Brandi was just mean yesterday at PT (I have permission from her to write this). No joke! I was almost in tears a couple different times. The massage on my hamstring still hurts like a S.O.B., we skipped the IT band massage (thank goodness), but then she worked on my kneecap. She was sliding it all around, moving it back and forth, pressing, holding, etc., until I was absolutely convinced that she was going to dislocate my kneecap. It was all I could do not to cry! No mercy tap-outs allowed on that one, so I just suffered through. After that torture, she had me work on my extension, using the blood pressure cuff and pushing my knee down toward the tabletop about 10 times. Each time I had to get push down enough to register '20' on the dial (not sure of the exact term for the measurement - lb. or psi, maybe??). Those aren't bad and I feel really loose afterwards. But then Brandi takes it a step further - she pushes my knee down for me....and not lightly either. The past two appts. it was tolerable, but this time, I swear my leg would just snap in half. I said that out loud and she deadpanned, "It's only happened once." Then she waits about 3 seconds to see my reaction, starts laughing and says, "I'm only kidding!" Honestly though, it hurt so bad, I really thought she meant it! The pain didn't stop there...so after she almost snaps my leg in half, she starts to "massage" my incision scars. I was finally able to remove my steri-strips (no stitches or staples on any incisions) this morning after my shower. Four of the five incisions are healed nicely (I thought...), no scabs, just small scars, with the largest incision where they inserted my cadaver graft still a little scabbed over and very sore. So anyway, this "massage" is not a massage - NOT EVEN CLOSE. Picture this: you have a really bad bruise on your thigh, like you walked into the corner of your desk or something. Now, imagine that someone takes their finger and digs in there really good, just digging and digging away, making tight little circles, pushing harder and harder....let me tell you - it feels fantastic. Hardly. Again, I almost cried and it was all I could do to not just jump off the table and run for the door. And again, no mercy tap-outs on this one either....she's getting tougher with me! Finally, after what feels like forever, she's done and I get to move on to my exercises. More stretches, and then I got to do some leg presses on a sliding bench/weight machine for my calves and squats for my quads, followed by sets of hamstring curls. Who would have thought I could pull my own weight up using my hamstrings only only two weeks after surgery? Not me, but I did it and I LIKED IT!
So my at the start of my first visit at PT appt. I was at close to 60 degrees flexion; end of same visit I was at 84 degrees. Man, I thought that was awesome - turns out not so much! At the end of my second day of PT I was at 104 degrees flexion - I was completely and totally stoked, but Brandi still wasn't too impressed (in all honesty, she's very encouraging, and I really appreciate it.). Starting yesterday's appointment, Brandi told me the goal was to get to 120 degrees; at the end of yesterday's appointment I was at 121 degrees! Woo hoo!! Sounds fantastic and all, but the problem is that once I get back to work, sitting at my desk, I get stiff all over again and unless I go through a complete set of my exercises, I couldn't possibly get to 120 degrees right off the bat. I keep reminding myself that this is all progress in the right direction, but it does get discouraging at times. So while I'm at work, I have to force myself to change positions of how I'm sitting - sometimes leg bent, sometimes propped up straight on my CPU unit. I also have to make myself get up from my desk and walk around (I'm so busy at work, so I have to consciously have to think about getting up), so once I get some of the stiffness out in the first few steps, I start to walk on my heels. People here have been watching me walk like that and I know they think I'm crazy, but oh does it feel good!
So reallly, Brandi is mean and wonderful all at the same time. This PT stuff is mostly mental, I think. Yes, it's hard to work muscles that aren't wanting to respond, but when I get discouraged, I remind myself that people do this everyday and really do return to normal functionality in time.
On a different note, here is a video my good friend Kate sent to me that made me laugh. Every single time we feed Tanner, sure as $hit, both Milo and Andy (our cats) are both right in there, eating out of his dish. Tanner never seems to mind (he's a good boy), and it's not like they eat much more than a couple kibbles of his food, but I could honestly see Milo pulling this crap on Tanner one of these days:
So my at the start of my first visit at PT appt. I was at close to 60 degrees flexion; end of same visit I was at 84 degrees. Man, I thought that was awesome - turns out not so much! At the end of my second day of PT I was at 104 degrees flexion - I was completely and totally stoked, but Brandi still wasn't too impressed (in all honesty, she's very encouraging, and I really appreciate it.). Starting yesterday's appointment, Brandi told me the goal was to get to 120 degrees; at the end of yesterday's appointment I was at 121 degrees! Woo hoo!! Sounds fantastic and all, but the problem is that once I get back to work, sitting at my desk, I get stiff all over again and unless I go through a complete set of my exercises, I couldn't possibly get to 120 degrees right off the bat. I keep reminding myself that this is all progress in the right direction, but it does get discouraging at times. So while I'm at work, I have to force myself to change positions of how I'm sitting - sometimes leg bent, sometimes propped up straight on my CPU unit. I also have to make myself get up from my desk and walk around (I'm so busy at work, so I have to consciously have to think about getting up), so once I get some of the stiffness out in the first few steps, I start to walk on my heels. People here have been watching me walk like that and I know they think I'm crazy, but oh does it feel good!
So reallly, Brandi is mean and wonderful all at the same time. This PT stuff is mostly mental, I think. Yes, it's hard to work muscles that aren't wanting to respond, but when I get discouraged, I remind myself that people do this everyday and really do return to normal functionality in time.
On a different note, here is a video my good friend Kate sent to me that made me laugh. Every single time we feed Tanner, sure as $hit, both Milo and Andy (our cats) are both right in there, eating out of his dish. Tanner never seems to mind (he's a good boy), and it's not like they eat much more than a couple kibbles of his food, but I could honestly see Milo pulling this crap on Tanner one of these days:
1 comment:
I'm sorry it was so tough on you!! I hope PT starts getting better very soon.
PS - That video is too, too cute!
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