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 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.

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.

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:

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’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! )