So I wake up the following day and I’m feeling quite well! I think it probably has a lot to do with the fact that my left leg is still entirely numb! I feel MUCH better than I thought I would and today I scramble to my physical therapy appointment that I am supposed to have at 11:30. But first, the visit from the man arriving with my “IceMan" ice machine and CPM—Continuous Passive Motion machine. Believe it or not, the former sells for $275 and the latter for $3,000. It seems my wonderful friends I called allowed me to purchase the ice machine for a few bucks above retail should I choose or pay rounghly 67% of their cost (if not more) to rent it. Heck, I heard that the rather bulky and seemingly cheaply made Breg knee brace that I got cost over $600 on my insurance yet it seems to retail for $270. I’ll have to check this out when I have the time. I have decided that this is a serious business/racket. I will begin leaving my job to hawk medical products. Enough commentary, now it’s time to begin recovery which can be coined by the term “RICE” (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.)
The CPM is pretty cool. In fact, it’s a whole lot more comfortable than propping up legs under your knee which is a pain and uncomfortable. I’m to set the machine at 0 degrees extension and 60 degrees flexion and increase 5-10 degrees every day. After checking with my papers of instructions I received from the Lenox Hill Physical Therapy unit I notice that this is to be increased by that amount every other day. Makes sense. I cannot believe I’ll get such high rate of motion differential so quickly.
The ice-man is also pretty nice although it isn’t so easy to keep on. A cryo-cuff is much easier to use and this one has an extension that looks like a pancake. The “cuff” is like a tube or band that goes around your leg and fills with ice water and the pancake looks like, well, a pancake that has been misshapen with some “veins” in it that hold water. Not so easy to keep in place. I recommend the manual “cuff” if you’re going to get any kind of ice machine.
Physical Therapy Session 1: Well, the “Lenox Hill Physical Therapy Method” is to have your first physical therapy session within 24-48 hours. I have to scramble to get to my PT, Athalon Physical Therapy and Jason takes great care of me. He has been doing so the last 2 months as I recovered from my injury to walk again without pain. Wow… the swelling isn’t as bad as I thought and the wound looks pretty neat and rather cool. I have four holes in my knee, most covered up with these little yellow gauze strips and the one on the bottom and inside of my knee is held in place with two white strips. Those are the ones with which to be most careful and you must make sure NOT to take off or get wet.
Dad drives me to the city to Athalon for physical therapy. Getting out of the car is a real challenge. While I’m not feeling much pain, getting around with the bulky knee brace and not wanting to put weight on my bad leg can be challenging.
Jason, my man at Athalon, says we will do some very limited PT today. He takes off the bandages and it doesn’t look to bad! A bit of swelling but not much more. He performs a brief Lachman test 2-3 times and my knee seems strong, same as or if not better than my right knee! He says that we will just do the following five steps that I should do twice a day at home this weekend:
(1) Take a towel and wind it up so it is like a big string or use a long elastic strip and hold the ends. In the middle of the towel, place the ball of your foot and lean back. Push the towel forward with the ball of your foot so you feel your calf working. It’s the same as calf raises. Do this 100 times.
(2) Sit down with your legs straight out. Put the wrapped up towel dircectly under your knee. Try to press down with your knee hard and you’ll feel your quads flex. Do this ten times.
(3) Place a book or two under your heel and straighten our your leg. Let it hang there and try to straighten your knee as much as possible. Do this for five minutes.
(4) Use the CPM machine for at least 4-6 hours a day (I use it way more than that… it’s addictive!)
(5) Ice the knee down after your workout.
We do the obvious four of five items and then I’m done. We schedule PT for Monday and Wednesday although the following week it will be 3 times per week for the next 15 weeks. Wow!
Next we talk about walking with crutches. I’m supposed to put the heel down of my bad leg first and place 25% weight and the rest should be in my arms in the crutches. Little by little I will be adding extra weight as I feel appropriate and my body can support it. Excellent, we are ready to go. Jason follows me down the stairs and makes sure I can use the crutches properly to climb up the stairs and into the car…
I get driven home by Dad and the numbness is still in the leg. Picked up a pair of Sketchers slip on sneakers that feel like slippers but built more like sneaker shoes. It’s great not ot have ot lace up. Feeling great although since surgery am incredibly hungry every few hours. I have dinner, have my required milk shake, am drowsy like before, get into the CPM machine, pass out eventually earlier in the evening this time…
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