The big milestones (ditching the crutches around 4 weeks, ditching the brace around 6 weeks, and running around 3 months) are still fairly far off, but I hit several minor, intermediate goals this week, including:
- Sunday night – tinkered with my golf-club-bungee-cord contraption and figured out how to sit down and stand up on my own. This was crucial—I might not have let Khristy or Daddy leave, otherwise.
- Tuesday – showered! I’m allowed to take off my brace and shower now (the only time it’s ok to take it off), which is very nice. Though it takes a long long time to get in there safely and I have to be careful around the stitches (lovely stitches picture below), it feels very refreshing.
- One of the days (they all blend together when you spend each of them in the exact same spot and posture) – figured out how to get in the car! Another liberating step. I’ve driven to the mail boxes a couple times, which will hopefully be good practice for Monday, when I have to drive myself to the doctor. I might see if I can go to Trader Joe’s tomorrow to practice a farther trip (…and get some bananas).
- Saturday – while laying down, I lifted my leg an inch off the pillows, using only my quad muscles! This is one of the big therapy exercises for the first month. I’m not exactly clear on the biological reasons for why this is so difficult/impossible right now, as they didn’t actually do anything to my quad, but it certainly takes a lot of straining to try and lift it.
Pretty good, right? Here’s the stitches picture I referenced earlier—be sure and look at it when you’re getting ready to eat a big meal!
There are still some issues, though. I think they would be best presented in another group of bullets…
- Though I’m allowed to take off the brace and bandaging to shower, that also means I’m in charge of putting it (and the ice-pump-wrap) back on. I do not like this responsibility, because (a) it’s quite difficult to reach the straps and bandaging close to my ankle, and (b) I’m never sure if I put them on 100% correctly, which leaves me perpetually wondering if my amateur bandaging is at all responsible for any subsequent pain/swelling. Speaking of swelling…
- Swelling. I’m sure everything was pretty swollen last week, but I couldn’t see it under the layers and layers of wrapping. Now that some of the bandaging has been removed I’m constantly noticing how swollen my ankle is (very swollen). I almost e-mailed my doctor (would have been the 3rd time since my last appointment), but some internet research tells me the ankle swelling is pretty standard. The swelling has also subsided ever so slightly the past couple days, helping to quell my paranoia for the time being.
- Some sleeping struggles the past couple days. I’ve had a hard time getting comfortable in bed, resulting in a few straight nights of 20-minutes-asleep, 40-minutes-awake cycles. I don’t really mind the pain/discomfort when I’m out on the couch distracting myself with games and movies, but it becomes frustrating at night when it hurts just enough to wake you up, but not so much that I can wake up and play QRank (which, you might have noticed, I have been housing this week). Being stuck in one position becomes aggravating, too—I’d eat three onions if it meant I could turn on my side and bend my knees in bed. Speaking of bending…
- No bending. I had thought that the point of my brace was to make sure I didn’t bend my leg, as this might interfere with the way the ACL and hamstring healed. It turns out that, even without the brace, my leg still knows the rules. I got doc approval to carefully experiment with bending…one remarkably short experiment session later, I realized leg-bending is pretty much impossible at this point. Like the quad lifting discussed in the Progress section, I’m not sure what recovery-biology makes this so difficult, but it’s another thing to look forward to improving upon in physical therapy.
Still reading? Good attention span! Skimmed everything and just happened upon this sentence? You are my least favorite family member (not really—you must be busy. And I haven’t updated my rankings in a while).
That’s how things stand with week 3 about to start, sure to bring its own milestones—stitches come out, physical therapy starts, I visit my office, and more!
I’d like to thank everyone once again for all your help last weekend, though. It was really, really touching how kind and eager-to-help everyone was. You all tie for first place in the leg-lift-and-hold standings. Thank you all so much.
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