It has been 100 days since I accidentally severed my right patellar tendon. I’m bending my knee to 105 degrees or so, I can now use my quads (though not for much), and I usually walk around with no brace or crutch. On the other hand, if I take a long walk (as in a full grocery store shopping, up and down most of the aisles, or walking the two blocks to the gym) without the brace, there are regrets … so I still use it now and then. I rarely use my right leg to lead up stairs, but I can physically do it (and I do it as a matter of physical therapy), and I have yet to lead down stairs with my left leg. I’ve tried. It hurts and is considered dangerous.
The other day I kinda accidentally started to get sloppy and found myself standing and sitting while holding weight. At one point I tried to stand up while holding a baby and about 80% into the standing motion my knee protested sharply, sending me back to the chair. Now I know better. I put down whatever I’m holding before standing or sitting.
The physical therapy is in full swing and it is very nasty. In terms of overall pain, walk-ability, etc. I’m on an undulating plateau because of the therapy (both as inflicted by a professional and self inflicted as per his orders). The other day the physical therapist was manipulating my leg, bending the knee and such, and I was enduring the pain without complaint, focusing on a point in the distance and very purposefully ignoring the horror of it all (hey, I’ve been trough a couple of child birthing classes!). At one point, a very excruciating point, the physical therapist stopped and said to me, “I am assuming that if this hurts, you’ll let me know, right?”
At another time I noticed a very worried expression on his face. You will remember that there is a sort of round nodule object thingie under the skin on my patella, which we now believe to be one of the six anchors my surgeon used to tie off the cables drilled through the kneecap and knitted onto the tendon. Well, it turns out that he (the physical therapist) was thinking this anchor might pop through the skin as he bent my leg, based on how it and the skin over it looked.
He noted that something like that had happened to him recently with another patient. I noted that if the anchor popped through the skin, to let me know right away so I could get a picture of it. I mean really, that is TOTALLY bloggable.
So a few more weeks of intense physical therapy and exercise, and I hope to be able to walk up and down stairs with both legs. Maybe by the end of June. I’m hoping this whole thing will be little more than a dull thud in my knee by the end of July. Then, in mid August, back to the surgeon to get that anchor cut out!
Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:
or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.