New week, new exercises

Hours of sleep: 6
my poor marshmallow headphones broke :o(.  Well, only one bud works so they're not completely broken.  I'll survive, just won't make biking upstairs as enjoyable.

Oh man today's session was the toughest by far!  It was a good way to end February strong.  We started off with the usual knee massage while discussing the oscars and how we both don't like watching movies in the theaters bc of not being able to sit still.  Unless it's a cute romantic comedy where you don't have to think.  I told her about when I tried on skinny pants for the first time and how the right leg was all snug, left leg super baggy.  She had her ACL surgery a long time ago and to this day her right calf is still bigger than her left, making it hard for her to wear boots.  Kim asked the usual questions, "how does your knee feel?" "how are the incisions healing?", and i pointed out Dimple Patella.  She took a good look at it and spent extra time massaging it out.  Her thoughts were that it is scar tissue from my gracilis that's adhering.  So after a 5 minute bike session, we foam rolled it in various positions.  Good thing I was the only one there because there were some funky positions to "knead" that ball o'mass out.  Unfortunately the foam roller I own is too firm, so I can only do it at my sessions.  I'll just have to manually massage it on my days off.  haha, i consider days of PT my work days.  The exciting news was that when i did tummy work, she was able to bend my knee further down...4 more inches until my heel will touch my booty!  It's getting so close!  The total gym squat incline increased so I'm about 45 degrees up from the ground.  After 3 sets of 10, she had me side step 2 long lines, 1 line leading with my left leg and one line leading with the right.  Some muscles were definitely woken up from those.  By the time I was doing my stool scoots, there were 2 other clients with me.  At one point while I was scooting, I thought of how funny the situation was- there's me scooting along the carpet on a stool, a woman sweeping the carpet, and a man doing squats against the wall with an exercise ball on his back.  We were like one big physically challenged family, like Liza Minelli's wedding party.  After that funny thought, I glanced at all the lil toys for occupational therapy when I took a break from scootin': play-doh very similiar to nickelodeon gack, a golf club, a bunch of colored straps, baseball... i wouldn't have been surprised if i saw a koosh ball.  Scooting is still tough to do, but it was a lil easier than when I did it last Friday.  I went back to the table and did planks for the first time, held 3 for 30 seconds.  The knee was fine while holding them.  Did the balance board exercises, then the step up step downs (added more height similar to the height of the following pic)

stepping up my game.  literally.

Last but not least was the treadmill!  I felt like I was learning how to walk all over again.  We mostly concentrated on no limping and distributing the weight evenly, especially keeping my hips aligned when looking straight forward.  I was happy after the session, and the tunes of Destiny's Child, Lady Gaga, Shakira, and Alicia Keys helped me out.  I was stellar on the balance board because "survivor" came on.  It's amazing how much music can motivate you during a workout.  I think I want to get a fitness first balance board, I really like the challenge of balancing on that thing, not only does it strengthen the knee, but it works the abs too!  Kim gave me the okay to add the treadmill to my workout, but start off at 2.0.  just call me speed racer!

When I got home, I got comfy for something that I'd indulge in for the rest of the day: a Korean drama called "Boys before Flowers".  Steven had suggested it to me after I told him that I have a lot of free time.  So I hulu'd it, 25 episodes.  Got through 3 of them until Sharon came over alone with some leftover chinese food from her nephew's baptism.  Anyhoo, here are stills of my fav quotes from the drama:

I coulda told her that!

hellz yeah

I love that while a lot of my friends were rockin it out live to Lady Gaga, I had my eyes glued to that drama.  Anyhoo, back to the shoe talk, I can't wait to wear heels again.  When Shar came, we watched the premiere of Bethenny Ever After.  Similar to Guiliana and Bill's reality show but add in a baby.  Since coming home from PT I had been massaging the mass on the back of my knee.  If that wasn't there, I feel like I would have more movement.  When Kim mentioned that it could be a build up of scar tissue, I got more anal about massaging it.  So that's what I've been doing it all day.  Man, there were a lot of "that's what sheee said" moments in those past couple of sentences.  Gonna do a couple more hip exercises then gonna call it a night, maybe catch a lil more of the mama drama.  Pray that Dimple Patella and the mass go down...

update pic: post op day 19...straight up bird leg now

 

Sunday Funday

hours of sleep: 4, ruh row
i woke up in a sweat that made me feel icky, so i did what anyone else would do... I took a bubble bath, hehe.

ahhh, looks so relaxing, right?  until I had to figure out a way to not get lefty wet

I always need something playing in the background, so turned on the radio to 105.9, they usually have some soft jams on.  the first song that came on the radio was Sarah Mclachlan's "Angel".  First thing that came to mind was the ASPCA commercials. Especially Nathaniel the kitten with a cast on his right paw who was never loved and left to die.  I get so emo when I see those commercials.  Vince thinks the animals are actors.  I don't believe it because why would a cat be put in a cast?  Unless they paid him real well.  on second thought...

seran wrapped knee resting on bath tub rack/caddy

The bath was great, so relaxing.  Afterwards, I undid my knee dressings.  This is the best time to carefully examine the incisions and peel off the dead dark skin. It was like shedding my exoskeleton.  It didn't hurt at all.  It reminded me of that scene in the movie "The Craft" where Neve Campbell had all those burns and she got them scraped off after a spell was put on her.  I wonder what happened to Neve.  Anyhoo, after i pulled "the craft", put some triple antibiotic AKA neosporin on the spots.  Dimple Patella is still there but I've gotten used to her.  After coming out of the bathroom I saw the bright sun beam through my curtains.  Just that site gives me a natural high.  so I got a lil shot of energy and decided to wash my beddings along with the other hoodies/shorts/leg warmers from my february wardrobe.

The weirdest thing happened while i was laying on my naked bed (not to be confused with on my bed naked) while doing laundry: i found a random cat hair!  i don't even own a cat or stuffed animal cat!  nathaniel? Vince said that even if the animals were actors, they probably aren't alive anymore.  Is Nathaniel in my presence?  I blew the cat hair away like an eyelash wish.

(later afternoon) Not feeling too hot right now.  I'm having these hot flashes when for the past couple of days I've been freezing.  Hope nothing's developing.  Or maybe it's because I decided to take a hot bubble bath at 5am. Is there an appropriate time to take a bubble bath time?  haha, i just said "bubble bath time" in my head like how the jersey shore boys would say "tshirt toooooime!"  it's bubble bath tooooime!

I've been watching a lot of basketball wives.  The thing that annoys me the most is Eric Williams' teeth.  there's just so big, and out there....look!  And it was just towards the end of the season that I found out Jenn is owner of flirty girl fitness!  wouldn't have thunk it.

Okay, knee talk.  Kim told me to practice being on my feet an hour a day.  Could be split up in increments.  I can see how being on them for a while can make my knee sore though.  So if I feel like i've been standing for a while, i'll compensate on the bed by laying down and lifting my leg straight up.  I feel like I have the ability to bend it all the way but it just won't happen.  Especially in the bath tub, I felt like I was moving around like spiderwoman trying to move my leg around and not getting it wet.  It was actually funny now that I think about it.  Kinda like break dancing when you do that leg move like an egg beater

me in the bath tub, minus the spectators

I did my daily biking while watching the red carpet and beginning of the oscars.  There's a different vibe this year, just a lot more young and techy.    Here's who looked amazeballs:

-Mila Kunis

-Mandy Moore

-Jennifer Hudson

-Natalie Portman

-Reese Witherspoon

-Michelle Williams' hair
-Halle Berry
-Trent Reznor
-the bottom of Hilary Swank's dress
-James Franco's smile
-the way Natalie's baby daddy released her onto the stage from the stairs

what annoyed me:

-Melissa Leo's undid hair during her speech

-Nicole Kidman's dress and bangs

-Scar Jo's hair

-Cate Blanchett's dress, looked like a boat window

-Gwyneth's singing face
-the dude Scar Jo was clinging onto on the red carpet
-how Celine Dion has the ability to make me tear up.  she luuuuurves to do that to people
-the P90X choir at the end...they were great but couldn't they have gotten better shirts?

I still have this killer headache so not so aggressive with exercises today.  Occasionally I have been bending my knee to see how much I can bend it like beckham.  It went far after I got done biking.  Have PT again in the morning tomorrow.  Otherwise, I'm gonna fall asleep to the end of the Oscars.  I really need to get this lack of sleep thing in check.  so frustrating!  I think that's the cause of this lingering headache.  Wish me luck in getting a good night's sleep :o)

update pic: post op day 18

happy saturday!

Hours of sleep: 6, woot woot!
woke up this morning and tried to see how far i could bend my leg while laying on my back.  While doing so, I palpated something rather disturbing that i started to discover last night.  I described it to Vince and we named it last night... meet "Dimple Patel(la)" (She's Indian)

see the dimple?

It's right on the edge of my big hematoma, I have a feeling it may be something permanent.  But I'll see it as a beautiful battle scar.  I've always wanted a dimple!  The weather has been disgustamundo, I stayed in bed and decided to update my address book on the mac daddy.  It ended up taking a long time, got kind of annoying but was determined to finish it.  Even though I got the okay to drive, it's so uncomfortable doing it with the big robobrace on.  Driving less than a half mile to PT is bearable.  I got another bill in the mail, it's amazing how much the lil things cost!  lab work, diagnostic tests, anesthesia supplies, pharmacy, venipuncture...ay dios mio!  This knee is expensive!  With that and PT, this is gonna cost an..... WHOLE LEG!  Watched tv while trying to nap it up, but of course that didn't work out.  So I played more tetris.  I broke 100,000!  After my right hand got cramped up, moved on to the leg warmers.  I finally finished them!  

flower flair added

Since my wardrobe has consisted of shorts/leg warmers/baggy pants for the past 3 weeks, I decided to try on a pair of jeans.  It was amazing how tight the right leg was and how baggy the left leg was!  My poor right leg has worked so hard compensating for the lack of work lefty has been doin the last couple of weeks.  To get out of the pants, I had to back up out of them by pulling them down and doing the moonwalk out of the leg pants as they stayed on the ground.  The technique was pretty funny.  I have to admit I was so lazy today, but finally got myself to do my exercises early night time.  I tried out the seated bike because someone was on the other bike.  Was able to get up to resistance 8 for about 15 minutes.  Proceeded with floor work to get the hip muscles activated, along with upper body work.  Ended the session with another 15 minutes on the other bike while watching Entertainment tonight, it was their oscar special.  I think lefty enjoyed the workout.  To spice things up, I added a new step.  Literally!  Yesterday at PT we did some steps onto a low platform.  I don't own a platform, but I do have my old nursing textbooks!

I knew my med-surg book would be good for something!

I have to work on putting more weight on the outside of my leg.  Before the surgery, I was so used to the instability on the outside of my leg so I put more weight on the inside of my leg.  I guess I got accustomed to that feeling because Kim noticed my knee go inwards as I took a step up.  Gotta remember that I now have a new and improved knee that can withstand all!  Next week I will be starting treadmill work.  That should be interesting because I'm just now getting comfortable not walking like a horse.  Ended the night keeping Vince awake on the phone as he was road trippin to and fro San Diego.  I think we sang at least 10 different songs in about 1/2 an hour (gotta love mixes).  But if there was a break in music, he'd revert to Mario's "Just a Friend", and "Let me love you", and now I can't get them out of my head!  My voice is kinda hoarse.  Okedokes, I'm calling it a night as I watch da Bulls.  Oh, speaking of da Bulls, caught an episode of the real housewives of Miami before gymin it up and Scottie Pippen's wife is one of the girls!  They have a bunch of kids, but I must say the youngest girl is the cutest of them all.  Let's just say the rest look like Scottie.  Oscars tomorrow, can't wait to see the hairstlyes, dresses, and James Franco!  Anyhoo, cheers to lazy Saturdays!

post op day 17 update pic

TGIF! It's a new day

Hours of sleep: 5.5
I shouldn't have eaten all that cheese last night.  But it was so good at the time!  So I know I packed up the CPM yesterday after coming home from my appointment.  But I went through some withdrawal!  I reset it up on the floor last night and fell asleep in it.  I guess I did have a sentimental connection to it because it did a lot for the knee the first couple days post op.  I think I have closure now, A couple more minutes in this thing until I officially pack it up.

Purv and I woke up pretty early, she left to get her day started but we planned to meet next week to work on some of her bridal crafts.  My eyelids look amazing!  This is when I want to do my eye makeup where there's actually a spot to apply eyeshadow, hehe.  Medsource came to pick up CPM, it was a tough good bye but we got through it.

C(PM) ya later!

To be honest, I'm kinda nervous about driving.  My PT is so close to me but in order to get there I still have to make this big rainbow by going onto 16th street then turning back to 15th street because there's no direct street on 15th.  (I live on 15th).  If only there was a small path through the parking lot and hole in the fence, i could easily crutch my way there!  So close yet so far away...

I'm now starting to see tetris games when I close my eyes, is that a sign that I'm playing too much?

(mid afternoon)  PT was great!  Here are some goals that set for my rehab thus far:

Kim was excited that I actually got to drive myself.  We went over how my appt went yesterday and she told me all about her restaurant week experience at Tapas Valencia.  She said their camarero used to work at Mercat (my fav tapas place) and that the head chef there was the winner of a chef show, can't remember which one.  After our massage/talk session, biked for 10min but this time she tested my resistance, I was able to get up to level 6.  Next up was the total gym squats, then table work.  we skipped the usual hip exercises and did clam shells with a resistance band around my thighs.  Got up to do calf raises, then did step work.  Also scooted forward on a stool.  That was tough!  Really put into perspective how much more strength my hamstring needs to regain.  My favorite is going on the balance board!  after 2 minutes balancing side to side and 2 minutes fwd backward, I stood on the left leg for 2 sets of 30sec.  that was no prob.  The session ended with Kim saying that I can decrease my visits to twice a week once I can touch my heel to my butt!  Had a nice icing session to top it off. mmm, icing.

my goal: the three's company flamingo stance, same leg!  I coulda sworn it was chrissy that did this stance, but Vince said this was the time when Suzanne Summers was having contract issues, he meeeeeeans...

our Thai lunch

I had lunch with Jenny today, we did thai at opart, so yummers!  We had a nice time catching up, and then did some shopping!  First time in a month.  We hit up michaels first where i fulfilled my craft/baking needs, then world market where we just hung out in the food and candy section, then finally whole foods just to see if there were free samples.  There was only one guy serving samples but they must've been still cooking bc when i made eye contact with him, I thought he'd ask us if we'd like to try a sample.  Instead, he was like, "surgery?  ACL?"  i was like, "yeah!"  then he told me about how he injured his knee playing soccer, had to have ACL repair too,  that it was 3 years ago, that it'll get better, and that his blood type was.... just kidding.  After that mini convo, Jenny and I still didn't know what he was serving samples of.  Why is whole foods so expensive?  I remember when I took my mom there for the first time, it was like I took her to a club.  Just in awe of how expensive everything was, was more like disgusted.  I don't know what I was thinking bringing someone who is all about bargains to a place that is completely opposite of her budget mindset.  The fun part of whole foods was the gift card section.  They had cards that had sayings like, "muchos wheatgracias", "dough", "just for the halibut".  So clever!  Targhee was our last spot, i miss that store so much but I was able to control myself by only purchasing oreos and that extra dessert specialty gum (strawberry cheesecake).  I got my first kid stare at targhee, he looked at my leg with such fear.  I smiled back without looking like a creeper...

Came back home late afternoon and got comfy after being on my feet for a while.  I relaxed and watched some tv.  It's so empty with the CPM gone but it gives me more room on the bed for my crafts.  I finished the leg warmers but still have some finishing touches to do.  Here's what we got so far-

stems will be added

Today turned out to be a great Friday!  Made good advancements at PT, and was able to get out with a good friend.  It was a happy day that made up for my emo state yesterday.  I am officially tired.  The weekend is approaching, I am going to attempt to flamingo!

post op day 16 update pic

day of 1st post op appointment

hours of sleep: almost 5!
Just got back home from the post op appointment.  After I woke up, played some tetris and then whipped up some treats to drop off to the NICU since I was gonna be at Galter anyways.  The appointment was at 9:45.  My mom and I left at a good time but traffic was horrible near the hospital so I was almost late.  But just like right before the surgery, with forgetting my insurance card (i brought my triple A card instead!), leaving my wallet in the car, and then being slightly late to check in, I still had to wait in the room before I was actually seen!  In the room I immediately took off my brace leg warmer, and did some last minute exercises. Like when a guy does a bunch of push-ups before he takes his shirt off in front of people, hehe.  I warmed up the knee by massaging and loosening up the patella.  Took off the little tegaderms covering the stitches, then scoped the skin closely.  I noticed my leg hairs were starting to grow back so I started plucking the lil guys with my fingers.  When I get nervous i tend to do things like that- pick at things, hairs, the dead skin around my cuticles... (not my nose though)  I was anticipating how she was going to take out the sutures.  Also, I wanted the leg to look presentable.  Shaving my legs only happens a couple times a year because my hair doesn't grow out that fast.  I'm thinking that with the cold and my leg being exposed the majority of the time, my hairs were starting to grow at a quick speed.  While nervously picking at the lil leg hairs, I could hear an employee right outside my door speaking loudly.  I couldn't block her voice out, she mentioned having to have her weave tightened and how she has 3 daughters who all get their hair done every 2 weeks.  With my interest in hair didding and all, I couldn't stop listening.  Maybe they had some tips!  So the lady she was conversating with said, "they're gonna be divas!" and the other lady said she took them to get their nails done for the first time.  I heard her say that one of the girls was 12.  Therefore the mom made them divas at a young age.  Then I looked at my nails :o).  Am I a diva?  Anyhoo, after a long wait and eavesdropping, Dr. Edwards finally came in.  The first thing she did was scope the leg (not like arthroscope, but visualize externally).  Said that that was the most bruising she's seen after 2 weeks on a patient but I had to tell her that I'm an easy bruiser (despite a platelet count that's WNL), tried to make it feel like I was unique.  I had her feel the nubbin behind the knee and gave her quick report on it- how it was ginormous the 1st week, then went down slowly, but is still kinda firm.  She looked and felt and said it was a big hematoma that should go away.  My color and circulation is fine on the LLE so there was no fear of a blood clot.  The next thing she did was the maneuver that her and Dr. Merk did prior to surgery that confirmed the tear.  When she did it there was no popping or clicking.  woot woot!  We took off the steristrips and saw that the top of my long vertical incision was still oozy, but to let it air out whenever I can.  She took out my stitches and put steristrips over those incisions.  The only part that hurt was when she pulled the stitch up with the forceps to get a good amount of it up to snip with the scissors.  Here's the aftermath:

adios stitches!  (they're those lil guys down at the bottom)

I got the okay to ditch the CPM machine because my movement is good, and that I could drive as long as there's no pain meds in my system.  YAAAAY!  She was happy with the note Kim wrote, and was glad I was enjoying biking.  My next follow up with her is in 6 weeks.  Basically she said it's now up to Kim to decide how much longer I need to wear the brace, but Dr. Edwards guesstimated about 1.5 weeks more to wear it.  Once I can do a squat with the left leg only, I should be okay without the brace.  I'm looking forward to the day I can wear pants again.  When I walked out back to the lobby, I chuckled in my head because of the amount of assisted devices I saw in the waiting area.  Walking casts, leg braces, slings, canes... you name it?  I saw it.  Well, not really, there were no halo braces, which scare the bejeibers outta me.  justin beiber.  I headed to prentice to drop off the treats.  There are times at work where we need a lil pick-me-up, and it's always the best feeling to see treats in the lounge.  The unit was busy so I was only able to catch a couple of friends.  When my mom came to pick me up, got service back on my phone and immediately called the Medsource company to schedule a pickup time for CPM.

Now that I have more room on my bed (just packed up CPM), yarn and thread have taken over.  I had an epiphany the other night with Sharon and Lis on how since I can't wear pants, I have to suffice with leg warmers.  Then the thought of knitting leg warmers was brought up!  I'm gonna attempt today.

(fast fwd to late night)  Currently watching jersey shore with Purv and Lis.  I was able to finish knitting one leg warmer, will finish its pair tomorrow.  The rest of the day was blah, got kinda emotional just because I had too much time to think and got sensitivo about some things.  you know how you have those days?  this was one of them... Just had a lot on my mind that all came together, so I just let it all out.  snot included.  had a nice crying session to the point of sob session to the point of icing the eyes to get the puffiness down and relief for the sinus headache.  Only iced to the point of slight puffiness because I kinda like the feeling of having eyelids.  Luckily good friends decided to come over, taking my mind off of things.  Lis came first and she biked with me upstairs when it was halftime for the Bulls game.  It felt good getting the knee loosened up as we watched the office and parts of parks and recreation.  I really like Aziz Ansari.  Vince sent me this funny link of him:  Aziz Ansari  Anyhoo, check out the knee in action!

gotta be at or above 125 degrees

Came back to watch the last half of a very exciting bulls game!  Attempted to watch the game while ice packing my eyes, so i alternated the pack over one eye by securing it with a headband, pirate style.  With all the excitement we thought it was reason to order ourselves some dominos sprinkled with samosas that Lis had picked up.  Here's what the perfect dinner looks like

Inditalian dindin

Purv came a lil later and we chilled like the babysitters club minus a 4th girl.  Lis finally read this blog and ended up writing comments on the posts but under my name!  I didn't realize that it could only post from registered bloggers...sowwy!  So I fixed the situation and we ain't talkin' Jersey Shore.  So comment away friends!  That I way I feel like I'm reaching out to people!  Back to the end of the night- comfort food, friends, and useless reality tv (jersey shore) are definitely the solution to getting out of a funk.  Purv ended up sleeping over, just like the old days in h.s., and of course living together for 4 years at good ol' loyola!

The day ended great, I hope tomorrow brings more happiness.  CPM is scheduled to be picked up between 8 and 9am, then PT.  Goal is to finish the leg warmers tomorrow.  peace out yo!

day 14 knee pic

Happy 2 weeks!

Hours of sleep: 4
I can't believe that 2 weeks ago right at this moment Purv and I were speeding back to her place in a cab because I couldn't find my wallet/ID case that wasn't even needed.  That situation was part of the reason why I was hypertensive once I got admitted.  I have cilantro breath.  I blame it on Fernando the waiter from last night- when you tell me there's a dish that comes with unlimited tacos, I mean serious business.  So I'm not surprised with this breath after about 10.5 tacos.

I still have this feeling in my knee where when I attempt to bend it after it has been straight for a while, it feels like there's one big horizontal incision on the front of my patella that's trying to close up, but bending it will make it open up again.  I don't even have an incision in that spot...must be the phantom pain I'm feeling.  That feeling is so odd, I can't wait til it goes away.  It's like there's extreme tightness all around my patella.  Vince compares my new parts and squeakiness to Henry from the Oscar-worthy classic, "Rookie of the Year".  When Henry gained his super powers, everytime he was about to release the ball for a pitch, there was a big squeak in his shoulder.

My knee has that squeaky feeling, I'm hoping my squeaks are positive ones, being that my ligament is from a superhero. or superheroine.  I asked Kim what she knew about cadaver ligaments and she basically said they try to match it up by age and size of the person.  I wonder what kind of music he/she listened to.  I wish I could've watched my surgery to see how exactly things were done.  Of course, I wouldn't want to feel it, just watch it.  Kay, gonna attempt to sleep again, have PT at 10:30am.

(later afternoon) Was able to nap about 30min before PT.  why?  because I decided to did my nails:

attempted flowers that ended up looking like cherries.  This is the most ghetto I've done my nails since jr. high...

10:15am- headed to PT.  Same deal, things were starting to get redundant.  We added 2 new exercises and now I am biking with the seat lower, forcing me to bend my knee even more while pedaling.  Kim took measurements.  The first was the girth around my patella area.  It was funny because I was picturing my knee sucking in.  measurement was around 35 3/4cm.  2 weeks ago it measured 38 1/4cm.  How funny would it be if the first time it measured 36, then 24... (36...only if she's 5'3" i like big butts).  Anyhoo, she measured the degree of bending naturally as i sat up and brought my knee up without the help of my hands.  123 degrees.  When laying on my tummy, i did 10 heel to butt pulls with the stretch band.  Naturally, I was able to bring my knee to my butt with an angle measurement of 125 degrees.  After all that, I sat up and dangled my legs to the side as she tested my muscle strength by doing resistance tests.  From dangling, I went to standing facing the padded table that I do the exercises on.  she raised the bed up to a lil lower than my hips and had me do calf raises.  Easy as pie because I have this weird habit of standing on my toes when i do the dishes.  Did 2 sets of 20, then headed to the ballet bar where i had to stand on a fitness first wooden piece (balance board). It's like a karate chopping piece of wood.  hiyyyyy-yah!  hehe, like what Miss Piggy screams when she gets in a fight trying to defend Kermie.  I did pretty well with balancing on it side to side for 2 minutes, and forward and backward for 2 minutes.  Kim faxed all the measurements and a lil summary to Dr. Edwards so she'd have a heads up for my appointment tomorrow morning.

In the afternoon we celebrated my Auntie Lyn's bday at the condo.  Her daughter, Valerie, was in town from NYC.  My mom used to babysit her back in the day.  Mom cooked a buttload of food!  I contributed the guac complete with the seed.

spicy pork chops, black pepper short ribs, chicken afritada, pinacbet, palabok, egg rolls, empanada, smelts, and rice

We ended the cuisine with casava bibinka, mango, mandarine oranges, rice krispie treats, and pecan tarts.  That's just how we roll.  Watched some jeopardy, inside edition, and local news as the food coma set in.

the silver and golden girls (me, Auntie Rose, Auntie Charito, mom, Valerie, Auntie Lyn).  Auntie Charito was distracted by the news about the stock market

After our guests left, I CPM'd for a lil bit and realized the premiere of america's next top model cycle 16 was gonna be on!  My upstairs gym has limited channels on the tvs, luckily the CW is one of them!  so I unstrapped myself from the machine and headed up there to bike while watching the rest of ANTM as well as Modern Family. (how funny was the mall massage scene?)  Watching TV distracts me from what my knee is trying to do.  I set the seat lower and increased the resistance.  Being on the bike that long reminded me of why i HATE spinning at the gym!  Maybe I should invest in those padded biker shorts bc biking is going to be my BFF for a while.  Biking is what my knee likes the most.  I think that when it's in constant motion, the little muscles are waking up and realizing they need to get straight to business again.  It's the position changes (getting out of bed after a couple hours, being on feet for a while then getting into bed, standing in one position for a while then starting to walk again) that aggravate lefty.  When I came back to 809, my mom had left a lil grocery bag in my room which contained the following:

SC&OH shmack!

It reminds me of the time when Purvi said she loved socks in h.s.  Soooo, every gift she got after that statement was a pair of socks, any style.  I'm physically exhausted now, hoping for a good nights sleep for realz.  I know i said that last night but i can actually feel my eyelids getting droopy.  I'm glad I'm feeling like this, hope I can sleep until my alarm goes off tomorrow.  Then it's the 1st legit post op appointment with Dr. Edwards!  Can't wait to get the stitches out and hear what she says about driving, getting rid of the CPM machine, and my overall progress and what she sees me doing in the near future.  Kinda glad all my incisions are cut vertically, means my leg will look skinnier, hehe.  On that note, gonna fall asleep to the series finale of MTV's "I used to be fat".  Hopefully I'll be able to keep in my tears.  Good night!

post op day 14 

POST OP day 13

# of hours of sleep: 3
This no sleep thing is getting old.  So is the snow.  So is the CPM.  When I first started with the machine, I had to let it warm up at 25-50 degrees for a couple of minutes.  Now I can start right at 90degrees and easily progress to 110.  I'm going to ask Dr. Edwards if I can stop using that so the medical company can pick it up already.  The floor on the left side of my bed is one big eletrical mess with all the cords.  Would be nice to finally get one big piece of knee flare outta here.  It's been a nice ride but someone else can have it now.  I have that mentality where I think I can do things like a normal walking person.  I'm like that player injured on the sidelines who wants to play.  i.e. driving, i think i'm okay to drive, but i really shouldn't because I don't know how supportive my left leg will be because I'm just now starting to bend it comfortably.  This is exactly how I felt when I had my surgery in h.s.  It was at the end of gymnastics season/start of badminton season.  By the time I was off of crutches with more movement in my knee, it was conference finals time for badminton. I still went to the practices and meets to cheer and watch.  Had to rock the roboleg that whole time (i either was real dressy for school rocking a long dress, or super sporty wearing shorts).   Come open gym time, I'd hop on the court and hit some birdies, but it took many people to tell me to stop before i actually stopped hitting.  Badminton is considered a cutting sport (along with tennis and soccer), and Dr. Edwards said I can't attempt any of that until 9 months post op. that's a whole pregnancy!  I have to remember that I'm not even 2 weeks post op.  It's so tough for me to take it easy.

Has anyone else noticed that Oprah's really into the transgendered during her final season. a 7 year old?

Early afternoon I headed up to the 15th floor gym and ended up staying there for almost 2 hours!  Didn't plan it.  The bike is getting easier to pedal, so I got in a zone while watching tv.  My plan was to do my floor exercises after that.  It's amazing how fast the leg stiffens up.  Right when i got off the bike, my leg was forced to straighten out to walk.  As I got down to the mat, the easiest way to get my knee to bend again was to put both my hands around it and allow my leg to bend while being comforted by the hands.  That's my new trick.  I think that because of the lack of sleep in combo with the foamy flat mat, I almost fell asleep between exercises while listening to my tunes.  Good thing nobody was in the room with me bc they'd think i'm a lazy bum.  But there is a lil camera on the ceiling to allow the guys in the lobby to see what's goin on.  so I had to remember that.  no falling asleep at the gym.  The leg is definitely decreasing in size (muscle and swelling) so my skin doesn't know how to get back to normal just yet.  It always feels dry, shiny, and tingly, no matter how much i moisturize it.  Still feel tingling but not as much as I was feeling before.  I'm about to take a nap to make up for the lack of sleep last night, to prepare me for a GGWild outing (granada girls gone wild AKA my close friends from loyola).  We'll be enjoying restaurant week tonight at Zocalo!  Catcha later tonight and wish me luck on a nice nap!

(7hrs later) So i didn't really nap.  Ended up making some treats (chocolate covered pretzels/lollipops) for the girls, and got ready.  I joined twitter too.  But I didn't have time to really get into it bc it was already time to get ready for dinner.  Btw, it's not as hard to take a shower now, I put tegaderm on all the incisions and wrap seran wrap tightly.  Each day it gets easier to move my knee, making ADLs a lot easier!  Anyhoo, met up with the girls at Zocalo for restaurant week.  But we weren't too impressed with the set menu so a couple of us opted for the unlimited taco dish!  here's a taste of our dindin:

guac trio that was served with tortilla chips, plantains, and some other veggie chip

unlimited tacos!  this was the 1st of my 3 plates :o)

most of the GGWild crew (fr. top left clockwise- Neha, Sibyl, Lisa, Purv, me, Katie)

It's always a great time getting together with these girls just to vent, catch up, and be silly...we pretty much closed the restaurant down, but what else is new.  Fernando (our waiter) thought we were weird.  I'm back at home now and I feel a good nights sleep on the prowl.  Here's the daily knee pic to end today's blogging:

happy dirty thirty to my bestie, Cheryl, out in Oregon!

POST OP day 12

Hours of sleep last night: 4.
Woke up at the buttcrack AGAIN.  watched me some "i used to be fat" on MTV.  Does anyone else cry while watching that show?  I'm so proud of those guys for reaching their goal weight with such a limited amount of time.  They all seem to throw up though.  There was even an episode with a girl named Kirsten!  Reminded me of the days when i was so chubby that my mom had to buy elastic jeans because I couldn't fit into the ones that actually buttoned :o(.  That's probably why I'm a jean junkie now.  Proceeded to watch some Oprah with guest Celine Dion.  She showed her new twins (not those twins).  She sure luuuuuurves them.  Oprah surprisingly was not wearing Christian Louboutins on her buniony feet.  While Oprah was on, I redid my bed mostly to readjust the egg crate mattress.  Before the surgery i dug it up from under my bed and during the struggle of pulling it out from under, one of the bed legs got in the way, tearing the mattress in the middle.  but the outer part remained intact

a crack in the eggshell mattress!  isn't it ironic?  dontcha think?

On todays agenda: scheduled session with Kim at 10:30am.  I never really got into describing her.  She's awesome, a fellow south looper.  She provides me with little tips here and there.  i.e. how to ace bandage properly- figure 8 style as opposed to wrapping from bottom up tourniquet style.  Also, she told me i could wash the foam cushion of my knee brace AND ace bandage!  i did that the day after i had bled all over it.  It's still such a hassle to put that thing on, but at least it's clean.  And the initial ace bandage I had was so high tech- velcro instead of those dangerous 2 clips.  Kim just had a baby girl named Reese 3 months ago (random factoid, i was born at micheal REESE hospital).  Homegirl only gained 28lbs during her pregnancy yet her baby was over 7lbs!  she must've been one of those cute preggos who's all belly.  she definitely knows how to rock black patent leather danskos. her social security number is....just kidding.  There's a guy who has sessions the same time i do.  When Kim leaves us alone I'm so tempted to ask him, "what are YOU in for?", like something jailbait would ask.  He does a lot more total body stuff.  One time he wore these shiny shorts and was doing exercises on the ball.  I was busy doin my thing looking up at the ceiling until I heard this weird rubbery struggle sound.  the poor guy fell off the ball d/t his slippery shorts!  we all laughed it off, he said he was not gonna wear slippery shorts anymore. Oh man, I hope he doesn't wear cotton spandex at the next session.

today's knee...less swelling and bruising!

Today's therapy was another good one, I came out with such a high.  The new thing for today was that I got the okay to ditch one crutch.  The secret is that I've been walking around without crutches since Friday just to regain stable gait and weight distribution, I didn't tell her.  She did another great job today and it's so encouraging to hear her talk about my progress.  We even got into discussing baking, with a focus on cake balls and oreo truffles, yum!  No worries, not a girl crush.  But I don't think that it helped that I wore this shirt:

We did the usual exercises, this time it only took about a minute until i was able to consistently pedal on the stationary bike forward.  The most painful exercise, by far, is when I'm laying on my tummy doing knee bends to my butt.  She puts a rope around my foot and has me pull the other end forward to bring my left heel towards my booty, 10 total.  After that she takes over and pushes my leg down as far as it goes.  I have to take a big deep breath before she does that so upon exhale, that's when she pushes down.  Almost an "Ahhhh, Kelly Clarkson!" moment, only much slower.  Hurts like a mofo, but it hurts so good.  Towards the end of the set when she was doing the maneuvering, I actually felt part of her hand touching the back of the thigh, that's the most bendage i've had post surgery!  We did squats on the total gym machine (think pilates pulley station where you're laying on the rowing pad), today she raised the angle so i'm up more.  Last Friday I was angled more close to the ground.  I guess the goal is to do standing squats, but i still have a ways to go because I'm not relying on a lot of my body weight for resistance.  Ended the session icing while I chatted with 2 real sweet older ladies.  They were both wearing pastel velour gym suits as they walked in with their walkers.  so cute!  Because of my ginormous brace, the lady with the baby blue velour suit thought I hurt myself real bad, she was so concerned for me.  But i told her it was the brace that makes it look scary.

I finally found a website that sells sour cream and onion powder! stinky part is that there's MSG in it. not a fan of puffy face.  Luckily when Diony came to pick me up from PT, she presented me with the following.  She said to save one just to smell when I'm craving again.  I'm still interested in ordering the SC&O sprinkle to have it PRN.

i hope i don't scrape my palate with these as i ingest them furiously

Later in the night Shar, Lis, and I hit up Triad sushi lounge in the south loop.  It was the first time to debut the one crutch look.  Too bad the sidewalks were so slippery so my style wasn't too pretty, especially when we walked past the entrance thinking it was around the corner, even though we made eye contact with the workers.  Could feel the employees staring at us walk aimlessly, the one crutch definitely added to their entertainment.  I was thinking that maybe I could use a cane instead and bedazzle it or add a colorful scarf like steven tyler.  Anyhoo, here's a lil taste of our scrumptious dindin that was super crunchy:

this is how we roll (phoenix, red dragon, and volcano rolls)

Udon tempura

couldn't get enough tempura, so we ordered more

Chinatown Square for dizzert!  Despite the chilly weather, we still managed to handle the coldest items on the dessert menu.  It was a great way to end the day, even though it was frickin cold out, was nice to be in a different setting.  Gotta enjoy every opportunity I get to bust outta 809!

happy president's day!

FML (fork my life)

A Loopy moment in post op history:

I never elaborated on the buttload of food Shar and Lis came over with from Cosi catering. It included fajita pitas, southwest salad complete with tortilla strips and a tangy salad dressing, and marinated shrimp on skewers.  The following day, I ate the southwest salad after PT.  Busted out a plastic fork because I didn't feel like washing dishes.  I was so excited as i sprinkled the tortilla strips for garnishing. Drizzled the tangy dressing which had an ingredient that Shar's company provided (http://www.customculinary.com/...they even have cilantro oil!).  I took a big bite making sure there were some tortilla strips mixed into that bite.  Started chewing and realized I was chewing awfully hard on this particular bite.  I figured I was fighting some real hard/overbaked tortilla strips.  I was gmail chatting at the same time, so i didn't pay attention to when I put the fork back in the bowl.  When I went to pick the fork up for another bite, I noticed the 2 inner "prongs" of the fork were missing.  Then I felt something inside the pocket of one of my molars.  Picked at it with my finger only to pull out a mini white particle.  Then I put 2 and 2 together- I ate the 2 prongs!  Luckily my bowels weren't affected.  Fork my life! 

...just another loopy moment in post op history

POST OP day 11

Today is the day that I finally created my blog!!!  It's a lil overdue but better late than never, right?  It's a great way to make the time fly because i HATE reading and i really need to stop watching tv.  I woke up a lil before 6am after falling asleep at 2am.  Not being able to go back to sleep, that's when i decided to start this thing, hence all these posts made on 2.20.11 (i had "journalled" on my gmail account and just saved the entries as drafts until i figured out how to blog).  The process was fairly easy, I chose a background that kinda looked like red blood cells.  It was called, "loopy" how appropriate!  After getting this started, I got so excited, I even curled my eyelashes and put on mascara today!  Gotta look good for CPM and troll mat hehe.  Thank you readers for getting this far, I appreciate everyone's love and support.  Any sort of message/text/phone call/visit is encouraging and makes me happy.  As you read this, please disregard parts that make absolutely NO sense, it could be the pain meds talkin.  Loopy fiasco.

Here's the update with the knee:  I'm having this weird phantom pain.  I know i didn't get anything taken from me, but I would imagine this is what it would feel like.  oh no, what if it's the cadaver ligament haunting me?  If so, that's a real mean joke.  It's like a tingling sensation that i'll feel every once in a while.  like prickly lil cacti on my skin.  the front of my shin is extremely sensitivo.  The skin on my shin looks like it's been affected by the betadine, still real taught/dry no matter how much lotion/oil i apply (avoiding the areas near the stitched and incisionsed, por supuesto).  And when i attempt to walk it feels like the knee is out of place, just like how the knee felt whenever it was about to rain.  I know this feeling because this is my 2nd knee surgery, I had meniscus repair back in '99 from a gymnastics injury.  Because of these weird tingles, I've been a lazy bum, putting off all exercises except hamstring flexes.  My mom is coming back to babysit me a lil later this afternoon.  I hope she brings something sour cream and onion flavored!

my 2nd BFF for the next couple of weeks

5-6:20ish pm: I had a great workout upstairs, biked for 30minutes straight pedalling forward while watching serendipity and Kate and Leopold.  It's amazing how stiff the leg gets, takes about 5minutes to finally attempt a full backward revolution.  There a couple of other people there getting their sweat on, took a while for me to get over the stinkiness by breathing through my mouth.  I'm really sensitive to nut musk and old lady perfume smells.  Ever been to the south loop xsport at 5pm on a weekday?  make sure you bring your mask!  One time Sarah and I drove west by the UC to attend a boxing class at jabb. (http://www.jabbboxing.com/home.html).  It's mostly guys who work and workout there.  When we got there and opened the door at the top of the stairs, a huge whiff of a combo of feet/sweat/feet/mold/moist hand wraps just travelled up our nares and we turned around and left.  it was that bad.  we went to eat at butterfly sushi instead.  Anyhoo, the lady on the treadmill next to me saw me get off the bike slowly and asked if I needed help.  She was real sweet, asked if i just had surgery and if it was meniscus.  i said yes and yes.  Even though I've lived in this building since '04, I still don't know many people who live in it.  Just news anchor Nesita Kwan!  So goin up there is a nice way to interact with my fellow prairie housers.  Since there are so many mirrors up there, I was able to watch myself struggle to walk normally.  i look like a horse with the way they extend their legs and step slowly... oh seabiscuit.  Normal walking will happen, it's just going to take a lot of time.  While i was up there my mom called to say she wouldn't be coming tonight because the weather is icky and she's busy making empanadas and egg rolls.  Lately she's been really goin at it with those things at home.  She asked how i was doing today with the pain status.  My main complaint was lack of sleep, she thinks I should be more consistent with my pain meds to help me get better sleep.  Even though I don't wanna, I may have to, mama knows best.  Mama also knows about my weekend craving- she already said she has the potatoes and sour cream ready to go!  i heart her.  Even my coworker Beth texted me asking if I got my sour cream and onion fix too.  I was seriously contemplating taking ladybug to targhee but I stopped myself.  I can't believe i've been trapped for almost 1.5 weeks, i guess this is what it feels like to be on bedrest.  But back to the sour cream and onion concern- I'm so blessed to have sweet and sour cream & onion people in my life!  Going to end this sunday funday by watching the all star game with Vince as he prepares his steak and eats his cool ranch

cool ranch is in the same family as sour cream and onion, he's eating for me :o)

Will fall asleep CPM-ing at 110.  Despite the weather and lack of visitors, turned out to be a good weekend!  So excited for president's day, hehe.  Honestly?  since the only thing i have planned during the week are my PT appointments, I've lost track of what day it is! Any day that I have something to go out for is an exciting day.  It's a good thing I put this eggshell mattress under my sheets even though my mattress is pillow top already.  If it wasn't there I think I'd have a pressure sore!  eww, I hated dealing with those things in nursing school.  that and assessing lochia.  eww.  


random insert-

things i miss:

*wearing pants, i only have so many legwarmers!

*driving Ladybug

*Vince

*my coworkers

*wearing heels

*walking normally

*that guy on the #3 bus who wears a long white shirt and shorts everyday no matter what the weather's like
*doing random handstands

*having a good night's sleep (more that 5 hours)

as janet jackson would say, you don't know what you got til it's gone... er joni mitchell.  For all you people out there with full range of motion, don't take it for granted!!!

series viewed and maybe seen 2+ times since 2/9:

*simple life

*laguna beach season 2

*SNL

*basketball wives

*real housewives of beverly hills, NJ, atlanta, OC

*jersey shore

*SBTB

*the office
btw, ANTM starts this wednesday, yikes!

steak's done!

post op day 11, bruising not so bad!

just kidding! this was right before i freaked out one of my building neighbors as he took a glimpse of the back of my leg.  sorry buddy!

POST OP day 10

this was a completely chill day for me.  woke up at 4am and stayed up til 9am.  napped on and off until 1pm. I guess this weird sleeping schedule doesn't matter as much because i'm not working.  but this is exactly how i slept when i was working night shift.  i fell asleep in the CPM last night but remember waking up and shutting if off completely.  Earlier in the day i kept myself busy by making little yarn flowers that i plan on putting on the hats i knitted earlier in the year.  mom is coming back tomorrow with some extra yarn we had in the house so i'm excited to mix up the color scheme with the flowers.  it's the little things.   also made some fabric flowers. 

got yarn flowers?

got fabric flowers?

Being preoccupied with flower making, I've noticed that my knee get stiff so easy if it's not moved often.  I've learned to flex my knee a lot while i'm just sitting/laying.  It was so tempting to bust out of here with the sun shining through my windows, then saw that the temp was pretty chilly, so just stayed in.  didn't even make it up to the gym.  I only like to go there when not many ppl/no ppl are there just so i don't freak ppl out with my leg and the pretty fuschia colors on it.  plus it's the weekend so i'm sure ppl were getting their sweat on on their day off.  i put off my exercising til later on in the night while all the all star game festivities were going on.  I set up my "gym" and assessed my leg.  Looking at it in the mirror really put things into perspective- my left leg is significantly smaller than my right with a whole lotta bruising.

disgusting.

After I got over the shock of how ugly my leg looked, I watched the all star weekend skills challenge, 3pt contest, and slam dunk contest while exercising with Vince on video chat.  Chad Griffin scares the hell out of me but when he smiles, it's like the most beautiful thing just happened.  He looks like the geico caveman with hair texture of Linkavich from Encino Man, pre makeover.  I think that McGee should've dunked with that little asian boy on his back to take the win.  I miss MJ.  Anyhoo, it's amazing how my MACdaddy keeps me connected with the outer world via video chat, email...don't know what i'd do without it at this time.  


Exercises were done, so Vince and I were trying to find other things to do besides watch tv.  I remember when i was little i was obsessed with playing tetris on my dad's computer.  I mentioned it to Vince and he found a link for me to play tetris.  We ended up playing til our hands cramped up.  TETRIS! (click that to play) In the meantime, knee is slowly progressing, i'm able to bear more weight on the affected leg when walking, and the swelling is down a lil.  it's amazing how attempting to walk is like learning how to walk all over again.  going heel toe is easier said than done, that's for shizzle.  the hardest part of taking a step is when i have to pick up my heel to take another step forward, my quad is super tight so i work hard to get my leg to kick upwards.  i've discovered that this whole experience is like coming home with a new baby- every hour there's something that needs to be done.  either doing simple exercises, massaging it, icing it, CPM-ing it, redressing, wrapping, rinse and repeat.  this left leg is so high maintenance!  i'm so proud of my right leg, Vince said i should go get a pedicure and have the left leg work done on the rt instead bc it deserves double the pampering!  it's been so supportive and has really backed lefty up in time of need.  Goodness I'm still craving something sour cream and onion.  does anyone know where i can get auntie annie sour cream and onion sprinkle from?  just the sprinkle?  sheesh, i wish i could just drive to target to fulfill this craving, but no driving til I get the doc's okay.  eye of the tiger.  guess i'll have to settle for mom's arroz caldo for the umpteenth day in a row.  one can only eat so much chicken.  okedokes, looking fwd to a sunday funday and hoping to get back on the bike to increase my movement!   good night!