Geek Habitat

9 AM (Before PT): I’m still sore from gardening on Saturday; my lower back, upper arms and thighs are reporting in with some complaints. Due to my lack of energy late last week, and my demanding weekend, I am as nervous about PT today as I was at my first PT session. It’s the fear of the unknown, with the unknown being, “Just how much is this going to hurt?” I’ll find out soon enough! I don’t think I’m going to like any of the black (high resistance) Therabands today…

Noon (Post-PT): Well, that wasn’t too bad! I took it a little easier on the elliptical machine today for my 8 minutes (4 minutes forward, 4 minutes backward), and still ended up with my characteristic beet-red face. The elliptical really gets the knee warmed up well, though — I was stiff this morning and that was in part what had me worried about pain levels during PT today.

I didn’t catch the name of the new exercise, but I did 2 sets of 15 repetitions laying on my back with my knees bent and my heels together on top of a large exercise ball. Two (printable) words for it — Oh, OW! It seems to work one’s abdominals, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves and… oh, what the heck, it seems to work everything (sure feels like it, anyway!) All the muscles in my lower body quivered on the first 15 repetitions — pathetic muscle strength — and I can’t blame it on the surgery, either, because my right (non-operated) leg was doing the same as the left! PT’s a humbling experience, just like everything else related to knee surgery!

Despite the new “fun” exercise, the supine hip flexion (shown here) with the black Theraband still remains at the #1 spot on my “Most Loathed PT Exercise” list! The funny thing is I hate the exercise not because it hurts my knee or in any other acute way; rather, I hate it because my hip muscle literally dies during it and suddenly I find every other muscle in my body’s tensing to get my leg to move, and it-just-won’t-budge! I got through my first set of 20 repetitions a lot better today, which was encouraging. Previous weeks have had my muscles dying at 6 or 10 repetitions in on the first set, with nothing left to give for the remaining 30+! My second set of 20 reps was still pitiful today, but I’ll get there eventually. I hope.

The knee? It feels great. The incisions are now finally healed, though I still wear two Band-aids until the skin gets less sensitive there, since my hinged brace presses on both areas.

I expected to be hurting more after PT today, but I feel strong enough to tackle a walk in a bit. I suspect I’m still operating on the exercise-released endorphins! However, I can tell my body’s not yet fully recovered from the 6+ hours I spent in the yard on Saturday raking oak leaves and planting my new Spring garden.

I still have to plant my three small green cloud sage bushes in the backyard, but everything else I bought is now in its rightful home in the garden. I’m not done by any means, but I have nearly exhausted my temporary “gardening fund”. Justin knows I need a budget when it comes to gardening, although $70 to $100 of plants and shrubs is about all I can carry, anyway!

6:45 PM: I walked over 3 miles today around noon at a moderate pace — didn’t blaze, by any means, but didn’t take my time, either. And then, I did a little more yard work — ‘cuz, you know, I’m just not active enough lately! I purchased 3 big bags of native Texas mulch at Lowe’s (it was fun getting those in my trunk!) and spread that in my garden beds and planters. I also succumbed and purchased another plant for near the sidewalk — a “primrose jasmine” with yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers. We’ll see if this jasmine blooms any more frequently that my other jasmine (Jasminum Officinale), which bloomed for only about 3 weeks last year!

Sore? Yes. Happy? Yes. Exhausted? Absolutely!