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!

Follow Up Appointment #4

Time Since Surgery: 9.5 weeks
Physical Therapy: leg raises, quad presses, hip abductions, walking
Activities That are Improving: walking, showering, driving/riding in a car, cooking, cleaning, sitting with my legs crossed 
Activities That are Challenging: going up and down stairs, standing up from sitting without using my arms, picking up anything off the ground

I can almost sit cross-legged now! This is super exciting to me because I always sit like this or with my legs tucked up under me, so it's been weird keeping my legs straight or my feet flat on the ground. 

I had my 4th follow up appointment last week with the physician's assistant. She said everything looks good, and that I can call in 2 weeks to set up my physical therapy for August! I got the okay to totally ditch the brace, too!! (Unless I'm in a very crowded area where it could get bumped and I'm standing for an excessive amount of time). My left leg is atrophied the expected amount for this amount of time post op, so I'm supposed to continue doing all of the home therapy exercises.

I know how important it is to do the home exercises (especially the OT in me), but I am getting so tired of them. Imagine working out, doing the exact same workout every single day for 10 weeks. I've never worked out every single day, usually just 3-4 times a week max, and I typically mix up my workouts to keep me from getting bored. PT is a different story. Ain't no rest for the weary! I've only been doing 100 repetitions of each exercise per day instead of 200, but I'm planning on making a fun playlist and maybe an inspirational poster collage to keep me more motivated.

My family left for Myrtle Beach this week, but I decided not to go because of my knees. The surgeon said I could go if I kept the brace on while walking in the sand, but that I wouldn't be able to go into the water at all since the waves could slam my knee down too hard. I figured it wouldn't be the most fun beach trip if I couldn't swim or walk along the beach, and our condo was in the second floor without an elevator. Since stairs are still too hard, that seemed like a bad idea. The physician's assistant said if my right knee is still in a lot of pain in a month or so, they can inject gel in it, but they don't want to try cortisone shots since I'm so young. I don't want anything injected, so hopefully I can just do stairs soon with minimal pain!

I've been been walking around a lot more, which is the other part of my therapy. The past few days, my knees have felt fantastic!! It's such an amazing feeling. A couple days ago, I hardly sat at all. I still get tired much more easily than I used to, but I suppose that's to be expected. Walking normally is hard work! It's amazing to me what this week has been like compared to only a couple of weeks ago. My knee doesn't give out hardly at all anymore when I walk, and the right one is improving a little bit from the left one doing more work. Along with the PT and walking, I've added some hip exercises just for the heck of it to mix things up and to try to reduce the hip pain that started since the surgery. I think they're actually helping with the pain

It feels fantastic to be able to do so much more for myself, like cleaning up and without being in as much pain. I'm also starting to stand while showing instead of using the tub bench if I know I'll have time to rest after. Driving feels mostly back to normal except that my knees get a little stiff afterwards. I didn't realize how much I missed driving with the windows down, singing along to the radio. Except when that awful new Miley Cyrus song comes on. Then I immediately change the radio before my eardrums explode. 

I also never realized how much I danced before. Not ballet or ballroom dancing or anything fancy, but all of the little giddy happy dances, dancing downtown, dancing around my room for fun, and goofy dancing with my nephew. I didn't know how much I jumped up and down out of pure joy whenever something exciting happened before. I am very much looking forward to when I can dance and jump around again!

For now, I'll totally take the mostly pain-free walking though. My knees are certainly sore by the end of the day, but I am shocked at how good they feel most of the time relative to how they were just a couple weeks ago. Hooray healing!!! It's been a fun-filled week since my knees have felt so good. 

We celebrated Nathan's birthday with a delicious dinner of filets followed by my mom's ice cream cake, made by Kevin. I'm usually the cake helper but I had to go get ready, so Kevin filled in. Happy 23rd birthday, Nathan!

Then there were multiple 4th of July celebrations. On the 2nd, Kevin, Ashwin, and I saw fireworks right off of Kevin and Ashwin's patio. We thought someone was randomly setting them off, but it turned out to be an entire firework show complete with a grand finale that we could see perfectly without leaving the apartment. It was awesome!

On the 3rd, Erin, Kevin, Ashwin, Rohan, Hayes, Dan, and I went downtown to watch Red, White, and Boom. Erin's mom works at the Homeless Families Foundation, so we had a private parking lot and picnic area complete with a great view of the fireworks. It was perfect for my knee because we didn't have to walk hardly at all with the parking lot being right there, and we had bathrooms inside the building and easy access to shelter when it started raining. It was a relaxing evening filled with playing on the playground, an excess amount of grilled food and snacks, enjoying sparklers, and playing games. The rain mostly held off until the fireworks were completely finished, too. 

The album cover of the next greatest boy band.

My parents had a cookout on Thursday for our family and some friends. It was delicious! After, we made our way to a hill to watch the Dublin fireworks instead of being part of the crowd at Coffman (too much walking for the knee). The place we used to drive to watch them at was always empty, but it no longer exists and this hill was packed. Kevin and I ended up leaving just before the grand finale to avoid traffic since we had to deal with traffic the night before at Red, White, and Boom. The Dublin fireworks were pretty good, but not as good as previous years. Where have all the fun, crazy shaped and colored fireworks gone?!

John, Kelly, James, Caitlyn, Kelly Y., Suzanne, Gwen, my mom, Kevin and I went to watch the Dublin fireworks.
It was James' first time seeing fireworks!

I've also been enjoying hanging out with Little John, as always. This week, he got some notes out on the French horn for the first time! It was a very exciting moment. Before he'd just put the whole mouthpiece in his mouth, and now he's understanding how to play. I can't believe a two year old can get notes out on a brass instrument! I'm having so much fun watching him learn. 

We also took John over to see my high school's marching band while they were practicing for the 4th of July parade. He LOVED it. Now whenever he plays any instruments at home, he says "Just like the marching band!" When we ask him what he saw, he goes through the list of instruments, saying "Percussion sectiooooon, big tubaaaaas, girls with flaaaags, trumpets, saxophones, clarinets..." I absolutely love his interest in music. I snapped this picture when we went inside to get him some water. I think he's contemplating which one he wants to play :)

This week, I'm trying to put more weight on my left knee while it's bent to go up and down stairs or while standing up from sitting, and I'm going to try to get back to doing all 200 repetitions of each exercise. We'll see how that goes! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend :)

John Video of the Week: Playing French horn. He insists that I hold up music for him, and that he holds the horn "By self. John play!"