  The elliptical faces Michigan Ave, so I see lots of buses pass by with a lot of uncomfortable stares from the stranger peeps facing east on the vehicle.  I wonder if they can actually see me see them.  Although things seem to feel more normal structurally, every once in a while I'll feel a pinching on the outside of my leg, along the IT band.  Definitely felt it after the elliptical.  Kim had me foam roll the outside of my leg from mid thigh down to mid calf back up again.  I feel like this will be a lingering pain for the next couple of months to a year, which gets me nervous about long distance running.

Here are my new exercises which I hope you can visualize through my description

• deep side lunge into opposite step side kick, much like kickboxing but in slow motion, close to pause mode.
• step up to the bosu ball with one leg while raising arms above head holding 7lb medicine ball (very similar to the liberty in cheerleading)
• side lunges with 7lb medicine ball brought to the side of the outside knee that's doing the lunge
• v-ups on the exercise ball, resting position is a push up position with legs resting on the ball
• asterisk heels taps where the leg standing in center is on a foam pad while free heel taps all 5 points of asterisk
• one leg on 4in platform while back leg taps side to side, all weight on the heel of the foot on the platform
• standing on foam pad with one leg while throwing 4lb ball against sideways trampoline with opposite hand (left handed!)
• running up and down the platform alternating legs for a minute straight (the most exciting one!)
• side stepping with navy blue theraband (2nd to highest resistance, black is highest)

All these are done on both legs, btw.  Mixed in with the exercises, Kim and I shared stories about post surgery.  We talked about post-op fashion- Kim had a custom made brace to wear but she never wore it during tumbling.  Her parents were made because the brace was paid out of pocket and custom fit for her leg!  For me it's still uncomfy to wear fitting pants because the material rubs over the scars, the skin is so sensitive in those parts!  Here's this week's icing view:

I usually schedule my session 2-3 weeks in advance.  At the end of April, I won't be able to make it to PT because of work and being out of town.  Kim was okay with me missing 2 weeks, as long as i incorporate the following 5 in my individual workouts:
-core

-balance

-strength

-balance and strength

-isolated exercises

...er something like that, i didn't want her to repeat them, was just gonna ask again at my last session before my Cali trip in 2 weeks.  So I wanted to share something that I've never seen before of all my years of exercising with the bosu ball.  Also, my biggest fear when standing on one or doing push-ups:

Last Thursday was my 8 week follow up with Dr. Edwards.  It was at 10:15am, I was already at work and of course, I had a baby patient who was due to eat at 10am.  I feel like that lil friend knew I had an appointment because he woke up way early, so I fed him, cuddled and was able to head to the appointment with 5 minutes to spare!  I had a list of questions prepared dealing with activity, PT, limitations, the story of each scar, and IT band issues.  I feel like she already knew what I had in my mind because everything she discussed answered most of my questions.  Then it was like an open forum.  But basically I could start biking to work at 3 months, no running until about month 4.  I can continue elliptical and stairs.  PT still goes on for a while, she even said she could set me up with people in california after I had mentioned my plans to head over there!  Turns out she lived there for 4 years!  She took a peek at my scars and said they look like they should, and just to protect them from the sun.  I was so curious about what went into what, so she explained where they drilled, pinned, threaded, and inserted the ligament.  pretty cool!  The very last thing I mentioned was about the strain I feel in my IT band when I do side stepping or step overs.  The reason that's felt is because when they inserted the ligament, they had to go through the band, not around.  Made sense.  Will take a while for that to get less sensitive.  It's just a whole game of patience, I'm only 2 months in and I feel like I can do things, but I know I have to keep myself from doing them which is really tough.  Check out this cute red potato I ran into:

a red potato expressing its love....i felt bad eating it, kinda like a double yolk egg, or twin banana

Here's my post op week 8 pic...again, not much change, only scar color

Here's a new perspective, aerial view!  This shows more scars: the scar on the left of the patella is where they threaded the ligament in through the IT band and through the femur.  The 2 scars on my kneecap are where the scopes were inserted, and the long incision on the bottom is where they drilled through my tibia so my ligament could attach through it.  Pretty neat, huh?

Lastly, my apologies for not blogging as often.  I've been getting frustrated because my internet has been cutting in and out in the past couple of weeks.  I called comcast and never got to a real person, but heard some tips from the recording.  I think I solved the problem this morning when I changed outlets for both my modem and router.  Just FYI if you ever experience problems.  Just keep your fingers and toes crossed that my problems are no more!  Have a great week!