Dark Knight’s blog

I hope that everyone enjoyed there 4th of July weekend.  Mine was great.

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Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July.  Stay safe.

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I finally got back on my motorcycle today, it was the first time in almost three months.  I now feel comfortable enough with my knee to know that I can hold up my bike when I come to a stop.  I ended up riding about 45 miles today and I stayed on roads that I was very comfortable with (just in case).  Nothing like a nice relaxing ride.

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On another, not so fun, note; I finally took the grass cutting duty back from my wife.  This may not seem like much, but I have a self-propelled mower and the complete cutting distance is a little over 1 mile.  I do have to take a couple of breaks because my knee starts getting a little tired, but overall I do very well.

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Being able to do these little things again makes me feel good about things because it means that my knee is getting back to normal (and I am getting back to normal).  Now we will see how walking on the beach next weekend feels.  : )

Plus 61 days...

I ice my knee 2 to 3 times a day to help with the swelling and to keep the inflammation down.  This is nothing new, I have been doing this since I had surgery, but what is new, the weather has become a lot warmer outside.

So what does all of this mean.... It means my dog thinks my knee is a giant popsicle after I get through icing it.  My dog is a licker to begin with, but when he comes inside after running around and I take off my ice pack, it is one giant lick-a-paloza.  You have never seen a dog so happy in your life.  And who am I to squash the dreams of my dog.  Of course this help me out because he licks the incisions and massages the scare tissue (which is a good thing).

Ah, the life of a dog named Bandit.

Plus 54 days...

On Monday, I finally had my first day of physical therapy that involved weight training.  When Tuesday morning rolled around I was quickly reminded of this.  My knee was very very sore and I was hobbling a lot.  Luckily after a couple of hours moving around and stretching I was able to get rid most of the soreness and the only thing left was a dull ache.

Everything is still going well, the swelling is the knee is almost gone and the flexibility is getting better with every day.  If everything continues down this path my PT said that I should be able to go out and run in a month (here's hoping).

I am making another trip to the doctor's office tomorrow for my normal knee checkup.  If it is like the other visits, I will be in and out in about 30 min.  As long as I can walk, he will be happy.

At least I now know that my knee will not effect my vacation.

Plus 49 days...

It has now been six weeks since my surgery and I can finally say goodbye to the crutches.  I have made it two full days without them and my leg has not gotten very tired by the end of the day.  Wahooo.

I am now on my second week of physical therapy and can see steady improvement everyday.  I figure my knee is about 60% of normal functionality.  My knee is still very tight in a few areas, swollen (but going down by the cm), painful at times, and the scare tissue hurts more than one would think, but the progress makes me happy.

I have two more visits to the pt before I go back to the doctor so he can give it a full 3000 mile checkup.  Hopefully, if things keep moving along like this I should be able to take to the streets in no time.

Time to go do my exercises...

Goodbye old friends

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Plus 42 days...

Today was my second day seeing the physical therapist.  She said that everything is looking good and that I am doing well.  My flexability is getting better, little by little (it was not a big improvement but it was improvement).  Along with the stretches, I got on the bike today and pedaled slowly for 5 min (it felt really good).  I have my list of exercises to do everyday and will see the therapist again next week.

As good as all this was today the big news was that I made it a half a day without crutches!  I walk with a small limp and have to focus on the walking, but it was nice to crutch free for awhile.  By mid-day my knee and leg was feeling tired and I could tell I was slowing down so I went to one crutch.  Other than going up the stairs in my house, I believe that I am done with two crutches.  I'm so happy.  : )

Plus 37 days...

Well folks, five weeks after surgery I finally got to start physical therapy.  Since this was my first visit this was mainly an evaluation session.  They measured my flexibility and the diameter of my leg in about four different places, and then they had me do five different stretching exercises.  My next visit will be on Thursday, and at this point should start some weight training.

The good news from last week is that I am now able to walk only using one crutch.  If I focus I am able to walk very very small distances without the crutches.  I have to be careful because the muscles are weak and the knee feels like it will easily hyperextend (yes, this is fine the doc said I could).  Hopefully I will be able to lose the last one in another week or so.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, new knee pics...

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Plus 34 days...

Time to celebrate... it has been one month since my knee surgery and overall I am doing well, but I am very very tired of the crutches.

I can now bend my knee to a little over 90 degrees and I have been doing some small exercises to gain back some flexibility and strength in my leg.  I am progressing but can tell I still have a ways to go.  The strength in my knee is almost nonexistent and muscles in other parts of my leg have atrophied.  It also amazes me that in just four weeks I have forgotten how to walk.  I start physical therapy on June 2nd, and that should be the beginning of the end for my crutches.

Oh well, I guess I signed on for all of this.  Who knew it would be so much fun.

Plus 30 days...

Howdy, I have not been ignoring this blog I have just been out of town for the week.  I had to go to Montgomery, AL to my parent company and spend some time in a supervisors class and work with some people on data warehousing.  This was a long week with very short days, but now the weekend is here so I can just relax a little.

The week start off interesting as I am still on my crutches and had to go through the Richmond airport.  I am sure this will come to no surprise but Richmond did not really seem to care that I was on crutches.  Having to use the crutches to go through security I got stopped after the metal detector and the nice officer told me that I registered two hits and would not have to be patted down.  Now remember I am standing right in front of him holding two metal crutches so all I could think when he told me that was, "metal crutches setting off the metal detector, who knew".  Well after my pat down and wanding I was free to go.

I made it through the rest of the week in Alabama with the help of my friend, Gerald, who was nice enough to handle my luggage and handle my food trays when needed.  I have not learned how to be completely self sufficient with my crutches, so all the help I can get helps.

While I was in Montgomery I had to go between two buildings that are connected by a bridge.  The bad part, the building are 1/8 of a mile apart with a slight incline.  If nothing else I was getting some good exercise on my shoulders, arms, and left leg.

My flight back to Richmond was a much better experience than leaving.  The Atlanta airport watches out for people in wheelchairs and crutches so they moved me around everybody so I would not have to stand in line and put you in this area to remove all of your belongings and shoes.  They took my crutches and put them through the x-ray machine and then had equipment to hold onto so I could hop through the medal detector and my crutches were waiting for me on the other side.

Friday afternoon I had to go see my surgeon.  He said everything was looking good and was very encouraged that I could sit in a chair and bend my right knee 90 degrees.  He released me to go to physical therapy; which starts on June 2nd.  This is where I finally start building back the knee muscle so I can finally get rid of the crutches.  Depending on how the physical therapy goes I will finally be off the crutches in three to four weeks.  When I get some time this weekend I will post new knee pics.

So, there was my week.  I am still tired, so hopefully I will be able to get some rest during this three day weekend.

Plus 25 days...