67 Days After ACL Surgery: Better than last week, but still worried..

When we left off last week, I was saying how I can't walk or bend it...or something like that and there was a lot of pain and so on.

Well here we are, about 8 days later, and my knee is better...but its still got me very nervous.

I feel like it hasn't been the same since I slipped, with regards to the pain and "wobbly" feeling I am experiencing. Now, maybe this is all in my head and I just "think" that I was able to do more before, but there is definitely pain (mostly at the end of PT and if I walk for too long...without the brace).

But back to last week....

58 Days After ACL Surgery: Did I just tear my ACL again?

Horrible news today. Absolutely horrible.

Everything has been going great my the knee. Physical therapy has been helping me a lot and I've started walking almost normally and going out all the time. Things were only getting better. 

Until last night.

We partied a little too hard last night and I was without my brace. I ended up walking home too (2 miles?) and this morning I woke up to a lot of discomfort in my knee for no known reason. As the day progressed, I started finding out from friends that I might have twisted my knee in the kitchen but nobody remembers for sure.

Then I also apparently told Michelle that my knee "gave out" and hearing her tell me that today scared the shit out of me. 

I am in bed now with the ice machine hooked up to my knee and in a lot of pain. I have been taking advil and tylenol all day but right now nothing is working. I took the tylenol around 4-5PM and I am going to take a vicodin now (10:45ishPM) so I can hopefully sleep ok.

I have pain in my whole knee, but a lot of it is in the side of my knee. Also, when I press on both sides of my knee at the same time I feel pain too. I don't want to speculate about anything because last time I did, I was right on all fronts. This time I'm just going into this situation with a different view.

I had a misstep yesterday. Then I walked a long way home. I overdid it plain and simple. My leg needs rest now and a painkiller will just help me deal with the pain. I am scheduled for PT tomorrow so I will go and take it easy. I will do the bike and other exercises and keep my knee moving so that swelling goes down. After a few days, it will be getting better and better and I will continue with my therapy.

I am praying hard for this to be true.

Updates will be flowing during this long week. Stay tuned.

50 Days After ACL Surgery: First Resistance Workouts

Exactly 60 days, or 2 months after my ACL surgery, I am finally moving to weights and resistance. To this point, most of my exercises at Physical Therapy have been range-of-motion exercises and a lot of movement. Today, Gina though it would finally be ok to start lifting some weights, especially since I was able to get the full rotation on the bike (not with toes, but middle of the foot).

Join me after the jump to read about my first weight exercises.

48 Days After ACL Surgery: Doctor says "Lose the brace!"

Today, after my 3rd visit to the doctor since surgery, I have had the most positive visit yet. He said my knee was looking better and asked me if I feel the bones (knee) shifting at all...I told him no I don't, especially since I am using the brace almost 24/7.

He checked out my knee a little more, bent it and straightened it, and said its still a bit stiff...but not bad. Some patients are a little too loose so stiffness is not a big deal. He told me to start walking without the brace (no jumping, twisting, hoping, excessive walking, etc.) and to take it slow.

Getting better and better.

33 Days After ACL Surgery: 2nd day of PT and walking

As Gina said today : "Today is the first day of a long couple of months"...

And I'm glad to get it out of the way. Day by day is my motto and we will see where this takes me in this whole recovery thing. The only bad news of the day is when I asked the following question...

Q: "When will I be able to ride a bicycle outside?"

...and received the following answer...

A: "In about 6 months..."

Do I believe that? No. I will aim to do that much much much sooner...but just goes to show you what the usual protocal is and what she thinks of my leg so far (no muscle).

Follow me after the jump for the good news.

32 Days After ACL Surgery: First day of PT + Workout Plan

You're in for a real treat in this post, mostly if your trying to find a solid workout plan for the early stages of ACL recovery. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was going in for my first PT session yesterday. My physical therapists name is Gina (from here on out I will refer to my physical therapist as "Gina" instead of typing out "physical therapist" every time) and this kind little asian lady will lead me through recovery for the next few weeks. 

Follow me after the jump to hear about my first day at PT and for a whole workout plan that she wrote out for me to follow at home.

30 Days After ACL Surgery: Not following doctors orders, mixed feelings about progress, just keep reading...

my heels against the wall, doing stretches, tan left leg, sick right leg

10 days ago I went to my 2nd doctors visit post surgery and I went in pretty confident knowing that I had been doing what he told me to do (exercises and applying pressure on my leg) and more (about 200-400 reps daily and actually walking without crutches).

By the end of the visit, we were both satisfied with my progress. He told me not to overdo it and to not get too comfortable on my leg (no walking without the brace, still use crutches here and there), but he felt I was ready to begin physical therapy.

10 days later, I have kept the brace on at all times, not used the crutches at all, and the biggest misque...I have not started physical therapy yet (I start tomorrow).

Follow me after the jump for my feelings and reasons for all this.