Geek Habitat

Tomorrow marks my fifth week post-op from my ACL reconstruction (hamstring autograft) and dual meniscus repairs (medial 40% removed; lateral repaired with a bioscrew).

Five weeks retraining my leg to bend, straighten, bear weight and move like a leg rather than a zucchini (which, as we all know, tend to move rather inelegantly, if at all!)

Five weeks attending PT sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sweating and straining for 1 hour just to move my body in ways I once took for granted.

Five weeks that have made all the difference in how my leg feels (stronger, steadier and nearly pain-free) and how I feel about my leg. I can turn, stop or pivot again without worrying that I’m about to be dropped to my rump again in excruciating pain due to knee instability.

Five weeks to a new knee — not too shabby! I’m still unsure what my total time in formal PT will be, but I do know it’s at least 4 more weeks (12 PT sessions) since that’s what my OS just prescribed during my recent checkup. Once I graduate from PT, I reassume total responsibility for my knee and my overall physical fitness, which will be crucial to not undoing everything I’ve accomplished thus far.

As I’ve stepped up my walking and exercises at home (rowing machine), my right (non-operated) knee is feeling better. I hadn’t mentioned it here before, but my right knee even prior to surgery had started popping and reporting in with dull aches. I attributed this to my odd gait due to the injured (now post-op) left leg, and the fact that anytime I did need to crouch down my right knee had to take my full weight. This week, the right knee has stopped whining, though it still pops when bent several times in succession if I’m not weight-bearing on it at the time. Popping I can handle, though, since my shoulders, neck and fingers all do that occasionally.

Life’s good in these parts. I trust it’s good wherever you find yourself, as well!

PS: I’ve been reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done as well as Merlin Mann’s 43folders.com/gtd website. Both information sources have come across my radar screen at precisely the right time. Reading Mann’s “dirty little secret of self-improvement was illuminating — BOOM! — suddenly my post-knee surgery experiences and my refueled productivity quest collided: