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Sunday, January 20, 2008

Day 18: A day almost like any other day.

Today was a nice change. Went to church, and comments varied widely from noticing I was walking so well and without a cane, to "Gee, your surgery is soon isn't it?" and "Didn't you just have surgery?"

It was nice to start being "normal" getting around. Yes, the daily life does have that background hum of soreness in the knee, but really things are smoothing out.

I figured out a way of using my arms and good leg to go two steps up or down at a time, so I don't have to take so much time navigating stairs until week 4 rolls around. Thats when I can officially start using my operative leg on steps, although I've already had it out for a test drive.

Gotta find some ankle weights for PT around 1 and 3 pounds, hoping that local sporting goods stores offer a wide enough variety. I'll be surfing the web to see who has what, or if online prices are good. Any suggestions from ACL/PCL tear rehabees reading this?

Other than continuing to improve on swelling and range of motion, the most annoying thing I deal with daily is cramping in the quads. Re-learning how to walk, as far as I can tell, is going to largely be a matter of getting my quads to back off a bit. Right know they seem to be in "guard" mode, and are hyper-reactive to any command my brain sends them to contract. As a result, by bedtime I have wicked cramps in my thigh!

Mrs. Shaft recently remembered where the heated massager was stored. That now provides me with most excellent relief from cramping at the end of the day.

Next weekend is going to be a busy one for video work. Friday night is the wife's choral concert, and Saturday is belt promotion testing at my Karate school. Then I have to dump and edit everything!

2 comments:

Bob M said...

I don't recall the brand, and I think we bought it a number of years ago, but I used a set of weights where you could add weights in increments. I don't know if that's standard, but I found it helpfully flexible in how much weight I could add.

Blackbeltmama said...

I use my old ankle weights. They say "Body Sculpture" on them. They have little removable bags that feel like they're filled with sand and pockets for up to four of them. I think I got them at Kmart many years ago.