So Thankful

This time of year I can't help but be greatful for all the good things that I have going for me in my life. Particularly...

#1 My husband, Aaron. Because without him I would not have made it through these past few months when things have been the hardest. He has taken on more than his fair share of the household chores (cooking, cleaning, dog walking). He has dealt with my grumpiness (from not being able to run for the past 4 months) and celebrated the highs and commiserated with me on the lows. Love you Aaron!

#2 I am thankful that the snow has melted... at least for a little while. This place has been a huge sheet of ice for the past couple weeks. And since I still can't quite bend my knee all the way, climbing over snow drifts on my way from the car to the house, store, anywhere has been a challenge.

#3 That my knee tolerated a 4 hour round trip drive to visit family on Christmas day. I really thought I would have to sit this year out but with some recent improvements to my range I decided to risk it. I managed to make it through the day with some moderate stiffness but not too much pain.

We started our Christmas at home opening up gifts on Christmas Eve. The cats got catnip toys in which they got thoroughly engrossed in.

My favorite gift is a toss-up between my new profile water bottle with a splashproof lid for my bike (no more getting soaked when I hit a rough patch!) and a collection of the 50 different US state quarters. My grandmother started collecting them for all her grandchildren (there are about a dozen of us) back when the first ones came out. This year they were finally done and we each got them in a book along with a few coins from my grandfather's coin collection. One of mine is a silver dollar from 1979.


It is apparently a Radlinski tradition to forget about some gifts until Christmas day. Here, Aaron is wrapping some gifts for his brother that he found in his closet. Strider is again... helping.

Then it is off to the relatives...

I only have photos from the Radlinski family because I was the only one with a working camera that morning. The other two places we went, I forgot to bring it in.

I wasn't very good at letting Justin (Aaron's bro) what I wanted for Christmas so I got a packet of zucchini seeds.

Aaron got a pack as well. I guess I know what we'll be eating in 2009.

I noticed when going through these photos, Sparta was a very involved dog in the whole gift giving process. It's only her second Christmas so I don't think she entirely understands it all.

Happy Holidays!!!

It's Snowing Again

I can't remember the last time we got so much snow in December. And it's cold. Usually, the heavy stuff waits until January to fall. Last January, we didn't have a full week of classes for about 3 weeks due to the amount that got dumped on us at one time. This is my first winter here in Ann Arbor so I wasn't sure what to expect as far as roads and snowfall amounts. Last Friday though, we got at least 8-10 inches. There wasn't one highway around here that didn't have an accident on it. The roads haven't gotten much better since. Sure, the highways are pretty clear but the main roads in town are still covered and frozen over. I've heard lots of reasons for this: MDOT has no money and won't pay the plowers overtime, there is a lack of road salt, etc. But if this is just the start of winter, what is the rest going to look like?

I came home from the clinic yesterday to find that in my absense Aaron had decorated the whole house for Christmas. He had gone to out house in Mount Pleasant (by the way, the driveway probably won't be seen until spring there) and brought back as many decorations as he could carry. So our house looks so much more festive. We have stocking and more Christmas ornaments and my holiday stuffed cat that plays "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas".

More decorations, however, means that my cat Strider has more to play with. I have never had this problem with a cat before. He just can't leave the tree alone. Sure, a lot of the ornaments are soft and resemble his pet toys... And Aaron did put a catnip toy in his stocking (which is in a location he can't get to). But still, how many times do I have to pull him away from the tree before he gets the idea?

This afternoon I am off to the gym to do some weights and spend a little time in the steam room. I just want to be somewhere that the temperature is over 80 degress.

And I'm... There!

Yesterday I got an early Christmas gift. I finally got to fully bend my knee. I was hoping to do it by the 3 month anniversary of my surgery, but I was a couple days late. Aaron was able to bend it all the way to my butt while I was lying on my stomach. Now, all that is left is to be able to do it under my own power. My hamstring is still incredibly weak but it is getting better. I notice it the most when I am on an exercise bike. I just don't feel like I can control my leg that well and I have no power in the downstroke. Because of this my foot likes to stop at the top of the pedal and I have this choppy cadence. It's just going to take time to smooth all this out.

Last night, Aaron and I celebrated this victory with a small bottle of champagne. I'll be posting pictures of this at some point but at the time I wasn't going to have Aaron hold my leg there long enough to take a photo.

No Fear

No fear here either... Johan's Trifest 2006?

This weekend I swam... twice. I haven't been to the pool in two months after I realized that my left leg wasn't nearly strong enough to help propel me across the pool. It was more like a lead weight. This time was different. I could actually pull off a decent kick for a while. In the deep end I even let go of the wall for a short time so I could try treading water. I can do it, although I can tell that my left leg is probably only at 50% of the strength of the right. I think that I have gotten over my fear of drowning.

Things continue to progress on the work, health and home fronts. Sparta went to doggy daycare again this week. I work long days (12.5 hours!) on Thursdays and Aaron had a lot going on at work last week. So Sparta went and played with 53 other canines for 8+ hours. 53! I can't believe that they allow that many dogs in one space. The dogcare place is in what looks like a large warehouse. It is separated into 3 different areas for different size dogs. As I understand it, they tend to rotate the dogs into different areas throughout the day. I feel kind of bad for Sparta. She has so much energy, yet she is stuck in an apartment for most of the day. Aaron walks her in the morning and when he gets home, but she hasn't been run as much as she is used to. I guess she'll learn to stay away from my bike tires from now on!

My knee continues to slowly improve. We're continueing to be able to bend it to about 2.5 inches from my butt. It really irritates the scar tissue. I can't think of anything else that I have gone through that is this painful. The pain reminds me of the one time I pulled my hamstring in 3 spots trying to do the splits (I slipped!). It's an intense burning sensation. When were bending it, the pain will radiate down into my calf and up my thigh. As I undertand it, this will continue until I get my motion back and all the scar tissue is remodeled. The only way to do that is to keep bending the knee.

Spiraling Out Of The Hole

I've mentioned before about the situation with my knee. Because I didn't get full extension within 3 weeks of surgery I've been fighting a battle to get better. Basically, without full extension, the quadriceps muscle won't get all it's strength back. Quad strength helps to push out the swelling in the knee. Having swelling in the knee makes it more difficult to get your leg straightened. It is a cycle that is difficult to get out of once you're in it. Not being sent to physical therapy right after surgery is what really put me in this hole.

Finally... I may be digging myself out. My extension is now full. It doesn't go easily, but it gets there and it is getting better. 3 sessions of week in the chair for the past month or so has really made a difference. Swelling is going down in the knee as well, but still very slowly. This will be helped as I continue to bend my knee. Aaron has been pushing on it every night again. I had to take a break after that awful cortisol shot but now that we're working on it again, I've noticed that it is bending a lot easier. It doesn't hurt as much and it takes less work to get it bent to an angle that used to make me cry before. As of Sunday, we hit 2.5 inches from my butt. Soon... it will go all the way. I can feel that we are really working the scar tissue loose because the knee is extremely irritated. I keep hoping for the scar tissue to just tear apart and to get a good pop out of it. It really wants to, I can tell.

I'm estimated that it will be another month to get full motion back in my knee... that is, if I keep working it everyday and don't have any other major setbacks.

Week 11: Christmas wrapping was a lot easier... before I got the grey cat.

Aaron is a drill this weekend so I thought it was a fine time to start wrapping his Christmas presents. This year we're keeping things a bit smaller due to the fact that we're currently paying on two residences and I'm not working due to clinicals. We've even got a smaller tree. I'm allergic to pine so we always have an artificial one. All our Christmas decorations are still 2 hours away at our house in Mount Pleasant so we picked up this little one at Mejier for 16 bucks (fully lit!) and a few decorations from a shop downtown. Usually we end up tying the tree down because of Strider, our current grey cat. Christmas seems to be his favorite time of year. He is constantly in and under the tree and lying on the wrapping paper as I try to wrap. It seems that no matter how many times I shoo him away... he always comes back. This year may be a little different. He has still been all over the wrapping paper but he has only knocked down the tree once. We didn't have anything to tie it down to and none of the ornaments are breakable so we just let it be. However, today I did try to bolster around it with Aaron's gifts so maybe it would keep it from falling.

I've decided that December is definitely a transition month. My leg is getting stronger but it is still a long way off from being ready for any serious training. My main focus is still building up leg strength and endurance (and getting these two legs to match). I do want to start doing some more structured training though. Right now I am doing close to two hours of heavy leg training including 40 minutes which involves working on my knee extension alone. The leg extension is getting better so I am hoping that I'll be out of the chair after another month. Other than that and working on my range of motion, I've been riding an exercise bike when I have the time and continuing to work on bending my knee so that my heel touches my but. Last night, Aaron and I hit 3 inches which is the best since Dale last bent my knee over a month ago (which was before that stupid cortisol shot). I'm running out of time on the knee bending so that has to be my primary concern outside of strength training. However, I do want to start working on my cardiovascular training so I'm going to try to get two swims in each week as well as at least 3 bike rides. The bike rides are either going to take place on an exercise cycle at the gym or on my trainer which will hopefully get here this week. Finally!!! I'm nervous about the swimming part. I haven't gone to the pool in at least 6 weeks since I realized that I didn't have enough strength in my legs to tread water. That scared me. I haven't been that vulnerable in a pool since I was probably eight. I chickened out on my trip yesterday but I do plan on making it over there today.

120 Pounds Today!

One thing about rehab: it is making me stronger mentally than I have ever been before. I used to think that I could deal with pain -- I don't think that I knew what pain was until I got injured. I've had to endure pain for a lot longer than I imagined I would have to. The delay in my recovery has taught me to be patient and to be able to look more long term. Shortly after my surgery I was more rushed to get back to walking and to be as normal as possible. Now, I am taking my time. I'm not as worried that my knee can't bend as far as I want it to. I know it will get there. I'll keep working it until it is. Today, while sitting in the chair, I made the comment to a collegue that I'll continue sticking myself in there until 1) the extension of my left knee matched my right or 2) until my internship end on January 23.

Today, I reached a major goal. I was able to leg press my weight on my left leg: 120lbs. I did 3 sets of 10 reps. It was hard. However, this is one of the benchmarks that I have to reach before I am able to start running again. I used to be able to leg press 300 lbs. with both legs. A lot of people don't believe me so I'm working towards proving them wrong as well.

Sparta also apparently passed her temperment test today at doggie daycare. Aaron said that she had already made a couple friends by the time he had finished filling out the paperwork.

Slow and Steady (Me, Not The Dog)

Yesterday we took Sparta to the indoor dog park. I tried to take a few photos but the bright lights coupled with Sparta's lightening fast speed made for a lot of blurry images. The dog park used to be a horse run. It is in a large polebarn attached to a stable with a sand floor and lots of toys. There are a couple large tunnels and some hoops and poles for jumping. We decided to start bringing Sparta here because I can't run and she needs a way to burn off some energy. Also, Michigan winters can get so cold and even though the barn isn't heated, it is still better than dealing with the wind outside. There was only one other dog, Harper, that showed up while we were there. Luckily the two play well together.

I had another visit with my surgeon today. He said that in the grand scheme of things, my knee isn't doing that bad. Based on what he saw today, I'm a little slower than average (about one standard deviation to be exact). My extension is nearly normal and my flexion was about 110 degrees. I'm improving but it is at snail pace. Dr. A then told me a story to help put things in perspective. This took place years ago (in the stone age of ACL surgeries) when he had a guy come to him with a torn ACL. Dr. A told him that he could have either of two things: stability (if they did the surgery) or mobility (if they did not). The man told him that he had surgery on his other leg and it turned out just fine. However, he could not even bend his knee to 90 degrees. Dr. A also told me about how they used to cast people after an ACL and how if I had as much motion as I had now, I'd be way ahead of schedule. So I guess things could be much, much worse.