2/3/2014 Things Are Accelerating! :)

This morning, though I was up late, I am feeling pretty bright and happy.

I walked around my apartment again with no cane - early, even after my morning PT, I am still a little stiff, and my right knee wants to cant outward at the joint - it looks kind of alarming as though my leg were bending to the side - but I think it's just about support. This is the main thing I will address with physical therapy Wednesday. BUT - it is still pretty manageable. If I concentrate on walking with one foot directly in front of the other and using that knee's bending function properly, and I don't revert back to the old habit of walking with feet wide apart for support  

I (still) have less and less pain - and there are those sea changes - moments where I will do something which has so automatically hurt for so long - sitting in a certain position, turning or bending a knee, etc., and then suddenly notice that that particular thing no longer causes pain.

These times are my best reward for the persistence and dedication on makes to the healing process.

Today, those are:

Sitting in my office chair at work. It used to be pain full to my right ham string and hip - even as recently as Friday(this is Monday).

Sitting down onto a toilet seat - being a harder surface that an upholstered chair(Even my padded toilet seat at home) and the weight distributed over a smaller area,  that particular action was very painful for a very brief time - I'd sit, feel the pain in the muscles, and it would settle in about two or three seconds - but it wasn't pleasant. Today, I anticipated the discomfort and it never came. Excellent!!

And even at that, I know I can still and must improve(for instance, my right knee is still pretty off-kilter - just residual radiated pain from the hip - and it is improving, but needs work), and I can do more, long after this particular physical healing process is complete.

A great friend who has superior health (he is of my same generation), puzzles his doctors often. Being so healthy and fit, for ANYONE, let alone "someone his age", he will have an issue with a foot(He works standing on his feet), or a back muscle, or such - and ask them how he can improve it. Because he is not 30, his doctors started with an attitude of, "Hey - you're way ahead of other people your age! Cut your losses and settle for it!". They don't know him very well - and why the hell SHOULD he settle?!  Should we not always be working toward our optimum health, no matter the time of our lives?

I have a coworker who had two knees replaced and one of her hips, which happened about three months before mine  - she was extremely helpful in preparing me for what to expect - and fast healing with a full recovery was one of them!

Later however, we talked a good bit about it, and I was shocked to discover that she had almost no physical therapy! Only the initial occupational therapy in the hospital for three or four days! I know she still has little discomfort with it, but it feels like 1- she's settling for "better than before" instead of "The best I can possibly be", and 2. She could be getting so much more fit and comfortable so much faster with PT! I cannot imagine what I would have done without it! I know that, being only one hip, it was pretty fast to rrecover(My first one was fast in and of itself, too but there was not a full recovery expected yet, as the other hip was still terribly damaged, and I wasn't going to be walking without a walker until after the second surgery.

Perhaps my point is, it seems that when we have a chance to get our lives back, we should take *every* opportunity to get them back and MORE. Rise to your fullest potential!

I am so happy that the amount of time I expected to be on the quad cane reduced from "I don't know - two weeks? A month?" to a few hours last Thursday - it was a fine surprise.

Now the next step is to get this knee good and solid and really have my gait in proper order.

After all-  there is Dahncing to be done!

-M

My Facebook Status around 7:45 PM as I left the Natural Foods Co-op :

"This innocuous looking little pic is actually a standing eye-level photo of my non- electric shopping cart at the Co-op after a 45 minute shopping trip. No cane. Kellie Yvonne Raines was there - I have a witness! Carried my own bags out, put away 3 errant carts at once. That's about 5 "Firsts Since... ", right there. Good day!!!"

And I got home, folded up my cane and put it in the grocery bag. SLung my purse strap over my shoulder, walked around the car, took out the two heavy grocery bags to the stairs, and did the good old, "Set 'em on a step, go up a couple, set 'em up higher, follow 'em up" routine  - no problem! My ham strings and calves were tight and I was a little tired - but not exhausted! Unloaded the groceries and prepared my work/lunch food bag, and got some dinner. Skipped the cycle tonight, which woudl have probably helped the tight muscles - but I'm off to be to do my usual PT.

Up ASAP tomorrow morning  - wash my hair and scoot off to work - I am seeing a fantastic Brazilian Dance Troup tomorrow night - friends will be there, too - looking very much forward to it! My first time to the Mondavi Center by myself, and it's a bit of a walk to the theatre from the parking lot - but I'l figure it out!