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!

post op week 7 wrap up

I just completed my 7th week with the new ligament.  Now that I'm able to do more things, I've cut down on the blogging, hoping to do it at least once a week now.  Things have started to plateau, exercises have been about the same, just with more resistance/challenge added to them.  This week I started lunges and heel taps, all tracing each end of this asterisk:

The new exercise of the week is the elliptical!  Now instead of warming up on the bike, I can warm up 10minutes on the elliptical.  It's pretty much the same, if not, less movement with the knee, only there's more balancing act to it.  The total gym single leg squats have continued on level 10 (highest level).  I've noticed there are more squats incorporated in my session.  Not just on the total gym, but on a foam pad, on the balance board, and on the squishy side of the bosu ball.  Btw, here's what Kim was talkin about with the Bosu disclaimer not living up to its namesake ("BOth Sides Up")

"standing on platform not recommended"  heh?

Kim had me show her my ability to go up 2 flights of stairs located in the front of the facility (that rhymed!)  I got scared because there's an abandoned big room on the 2nd floor so I kinda scurried back down the stairs, Kim was impressed.  Not a fan of abandoned cold areas, too Blair Witch for me.  Once I got back to the bottom of the stairs, my heart rate was up.  I went onto the mat to do some side planks with leg lifts, and diagonal planks on the exercise ball.  Those things made me sweat!  Really works the lower abs.  Sometimes I wonder why I'm doing them as my forearms are shaking like crazy.  But Kim stresses the importance of core strength which the hip muscles contribute to.  This past week was another 6th visit check up for strength when both my legs are tested.  Interestingly, my left leg felt stronger than my right when doing the resistance tests!  The exciting news is that I'm able to touch my heel to my butt on the first try!  Besides the elliptical, the other new exercise had to do with this push and pull apparatus

I have to push this thing forward and backward, 5 laps, each lap at a faster speed.  Reminded me of when I'd mow the lawn at my parents house.  I'd imagine this is what waxing a floor would be like.  Or two handed vacuuming?  Or just pushing a real heavy cart, like at costco.  There's 20lbs total on it.  I'm thinking the weight will increase next week.  I've upgraded the treadmill walking to side stepping.  It's harder to side step facing the left side because I'm pushing off with the left leg, kinda takes some thinking to do it with good rhythm.  These side steps go along with the step overs on the bosu ball.  Right now my main worry is the little pull I feel along the outside of my left leg when I step over the bosu.  It's the IT band acting up, which may be troublesome when I start distance running again.  Finally, I end my sessions with forward lunges with 4lb medicine ball in hand going side to side with each step.

another fun pic that I get to look at when laying on my tummy on the table

chillin'....literally!  this is my fav part, the icing!

In the work world, this was the 1st week that I worked 3 full shifts.  Get this- 2 of my coworkers will be seeing Dr. Edwards!  I didn't realize there were so many ortho issues amongst the NICU!  Could our lil babes really be workin us that hard?  Anyhoo, this is what my ride home looks like on the bus afterwards, always lookin for a spot to elevate.  God bless Beth, my fellow south looper.  She let me elevate my leg on her legs.

ahhhh, relief.

On the homefront, i've been baking more.  the weather is such a debbie downer so i bake to make the atmosphere a lil more uplifting.  It distracts me from looking at the gloomy weather.  Here are my latest concoctions:

banana cranberry walnut bread

neiman marcus cookies

it's fun playing martha stewart, plus it makes my place smell super yummy.  That's all for the 7th week summary, all that's left is...you guessed it, the post op week 7 pic! 

dimple patella still there, scars still the same color... i think from now everything will look the same, only the muscles will start to come back

back into the grind at 6 weeks post op

long time no see!  it's been about a week and a half since my last post, my apologies for leaving like a one night stand.  If I recall, the last post was a sad day.  Since then, things have gotten back to its regularly scheduled program.  I started work, continue to eat a lot, and PT has cut down to 2 times a week.  Coconut misses blogging too!

Since surgery, I've learned the importance of flowers, even if you have to get them for yourself to brighten up a day!  Every day that I was stuck at home, I woke up to beautiful flowers that naturally lifted my spirits, literally!

Let's start off with being back at work- I was happy to be back with the babies, but not happy about the size of the unit (that's what sheee said).  Boy was I struggling to get out of the nursery to walk to the stock rooms and round little corners in confined spaces.  I could tell that 12 hour shifts were a bit much for a 5week post op knee.  I wore a full leg TED hose to control the fluid distribution.  Even packed my jar of cocoa butter.  But when I craved a cocoa butter scar massage, forgot that the knee was trapped under a full leg ted hose!   Walking was a bit of a struggle when I would first get up, but loosened up after a couple steps.  I sat down every moment I had a chance to, and with that, would rest the left leg on a more elevated swizzle chair.  Parents probably thought I was weird as I charted cirque de soleil style.  i wonder what Soleil Moon Frye is up to lately.  Anypunkybrewster, I forgot what the last couple of hours during my shift felt like- extremely tired eyes that cause minor headaches.  But I also blame my hair buns/ponytails.  So it was kinda my fault to schedule back to back 12 hour shifts because come the second day, lefty hated me.  It was swollen, sore, and indented where the scars were.  Won't be doing 3 in a row for a while, not until the end of April.  Thank God I had 4 days off after those back to back shifts.  So here's how lefty celebrated being off:

watched some march madness with Shar at Krolls (south loop bar  I always wanted to go to) along with greek wrap and tater tots (it was on a Friday so no meat)

dim sum and then some at Phoenix with the rents

Peruvian food at Ay Ay Picante with the GGWild girls... they serve their food with french fries!

part of my PT playground

On the PT end, things are moving along smoothly, literally!  I'm up to the highest setting on the total gym with squats.  Even doing left leg squats on level 10!  I can feel the muscles burning when I reach that 90 degree deep bend followed by the push back up, but that's what's needed to build that muscle again.  More unique planks and hip raises are squeezed into the mix of things.  At my last session I got the okay to do the elliptical!  That felt good because it's the machine I used weeks before my surgery to prep the left leg muscle for the grafting that never happened.  Squats on the balance board have started, as well as lunges.  I have to do 5 sets of 5 lunges on each leg that outline an asterisk on the floor.  Feels good to get those muscles burning again, but at the end of the day, it gets hard to get comfortable for sleep.  I end up doing butt stretches in bed just to figure out what a good sleeping position would be.  I don't know how long my PT sessions will go until with 2 times a week.  Kim said running can't start until 12 weeks post op.  But I have to admit that sometimes I do a trot, or 2, or 3 just to catch the bus.  Don't get me wrong, I use the CTA bus tracker so I know what time to leave, but when I refresh it after I get off the elevator, it seems like i lose 5 minutes and end up scurring 2 blocks to the bus stop.  When the weather gets nice, I bike to work.  I asked Kim when that would be allowed but she told me to ask Dr. Edwards first (my next appt. with her is April 7).  She brought up the stop and go and getting on and off the bike.  Woops, forgot about that!  All that stationary biking when to my head!  On the shoe end, I have been wearing normal gym shoes to work instead of my usual MBTs.  But I feel like I'm getting shin splints!  Wearing the MBTs is like balance boarding while walking, so I opted to tone down on the double workout by busting out my old running shoes from 3 shamrock shuffles ago.  Wanna see one of my views at PT?

this is what I look at when I'm at my table, it's right at the head of it so it's the only thing can stare at when Kim does my leg bends to the butt when I lay on my tummy

Forgot to mention, there's a lot of Bosu exercises mostly for balance and stability.  Random factoid:  BoSu stands for "both sides up".  Vince told me that, then I mentioned it to Kim.  Funny thing is, Kim pointed out that on the flat side of the BoSu, it says something along the lines of "you should not stand on this side".  Next time you run into a BoSu ball, look for it on the flat side.  I'm doing fine with walking, not so much crunchiness felt when I take initial steps.  It's amazing how the minor hip exercises and core strengthening relates to the overall movement of the surgical leg.  The muscles are like a team that have to work together to move forward.  literally!  Here is my progress with the walking:

16 minute walking mile?  I'll take it!

 Remember weeks ago when it was a pain and struggle to get the heel to touch the butt?  not anymore!  Kim easily bends it down for 10 second holds, 3 sets.  Before, it took a couple of warmup bends until i could touch the heel to butt as I sweat profusing under my arms and at the hairline.  Now i only get red when it happens, AND I can do it on my own, look!!!-

hard to get this pic but we did it!

 So I've gotten through 2 weeks of work, not quite a full time week just yet though.  Last Tuesday I was cancelled for 8 hours, so I worked a "princess" shift (4 hour shift).  That would be the ideal shift!  knee was fine and not so fatigued when I got home.  Had one day off after that where I went to PT, then scrumptious food with Sarah.  We went to a Korean restaurant for bi bim bop, soup, and banchan (those lil dishes you see in the middle, refillable, mostly kimchi based...i just made that up)

get yo' banchan...get yo' banchan....get yo' get yo' get yo' get yo' banchan!  (Sing to the tune of "get yo' freak on" by Missy Misdemeanor Elliott)

 I was craving something sweet after the meal, but Sarah said Koreans usually top off their meals with fruit for sweetness.  She mentioned a Korean cafe that served shaved ice, but that was gonna be too much for our tummies because we ate all of the above.  All of it and some refills.  I mentioned that I had never had a shamrock shake.  So our desination was McD's, but on the way there, an Ann Sather's was spotted where cinnamon rolls came into mind.  We struggled to parallel park, but got to the door of Ann Sather's only to get rejected- the door was locked because they closed at 2pm, what the frick?  So we proceeded to the original plan after getting thrown that curve cinnamon roll.  Got my shake!

heaven.  even without lactaid!

2 back to back shifts followed that day off which weren't bad because it was the same assignment each day.  Probably won't go to deliveries for a while just because sometimes you have to rush to them.   Coming back to work, I felt like I was just there.  But when I was at home recovering, the time went by so slow!  It's really nice to be back to see my lovely coworkers.  They welcomed me and made me feel like I was missed.  I was already asked the first day to make name signs, which I miss because it's my creative release.  It's good to feel useful again! 

So that's what's been going on during the 5th-6th week post op.  Lots of changes and movements and improvements!  Still have a lot to work in with the knee, but patience is the key!!!  Also have to work on keeping a PRN lactaid with me for more shamrock shake momentos.  Here's the 6th week post op pic:

post op day 42 pic