Geek Habitat

During PT today, one of my physical therapists (everyone calls him “Gentle Bob”) referred to the method of my ACL reconstruction as a hamstring graft. I politely corrected him, noting I’d had a patellar tendon graft (PTG, also referred to as a bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft). He seemed surprised, but moved on to assist another therapy patient. Later on, he returned to me and inquired about the method of my graft. Turns out, he’s worked with patients from my OS for twenty years, and he rarely sees PTG patients from my OS in PT anymore. My OS apparently does 99%+ hamstring harvest grafts. I was flustered, since my OS had told me prior to surgery that he’d perform a PTG to reconstruct my ACL. However, I admitted to Bob that after I got a look at my incisions several days post-op, I had wondered what type of ACL graft I’d actually received. Even in the little time I’ve managed to spend with the OS post-op and at my first post-op checkup, you’d think he’d have made it clearer as to the type of graft he uses 99% of the time! My PT and progress is going well, but it’s just the principal of the matter — an informed patient is a more prepared patient, IMHO, and I feel like this is information I should not have to pry out of my OS!

My bets are that my PT, Bob, and my gut instinct several days post-op, are correct. So all those times I’ve described myself as a patellar autograft ACL recipient are, in fact, wrong. The hamstring harvest would explain why I feel like my hamstring is hardly progressing, whereas my flexion and quads are coming back well. I’m already on the “black” (dark grey) Therabands for my quad work, but still on the blue Theraband for my hamstring curls.

After PT, I walked a little over 2 miles on this absolutely beautiful early spring Texas day — sunny, light breeze and 65 degrees! I’m icing my leg and then it’s back to work at home — I have a lot to catch up on. Look for an update to yesterday’s “We Went Flying!” entry later this evening. I hope to have the Wordpress photo plug-in whipped back into shape so it’ll accept new photo uploads by then.

Next two week’s physical therapy (PT) schedule:

• Monday, 2/28 — 9:30 AM
• Wednesday, 3/2 – 9:30 AM
• Friday, 3/4 – 9:30 AM, with 2^nd OS checkup at 3:30 PM
• Monday, 3/7 — 9:30 AM
• Wednesday, 3/9 — 9:30 AM
• Friday, 3/11 — 9:30 AM

My last flight with Justin was December 18, 2004. My initial knee injury in November had already begun curtailing my favorite activities, flying and hiking & camping, due to pain and inadequate strength and flexibility.

Today, we flew to Austin and took a courtesy car to visit REI — window shopping for the outdoors enthusiast! Afterwards, we shared a hamburger and fries at Fuddrucker’s and hopped back into our Cessna 172 SP rental for the return flight to San Antonio. Justin got to use a bit of his IFR (instrument) rating as we flew through a cloud deck at 6,000 feet en route home (see video), and I got to exercise my too-long-dormant camera trigger finger to take aerial photos (see more photos). My knee fared well, getting a little stiff during the flight but limbering up after a bit of walking at Austin-Bergstrom when we landed. I felt a little funny walking around REI in my leg brace and brand new Vasque hiking shoes (a gift for myself post-op) — a paradox, of sorts.

The day was picturesque and splendid, and I’m so glad I joined Justin on the flight. I had initially begged off due to lingering knee pain from yesterday, but twenty minutes prior to Justin’s departure I changed my mind and joined him. Thank goodness for split second decisions, sometimes!

As we taxiied back to park at San Antonio International Airport, a 727 jet took off on the runway perpendicular to our taxiway. I shot two frames as the jet, already airborne, crossed our nose. Only later when I reviewed the photos did I notice — it’s the jet the San Antonio SPURS charter to take them to all their games! That’s probably as close to an NBA basketball star as I’ll ever get, unless one of the Spurs attends physical therapy at the same time I do… which still hasn’t happened!

Oh, by the way, PT sessions are still Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:30 AM. I have my second followup with my OS on Friday afternoon, so we’ll see how that goes. I was a slacker on Saturday and didn’t do any exercises except my quad sets. Today, I more than made up for that — I had to have something productive to do while watching the Oscars.

The title of today’s entry was going to be “Praise the Mundane,” in celebration of things returning more or less to normal around here. However, I think I might not be there quite yet…

This morning, Justin and I took Blanco back to the vet to get his sutures removed. We always feel like traitors when we have to take one of our cats back to the vet so soon after a visit — especially when the previous visit involved surgery. No amount of “It’s alright, baby,” and “We promise, we aren’t leaving you there overnight this time!” seems to help their nerves, or ours for that matter.

It was raining, windy and cold as I climbed in to the back seat of our 4×4 pickup to comfort Blanco en route to the vet’s. With a sweatshirt covering all but one side of his cat carrier, Blanco huddled in the back, blinking widely. He has a deep, heart-rending yowl reserved for moments he wants the world to know he’s upset. This is one of those moments.

Mercifully, the rain let up slightly as we arrived at the vet clinic. Justin maneuvered Blanco out the passenger side of the truck, while I gently attempted to climb out the driver’s side. I rarely ride in the back seat of our pickup, and it didn’t occur to me to avoid sitting on the driver’s side. I led with my left/post-op leg to climb out, as one ordinarily would do (if one had a perfectly healthy knee). My left foot slipped on the wet running boards, throwing me off balance and causing an unstable landing on the wet pavement below. Ouch! Prior to my surgery, something like that would have definitely sent me into a heap on the ground due to the instability caused by my severed ACL. Quite honestly, without my hinged ACL brace, lying in a heap is probably where I would have ended up today, as well. After three good weeks of recovery, my knee got two minor but painful tweaks in the span of 5 seconds this morning. For the past 8+ hours now, my knee has reminded me of those tweaks. Despite several icing sessions today, I have a hot knee again and new swelling around both of my remaining wounds (thankfully, all the portals are thoroughly healed) — namely, the lateral side of my knee and directly below my knee around the shin. Lovely.

Despite the new trauma to my knee, Justin and I both needed to get out of the house today. Since we’d already seen “Hitch” at the theatre yesterday, our viewing options were limited. We chose the Keanu Reeve’s flick, “Constantine”. In a word: “Eh.” Not awful, but not especially compelling either. I suppose having my knee screaming at me didn’t aid the movie-going experience, either. The seating at today’s theatre of choice wasn’t as conducive to propping my leg up straight as the one yesterday.

I believe I’ve officially had my fill of fun today, and will spend the evening hours camped out on the couch or in bed, alternately icing and stretching my knee. Hopefully, it will forgive me relatively soon because I really was enjoying not having it burn, throb and ache constantly!

NOTE: I updated my entry from February 16 to include an excerpt from my paper journal. The excerpt details a 3.5 hour boat tour Justin and I took 3 days after my second knee injury, and a full week prior to my MRI. I wonder now if I’d have gone on the tour, had I known my ACL was completely severed and I had two meniscus tears? Sadly, thanks to surgery and ensuing obligations, I still haven’t written my Rockport Birding & Kayak Adventures featured spread for WildTexas.com. Tom & Darcy Moore run a terrific outfit down in Rockport, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in seeing the world’s only surviving migratory flock of whooping cranes. We’re nearing the end of the winter, so you’ll have to wait until next winter to see the whoopers in Texas — they’ll begin their migration back north to Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada soon, if they haven’t already. However, Tom & Darcy offer terrific birding tours year-round for the myriad species that traverse the Central Flyway — an invisible “highway for birds” that runs from Mexico, up through central Texas, and into the heart of the USA.

Milestones this Week:

• I walked at least 1 mile every day this week, in addition to my at home exercises & 3 weekly PT sessions.
• Certain activities in PT were getting a bit boring as once-difficult tasks have become easier. My therapists increased the difficulty of certain exercises, keeping things challenging overall!
• No measurements on flexion or extension taken this week, but I have definitely not lost any ground since last week.
• My Elasto-Gel cool pack arrived, so now I can enjoy the same awesome icing that I receive at the end of each PT session!

Executive Summary of my day:

1. Attended PT from 9:30 AM to 10:40 AM.
2. Went to the movie theatre with Justin to see the 11:40 AM showing of “Hitch,” my first movie since going under the knife! The theatre has fold-down bench type seating and was nearly deserted, so I got to sprawl with my legs straight and Justin as my pillow. (Hubby’s are the best pillows!)
3. Around 4 PM, I convinced Justin to walk with me at the nearby county park. We walked a little over 1.5 miles!

All the activity left me exhausted! By 7 PM, I caught myself nodding off and had to climb into bed, irked by the unnaturally early end to the day. This of course brings us to now, 11:45 PM, with me sitting wide awake in bed until the Benadryl I took kicks in! When Justin came to bed shortly after 11 PM, I woke up with my usual early spring allergies! I love Spring, but I abhor the ash, mountain cedar/juniper, ragweed and other pollens that turn me into a sneezing, running-nosed and scratchy-eyed wreck. I just checked Pollen.com, and as bad as I feel right now, pollen levels are expected to double by Monday. Joy!

Geek Speak, with a knee rehabber twist:
I love my iPod Shuffle, but haven’t found a workable way to use it during my physical therapy (PT) sessions. I am worried I’ll miss an instruction from my physical therapists, or get the excessively long headphone and lanyard cords caught on whatever piece of equipment I’m using at a particular time. I don’t want to be the next weird news headline: “iPod Strangles Woman in Physical Therapy.” (I know Apple sells an arm band for the Shuffle, but I have a moral objection to paying $27 for it!)

The Shuffle has been terrific during my solo 1 mile walks and at home exercises, however! I’m finding myself listening fully to songs I used to instinctively fast foward past when I’m listening via iTunes, my 30 GB iPod or my Squeezebox.

It’s mid-week, and I still haven’t fallen back into my pre-surgery “groove” in terms of my work. I was getting a little down on myself about it, but this too is probably normal. Even if I’d reported to my old corporate desk job this past Monday, rather than my home office, it would take me several days to get back in the routine and regain productivity. So, I’m not hassling myself too much over it, though I do need to kick things in gear. Particularly as a small businessperson, work simply does not stop. More to the point, any work you allow to stop withers and dies on the vine — inquiries unanswered, follow-ups unsent, articles and photographs unpublished.

I’d say life’s returning to normal if I’m more focused on what needs to be done than how my knee is feeling. It’s fine, by the way. It lets me know when it’s not happy, but it’s doing well. I stayed up so late last night, I nearly missed PT this morning. I woke up at 8:30 AM which is just 30 minutes prior to when I need to leave for my 9:30 AM PT session. As a result of not being fully awake when I reached PT, it took a little more out of me than usual — especially the 10 minute bike ride. Strangely, the squats on the Total Gym weren’t nearly as painful as they were Monday, however.

My next checkup with the OS is Friday, March 4, at 3:30 PM. I suspect my actual visit with the OS will last 5 minutes, while my wait will be about 50 minutes or more. Thankfully, I no longer have to subject Justin and others to ferrying me to these things, so it’ll just be my time that gets evaporated. That Friday will be a repeat of my Valentine’s Day — PT session in the AM, checkup with the OS in the afternoon. Somewhere in there, I’ll actually get work done and do my at home exercises. Right? Right!

Awesome Icing:
Last week during PT, a couple of us were discussing how much we love the cold wraps the therapists use to ice us down after our sessions. Reneé mentioned they get them online, and I asked her for the web address to order one for myself. She said they end up costing a little over $50 once you factor in shipping and all, but I found they were cheaper on Amazon.com (free shipping), and I ordered one.

It’s serendipity that my brand new Elasto-Gel Hot/Cold Wrap (9 in x 24 in) arrived today after a PT session and another 1 mile walk.
I can’t wait to ice my knee with a real ice pack at home, instead of the truly sad little ice packs I bought at the drug store! My Mom has gel packs that are similar to the Elasto-Gel pack in composition, since they stay far colder, but nothing beats the Elasto-Gels. You know it’s good when a PT clinic relies on them everyday, year after year, to ice their patients! The trick with these is apparently to always put them in a sealed plastic bag prior to placing them in the freezer. Renee said she’s had one in her freezer at home since 1987, and it’s still going strong. The wraps can apparently also be heated in the microwave, but no one I’ve talked to actually uses them for anything except cooling — they’re that good at cooling, no one wants to nuke them I s’pose!

I’m too tired to do a legitimate entry, so this will have to suffice:

• I walked another mile today and feel good. The knee is doing well!
• My iPod Shuffle (1GB) arrived on Monday. More on that, later (I had some challenges getting it to work, but all is well now.)
• I took a shower and shaved this evening, without having to wrap my post-op leg in trash bags and packing tape to keep it dry. {Halleluiah!} (A couple nights ago, I took a bath with my left leg propped on the edge of the tub to remain dry. That proved annoying, painful and rather fruitless, since water runs downhill and you have to get out of the tub at some point! )