Day 7 - July 9 New PT

I had a good day! It was nice I had Honora and Elizabeth with me all day, it was her day off and she was feeling better.

I also have an AWESOME new PT. She was great. She came in and had a plan. She said, she reviews any exercises I learned already that I do not understand, but she EXPECTS ME to do them when she is NOT there, because she wants to use the time she is there doing HANDS ON work!!!! Yahoo! She has been a PT for a long time and most of her patients where knee and hip replacements so she really knows what she is doing! :)

She said she wants me to take my break through pain meds 1 hour before she comes - because it will be painful!! YAHOOO!!! I am going to make progress.

She also watched me walk and said I am doing a good job, I will just need to keep thinking about how to walk until it becomes a habit.

So I showed her the exercises I already do: Plantar/Dorsiflexion, quad presses, hamstring press, heel slide, terminal knee extension, straight leg raises, calf stretches. She modified 1 exercise I was doing making it into 2 exercises, but they are easy. One is to put my leg up on a pillow (pillow goes under the calf) and let gravity do its work 1-5 minutes gradually building up. Then after it gets easy do it with some ice on the knee to further encourage stretch. She wants me to do this as often as I want, but no less than 5 times a day outside of the 3 exercise sessions a day. The other is to sit on my chair and hold my leg bent as much as I can for 20 seconds for 3 times each session. She also modified the reps for all my exercises to help them be more streamlined and all exercises and stretches to do them for 15 reps.

I am suppose to do the full course of exercises 3 times a day and take a walk as tolerated.

She said she will bring me the exercise packet tomorrow and give me some new exercises to work on. Then she did the hands on work.

She had me sit in a chair - she sat in the lower couch next to me. I put my straightened leg on her thigh and she massaged the muscles around the knee for a while. then she put my leg down and bent it and pressed on the tibia and femur stretching the bend. She repeated this pattern a few times and then bent my leg gently back and forth in little movements to work it out.

It was a great work out. After each session I am suppose to rest the leg with ice on it for 15-20 min. I was sore after!

I had to take more break through meds today - 2 after PT and 1 later on. BUT it is okay since I am moving more.

She said my leg and incision look great!

Meghan got to take some time off and went out with her Nana and Papa. They took her to the movies and lunch. Her BF were suppose to go, but he was a jerk today. It seems like this relationship might not last.....poor baby... :(

My pain level increased today, but that is a given. It was around 4-5 all day. Now it is coming down 3-4. But my knee itself is awesome. It is getting loser and stronger...I LOVE THAT!!!

I am planning on taking a short walk when Honora or Meghan get back home. I am not suppose to do it alone....

Well got to do more exercises :) :p