Days 14-21 (May 10-17)
Day 14 (Tuesday, May 10th)
Not much to report. Did morning and evening PT.
Day 15 (Wednesday, May 11th)
Today’s PT resulted in more shifting of my exercises and also marks the beginning of once-a-week visits. Here’s the new regimen: 5-minute Passive Extension; 20 Heel Slides; 1-minute Hamstring Stretch; 30 each of front and back Leg Raises (but drop side ones). Then I stand up for 20 Step-Ups; 20 Knee Bends with 5 second pause, but now I squeeze a midsized kick-ball between my knees. The goal is to get my Medial quad to work harder, right now my Lateral quad is doing all the work; 1 minute Balance, but now do it on a pillow or other more challenging surface. The 20 Knee-Bands were dropped in favor of my new bane: 20 Step-Downs. I can only do these from about a 3” platform of magazines, and even this feels painful, uncomfortable, and awkward.
In the evening I hit another milestone. I drove for the first time since surgery. I’ve been feeling like I was maybe up to it for the past couple days…so I gave it a try and it was fine. Once I’m a little more mobile I can start driving to work too; it’ll have to wait until I can comfortably make the walk from the parking ramp to the office.
Day 16 (Thursday, May 12th)
Stay the course!
Day 17 (Friday, May 13th)
Stay the course!
Day 18 (Saturday, May 14th)
Stay the course!
Day 19 (Sunday, May 15th)
Today was a beautiful day in Minneapolis, we got out and took care of some business, I picked up a track-suit at a second-hand store for a work event on Friday, and Z wanted one too so we got him one. It was so nice that we decided to take a walk by the lake. This was a big milestone…I did it with no crutch at all! I walked very slowly to ensure that I didn’t limp and Kammy stayed with me while Z zoomed all over the place, first on his scooter, then just running around.
Day 20 (Monday, May 16th)
Today’s main news is that I left the crutches behind entirely. I walked (slowly) to lunch and back, but my co-worker is still dropping me off and picking me up…Won’t be long now until I start driving to work again.
Day 21 (Tuesday, May 17th)
Stay the course!
Posted by Greg on July 23rd, 2011 :: Filed under ACL Files
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July 24th, 2011
I remember learning to make my medial quad work in my knee therapy. Even now, 15 years later, when I do leg presses, I do them one leg at a time and put a finger on my medial quad to make sure it’s working.
July 25th, 2011
I still (late July) really have to focus to get the medial quad to do it’s share of the work. Weird how much our bodies change their behavior over things like this, isn’t it?