Almost two months since surgery!

I can't believe it has been this long....today I had a long physical therapy session. I love pt lately! It is like my own little workout and I get a long icing and laser treatment at the end. Here is my routine at physical therapy:
bike about 15 minutes
walk backwards on treadmill about 10 minutes (this feels so good!)
5 minutes on balancing machine- 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off
3 sets of 10 leg press
3 sets of 10 calf raises
scoot myself around the room on a wheeled stool using alternating legs(this one is funny and fun)
30 weighted lunges
stretch
ice machine
laser and talk with Chris about how much Ohio State stinks!

The morning after these sessions I definitely feel like I got a workout. Today I got a lecture, too. About overdoing it because I am doing so well and feel decent. Chris told me how people who get patellar tendon ACLs are in a lot of pain for like 12 weeks and don't feel like doing any serious activity so their grafts stay safe and heal and those who get a cadaver don't have as much pain so they tend to over do it and sometimes re-injure. So I was warned. This came up because I was whining a little about how I didn't understand why I can't be swimming (pulling at least) by now because my leg feels so much stronger. Anyway, I will continue to take it easy and keep telling my knee to heal, heal, heal!!

One work week down

Going back to work has been awesome and terrible. I was so happy to see/meet my kids but haven't been in this much pain since right after surgery. My ankle hurts and my knee constantly aches. At night I am exhausted but am back to not sleeping well because of my knee hurting every time I move. It's no good. I love my job but unfortunately it is one where I run around a lot and pick up kids and very rarely sit down....and when I do it is in a mini chair and I have to get up immediately. I am feeling torn- I know I went back to work too early, but will I ever feel like I am ready to be back? The only way to know if my knee was ready was to go back and my answer is not what I wanted. Boo. All I want to do this weekend is stay in bed and ice and feel sorry for myself.

cankle

So when I fell in June and tore my acl, I also sprained my ankle really bad. I have not spent an extended amount of time on my feet since then. Today was a really hard day at work and I had to chase/ pick up/ remove from the water table a big 6 year old...I'm talking like a 60 pounder -  multiple times. Here is what my ankle looks like tonight:

 

Sexy. 

I keep looking at it and it seems like it can't be my own foot. By the way, my knee is also throbbing. Good night.

Back to work.....

It's been a long almost seven weeks, but I finally went back to work today. So many people said they were surprised I was back so soon considering the type of kids I work with and the type of surgery I had?!?! I never planned on it being this long!!  Anyway, I teach mostly special ed/ ESL kids aged 3-5. They are all over the place and I don't sit down for most of the day. It was so, so good to see the kids- I had about half of them come back from last year and half were new. They were all great and happy and cuddly, just how I like them! Really, there were only a few times that I felt twinges in my knee and remembered I had an injury. The rest of the time I was cautious, but not in any pain at all. I iced for about 5 minutes during my about 15 minute lunch break and took 2 Aleve. A boy with autism threw himself on the floor while I was walking with him and holding his hand and that twisted my knee and was painful but that was the worst of it. I am a dork, but as soon as I walked into the classroom I got a little tear in my eye. Because I was happy and so ready to be back there and back to my normal life. It is coming back slowly, and for that I am so grateful.

Lasers

So Thursday in pt I had a rough time. I did okay with the bike, treadmill and balancing, but had really sharp pain in my kneecap when I did my lunges. Chris had me stop and gave me a laser/ infared light treatment. It was about 10 minutes long, felt like nothing at all and is supposed to speed up healing in bones. I hope it works. I was cleared to go to the gym and ride the bike, which I did today. Let me just say that it was awesome. I did seated weights in the circuit they have set up at my gym then rode the bike for 15 minutes. It felt so great to get back in the swing of what feels like my normal life again. I am sore and it feels amazing. I am going back to work tomorrow and I hope my knee feels as good as it does right now. I cannot wait to see my students and hope I can sleep tonight because I am so excited!!

Beginning of Week Six

I definitely didn't think it would take this long, but today my knee feels great. I was up on it most of the day, in the brace and now as I take it off and do my exercises and get ready for bed, I can't help thinking how strong it feel. And for that I am very grateful.

By the way...

I went to my loves' house Friday night so my friends could go to Oktoberfest. It was more like I sat around and the kids took care of me. They are great kids and it was the first time I had been there since my surgery. They got me ice for my knee, cold drinks from the basement and snuggled me a lot. Here's some action shots:

Good times.

BIG day!

It's been exactly six weeks since my surgery and I got to exercise for the first time! Yeah! At physical therapy, I got to ride a recumbent bike for 10 minutes and walk on a treadmill backwards, very slowly for 10 minutes. Then I had to do this balancing machine- ten, ten second intervals that were sooo hard. The guy (NOT my physical therapist- that's another story..) said I may hold lightly onto the handles at first...uh, yeah right- I had to hold on almost the entire time! My balance isn't great and hopefully this is something I will improve on. Then I did some adapted lunges- 30 to be exact- and my legs were burning after about 10. It was awesome.
So about my physical therapist....Luckily I have GREAT insurance and pay nothing out of pocket for pt sessions. If I did, I would be complaining. My physical therapist said maybe 20 words to me in the hour I was there. He was working with someone else when I got there and was deep in conversation about restaurants/ food while he stretched/ massaged him. He did walk me over to the bike and told me I'd be on it for 10 minutes. And immediately went back to the guy he was working with previously. So I finished (nobody checked on me the whole time) and walked back over to my therapist. He did stop what he was doing then and walked me to the treadmill and showed me what to do next. And immediately left again. Kind of scary...I had no brace on and was a little worried I may trip or something since I was on a treadmill for the first time in months, walking backward, nonetheless. So i finished and nobody was looking so I walked back over to my therapist. He asked the assistant to take me to the balance machine, where again, I was left alone. Same thing for the lunges. Thank goodness I am semi-coordinated and didn't hurt myself. So then the assistant guy gave me an ice treatment, and all the while my therapist continued his conversation and massage next to me. I was SO jealous of that massage, by the way. He did put my brace on me when I was done and said he'd see me next week. This physical therapist is so nice, and is great when he actually works with me,  the place is so convenient, but I'm a little annoyed at the lack of attention I'm getting. I wonder if this is always how pt is???
Anyway, I am sore after all that, but in a great way. I feel great. I got some new exercises and can't wait to go back to Friday, if for nothing else, for the opportunity to exercise!
Here are my new exercises for home:

 

Week 5 1/2

So I totally over did it this weekend. I haven't really felt any pain lately, but after a kind of busy Friday night and an extremely busy Saturday, I spent all day Sunday and Monday in bed icing. I have some weird sharp pain in new places and to top it off I was up all night last night with a really bad sore throat and runny nose. I am nervous because I am supposed to go back to work a week from today. I think if I made it through this past weekend, I can make it through a 7 hour work day. I am definitely going to ice all during my lunch breaks.
So I haven't really written about this but two weeks ago, my dad had an achilles tendon debridement and is in a cast and unable to put weight on his leg at all. So I have extended my stay at my parents' house to take care of him in the daytime while my mom goes back to work. It hasn't been too bad and I have enjoyed spending time with him. I was thinking today that I got at least one positive thing out of my family's injury-surgery-filled summer. In June and July I spent tons of time with my mom after she had a double knee replacement, and more as she helped me recover from my acl surgery. Now I get to spend days with my dad as he is healing. I promise, we are usually a totally healthy family!!!! I hope this is the year of the injury and 2012 will be healthy and happy for all of us. Anyway, this is time I am sure I would not be able to spend with my parents otherwise and am grateful for the opportunity to do it.
Anyway, about my acl healing....other than these new pains, I am getting concerned about walking up and down stairs. I still have sharp pains behind my kneecap when I try to do stairs the 'regular' way. I think this may have more to do with the chondroplasty then the actual acl surgery. I don't know, but I do not plan on doing stairs like a toddler/ old person for much longer so I hope this heals soon!! I plan on asking about it this Wednesday at pt...I get to ride a bike Wednesday- I'm so excited. Hopefully it will be challenging but pain free!

Physical therapy Day 2

Today was my second time going to see Chris (my pt) and it went really well. I slept at my own place for the first time in 5 weeks last night and it was really weird. I could not fall asleep and convinced myself that I smell different since I had surgery. It must be that stinky cadaver acl I got!! I do, however, still have the comfiest bed ever and enjoyed it immensely. I took my second shower standing up, which is still hard and drove myself to pt, which is also still hard. It hurts more after I get out of the car and sit down and I have a burning feeling in my knee.
So I made it to see Chris. He measured me (straight and bent) as soon as I got there and said it looked excellent. He said "excellent" several times. I don't know the exact measurements, but I know he didn't have to stretch me or anything. He gave me an ice treatment and called it a day. I was like, "That's it?" He said there was nothing else he could do for me today since I am doing so well. He also said this is what happens when you follow the doctor's orders and wished everyone he saw was this easy. Yay me.
Anyway, next week I see him twice and best news I have heard in a while: I get to ride the bike, walk on the treadmill and do balancing exercises. You mean I get to do real cardio!?!? Yeah! Needless to say, I am totally looking forward to that.
When I left I asked if I was supposed to continue the three easy stretching exercises I have been doing and Chris said, "Just rest and keep telling your knee to heal." I can totally do that.

Week 5!!!

 Hello, cool brace!
Week five was a good week. I went to the physical therapist for my first visit and got my new, cutsom, awesome,smaller brace. It makes such a huge difference! For the first day after I got it, I was advised to go back to two crutches, but as of today (9/20- end of week 5) I am pretty much crutch - free except for stairs!!! It feels soooo good! I can really feel my leg getting stronger every day.


Thanks to my wonderful insurance, I was able to get a custom-made brace. I was even allowed to pick out the color. I could have gotten this:

...but I went with metallic black. I'm not that girly. These DonJoy people are so sure I won't re-injure my acl while wearing their brace, that they pay me if I do. Hardcore. I look like a football player with it on.
So my first physical therapist's appointment was great. He said my straightening and bending were both great - in fact I was a couple weeks ahead of schedule according to my dr.'s protocol. If I wasn't doing well I would have been very surprised because I have been busting my ass on these exercises for four weeks!! The pt made an interesting observation when looking at both of my legs straight. He asked if I played basketball or soccer and I of course said no. He said that if I had, I would have torn a lot sooner because my legs are regularly so hyperextended. Thank you, swimming. Most swimmers I know who swam their whole lives have legs like this. But this has helped me get my bad leg get back where it needs to be so its a good thing.
I was told to stop all my exercises. He gave me three (the easiest three) to do this week, but I wasn't allowed to use a weight and I was to cut back on the repetitions. I was already where I needed to be, so he didn't want me to put unnecessary trauma on the knee. He said this past week and the week coming up, I really should just take it easy and let it heal. Watch some movies, he said. So my dad's new running joke this week was, "Sarah, you'll be fine- just rest and watch some movies!" I mean what pt tells you that? I was expecting to get beat up and bent and stretched in there, but I guess I had been doing that to myself, so there was no need for the pt to do it. He seemed a little disappointed, actually.
So Sunday morning(9/18), I was feeling great and decided to try driving over to my apartment (maybe a mile from my parents' house). I was so happy to be home that I cleaned a bit, thought I could take a shower standing up and drove back. Not a good idea. None of those were good things. My knee throbbed the rest of the day and I pretty much stayed in bed with ice all day. Thank goodness for football. So I'm still at my parents' -I don't want to be stuck alone at my apartment. At least there are nice people here who will help me. And I don't mind their company much either...:)
Looking forward to tomorrow's pt session. We are going to see if my knee is just as straight and can bend just as far after easing off the exercises. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm hoping for a massage...do they do that at pt?

Goodbye, hot, uncomfortable, forever falling down (but very supportive) whole leg brace!!!!!

Days twenty two- twenty six

On day twenty two, I went back to see my surgeon for a check up. I (finally) got the okay to start putting weight on my leg. It was again explained to me what the hold up had been (chondroplasty- which I have a much greater understanding of now and will explain in a later post). So I was instructed to start with 25% - 50% of my weight on my leg while using both crutches. I did that all weekend, although I am not sure how I am supposed to gauge what percentage of my weight is on my leg....it was sore but okay. I went downstairs more often - a couple times a day- because going down the stairs without putting any weight at all on the leg was hard! This made it much easier. I was told that later this week I can move to just using one crutch if I am able to. I am excited and scared. Bring it.

So here's kind of how my knee has been feeling: tight. And not in the way my students use the word. When I wake up it feels like everything is in a tight fist in there. Once I stretch it out and do my first round of exercises, it feels better. About three times a day, my knee cracks. Like when your knuckles crack. Usually it cracks on the outside, where one of the chondroplasties was done. It doesn't hurt before it cracks, but feels better after. I hope this is normal. I asked about it at my appointment and they think it is happening because the swelling is going down. I hope so. And I hope it stops soon- it's weird. All of my exercises are getting much easier, so I am increasing their frequency and duration. Sometimes, my knee feels totally normal and I forget anything is wrong. This is usually when I am not moving. :)
 I'm feeling a little more independent...my mom went back to work last week and I pretty much just stayed in my room while she was gone. Today I was downstairs for about an hour. It was boring. I think I'd rather just stay up here and do my exercises all day. I got a lot of stuff for work done today and I'm feeling back to normal a little.

Here's what my knee looked liked Friday (day twenty four?) :

Still a little swollen and a lot ugly!

 

 

 

 

 Here is what it looks like today (day twenty six):

My friend Kim calls this a "wormy" scar. I have been massaging and will continue to do so!!

Not bad, I say. Plus scars make you look cooler.

Days eighteen-twenty one

Not much new to report with the knee- it's feeling better and better every day. My sleeping gets better every night. I have been watching way too much tv, as evidenced by the other night's dream that I lived in the Jersey Shore house. As it gets cooler, I notice my knee is tight in the morning when I wake up....hope this will go away. Tomorrow I go back to see the doctor and am hoping, hoping, hoping he will see all the hard work I have done and say I am ready to start weight bearing. I will update tomorrow. Until then, I have the first season of Gilmore girls and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights to keep me occupied!

Day seventeen

I really miss working out. Especially swimming laps. Many will agree that there is nothing like doing laps outside on a sunny day. Fortunately, I was mindful this summer. I made sure that every time I got into the lovely water at the OCC, I stopped for a minute and was thankful. Fellow lap swimmers complained: the water was too cold, too hot, had to many leaves....I thought: I am so lucky to be able to do this every day. The way the sun twinkles down to the bottom of the pool when you are swimming into calm water in an empty lane is the best. Just the best. Here is where you could have found me most every day of the summer at noon on the dot:

                                (thanks for the pic, chris)

 Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.........
 I am so very glad that I really took the time to enjoy it before my surgery. I was up to swimming around 3000 meters a day for the weeks leading up to my surgery and I was feeling great (but missing breaststroke!). I can't wait to get back into the water! My doctor says that the order of things will be stationary bike>elliptical>pool. Pool by December. That's a long time away!

In acl recovery news, I am still working really hard in my daily exercises and added another set of everything today. I need a challenge. My quads and glutes are sore and it feels so good. On the other hand, the top inside of my knee (the spot that has been bothering me most consistently) is still really sore. And yay, I woke up and another of my bandages had fallen off during the night.

Still swollen and Frankenstein- like, but getting better. The area from that large incision to about three inches above it is my problem spot. It throbs pretty much all the time. You can't tell from the picture, but that large incision is really one huge bump. No good.

Days fifteen and sixteen

This business of putting little to no weight on my leg is for the birds. I have been reading others' accounts of their acl surgeries and people say how they are walking like a week later! It is frustrating but then I have to remind myself that I had some other issues going on besides a torn acl. Namely a hot mess.  This is what a normal knee cap should look like:

 



Nice and smooth, right??

 Here is what my kneecap looked like when they got in there:

 Nice and furry / spikey.






 So they scraped all that junk off and finally got it to look like this:

Still not super smooth but a lot less like a jellyfish.





And then the holes were drilled. I love those pictures so I'm going to post one again even though I already have.

 Gotta love it. So that's why I'm not walking yet.

Day fourteen

Yay! It's been two weeks. This is what my knee looks like today:

Obviously I am still very swollen and looking very un-knee-like. Several of my little tape bandages have come off which is good (I think). I've been dying to see what's under there.

My day was typical and went something like this:
Up around 730 and two hours on cpm machine (I always fall back asleep while on it)
breakfast
about an hour of exercises
two hours on cpm machine
lunch
about an hour of exercises/ tv (this is the time of day there's a 4 hour block of the original CSI! yay!)
nap
hour of exercises again
dinner
last hour of exercises
two hours of cpm machine before bed

Soooo exciting. The interweb and television keep me nice and distracted and it's rare that I do all my exercises straight in one hour. Plus visitors are usually in and out. And my parents of course.
Tonight just for fun I laid on my stomach and had my mom bend/stretch my knee as much as I could tolerate, bringing my heel toward my bum. I just wanted to get an idea of how I was progressing....I could only get to what looked just under 90 degrees. And it hurt like hell. So I won't be doing that again until someone makes me.
I will leave you with a picture of the tool I have used most in my recovery.......

 

It's a grabber and it's the best invention ever.

Days eleven-thirteen and the puffiest knee ever

I can't believe I haven't posted in three days!! I'll try not to let that happen again... I also can't believe that tomorrow will have been two weeks since surgery. It feels like it was a month ago. The human body is amazing. I cannot get over how much stronger I get every day. I wonder if maybe I am just extra dedicated to doing my exercises or what, but I can really feel my strength coming back in my quads and calves. My exercises/ stretches feel easier and easier. I am slightly concerned because a few days ago, I felt like I could totally straighten my leg with little pain, but today some pain came back. And it just didn't feel like I was getting it as straight as I had been. We will see....
Sleep is getting better and better. And by that I mean I'm sleeping for longer than 3 hours at a time. Last night it was 4 and a half. Tonight I'm hoping for 5!!?? Fingers crossed.
I still am not putting much weight on my leg, per doctor's orders. Today in the shower (yes, the shower!! yeah!!!) I couldn't stop wondering what would happen if I tried to put more weight on it so when I got out, I tried. And it hurt. And didn't feel very strong. So now I know.And the bathroom floor after a shower probably wasn't the best place to try this out.
I was sitting up more than usual today and even moving around on the second floor- I guess I was feeling extra energetic. So tonight as I was sitting here with my leg out in front of me, I noticed it was way swollen. Like I could barely make out my kneecap swollen! I was warned that the more I moved around and less I elevated, the more swollen I'd be. So I guess that was the case today. Here's a picture, because I knew you all would enjoy:

I mean, does it even look like a leg??? I have never seen anything so swollen everywhere. So...tomorrow I will take it a little easier, I guess. Or wear longer pants so nobody has to look at this business.
I can't wait for my little bandages to fall off so I can see what's underneath. I am so,so tempted to pull them off! I don't even know if I have stitches under there or what.

On a non-medical, personal note, today was a good day mood- wise. Yesterday was the first day of school for my students and my wonderful assistant was given a totally useless sub. That's no good for two classes of 16 three to five year olds with special needs, some of which had never been to school before. I know she hung in there, but I got several calls and texts from others in the school who were helping her saying it was a zoo. I mean, at times I could hear screaming in the background ! And I guess the sub had his back to the kids and was on his phone most of the day???? Needless to say I was upset, feeling powerless and frustrated. I had to email my principal for help and turn my phone off by the end of the day.
I heard today that my principal and awesome office staff asked the guy not to come back and got someone more appropriate for the population in my classroom. Those poor kids. And my poor assistant! I send her a huge bouquet of flowers- I know she needed something stronger than that by the end of the day, but at least maybe I made her smile.
I got no calls today which is a great thing. And I got some good pictures of my kids which is an awesome thing. I cannot express how badly I want to get back to work.

bests

I have the best friends and family ever. Today I had visitors all day long. People would leave and like 10 minutes later someone else would come. It is the best feeling to see people from the outside world that care about me. So to all of you that came by today: you made my day!! xoxoxo

sleep, please

I'm really starting to think I may never get a full, good night's sleep again.

Days nine and ten

So I woke up Friday morning really excited to start all my new brace-free exercises. In addition to the three exercises I had been doing, these were added:

This one feels so good (but it hurts). I just lie on the bed and let my legs dangle. The doctor said not to add weights to any of these yet because of my fractures.The worst part is I have to do at least two ten minute sessions three or four times a day. This one takes a lot of time!

This is easy and it doesn't feel like it does anything. I still do the same exercise with the large foam block four times a day for about ten minutes and I feel like that gives me a more intense stretch.

This is my favorite exercise to do because I really feel it working immediately. And my quads look and feel like shit and I hope this will strengthen them up again quickly.

This is the worst. First of all, I thought it was a joke considering on Thursday it took everything I had to just raise my leg like the picture shows. One time. But in addition to lifting it, I need to try to hold it out for five to ten minutes!! The first time I did it Friday, I was able to hold it for about thirty seconds while my quad shook like crazy. This morning I did 2 minutes in my first session and by my last session tonight I was able to do four minutes. It hurts but its great to feel and see progress!



After my first day (Friday) of these new exercises, I was exhausted and had the worst night's sleep ever (how many times have I had the worst night's sleep ever??? They just keep getting worse and worse!). I slept last night with the brace on but unlocked. I woke up and as soon as I saw my dad, I started crying. I just felt terrible, like nothing was ever going to get better and like I'd be forced to be a prisoner in my parents house forever!! I really miss my own place and freedom!!He gave me a great pep talk (he's the king of those and they always work!) and the day got better.

So now as I am strapped to the cpm machine for the last session of the day, I am feeling better mentally (except that it's Saturday night at 10pm and I am in bed with a cpm machine). I am really working on being more self- sufficient. For example, today is the first day I was able to 100% put myself on and take myself off the cpm machine and position myself and do all my other exercises (even put my foot on and off the big foam block which is really hard!). So I feel really good about that because I hate, hate, hate having to have people (namely my parents) do things for me. The doctor really wants me to keep weight off my leg, so I haven't been downstairs except for the time I went to my appointment Wednesday. It's nearly impossible to get down stairs without any weight bearing, plus as soon as I would get down there, I'd just have to turn around and come back up to do my exercises. I am not exaggerating when I say I get like a two hour break a day or else I fall too far behind!!
Physically, I expected my quads to be sore, but my glutes are too. Maybe I am doing something wrong or maybe I am just starting to use them again. Also, the most pain I have is on the front inside of my knee. I wonder if there are some fractures there? Its right next to the bottom front incisions. More on that tomorrow.I am going to try to sleep tonight without the brace on. I am a little worried I might tweak something but anything has to be better than the sleep I have been getting.

Some more random info: Today was a perfect pool day and I was really jealous of my pool friends. How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days has been on I think every day since my surgery. That and Sweet Home Alabama, both of which I have seen like a million times each. I know everything about the hurricane (and hope/ know all my friends will be safe) thanks to the Weather Channel and am so sad for my friend Mary who has been looking forward to her trip to the shore all summer long!!! I am hooked on the DIY channel and HGTV. I love that Ahmed guy who meets people at home improvement stores on Yard Crashers. That's my favorite. Also, Esther Price's (like Fannie May) new milk chocolate covered butter twist pretzels are the best thing ever.
Good night.

Days seven and eight

I have not been in the mood to write these past few days but today I am going to make myself! Here's a quick rundown....all week I continued to have problems sleeping. It sucks. I cannot get comfortable at all and tossing and turning isn't really a good option since my leg feels like it weighs 100 pounds lately. So Wednesday was a bad day (day seven). I had been taking my pain meds only at night for a couple days and Tuesday night was the first day I didn't take them at night so that may have contributed to my crappy sleep.
I was so, so incredibly excited for Thursday to come because I got to go back to the doctor to open up my brace and unwrap my leg. It really sucked getting down the stairs but I didn't care! It felt so good to get out of the house and into the sunshine (even if it was just while I hopped to the car). So doctor came in (I saw Dr Nitz's physician's assistant for this appointment- she also assisted in my surgery) and I was all smiles! She said something like "I am never greeted like that by patients that had acl surgery 7 days ago." Anyway, both she and I were amazed at how good my leg looked:

My usually shapely calves are dwindling down to nothing and my quads feel (and look) like they are gone! But no bruising at all!! And I still have a bit of my great tan......just kidding- it's fading fast. Anyway, it felt so good to let my leg breathe. Good news is that I only have to wear my brace when I am out of bed. The doctor said that I don't have to wear it when I am sleeping but I am a little nervous I will turn over and hurt it so we agreed that I would wear it to bed unlocked (meaning I can bend it if I need to ).  Okay bad news is that my leg still felt so heavy. Lifeguard/ swimmer friends: remember having to go down to the bottom of the deep end to pick up that huge brick? That's what my leg felt like Thursday. It was really scary. But it was great to get onto the cpm machine without a brace on. I felt like I was getting so much more of a bend. Same thing with my other two exercises: I felt so much less restricted and therefore got so much more out of the exercises.
I want to tell you guys about the new exercises I'm doing and how Friday went but I'm going to do that later today...in the meantime, here's a picture of really pretty flowers my mom got me to brighten up this room. Neither one of us is a fan of roses, but these are cool:

Mr and Mrs Holbrock gave me this vase for graduation and it is one of my favorites! Greg, if you are reading this, tell them thanks again!!

Day Six

Last night was another rough one. It's so hard to get to sleep for any longer than like three hours. I always wake up and have thrown all my pillows all over the room. Pain-wise, I feel pretty good. I bumped the cpm machine up to 85 degrees today and it feels great. I will get a picture on my next session. I've been doing all my flexion and strengthening exercises, flexing my quads and calves like crazy and keeping up on the Kardashian/ Humphries wedding (I cannot wait for this week's gossip mags to come out Friday so I can see all the pictures!).
Several good things happened today: I can put more and more weight on my leg with less and less pain, I washed my hair using the shower chair that my mom passed down (she had a double knee replacement in June) and I took a semi-shower! I told my mom several times today that the hair washing/shower made this the best day since the surgery and I'm not lying! I feel pretty good and hope that my mood and knee keep getting better!!!!

*on an unrelated note....my favs, Anna, Jason and Sid went back to school today. I have been thinking of them all morning because I cannot believe Sid is in 4th grade and A and J are in FIRST!! It's crazy and I'm sure they are all loving their new teachers and learning lots.

football

It was great to watch the Bears game with my family last night (even though they didn't look great) but disappointing to see Terrell Thomas of the Giants tear his acl. In his contract year. I am by no means a Giants fan, but I have to feel for the guy.