Day 24--New Physical Therapist

I had my first physical therapy appointment with my new pt today. It was a lot better. He is more competent when it comes to my specific injury and he is more organized. He also asked questions about what I want to accomplish by the end of pt and what types of activities I want to be able to do. We didn't do anything new today, but he put me through all the stuff I have been doing and did some measurements and did a much better job of explaining where I'm supposed to be at this point. I am much more comfortable with his demeanor and his expertise. I guess we will wait and see how it winds up going, but so far...much better.

Day 17

So I fired my physical therapist today. I've been working at my exercises at home everyday and when I was looking at the protocol, I realized that we aren't really where we are supposed to be. She got pretty irritated when I confronted her this afternoon. She and I do not click personality-wise and I feel like I'm capable of what is listed for this week. I called Dr. Shenton's office and got a referal for one of the PTs at the clinic that Ortho Montana owns, so I will start with them a week from today. In the meantime I will continue with the exercises for this week.

Day 13

I haven't written the last few days because not much has changed. The last of the tape fell off today and I don't have any stitches....They must have glued the incisions? I have physical therapy tomorrow. I can't wait until I can burn this freaking post-op brace. I hate it....it slides down and it's uncomfortable and it sucks to try to wear it with anything but sweats, which will make going back to work interesting. I need to remember to ask tomorrow how long I will do pt for. I also need to try to schedule it first thing in the morning from here out. I need to find out when I can start using my functional brace instead of that wretched piece of crap.

Day 9

Today I had my second round of PT. She now has the correct protocol, so everybody is on the same page. I did some of the same exercises....The leg raises and such. There were also some new ones added. I can do baby squats to about 60 degrees and no weight. I am doing very well, by all accounts, but I wish things would move a little faster. I know it's to protect my leg that I can't, but it seems to be slow.

Day 7

I went to Walmart and a movie with a friend. Everything still seems like so much work. Putting my shoes on is quite and undertaking. I'm doing my PT exercises daily. Even if I"m not sure I'm doing exactly what Dr. Shenton would like, at least it's something and probably something on the more conservative side, which, on the one hand, prevents me from having to worry about causing damage, but on the other makes it so that I'm not sure my progress will be as quick as I would like. Ultimately though, it really only would set me back three days.

Day 6--Post-op Appointment and Physical Therapy

I had my first day of physical therapy today. Essentially she had me doing the same things that Dr. Shenton gave me to do post-op. She was surprised that I was walking on my knee and that the brace wasn't locked out straight. The doctor had the brace unlocked to 60 degrees when I left the hospital and told me that I should be "weight bearing as tolerated." Before the session was over, she had okayed me to use on crutch when outside of my house and walk unassisted in my house. She also unwrapped my leg from the three layers of dressing and two elastic bandages that I've been wearing since Tuesday. I have seven small incisions, two are bigger than the others. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them...tonight I'm kinda beat.

After that appointment I had my post-op appointment with Dr. Shenton. I let him know that the PT was unclear on the protocol for a PCL reconstruction and he gave me the information to pass along to her. He said that he doesn't want me to talk to the PCL reconstruction that he's doing tomorrow because at this point, I'm making it look too easy. They took some X-rays and he did a posterior drawer test which he was really happy with. Whe he did that I could already feel a difference in the stability of my knee. It hurt though....he had to bend my knee closer to 90 degrees, which is far further than it's bent to this point. He also had me hang my feet over the edge of the table to look at the x-ray with him, which I was unsure about but he assured me that it would be ok and showed me how he wanted it done. He even had me walk down the hall to x-ray without the brace on. I am still pretty swollen and he offered to drain it, but left it up to me since it is something I can probably aleviate with ice. I declined. I am to leave the steri-strips alone until they come off on their own.

Bottom line? I can bend my knee to 60 degrees and I am supposed to work on establishing a normal gait. I can shower without use of a garbage bag and plastic wrap. I am set to go back to work around the 8th of February.

Day 5

Today my friend Jennifer took me to church. It was nice to be out of the house, although church wasn't my first choice, to be honest. I was tired when I got home, so I took a pretty long nap and iced my knee....over and over and over.

Tonight I went to mom and dad's house for a turkey dinner. My neice, who is almost two, was there. She is incredibly busy. She doesn't really understand that I can't get down and play with her like normal. I played blocks with her and watched Barney, though while my mom was cooking and cleaning up. She is so sweet. She wears me out under normal circumstances, so tonight I am so beat.

Tomorrow is both my first round of PT and my post-op appointment. I am a little apprehensive about PT, although I can bend my knee to 60 degrees and straighten it completely. I'm excited about post-op. I'm ready to have some of these dressings off. I want to see what my knee looks like. I think I'll get up in the morning and take a shower before my appointments. I know I won't have the energy when I get home and I so need one. My dad is still planning on taking me tomorrow but he is convinced that the appointment is a half hour later than it actually is so I need to not forget to call him and remind him...