Vacation and (Almost) Beginning to Work

Time Since Surgery: 20.5 weeks

Physical Therapy: body weight squats, body weight lunges, romanian deadlifts, balance steamboats with orange theraband, clam shells with green theraband, 1 leg calf raises, hip abductors with external rotation, hip adductors, 1 leg bridges with kick-outs, step downs, planks, side planks, crunches (apparently improved core strength helps knees), stationary bike, elliptical

Activities That Are Improving: going up stairs, going down stairs, squatting, getting up and down from the ground, getting up and down from low chairs/the toilet, riding the stationary bike, getting in and out of cars, shopping

Activities That Are Challenging: going down stairs (this is getting better, but it's still very difficult)

I feel like I haven't had any major accomplishments over the past month, but I've had so many little ones that all add up, and I feel way stronger than I did a month ago. I can sort of go down stairs now, as long as I'm holding on to something. I can carry my own grocery bags in, and am back to fitting as many bags as possible on my arms so that I only have to make one trip. I can carry my nephews again. I can now do air squats, and half lunges. I can get up and down from the ground. These are all things I probably took for granted at one point. Now, it's absolutely fabulous to be able to do more for myself. 

First date night we had since before my surgery!

I have really been pushing myself at PT and with my activity level. My legs are exhausted and my knees are sore nearly every night, but my PT and doctor say that it's good that I'm working so hard, as long as I don't over-do it and cause a set-back. Which I definitely don't want, so I'm being careful.

I really enjoy physical therapy. It's always challenging, but it's also wonderful to be off of the couch and able to "work out" again. I was never one of those people who loved working out and was obsessed with it, but when you're suddenly unable to, it certainly makes you appreciate being active. I love when I increase the weight on an exercise or move up a resistance level with the theraband. It shows that my hour of home therapy every day is actually doing something. My legs are even starting to look a little stronger, too!

Hooray for moving up to the green theraband! I even coincidentally matched it that day.

I didn't think I'd get a beach vacation this year because I thought I'd be working by now, but I ended up being able to go to Destin, Florida with my family. After the traumatic start to vacation, it was wonderful. We found out that we could get into the house as early as we wanted since nobody was staying there the week before us, so we decided to leave last minute on Thursday around 5pm. At 10pm, we packed up and left. My mom, dad, John, Kel, Little John, James, and Daisy all went in the big van. Kevin and I took a separate car, and Kelly's parent's and niece Gwen drove separately from Pittsburgh.

Long, sleepy drive. I think we're too old for overnight trips now. 

After driving all night, we were all exhausted because nobody slept that well. We got into the house around 11, then went out to lunch. We came back, and within 10 minutes of being in the house, my brother was screaming "We need to get to the hospital!!!" Never what anyone wants to hear, ever.

Little John had slammed his thumb in the sliding glass door and was screaming bloody murder. All of us were trying to figure out where the closest hospital is, and there was blood all over the place. The tip of his thumb was completely smashed across the nail bed down to his bone. Our doors at home are difficult to push, so he usually opens them and closes them without us worrying about his fingers because they move so slowly. The door in the house we stayed at was incredibly heavy, and went flying with the lightest touch. We weren't really aware of this yet since we had been there less than 10 minutes.

My mom, dad, John, and I took John Nathan to the ER. The Porters weren't there yet, Kel stayed with James, and Kevin helped Kel clean up and stayed at the house to be there for her. The entire experience at the ER was horrendous.

John cried almost the entire time, and was bleeding and bleeding. Unfortunately it wasn't a pediatric hospital, so they had pretty much no idea what to do with kids. They didn't give him anything to come him down, and gave him zero pain meds. NOT EVEN FREAKING TYLENOL or any topical numbing medicine before the numbing shots. He was absolutely hysterical as they injected his thumb with 6 shots to numb it for the stitches, which obviously hurt because it's SIX SHOTS IN A TINY LITTLE TWO YEAR OLD'S THUMB. He had to soak his thumb in a sterile bath thing after that, and the nurse left the room and goes "Let me know when it's been 10 minutes," then left John to hold John Nathan's thumb in the tub of water. While he's screaming and crying. Thankfully he calmed down a bit, but every time the nurses came in the room he'd go "No no no no go back. Go outside. Noooooo." He also repeatedly said "Go back home. Go back home. Go back home." in between sobs and coughs. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen.

After 10 painfully slow minutes passed, I went and fetched the nurse, because obviously that's that patient's family's responsibility, not the nurse's, especially in an ER that isn't even that busy at all. USE YOUR WATCH AND TIME IT YOURSELF, LADY! We're a bit busy trying to calm down an hysterical two year old. When she finally strolled to test if his thumb was numb, it somehow wasn't, which they all appeared shocked about. So they gave him six MORE shots in his thumb. By this point, we've been there an hour or two, John hasn't slept more than a couple hours in the past 24 hours, and hasn't eaten anything or drank much the whole day because he napped during lunch. So take a two year old in those circumstances and then imagine them with a smashed, bloody finger and tons of pain.

After his thumb was finally all numbed up came the worst part. They stuffed John Nathan in a pillow case, taped his arm to a board, taped his fingers to a board, wrapped him in more pillowcases, wrapped tape all around his whole little body like a mummy, then made John hold him down on the table. It. Was. Horrendous. They asked my mom and I to leave at this point, which was probably good because seeing him like that made me cry as hard as he was. I wish one of us could have stayed to be there for my brother though, because he needed some support, too. They apparently then ripped off little John's nail and gave him 5 stitches while John held him down. Awful, awful, awful.

I understand that it was necessary to restrain him in order to properly stitch his finger, and that it could have been SO much worse, but it was probably one of the worst days of my life seeing him cry so hard and not being able to make the pain go away or help him. I could honestly feel my heart breaking. I also understand that he could've lost his fingertip without those ER doctors, but it would've been nice if they had any clue how to treat children.

Poor little buddy finally back from the ER with his hand wrapped up. We had to change the bandage every night, and give him antibiotics 3 times a day. He also wore a surgical glove, AKA the "Mickey Mouse" glove with tape over it on the beach to prevent sand/water from getting in it. 

We were eventually allowed back in the room, and Little John finally passed out and slept for a while. We made it back to the condo, and the rest of the vacation was much more relaxing. On to the good stuff...

We stayed RIGHT on the beach! I'd never been to Destin before, and it's gorgeous. The sand is white and fluffy, and the gulf is crystal clear. Some of the highlights of the week were seeing dolphins jumping like they were in a SeaWorld show right off the coast from the beach, riding waves in an inner tube, seeing a gigantic jellyfish at night, Kevin catching a stone crab with a net, going for long walks on the beach without my knee hurting, going on a dolphin cruise, and playing with my nephews (as always :). We walked to an awesome breakfast place called the Whale's Tail that's right on the beach, and to an amazing coffee place multiple times called Bad Ass Coffee. They even had almond milk and ice cubes made out of coffee for their iced lattes. It turned out to be a wonderful week with everyone.

Kevin, Gwen, and I

Mom & Dad 

Kelly, James, John & John Nathan

Don, Gwen, and Suzanne

Me, John, Kevin, Gwen and John. This was before a giant wave came and flipped John and I off of the inner tube. The second we got him back out of the water, another wave smashed him in the face even though we held him up as high as we could. Luckily it didn't traumatize him too much and he went back in the water the next day. 

Kel and Jamesy-baby 

Gwen with a bunch of hermit crabs 

Kevin & I

Miss Daisy-do

View at breakfast from the Whale's Tail

Walking to Bad Ass Coffee

I was surprised at how well my knees did. The house we stayed in had 3 full flights of stairs, so I got a lot of practice with those. Walking in the sand was good therapy, too, and so was going in the water. My knees felt pretty good until the end of the week though, so I was happy they lasted throughout the vacation. Kevin only had to carry me up and down the stairs a couple times.

Happy knees :)

We had another long drive back on Saturday, and since then I've been going to PT and running a lot of errands before I begin work. I've also been trying to relax a bi since both knees have been pretty sore recently. You think with so many months off, I wouldn't need one more minute to relax, but the past few months have been jam-packed with PT, appointments, and activities, and I'm learning that even nearly 5 months post-surgery, I am still having to take it a bit easy. I am really excited to finally be able to work, although I'm not going to lie, I will definitely miss sleeping in and long, lazy summer mornings.

I start work on Monday at a Children's Hospital in acute care. I  just found out that I'll be working mostly with infants at first, too, to make it easier on my knees. I am absolutely thrilled beyond belief about this because it's always been my dream to work with babies! Everything happens for a reason!! :D I'm also starting part-time for a month to make the transition easier on my knees. It's been quite a journey, and I'm ready for this next step. Hopefully my knees are, too.

Celebrating that I'll finally begin working!

Family Update: My dad is doing okay. His eye surgery went well and his eye seems to be bothering him less and less. He's still getting horrendous headaches but his back has felt okay. James was fine after he came home from this hospital, and his oxygen levels stayed up. Hooray! My grandma's shingles are still pretty bad, and we're all just hoping and praying they go away soon. My great aunt began walking with her physical therapist, and the bones in her pelvis and wrist are healing. Little John's hand is doing much better now, too, and he's using it as if nothing ever happened to it!

Have a good weekend, everyone :)  

Physical Therapy and Protein!

Family Update: My family could use some prayers and well wishes right now. It's been a bit crazy since May. My dad was rear-ended 10 weeks after his back surgery, and now he has horrible headaches again and new hip pain. Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt. He also had an emergency laser eye surgery on his retina this week to prevent it from detaching from a hemorrhage in his eye. We aren't really sure what caused that. He started physical therapy this week too, which he likes, but it's leaving him pretty sore afterwards. My great aunt is in a nursing home recovering from a fall that resulted in a broken pelvis and broken wrist, both of which required surgery. My grandma has shingles on her face and in her eye and the medicines don't seem to be helping much, and my 6 month old nephew went to Children's Hospital for a horrendous case of croup that left his oxygen levels way too low. It's been one thing after the other around here since May, and we're all just taking it a day at a time. 

As far as my knees go...

Time Since Surgery: 15.5 weeks
Physical Therapy: I started "real" PT 3 weeks ago! I have therapy 2 times per week at the gym, and I have a bunch of exercises to do at home 2 times per day. Home therapy exercises include: leg raises, hip ab/adductions, glute bridges, 1 leg calf raises, the clam, balancing on one leg while standing on a pillow, mini air squats to 45 degrees, sitting on the counter and straightening my legs, and walking sideways with orange theraband around my ankles. It's a lot of work, but I can feel my legs getting stronger which is awesome! Also, I finally got the OK to get rid of quad presses. HOORAY!! I've been doing those every. single. day. since the day of my surgery, and discontinuing an exercise means I'm getting stronger!
Activities That Are Improving: shaving my legs, cleaning, shopping, cooking, obtaining items from low cabinets/the floor, my overall energy level, going up stairs, walking quicker, driving further distances, getting in and out of the car, getting up from chairs
Activities That Are Challenging: squatting, going down stairs, happy dances, speed walking, lifting anything heavy, getting up down onto and up from the floor

The past month has been jam-packed. My baby brother moved to Chicago, my baby sister moved onto campus and is starting college this week, and I moved out of my house and into an apartment with Kevin. I think my mom is having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to all three of us moving out within a 2 week span (very understandably so) since Nathan was home the past year and a half, I was been home the past 3 years for grad school, and Caitlyn had never left home yet. Luckily she babysits John Nathan 3 days a week, so I'm sure that's keeping her busy! Her and John Nathan have been visiting me at the new apartment a ton. It's a lot of fun :)

Hanging out with Greema and Aunt Maria

Moving Caitlyn into her dorm!!

Kevin and I have been down to Cincinnati 3 times the past month, too, one of which was for Aaron and Amy's wedding! Their wedding was a blast. I was actually able to dance quite a bit, and my knees held up throughout the night! There was a stage conveniently placed next to the dance floor, so I was able to sit and dance. I'm sure it looked a bit goofy, but it was awesome being able to join in the fun instead of just sitting back at the table. All of my siblings were there, which is always a good time. We had SO much fun.

The whole gang :)

Congratulations, Aaron and Amy!

Typically, I still have to use my crutches to do stairs, so I usually carry them around if I'm going to new places in case there are stairs. I had a very exciting day when I went up a whole flight of stairs without using crutches at all! It was the first time I had gone upstairs without crutches since the first week of April, so this was a HUGE accomplishment and I was thrilled!! I don't go up stairs without crutches all the time though because I don't want to over-do it and it kind of hurts sometimes, and I can't go down stairs without crutches at all yet.  

The first flight of stairs I went up since April without crutches!

I had my crutches at the wedding (which was before I did the flight without them), and when we were checking out of the hotel, the lady at the front desk starts laughing and says "Oh were the crutches a prank for the wedding?!" since I was carrying them and walking perfectly fine. People say stuff like that all the time, because I don't look like I need crutches at all. What's even more entertaining is when I forget to bring them and don't have them with me. Then, Kevin carries me up or down stairs with people who are around who don't know that I had surgery. I wonder what they must be thinking, but I've stopped worrying about it and have just decided to be entertained by their reactions instead. 

Another big event of the past month is that I started real physical therapy. I LOVE it!! It feels amazing to be able to kind of work out again and to see my strength start to come back. My knees have felt fantastic, too. It doesn't hurt (yet) like everyone said it would. My therapist said my range of motion is excellent, and that he can tell I've been working on the home exercises. My hard work is finally paying off! The main thing we're working on is strengthening both legs. My hips are apparently really weak and that can mess up your knees, so we're building up all of the muscles from my hips to my ankles. I have quite a bit of home therapy to work on. 

Last pics of my legs before PT

My legs are always exhausted and sore after therapy, but it's not necessarily painful. Some activities are though, like the first time I did air squats and the first time I did a one leg calf raise on my left leg. Those I could definitely feel in my left knee, and not in a good way. Overall, it's been great so far though. 

My dad said I was probably flashing my PT my underwear since my athletic shorts were too wide-legged and too short, so I bought some yoga pants to wear to PT. Dad was thrilled. 

In addition to the calcium + vitamin D and glucosamine + chondroitin, I've added protein smoothies to my healthy-knee-regimen. I've lost a bit of weight since the surgery from sitting around so much. I think part of it was muscle atrophy, and part was that my appetite shrunk from not being nearly as active. Since I've started doing PT and walking around a lot more, I'm so much hungrier all the time. I've added protein smoothies to try to build my muscles back up and maintain my weight since Kevin has convinced me it's nearly impossible to build a lot of muscle while losing weight. I've always thought eating extra protein was ridiculous and unnecessary, but we'll see it helps my legs. Every time I make a protein shake, I feel the need to say "Mmm PROTEIN!" in a ridiculous burly man voice, because I always just picture giant muscle builder dudes having protein shakes. 

I found some lactose-free whey protein! 

It looks a little weird since it's green, but it's delicious!!

I feel like my knees are slowly but surely getting better overall. There are way more "good knee days" than "bad knee days" lately, and I've been going non-stop with moving, unpacking, and getting the apartment all organized. I've been on my feet a ton, and my knees typically still feel good! They're sore at night and stiff in the morning when I'm really active, but it's usually not unbearable. 

As far as work goes, I'm hoping to start sometime in September. My PT says I should be ready to start part time by the end of September, but my surgeon wants me to wait until October or November. We'll see. It's a little frustrating having everything so up in the air, but I'm sure it'll all work out somehow. I can definitely walk better now, but I still can't really squat/lift patients at all, so I'm not totally ready for the physical part of being an occupational therapist in acute care. Each week I feel like I'm making gains though, so we'll see what September brings!

Jamesy-baby! He got to come home from the hospital, so lets hope his oxygen levels stay up!!

My Unpredictable Knees

Time Since Surgery: 11.5 weeks

Physical Therapy: walking, quad presses, leg raises, hip abductions

Activities that are Improving: showering while standing, shaving while balancing on one leg, walking, getting up and down from a seated position, driving, traveling, 

Activities that are Challenging: squatting to pee in dirty gas station bathrooms (this one is currently more impossible than challenging), speed-walking in torrential downpours to prevent getting soaked while walking to my car, going up and down stairs, squatting/bending to pick objects up off of the ground, cleaning or playing with my nephews on my hands and knees

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. The better my knees feel, the more active I am. Until I'm too active and they get really sore and force me to go back to sitting on my butt. I never know if it's going to be a good knee day or a bad knee day until I'm up and moving around, so it makes it difficult to plan anything in advance. Some days are phenomenal and I feel almost back to normal as far as walking goes, and other days it hurts just to get up and get to the bathroom and back. I cherish every moment of the good days!

Hanging out my adorable, sweet nephews!

I'm trying to really listen to my body and balance pushing myself to try to do a bit more and resting so that I heal properly. It's been an interesting process. I attempted to go down a couple porch steps without my crutches. BIG mistake. It hurt like heck, so now I always use my crutches. Or if I don't have them, Kevin carries me. He's awesome! It's been an adjustment trying to remember my crutches for places like the movie theater and friends' apartments and restaurants without elevators. I just don't think of my crutches, especially on the days when I'm feeling really good. Then when I get to a set of stairs, I panic a little bit, but luckily Kevin has been a HUGE help with unexpected sets of stairs. I feel a bit ridiculous leaping into his arms for him to carry me up or down steps in public and I wonder what on earth people are thinking when they see me walking perfectly normally before and after. Knee surgery is forcing me to not worry so much about what others think though.

I have never been the most fashionable person around, but now I wear goofy things like "Granny slip-on tennis shoes" as Caitlyn so lovingly calls them, and I wear them with sundresses. I wear flip-flops with cute dresses when I should have heals or more formal shoes on. I attempted to wear very small wedges, and walking for 2 seconds in them was quite painful so that was a no. I have to wear flip flops to the bunches of wedding we have this year, too. Style goes out the window a little when you're healing after knee surgery. 

My dead sexy granny shoes

Another area where I'm trying to worry less about what others are thinking is walking around without the brace. Everyone is so rushy! I used to be the queen of speed walking wherever I was. Now I've really slowed down, and I feel anxious if someone is walking behind me because I'm going so slow sometimes. With the brace, people were incredibly understanding. Now my leg looks "normal," so if I suddenly slow down or have to stop and bend my knee a bit until it clicks back into place I wonder if people behind me get frustrated. I take more time getting in and out of cars, getting up and down from chairs, and following hostesses to tables in restaurants (I think walking at 1,000mph is a job requirement for hostesses). I also usually need dropped off at the door if parking is too far, and I feel like people must think I'm prissy for not being able to walk from the car. In all honesty, I'm sure nobody really notices or cares about all of these little things, that they're bigger in my head than in real life, but I still sometimes wish I could carry around a sign that says "I just had knee surgery, please be patient with me!" 

I've been trying a few new things the past few weeks, which is probably why I wish I had that sign. I've gone grocery shopping on my own and went on my first big trip/vacation since the surgery. Kevin and I went up to Camp in Pennsylvania with my mom's side of the family. It was a blast! My knees felt better the few days we were there than they have since April! For a couple days, they didn't hurt at all. It was honestly a miracle. I could get up and down from chairs without using my hands, I went for the longest walk I've been on since surgery down the beautiful country roads, and I walked up and down the hill to get to the campfire. All totally pain free-it was amazing!!

The view from the front porch. We ate outside every day and sat on the glider and the porch swing.

Kevin's first time playing the famous ring toss game!

Grandma playing the ring toss game!

The campfire complete with loads of s'mores.

I also got to go floating down the river. We drive way up the river then lay on big floats or kayak, and we leisurely let the river take us back to Camp. The floating isn't bad on the knee, but getting in and out of the river is because there are lots of slippery rocks and sometimes it's steep. I was just going to stay at the cabin at first, but decided to try it. Everyone helped me, and it ended up being okay. I'm glad I tried, because it was so much fun! I stayed back the last couple times though because my knees started to get really sore and probably couldn't have handled the rocks. 

Aleigha, Bryson, and Brenda during a crazy game of Apples to Apples 

My Aunt Rosalie got a little passionate about winning and busted out some props. To threaten me into picking "meat cleaver" for "horrifying," she slammed the meat cleaver onto the table a few inches from the cards I was deciding between. I ended up picking her card out of fear of her chopping my hand off if I didn't. 

The most intense game of Speed! They never did finish it to decide on the winner because it just kept going on and on forever.

After camp, Kevin went back to Columbus and I stayed with my aunt and uncle and cousins. We went back to Conneaut Lake and hung out there for a few days, and then my mom came up to visit and to pick me up. It is so relaxing up there. It was a wonderful week away.

A black squirrel! My aunt, uncle, Chantal, and I saw this guy when we went to get ice cream.

Picking wildflowers on our walk.

Erin, Hayes, Kevin and I also had a cookout before we left for Camp. It was the most perfect evening to relax outside. We had a delicious meal of grilled chicken, burgers, brats, fresh green beans and almonds, grilled corn on the cob, chips and salsa, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, and chocolate chunk cookies. 

The fancy-schmancy watermelon bowl that Erin and I made, along with some other appetizers. 

The grill masters. 

My baby brother Nathan moved to Chicago a couple weeks ago, too. Nate, Kevin, and I went out for a sort of farewell lunch before he left. I miss him already!

I can't believe it's already been nearly three months since my surgery. I scheduled my PT for the first day of August. I'm nervous and excited for it! I hope it doesn't hurt as badly as everyone keeps telling me it will. I have another follow up appointment later this week to hopefully get the approval to start working in the beginning of September. It makes me nervous to start work because I never know if it'll be a good knee day or bad knee day, but since September is still 6 weeks away, I'll hopefully continue to progress and will be much better by then!