Two Months Post Op: The Week of Firsts

Yesterday marked 8 weeks post op! I can't believe it's already been two months. This past week has been the best week I've had since the surgery, hands down. I have continued to walk without my brace. For the first part of the week, I was keeping my left leg straight while walking still, and I've gradually started to bend it more while walking.

During the end of last week, both of my knees were pretty sore, and walking was still pretty painful on and off. Maybe from doing too much. It's been another busy week involving a lovely lunch with Erin outside at a cafe, a long-overdue dinner with Nicole filled with catching up, Wednesday group dinners, hanging out, a trip to the pool, and celebrating my mom's birthday.

The weather has been gorgeous, and has been making me appreciate being home for the summer. I've been taking advantage of all of this sunshine. Every morning, I eat breakfast out on our deck. It's a little slice of heaven. My mom planted a bunch of beautiful flowers, a couple tomato plants, and a green pepper plant. There is also a fountain that sounds so relaxing, although I can't help but think of it as the "Tinkle Tower" after my friend Diane told us that's what her son referred to them as since the sound makes everyone have to go to the bathroom. There are also usually plenty of birds happily chirping. I absolutely love it out there. 

One of the many beautiful flower baskets my mom made this year.

Delicious fresh tomatoes!

On Saturday night, the gang went to hang out at Andy, Rohan, and Ashwin's new place. We spent most of the evening in the basement. I didn't think I'd have to do any stairs so I left my crutches at home, but thankfully Hayes brought his for me to use. Unfortunately his crutches were for a 6'2" person on the smallest setting, but the worked for the most part. Thank you for bringing them, Hayes! My right knee was pretty sore the next day even with the help of the crutches, but it was an improvement from the last time I did stairs without crutches and could hardly walk afterwards. I am the most scared of stairs right now, because my right knee can't handle them and my left knee isn't supposed to do them yet. Crutches have been helpful though, but I'm looking forward to the day where I can tolerate going up and down stairs with minimal pain (or better yet-pain free!). Thank God I can stay on our ground level at my house. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't. 

Sunday was wonderful. Erin, Kevin, and I had been talking about wanting to swim all week, and it happened to be in the 90s on Sunday. Erin invited us to her neighborhood pool where her and her mom were heading, and I was really excited to swim for the first time until I realized I'm not sure if I'm allowed to swim yet, and I didn't know how I'd get into the pool. Luckily there was a ramp to walk into the pool, so I slowly but surely made my way in. I basically just walked in and tried to avoid children who were zooming around. I felt a bit naked without my brace or crutches since they kind of warn people to be careful around my leg. It felt amazing to be in the pool though. It was easier to walk in the water, and I did a few leg exercises that seemed safe enough. 

The perfect pool day.

My knee survived the pool!

On Sunday night, something amazing happened. For the first time in as far as I can remember, my left knee didn't hurt. Not at all. Now while sitting, not while walking, not while standing up from sitting. No sharp pain, no dull pain, no achey pain, no throbbing pain. Absolutely nothing! It was a miracle. I honestly don't know the last time that happened. Maybe when I was 6 or 7 years old? For as long as I can remember, both of my knees have ached, and I always just thought that's how it was. I can't believe that some people get to walk around with both knees feeling how my left one did that night for their whole lives! It felt fantastic!! I just didn't even think my knee feeling that good was possible. I was excited beyond words, and just enjoyed the pure joy I felt at not having any knee pain in one of my legs. 

This lasted all night, and most of the next day. It was spectacular. During the second half of this past week I began walking pretty normally for the first time since surgery, too, with my left leg bent, and at a semi-decent speed for two months after knee surgery! My gait is still a little jerky and slower than everyone else, but I'm thrilled with it. Each day my knee gets more stable and gives out less. Using my left leg more normally is helping the right feel slightly less painful, too. It's been a fabulous past few days. My knee was feeling SO good until Tuesday when I over-did it. 

My mom has been in Florida, so we wanted to surprise her with a birthday dinner since we didn't celebrate it last week. I went to the store with Kevin to pick up stuff to make cake for her, and John and Kelly brought a leftover pasta casserole that Kelly's aunt had made. John ran to the grocery store for me since bigger shopping trips are difficult for me still and got salad stuff, fresh asparagus, and fresh bread. Nate and John helped me wash and chop the veggies and helped with heavy kitchen stuff, then I made everything and baked the cake. Little John helped me decorate it :) My knees were incredibly sore by the end of the night, but my mom has done so much for me so I wanted to do something for her. I think she appreciated not having to cook after flying in from Florida. 

Little John tasting icing for the first time, and his mad cake decorating skills. He was very skeptical of the icing until John and I both tried it first, and then he looked like it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. 

When Kevin and I went to store to get cake stuff and ice cream, I drove for the first time! We practiced in the parking lot first, and it felt a bit weird to brake. My right knee was a little sore, but the left felt okay sitting there. I was pretty nervous in case either knee started to hurt too much, but the parking lot went well, so we went on some back roads. Since everything was feeling so good, we ended up at Giant Eagle and on some main roads on the way back. Hooray driving!! It feels SO good to have more independence. 

After my first time driving in two months!

Overall, it's been a phenomenal week. I am incredibly thankful for how the healing process is going, and I can't wait to continue to get a little bit stronger each day!


Also, here is a random video of my nephew golfing :) Have a good week, everyone!

Seven Weeks Post-op!

I was allowed to start walking without the brace last Wednesday. It was supposed to be a gradual process of weaning off of it, but I've practically abandon it. Although I still carry it around with me like a security blanket if I leave the house in case I have to walk too far or it gets sore or I'm around people who may bump into it. It's been very convenient not keeping it on all the time though. I could finally go get my hair cut this week since I could sit in the chair without the brace. It's been a much quicker process to get in and out of cars, and every time my tiny bladder demands that I go to the bathroom it isn't the ordeal that it was before. 

I am nowhere near walking normally yet. I'm kind of bending my knee when it's in the air and keeping it straight when it's on the ground. Next Wednesday I'm allowed to try to walk more normally, with it bent while it's on the ground. My gait is quite goofy, but oh well. My hips have become very sore from walking with the brace on, so hopefully that goes away soon now that I'm walking without it. I've also added some right leg exercises to help reduce the pain from walking unevenly. My right knee is still quite sore, and the left hurts in a new spot every day. That's good though; it means nothing's wrong if where it hurts keeps changing. It's just the muscles, tendons, and ligaments relearning what they're doing. 

My days are still spent doing a whole lot of this, especially before and after go out anywhere or after I shower:

Ice, ice baby.
John always runs up to the ice pack, feels it, then goes "Cold! Icy! Ria's sore leg. Feels good."

I read on some website that for post-op (and any) knee pain, you should RICE. Rest, Ice, Compress (with an ace bandage), and Elevate. All of these things make it feel a better. I've been trying to not take any pain meds, too, even over the counter ones. Today I found out from someone online who had a similar surgery that you're not supposed to take ibuprofen after bone surgery. It inhibits bone growth. So naturally I Google it, then freak out because plenty of actual research articles confirm this, so I called my doctor. He said that the research is 50/50, but to stop taking it because it can be true. It would've been nice to know that 6 weeks ago when I started taking ibuprofen and kicked the hard-core pain meds to the curb.

Hopefully my femur is still healing okay though since I've been trying to do everything in my power to make sure it does. I've been continuing to take glucosamine-chondroitin, calcium + vitamin D, have replaced coffee with green tea since coffee can leech calcium from your bones, and have minimized alcohol for the same reason, not that I even drank that much before. 

Breakfast on the deck. One of my favorite times of the day.

I am also doing lots of this:

I don't mind it. It's my bit of physical activity that I'm allowed to do. I'm actually excited to start the real PT in August, even though everyone says its going to hurt. It's one more step to getting my strength back!

My ROM is slowly but surely coming back. I'm very excited for how far it's come! It's a gradual process, but everything about healing after knee surgery is, and I'm finally beginning to accept that. 

Left vs. right. It's getting there! Woop woop!

The scars are healing nicely, too. I am still baffled as to how they can do a knee surgery with three tiny incisions, but I am incredibly grateful that someone figured that out. I continuously massage the lumps of scar tissue underneath them, and those are slowly going away. The scares are much less painful, too. 

I've been keeping busy with non-knee things as well. Caitlyn's graduation party was this past Saturday. I can't believe she'll be heading off to OSU in August! I got to catch up with a lot of people that I haven't seen in a while at her party, and a few people told me they are reading this blog :) The party was lots of fun. Caitlyn, Nathan, and my mom worked their butts off getting the house ready, and my dad ran a million errands to help since he can't lift anything yet. Caitlyn did a fantastic job decorating. Our backyard looked like something off of Pinterest. I wish I took more pictures!

Congratulations, Caitlyn! Multiple people mixed us up and told me "congratulations" as they handed me a card. 

I hurt my right knee going downstairs and upstairs one time to see everyone on the patio, so for the rest of the night, Caitlyn's boyfriend Joey carried me up and down because I couldn't handle the stairs. It was hilarious, and I'm very glad he was there! Kevin would've done this but his back wasn't in girlfriend-carrying condition. Everyone got a kick out of the difference in mine and Joey's thigh sizes, so they got a picture.

Hooray for Joey and his strong legs! Thanks for carrying me from downstairs to upstairs and back all evening.

We ended the night enjoying the beautiful weather and playing Apples to Apples after everyone else had left the party.

Later in the week, I saw one of my good friends, Christine, who I hadn't seen in way too long! We went to Piada for dinner, then Handles for dessert. The ice cream was melting faster than we could eat it, and we looked a bit like toddlers with how much ice cream was on our hands afterwards. It was awesome. I also had a Starbucks date with Erin Rose. I hadn't seen her in way too long either! She introduced me to their iced green tea with half the sugar, which was incredibly refreshing on a hot summer day. It's been great finally having the time to catch up with friends. That's definitely one of the best parts of knee surgery slowing my life down. 

I have also found a few people online through Instagram and Google who have had similar surgeries. It seems like hardly anyone has had surgery for osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). Tons of people have had ACL and meniscus surgeries, and I'm sure they're all at least a little similar, but I feel instantly connected to anyone who has had surgery for OCD. Out of everyone, I feel like they "get" me the most right now, and understand the frustrations I'm going through while all my well meaning and supportive family and friends keep saying "It'll get better" and "Hang in there!" We can also celebrate together when we get even two degrees more of ROM back, when we take the brace off for the first time, when we start physical therapy, and when we complete previously simple tasks such as cooking breakfast by ourselves or showering while standing up.

A few people have been incredibly inspirational with their positive attitudes, and it's so nice to feel like someone else understands what I'm going through when everyone around me is living their crazy busy lives and doing everything that I used to be able to do. I know I'll get there eventually, but I have found so much comfort in these people that I have never met and probably never will meet. Hooray for the internet!! I will be a HUGE advocate for support groups for my patients once I am working. It's the most awesome feeling to find someone else who instantly knows exactly how you're feeling without having to explain yourself.  

On a different note, I finally remembered to upload the rest of the pictures from when they were doing the surgery. I thought these pictures were really cool when they first showed them to me. When I woke up from surgery, the nurses joked that I got to go home with a piece of Tiffany's since the end of the bone plug is Tiffany-blue. Now I kind of get grossed out looking at the one that goes to my marrow, and it reminds me why my knee still hurts. I also Google-imaged the type of surgery I had. I am SO glad I didn't do that before surgery. It was disgusting. 

To leave you with a much cuter knee picture, check out my nephew James' knees! His chunky little leg rolls are adorable :) 

And here is my nephew John, enjoying one of the most delightful parts of summer--fresh tomatoes, straight from the vine. 

It was also my parent's 30th Anniversary this week. Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!! <3

To any of my new knee surgery buddies who are reading this, I wish you happy and healthy healing! We can do this!

Progress!

It's been six and a half weeks since my surgery! The day of my surgery, I thought six weeks would be the magic number of when I would feel almost back to normal. My brace would be off, and I was told that my therapy would just be going for walks without the brace, which seemed like no big deal and I was really looking forward to it. Boy, was I wrong. For being an OT, you think I'd know a bit more about the recovery process. When I was in acute care for fieldwork, I saw patients who had just had surgery, and only saw them for a few days to a week. When I was at an outpatient pediatric clinic, we saw a lot of children with lifelong disabilities, but not necessarily acute injuries and surgeries that were healing. The post-surgery recovery process is a whole new world to me that I didn't have any experience with. 

Pre-surgery, I anticipated healing and progressing quickly, blissfully unaware of what I was in for. I remember thinking "Why does it still hurt so much?!" only one week after surgery. I thought the post-op pain would be gone after two weeks or so, and that I'd be at least walking normally by six weeks, and back to most typical activities with the exception of running and working out by 12 weeks. Nope, nope, and nope. In the past couple of weeks, I have re-defined how I measure progress though, and now I feel like I've progressed by leaps and bounds. 

Now, at six weeks, the pain in my left knee is finally beginning to subside. The right knee hurts quite a bit for over-compensating, but for now, the left one isn't throbbing and there aren't nearly as many sharp pains like there were before and right after surgery. It's definitely achy after using it all day, and sometimes when I move it it hurts, but it's certainly less severe on the pain scale. The pain also comes and goes as opposed to being constantly there--progress!!

I can walk without the brace--progress!! The first 10 minutes I walked around without the brace, I used crutches just to be safe. The rest of the day I ditched the crutches and didn't put the brace back on until I left to go out to dinner that night. I'm still keeping my leg totally straight while walking for two more weeks, but I have to use a lot more muscles than I was to keep it straight since the brace isn't doing all the work now. My leg is certainly tired, but it feels glorious to not have to put the brace on every single time get up. I'm excited to try to walk "normally" in 2 weeks, and a little nervous too because the nerves and muscles in my leg may have forgotten how to. We'll see how it goes. 

Walking for the first time without the brace while keeping my left leg straight.

I can sit in the front seat of a car now--progress!! Gone are the days of feeling like an 11 year old anxiously awaiting the day that I turn 12 and can sit in the airbag protected front seat safely. It takes a little longer to get the brace on and off to sit in the front, but it's worth the extra time. Sitting in the front leads to all sorts of fun things, like having more control over the radio, being able to adjust the air, not getting carsick, and beginning to learn how to drive manually. 

Sitting braceless in the front seat, WOOP WOOP!

Kevin recently got a new manual car that he is convinced I will be able to learn how to drive...we'll see. Ask my parents about me learning to drive an automatic, and they'll both say I took at least 10 years off of their lives. I've been having fun changing gears while he drives though, and once my left leg is healed enough to use the clutch, I'll get to start learning manual from the driver's seat (I'll give a warning when that is because you may want to stay off the road). 

Doing what I can to learn manual from the passenger's seat by changing gears.

Sitting in the front also leads to epic Sonic trips, although technically this could've still happened with me in the back seat. I really wanted ice cream while Jim, Amanda, Eevee, Michelle, Mapes, Megan, Kevin, and I were getting ready to watch the Game of Thrones finale. Amanda volunteered to drive, and we left at 8:30, thinking that'd be plenty of time to get back before 9:00 since the Sonic was a whopping 30 seconds away. Nope, wrong again. We gave our long order, then drove up to the window where the lady looks at Amanda and goes "So you're the shake lady?" at which point we burst out laughing, and she informed us that it would take a while. We said that's fine, thinking it would be 5 minutes, max.

After 5 minutes, she brought out ONE milkshake. Then took about that long on each of the 6 shakes we got. It caused quite the uproar from the cars behind us, and the one directly behind us kept honking angrily in hopes that this would result in quicker milkshake making. Eventually we got them all and made it back to Michelle & Mapes' place, although it was well after 9:00 at this point. Thankfully we could still watch the finale from the beginning since they have HBO Go. 

So many shakes, and yet no boys came to the yard.

The hold-up we caused. You can't see the other 6 cars that wrapped around the back and
blocked us from getting out of the parking lot. Apparently everyone wanted shakes that night.  

I can also take my brace off when I go out to restaurants now, which I've taken full advantage of at Beer Kitchen 101 with Mapes, Michelle, Megan, Jim, Amanda, Eevee, and Kevin, at 4th Street Bar with Hayes, Rohan, Erin, Kevin, Ashwin, and Andy, and at Panera with Erin. It's been infinitely more comfortable to be able to sit out in public without the brace on. Moooore progress :) 

To celebrate being able to go out to eat without the brace, Kevin and I were going to have a date night on Thursday since we haven't gone out just the two of us since the night before my surgery. I was super excited, but unfortunately Kevin pulled his back at the gym, and could barely manage the car ride back to his apartment. Maybe we'll try again when his back is better. He was supposed to go to Nashville for our friend Aaron's bachelor party this weekend, too, but instead we spend all day Friday gimping it up together.

I'm sure we look pretty hilarious together right now, as evidenced by Ashwin cracking up every time he walked into the main room and saw us limping around. Everyone in my family is out of town right now except my dad, who can't do much because of his back surgery, so Kevin and I are kind of taking care of each other at his and Ashwin's place. Hopefully his back heals quickly! It's definitely a change being the one waiting on someone and helping someone else right now since I've been the "patient" for a while, but I think I'm actually the stronger one at the moment. 

Thankfully Ashwin picked up some things for breakfast at the grocery store for us, but we had nothing planned for lunch and not much food at Kevin's since we've mostly been hanging out in Dublin. We decided to order a pizza, which is a rare occasion. So rare, in fact, that this was probably one of only a handful of times in my life calling and ordering a pizza. I don't know how I can be a 25 year old American and not have done this more frequently, but somehow I've managed. It probably started with me being an incredibly phone-shy kid, and then I became lactose intolerant, so pizza ordering wasn't a common occurrence for me. 

Sore back, sore knees, neither of us being able to drive and no food results in
some serious couch bumming with the healthy combo of pizza and brownies. 

Anyway, we enjoyed some Papa Johns and some Reese's peanut butter chip and walnut filled brownies. I originally made them for Kevin to take on the Party Bus to Nashville for all the guys, but they turned into get-well-soon brownies after Kevin hurt his back. Even though we're trapped inside healing together on this gorgeous day, at least Kevin has an awesome comfy couch to hang out on and it's nice enough to open the windows, which is kind of like being outside, right? Who knows, maybe we'll have a crazy night of sitting on the patio for 5-10 minutes, or as long as our elderly back and knees can handle. 

Summer night on the patio.

Some other areas that are progressing: 
+I've spent less time on the couch, and more time sitting outside without the brace.
+I showered while standing for the first time since the day before surgery
+I am cooking/preparing more and more meals for myself
+PT is way easier than it was when I initially began the home exercises 
+My scars are becoming a little less painful, and the scar tissue is flattening out the teeniest bit
+My ROM is continuing to increase a little at a time

During the times when I feel like the healing process is taking forever, I'm reminding myself that I've come a long way since day one when I was in lots of pain, couldn't bend my leg, was using crutches, could barely do anything for myself, was terrified of showering, and spent nearly every waking minute on the couch.

And finally, here is a video of a new game that Little John and I were playing this week since I can't throw him up in the air or play chase with him right now. Happy Friday, everyone! :)

A Typical Day

My pre-surgery days consisted of doing everything at 100mph. I never sat still, and got a billion things checked off my to-do list per day. Things have changed a bit. 

I wake up, silently wishing that it'll be a good knee day. I slowly stretch my leg out, hoping it won't hurt. I take a minute to put the brace on then get out of bed, testing the steadiness of my knee, just standing there for a minute or two until the pins and needles feeling goes away in my left foot. 

On a random note, I don't understand why toothpaste for sensitive teeth comes in such
a tiny tube. Do they think we don't use as much toothpaste as normal-teeth people?!

I make my way out to the kitchen, step by step, with a bit of a limp. I make my breakfast and start the tea and take glucosamine+chondroitin, which the surgeon says can help with joint pain by building cartilage. I am very ready to sit down by this point, feeling the aching in both knees, so I use my upper body to ease myself down to the chair, take off the brace, and then I eat. I try to make sure I have everything I need because after taking the brace off, I don't want to go through the process of getting it back on and getting up to grab a fork or napkin. I inevitably have to ask my family to grab something or other, or to pour the tea because by the time it boils my legs are sore from getting breakfast and I'm already sitting. 

After breakfast, I grab the ice pack out of the freezer and head to the couch. I elevate and ice both of my knees, and go on my computer or read or talk to whoever is around. If it's a day that my nephew John is here, he climbs up next to me and we look at a thousand pictures and videos together on my computer or phone, which he finds immensely entertaining. Whenever he wants me to run around with him, I remind him that I have a sore leg, and he goes "Ria's sore leg. Careful!" then pats it very gently, and sometimes kisses it to make it "all better!" He also grabs a smaller brace that I have, calls it his boo-boo, says "John's sore leg, too! Boo-boo on." and asks me to put it on his leg. It's pretty adorable. 

John and his "boo-boo" on his leg, eating pretzels with Uncle Nate

Once my legs feel rested, I head back to the bed or I lay on the floor if someone is around to help me back up, and I do round one of physical therapy: 100 leg raises, 100 ankle pumps, 100 quad sets, and seeing how far I can bend my knee. Before, I'd do a total body strength training routine for over a half an hour at least 3 days a week. Now, my sole left leg workout wipes me out. By this point, I either need ice again, or I decide to shower to get it over with. Showering is the most nerve-raking, tiring part of the day.

We have a tub shower downstairs, not a walk-in, so I use a tub bench since I can't put weight on my left leg without the brace. Showering is a first-hand look at all the advice we give our patients as occupational therapists. We casually say "Oh get a tub bench and a a shower head and maybe a long handled sponge if you need help reaching you're feet" and explain which type in some detail, but there is a lot more to figure out than that once you're home. 

Transfer tub bench.

Now that I've figured out what works, it's actually a really good set-up at my house. The toilet is right next to the tub so I am able to rest my foot on the lid to take my brace on and off. I am very grateful we have a full bathroom downstairs since going up or down stairs is nearly impossible some days when my right knee is acting up. I'm also thankful that I can take the brace off to shower, and that I'm able to shower on my own. I need a lot of help right now, and being able to take care of all my personal hygiene independently feels fantastic. 

It's also a little stress inducing. I keep my phone as close as possible in case I fall and need help since I'm in there alone. My balance is good since I'm in my 20s, but I can't help it if a knee gives out, and the shower is not a good place for that to happen. I was starting to get much more confident and it was a lot less painful recently, until that sharp pain in my right knee that made me fall back onto the tub bench a week or two ago. It's getting better and better each day, but I'm still a little nervous each day when I shower until the brace is safely back on and I'm standing again. 

Once I'm up, I finish getting ready for the day. By this point it's around 1-2pm, I am worn out again, and it's a battle between how hungry I am and how sore my knees are for if I'll make lunch or rest first. Today, lunch won because my stomach was audibly rumbling. A lot of times what I'll choose to eat is based on what's easiest instead of what I actually want or what would be healthy, but today I made salad because I was craving it. Grabbing each individual ingredient, washing everything, chopping, making dressing, opening cans...salads used to seem quick and easy, and now they're a bit fatiguing because walking back and forth in the kitchen so many times wears me out, even when I use all of the energy conservation strategies that we teach our patients (grabbing everything at once, making less trips, taking a break, etc.). To those of you who have picked up lunch or dinner when you visited, you have absolutely no idea how much it meant to me, and how much energy you saved me. Thank you!

 Tuna, tomato, onion, and spinach salad with oil and vinegar.

After lunch, it's my absolute favorite time of the day. Two meals, one round of physical therapy, and the shower are all over with. I can finally rest for a few hours before whatever I have planned for the evening, and my knees aren't as stiff as they are in the morning or as sore as they are by the time I go to bed. I ice my knees, read, hang out with whoever is around, journal, blog, sit outside, listen to music, play with my nephew, or watch whatever happens to be on the TV. Inevitably, I'll have to get up to go to the bathroom once I'm all settled with my leg propped up on pillows, but it's not so bad because I know I can walk straight back to the couch to rest again. 

After an hour or two, it's time for round two of physical therapy: 100 more leg lifts, 100 more ankle pumps, 100 more quad sets, and bending my knee as far as I can again. My left leg is completely burning by this point, but I'm thankful that I can move it, that it's getting stronger each day, and that I'm now able to complete all of the exercises with regular muscle soreness instead of it being painful.

Amanda and Eevee came over to visit this week! Eevee is absolutely adorable.  I was impressed
at how delicately she eats (she bit the goldfish in half). She loved chasing Daisy around. 

The evenings are the less routine part of the day. I'll have dinner with my family, or Kevin will come over and hang out, or I'll go out with friends for dinner. I love seeing everyone and getting to socialize, even though I am so tired by this point that half the time I'm spacing out a bit. I apologize to all of my friends that I've seen during the past 6 weeks if I haven't been totally there. I'm probably trying (and maybe not always succeeding) to hold back a grimace from having my leg in my brace on a chair. It's not very comfortable, and my hip flexors are burning from all of the exercises and being stuck in that position on the chair, but I try to ignore it so that I can enjoy everyone's company. 

I was having a particularly rough day last week, and God must've known because there was
the most giant hunk of chocolate in my black raspberry chip from Graeter's that evening. 

Before bed, I ice my knees again. I slowly make my way back to the bathroom and get ready for bed as quickly as I can because my knees are typically the most sore at night. I am finally laying down, finally comfortable, and my knees are rejoicing at getting to rest for the next 8 hours. Just before I drift off to sleep, I end up having to put the brace back on one last time to go the bathroom before I fall asleep, no matter how recently I just went. Hooray tiny bladders. Then, I can finally go to sleep.

Putting the brace on one last time for the day.

Balancing Physical and Mental Health

After hurting my right knee last week from over-doing it, I've been trying to take it very easy this week. In all of my down time, I have done nothing but sit on the couch. I went back to having Kevin and my family cook for me, didn't go outside much to walk around, was unable to go up or down stairs, and tried to only play with Little John while sitting (which is often difficult with a 2 year old). During grad school, if someone would have told me that I could sit on a couch for 18 hours a day, I would have thought that sounded like heaven. Now, I couldn't disagree more.

All of this sitting around and doing nothing gives me too much time to think and worry, so the beginning of this week week has been a little rough mentally while I'm trying to physically rest up. I never realized how active of a person I really was. I can't sit still for two seconds! I must get that from my dad, because you can hardly tell he's even had back surgery. He's been back to his go-go-go self, with the exception of laying down more often when he needs to rest his back. 

I've still managed to stay busy despite all of the resting though, for the sake of my mental health. There's a fine line between losing my sanity while resting my leg and doing enough to stay happy without hurting my leg. 

On Wednesday, my new phone came in so we went to pick that up. I decided to go from my Droid to trying an iPhone. By some miracle, the Verizon store wasn't packed and it actually went pretty smoothly. And 24 hours later my old phone that hasn't been working properly for WEEKS turned on and stayed on perfectly fine. Of course.  

There are a surprisingly large amount of pictures
that come up when you Google Droid vs. iPhone.

We'll see if I keep it. So far I'm still on the fence, and I have 14 days to trade it in if I change my mind. I don't absolutely love it like everyone says they do. I can't stand the navigation compared the the one I used to use, and gchat is absolutely terrible on iPhones. Since those are two of the biggest "smart phone" things I use, I'm having a weird time adjusting (I know, first world problems). I do love that it doubles as an iPod though. I've been listening to music non-stop. The camera is pretty nice, too, but I still think my Droid camera was at least as good, if not better. 

Wednesday evening, Kevin and I drove half way to Cincinnati to meet up with his parents and his brother Stuart. Stuart is in town from Chicago this weekend, so it was great to see him! We went to Warner's BBQ in Jeffersonville since it was in the middle, and we probably had at least 8 pounds of a variety of meat (pulled pork, ribs, sausage, brisket, pork chop, and I think I'm forgetting one) on the table between the five of us. It was delicious for Paleo lovers, but definitely not the place for a vegetarian.

Testing out the iPhone camera while waiting for the rest of the Anderson clan.

My friends Carli and Nicole are in from Minnesota this week, so on Thursday a bunch of us got together at Nasty's. I grew up two doors down from them in our old neighborhood. Nate came too, and so did their brother Chris. There were boyfriends, girlfriends, and cousins there as well, but this is the gang that grew up together. It was great seeing them again!! We usually only get together once every year or two. 

Misty Meadows kids

On Friday, Kevin picked up some food and we took it easy and stayed in since I'm trying to balance the rest and have fun thing. On Saturday, my itty bitty baby sister graduated from high school. I can't believe she's going off to college in a couple months! Time seriously flies. I debated for a long time about going to the ceremony. I really wanted to go because I think it's important and meaningful to be there, but I also thought it would be torture on my knee. After showering and getting all ready (an exhausting process) and after Kevin strategically fit the wheelchair in the back of his car, I ended up deciding not to go. 

The ceremony is packed with families, you have to park far away, and the wheelchair we borrowed from a friend doesn't fit me. My foot hangs off the end about 6 inches and the leg rest doesn't adjust, so I would've risked someone ramming into the end of my foot the entire time. I also have no idea where we would've sat because my right knee won't let me do stairs right now and we probably would've had to have made special arrangements for wheelchair seating. As awful as I felt about not going, it turns out it was a decent idea because my dad said the traffic was horrendous (sitting in a car isn't super comfortable) and then he sent this picture. 

Looks a bit crowded for a messed up knee.

I saw her after though, and I'll definitely be at her graduation party :) 

Congratulations, Caitlyn! I am so proud of you!!

While my family was at Caitlyn's graduation, Kevin and I decided to go out and enjoy the day since we had gotten all ready. We went to Lavash for lunch, then to the Park of Roses. It was all much easier on my knee than the ceremony would have been, and it was a good distraction from feeling horrible for not being at her graduation. We sat outside at Lavash in the most perfect weather ever and it was delicious, as always. After lunch, Kevin met up with Hayes to throw some discs at the Park of Roses, and I sat under a tree and did my physical therapy and napped. I can't even describe how wonderful and relaxing it was to just be outside. Also, physical therapy is way more fun when this is your view:

On a random note, I painted my nails by myself last week! Caitlyn helped me before when I couldn't reach my foot (thank you!), and it was an accomplishment for me to do it myself. It may not seem like a big deal, but I had to keep my knee bent further than normal and hold it there longer than for what is comfortable. Yay for multitasking and doing my nails while simultaneously working on increasing my ROM. 

We ran into Coady at the park. He had gone to the Rose Festival, which was this weekend. That would explain why there were a million cars at the park. Coady told us that this is the week out of the whole year that the roses are the most beautiful. I wanted to go see them on our way out, but decided that I should rest my knee since I'm working on this whole balancing fun and rest thing. 

Once the boys were finished throwing discs, we all relaxed under the most awesome tree for a while. Then Hayes tried to convince Kevin to wear a Superman cape.

But Kevin decided he didn't need a cape. He ran up the tree and started doing pull-ups to train for Tough Mudder. 

 (Thank you Coady for snapping all of these pictures since I couldn't get my brace on in time!!)

We left the park and went home to ice my knees for a while, then we went to the Hovest house to hang out with Tony, Megan, Ezra, Jim, Amanda, Eevee, Michelle, Jim, Megan, Adrienne, and Jon. I haven't seen Jim, Amanda, and Eevee since they moved to Boston over a year ago, so I was very excited to see them!! For the first half of the evening, we mostly watched the babies be super adorable. Eevee kept flashing Ezra and trying to take her dress off. Then they would have conversations that sounded a lot like "a gagaga blablabla eeeeee!" They kept talking back and forth in their baby language and squealing and it was so stinking cute. We ate dinner, had some of Miche's awesome cupcakes, and played Cards Against Humanity. It was a lot of fun, and I could sit with my brace off since we were at a house instead of out at a restaurant. It's always more comfortable without the brace, so we could stay for much longer than usual. 

 

Ezra and Eevee. I kept trying to get a picture when they were looking, but it just so happens that babies move a lot and don't often pose for pictures when they're 11 and 16 months old. 

It was awesome getting to see Carli & Nicole and the Words since they're all so far away now (move back to Ohio! :), and overall, it's been a better week as far as balancing activities go. Both knees are feeling better and better each day, and the second half of the week I felt busy enough to not go totally crazy.

Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 9

For those of you who don't watch Game of Thrones, ignore this because you're probably beyond sick of everyone talking about what some are calling the most intense TV episode of all time. For those who do (SPOILERS ALERT. DON'T LOOK AT THIS STUFF IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LASTEST EPISODE YET), here are a bunch of links about the episode.

I am one of those people do didn't read the books yet. I started them, I'm trying, but I'm only half way through the first one. So I hadn't read the Red Wedding scene before seeing "The Rains of Castamere" episode. I looked exactly like the girl on the left, x10, and then I didn't speak the rest of the evening. 

Originally from here and from Garek. Thanks, Garek!

I was absolutely stunned that three generations of Starks were killed off in 30 seconds. If it had been even one of them, I would have been shocked. The stabbing of a pregnant wife, an honest and just leader, and a strong mother left me dumbfounded, appalled, and speechless  Especially when Arya was SO CLOSE to finally seeing them. I am slowly realizing, like Richard Madden said, nobody is safe. Honestly, I'm terrified to watch future episodes. I think I will be literally sitting on the edge of my seat, full of nervousness and anxiety the whole time, wondering who will be murdered next. I'm not sure I can handle it!

I believe George R. R. Martin does hate us all. Thank you, John, for showing me this (originally from here).

  

Here is a YouTube video of multiple people's reactions while watching the episode. It's kind of depressing because you can hear the episode in the background, and comforting to know so many people felt the same way. I believe most of them fall into the "haven't read the books" category, and you can clearly tell the ones who have. 

And lastly, a bunch of articles that I read right after the episode because I had nobody to talk to about it. And it is an episode that needs discussion. Our HBO was cutting in and out a ton at 9pm, but they replayed it at 11pm. Kevin and I saw right up to the wedding during the 9:00 episode, then we got irritated with it cutting out so much so we turned it off literally right before the scene, having no clue what was about to happen. 

Then Kevin went home since he had to work early Monday morning. I stayed up out of curiosity and watched the rest of the episode with Nathan (he read the books) and Kylie (she doesn't really watch Game of Thrones) during the 11:00 showing. He repeatedly warned me to wait to watch it with Kevin. I foolishy thought it would be fine to just watch it again with Kevin the next day, not realizing it would be the most horrific, awful episode of all time. BAD IDEA. So I did what I always do when I need to figure out my thoughts and learn more. I read and read and read as much as I could about the episode, and couldn't fall asleep for a few hours.

An interview with the actor who plays Robb Stark. And another similar interview.

An interview with the creators of the HBO series of Game of Thrones. 

An interview with the author, George R. R. Martin.

Another article with the actors and authors discussing the last episode.

And a recap of the episode.

And finally 25 Steps to Get Over Your Game of Thrones Depression. Although some of these are just as sad as they are funny.