Day 36: Gardening
What a difference 5 weeks makes! I spent most of today planting new flowers and shrubs in our front yard (salvia, rosemary, green cloud Texas sage and cigar plants) and raking fallen oak leaves from our lawn. I’m quite sore, but in an all-body rewarding way, knowing I accomplished a great deal and will have a beautiful garden to enjoy in the coming days and months. I also got a nice ego boost while talking to our neighbors; they seemed quite surprised when I explained I’d had surgery just 5 weeks ago, and now have three titanium screws in my leg. (Yes, I still like saying that! Geek.) The fact that I can work for hours in the yard is an excellent indication of my recovery, and it makes me smile.
I noted in a post on my other website that I think today’s gardening ranks pretty high on the home exercise/Physical Therapy scale — somewhere between using the rowing machine for an hour (the raking, especially) and walking 5 miles, backwards — all the uneven terrain and squats with my right (non-operated) leg to get myself down on the ground without flexing the left (post-op) leg too much. I don’t think I’ll be going to sleep tonight with any guilt over not having done my quad sets, leg raises and such today. {grin}
Despite all the muscle aches I’ll be enduring tonight and tomorrow, planting felt wonderful. I don’t think of myself as a green thumb, but I love working in the soil, and I often receive compliments on my plants (indoors and out). My typical response is, “Thank you, but what you see are just the plants I’ve learned I cannot kill! What you see are the survivors!” 
I’m writing this with my left leg elevated, receiving its third ice session of the day. The knee is quite swollen, but that’s no surprise — I walked 2.2 miles earlier today with Justin and our nephew, Tanner, before doing all the yard work! Talk about getting the most out of my day, eh? I took a shower to get cleaned up, and then a quick whirlpool (bubble! :)) bath to unkink my muscles. Obviously, a hot bath isn’t ideal for reducing knee swelling, but I figured as long as I iced it immediately afterwards, there was no harm.
