15. 5 months post op

Amazing how life jut slots back into normal and you forget how hard it was initially post surgery. This blog has given me a way to look back and remember things that you tend to forget over time.
I have had a great support network with friends, family, my physio and gym coach, I am forever grateful for all they have done for me.
Over the last few weeks my confidence has grown with the use of my knee, I find i am no longer looking for things to hold while walking, not looking at the ground whilst walking and haven't needed any regular pain relief now for an extended period of time. I take an occasional panadol.
I do however continue to do what has been asked of me I am riding the stationery bike when i have free time, I am going to the gym 5 times a week and completing the tasks set by my physio.
I still have some restriction and my main complaint at this time is i cant tolerate any pressure on the tibia itself, so i cant kneel on it due to an uncomfortable pain. At the gym i am doing most things as before with some modification, so i am still only doing the arms movement for starjumps in the warmup and  i havent begun skipping so  i use the stationery bike but i love being there it is as much about your physical health as your mental health. the gym is fun with a group of people who are happy to see you, encourage you and don't care that you are in 'rehab' mode.
I had the physio ask me a week ago to jump off a little step wouldnt have been 10-15cm off the ground....nope so he asked me to jump with 2 feet onto it...nope, i think alot of this barrier has been a residual of what has happened previously, i could never do that before surgery...but i came home and i gave it a whirl, something about doing things in the privacy of your own home. An awkward first jump up and grabbing of the door and woohoo i jumped up a small step turned around and jumped down...a funny feeling a sense of achievement then i realised it isnt actually my old knee i have a reconditioned knee that should be functional like anyone elses. My only restriction here is that i have got degenerative changes so i still have a lot of crunching and clunking going on and that will never change but i am aware of it. I have a clicking nosie intermittently during full load bearing extention, which can be annoying to listen to ...kind of like a pacemaker clicking.
I loaded the kids in the car 2 weeks ago and forgot something inside the house, of course running late so i , without thinking, went to start a jog and the first landing of my operated leg to the ground felt like a big ...how to explain...the knee kind of did its own woosh from side to side , i grabbed the pole otherwise i would have landed on the ground. clearly not ready for breaking out the running style. I spoke to my physio about this and all stems back to the old VMO, continue working on it to stabilise the knee and all is other little jobs it does etc etc. I havent tried this again yet but am continuing the leg raises and other vmo specific exercises.
I am planning on getting back to work in another month and that will be interesting to see how it fairs with a 10-12hour shift on your feet, but i can only try and see how it goes.
I thought i had got off a little easy with out putting on any weight post surgery, but it did happen and you do feel a bit yuk, i have gained 4 kg and to some that may not seem much but when you think about the period of inactivity and continue to eat the same its bound to happen, also coming into christmas season isnt helping...so much yummy food around. I have taken my measurements as i prefer this method to the number on the scales. I am back doing kettle bells and weights at the gym so it may also be a shift of another sort. I took a measure around the top of my knee 2 weeks ago and it was 47cm today it was 48.5cm my left knee is the same for both weeks and is at 50cm, a good indicator that the muscle bulk is slowly returning which is great! I would recommend taking this measurement presurgery cause it has been fun watching it grow again.
I was struggling the the last post with up and downhill slopes, this has sorted itself out i can now confidently go up and down pretty much where ever i need to go. this weekend we were at the beach with sanddunes and managed these quite OK. My kids race BMX bikes and the have a rather high start hill, i had to make it to the top to assemble the riders, managed up and down the first time with a helper and the second time on my own small goals..reaching them !!
Steps...continue to be probably the hardest, up pretty good can do single leg single step with injured knee sometimes it still feels like knee is 'flicking' back. Down i can do single leg single step but it does fell like i plonk down as opposed to a fully controlled movement, downhill if there is something to hold onto i find i still hold on.
My scars i am really happy with if you can be happy with a scar, i have rubbed bio-oil into it for a fair while and then as time went on i did forget every now and then and then forgot completely haha! I find i am not 'thinking' about my knee constantly now and find i can even sit on the lounge with my legs pulled up beside me without having to place them there. I get stiff quite quickly though so if i have been sitting for 10 mins or so i have to stand get my bearings and then walk, which is OK and im sure this will get better also.
I think that is about it for now, i am really happy with my progress, I go the the GP next week to get my clearance to go back to work, so i'll let you know how going back to work goes :-)
Cheers Liss x

 5 Months post MPFL and TTO surgery

14. 3 months post op MPFL and TTO

Well, 3 months has passed since i had my MPFL repair and TTO done!
It has been a very interesting process to say the least. There has been good days , bad days and days in between. There has been tears, there has been laughs, pain and awkwardness but there has also been progress. Progress, how quickly depends on how quickly your body is willing to let you, apparently it wasn't my decision it was my bodies and i have had to allow it to do its thing in its own time. This was the point that i realised it doesn't really matter how 'quickly' things are done but that the are done with the respect that your knee deserves. I know that may sound a little odd but what i mean is i have had a long standing injury to my knee, basically, i don't trust it, i have had to rebuild the trust in my joint and like trust in anything it takes time, patience and persistence. The knee is such a complex joint on its own without an injury, without surgery, without being old, your knee deserves to be allowed the freedom to heal at its own pace.
I had 3 days of quite severe pain with restricted movement last week, it didn't feel right. I contacted my surgeon who suggested perhaps i have a joint effusion and that i should maybe try a different non steroidal. I had an XR ordered that I hadn't had done as it was for my 3mth follow up, so he suggested i have that done also. I had a physio appointment on the 3rd day of this and ROM was good no gross musculoskeletal issues could be found. I have been following my physio exercises, trying to do extra as incidental, waiting for the kettle to boil doing single leg calf raise etc, i had started to do 30 minute walk each day just lapping around the house and doing 15klm on the stationary bike(5klm each  in morning, lunch and after dinner). I didn't feel like i was 'over doing it', One question from the physio, "are you using your single crutch", BAHH, at home no, follow the instruction of the people you have asked for their help. You wouldn't think this would have been the issue and after 2 doses of new NSAID mobic, RICE, using single crutch, continuing physio exercises,  2 days later and my leg is completely feeling different, i felt good, which part of that equation was the turning point I'm not sure but i am not complaining.
So week 11 i still have knee tightness, the rubber band about to break has completely gone and a stiffness if i sit too long but acute pain has gone. As this is school holidays for us we have been out and about a bit more. I have been given the offical release from crutches and can return to strength and conditioning training (within limits and i still havent been yet...oops next week). I think sometimes it takes for one person to say and mean you are doing really well, giving realistic goals and a physio program that changes each week to fit where your progress is up to, to really see you move forward.
Sometimes you need to see it visually, this is photo at week 1 and at week 12...progress ..there it is even if this pic just displays skin deep :-)

I had concern over the stability of my knee earlier on and when my physio asked me this week to step onto a small trampoline, stand on one leg and catch the ball he was going to throw me, I know that there is no way even a week ago i would have done that sucessfully, with a few laughs and slight unbalanced co-ordination i managed to do as i was asked, i tried and just that gave me an added confidence in my knee, trust building whilst strength building, my knee really can do this!
So i have been successful off crutches for a few days now, at stairs i still need a rail to hold onto and am still doing them as single step both feet down and up but am working on single step single foot. Down hill ramps i am a little cautious still but am improving.
I head to the surgeon for my 3mth check up next week, and am hoping that he is happy with my progress.
Here's a pic of my XRay, unreported, results when i see surgeon on Tuesday, do they really think you wont open the films and have a look before you go to the specialist ?? Cute screws in there, kind of also puts in perspective why it has been a road to recovery.

(ignore the bits at the bottom of the films thats where i was holding them up to take photo!)


Cheers, Liss x

13. 8 weeks post -op first drive woohoo and crutches transition

It has been 8 weeks since i have driven on the main road, apart from a couple of bus pickups that are just at the end of our street, i haven't sat in the drivers seat. In some ways it makes you realise you need to remain humble and be grateful for the help you receive, even if the toilet paper that is bought is the wrong one.

So I'm a little over 8 weeks post op now and today my husband was ready to take the kids to school, he had his list for the groceries that were needed and they loaded in. Today i had it in my head i wanted to be able to drive!. At the last surgeons appointment he said i could drive when i felt confident enough, well unless i try i will never know. I didnt want to drive with the kids for my first trip so we did school drop off first.

I wandered through the grocery shop which consequently i havent missed this job, its a shame our little town doesnt yet do online groceries and delivery. I guess i knew but you really do get used to buying the products you like and when you don't normally shop with your spouse having to debate/discuss about which product is better value for money or has more product in it, makes the task even more lengthy and light hearted as by the end I found my grocery savy attitude return and what went in the trolley was my choice. The bill at the end however was double what his bill has been since he has taken over the grocery run, oh well, I guess while i have been off on sick leave it has been important to save where we can and groceries clearly has been one area that has been played down.

Following my second physio appointment my crutches use can be a single crutch at home and when out use them like 'walking' crutches so instead of crutches moving together they move separately and kind of mimic normal arm movement of walking. This does make you look like some kind of weirdo and i have had a couple of comments about how i am using the cructhes incorrectly...everyone is an expert!

So groceries done with my spider walking (that's what my 8yo calls it), slowly, but as I look around you realise how difficult it must be for the older population as you see them using the trolley to lean on and guide them and holding aisle ends to keep them upright. Hopefully for me this is a short term mobility issue, i feel for those who now face what my short term issue is as their long term issue.

My husband hands over the car keys, jokingly with a shaky hand. It does seem weird that i am using crutches and yet i am about to take control of a vehicle.

Off to a good start only one person honked their horn as i left the carpark, i was trying to be courteous apparently the person behind was in a hurry. Unperturbed i continue through a few round a abouts and get to the outskirts of town unscathed. The downward accelerator pedal movement seems ok, the movement from the accelerator to the brake and back isn't as smooth, i can feel quite a tightness in the knee, not terrible but i can definately notice it.

I forgot you have to concentrate when you drive haha! as a passenger for the last 8 weeks i have enjoyed the scenery...eyes on the road. We made it home and i officially feel like i can drive for at least short periods which i am super stoked about.

As the physio gave the go ahead for one crutch at home, i feel like i am transitioning off the crutches. I am not in a huge hurry to get off them but it is interesting the comments you do get ' ohh you're still on crutches' 'you would think you'd be off crutches by now'. I have tried to explain that it is about being stable and quad loss and i'm getting better but quite frankly i dont think if half these people had what i had done to themselves they would be rushing to rid themselves of cructhes. Even if I am off cructhes what does that gain? if i come off to soon, fall, reinjure all so i can say im off them. The physio is working with me to build up my strength and confidence and i can tell you that using one cructh at home, i actually felt i could use none in areas where i could hold something i.e the lounge,  wall or chair, you seem to just know as i tried this 3 weeks ago and it was a big fail. Everyone is different with their recoveries and my transition off crutches may be slow but i think that when i finally ditch them i will be ready!

A day out yesterday to the BMX park i decided to try using one crutch outside. I had the support of my husband if i needed him and there wasn't a big crowd. I did OK, my biggest concern is being bumped or knocked as i dont feel like i have the agility or stability to reposition myself quickly enough without the fear of falling. I see the physio again in a few days and see where i go from here.

Liss xx

 

 

12. first physio appointment

I was somewhat nervous about going to the physio as i had heard so many 'it's gunna hurt', 'i had a love hate relationship with mine', 'good luck with that', so my expectations were mixed.
Luckily i have found a physio who actually listens and i do feel comfortable with.
While explaining the mechanics of the loss of my quad strength and the need to turn the quads back on, the physio asked to see what i could do...welllll...not much, but you've gotta start somewhere.
So what seems simple flatten your leg to the physio bed ...no... knee up- i thought it was down...
Lift you heel off the bed without lifting thigh...no...nothing. The physio rolled a towel up and put it under my knee, kind of worked but it did hurt.

The physio raised my leg up and asked me to hold it up...no...zilch
bilateral calf raise...yes...i can do, thank goodness there is a yes
He gave my knee a gentle passive movement to check the bend and when he asked what i felt was restricting me, that it wasn't pain but a tightness he agreed swelling was the restriction. The physio commented on the level of swelling that remains post surgery and also the fact that the knee is still fairly warm to touch compared to my other knee. Both these not uncommon post surgery according to him. He suggest i use soda crystals which i have not used before but they work to draw fluid out of the affected area to reduce swelling. Worth a try.
So to try the bike before i go. I tried to get on my stationary bike the day before at home and was hugely unsuccessful i couldnt even get on! Luckily the physio bike was more a step through variety compared to mine which has big thing where you have to step over to get on. It is amazing how a couple of little techniques like which side to get on and to use and trust your arm strength to guide you works  wonders. So on the bike at the physio and i think i thought i would be riding a marathon..ha! i can't do one rotation just a rock back and forth more a half cycle to and fro.
So with my soda crystals and my list of exercises i leave feeling excited that this is the beginning really of regaining my strength yet feeling quite down as clearly i have such a long way to go. Small steps i know but it can be very daunting when you just want to be able to just do basic functioning of life. As i hear some of the para-olympians stories as the 2016 games for them begin, i have nothing to complain about, these amazing athletes are truely inspirational.
Bike
Day 1- to and fro half rotation at physio
Day 2- to and fro half rotation and mastered getting on bike at home
Day 3- modified full rotation...so i put my heel to the front of the pedal and as the rotation was coming to the top i lifted my hip to allow it to go around
Day 4- modified full rotation
Day 5- modified full rotation without hip lift
Day 6- full slow rotation with heel at back of pedal
Woohhoo!! it still isnt perfect but it is amazing when you write it down you can see progress.
I have continued my exercises 3 times a day and have noticed a big difference directly after doing them so i have quite enjoyed doing them as the knee feels really good afterwards. but i dont seem to have laid down that automatic memory just yet and it feels like i am back to the beginning each time i restart the exercises.

The other thing i have noticed with the knee is that it doesnt just naturally want to bend when i walk it physically feels like you are asking it to lift and hold every time you step and that it will swing straight back to straight leg position if you dont consciously hold it there. i wonder if that is just the tightness of the realigned and new liagment, i will ask physio this week.

not the most sexy pegs...but they are mine !!

most of the swelling remains on that inner side of the knee.

My next area to work on...getting off crutches and driving again...
Liss x

11. 6 weeks post -op , surgeon review

Well, I made it!! I made it to 6 weeks post-op MPFL and TTO.... HOORAAYY!!
I think i thought that 6 weeks was going to be the magic time to be back to pretty much normal. I would ditch the crutches, id be walking freely and driving kids to and from school like normal oohh and back to work.

                                              Week 1                                           Week 6

                                               The scar goes really purple when it is cold!

Don't get me wrong I am super excited as each day is a day closer to being back to my pre-operative functioning. BUT....
My expectations at this post op appointment where pretty simple, I like to have goals...
*Can I have the brace off...YES...woohoo i can finally have a full shower and not just wash the leg on its own with a washer, no more garbage bags...sweet
* Can I start physio...YES...great...this come with a two tone excitement as I had heard most people have a love / hate relationship with their physio- pain to get the gain but thats OK i want it to be better and i am more than happy to work for it.
* Can i come off crutches...NO...BOO! reason being i have to 'wake up' my quads as they have been wasting for 6 weeks due to inactivity. That is for my physio to help me with, lucky him. If i come off them too early i risk falling, instability and disappointment...patience
* Can i drive....Drs question ' can you guarantee your leg is going to respond quickly to brake hard and have fluid movement to and from accelerator to the brake pedal?' Unlucky for me although i have an automatic car my affected leg is my driving leg. Now he did say once you are confident off crutches generally you will be OK to drive. He suggested as we live rurally to drive up and down dirt road before i do any great trips. I would hate to cause an accident so i understand, it just doesn't make it any easier getting on with life..patience... I have been down our 2 car road to pick the kids up off the bus but i had to use two feet two pedal method was kinda funny!
*Can i go back to work...this was more a question surrounding do i have to go back to work haha! If I had a desk job I would be happy to go back. I am an emergency nurse and we are due to relocate into a bigger building so we are going from 15 bed department to 52 bed department. I'm not sure who is reading this but for people who have ever attended an emergency department there isn't many jobs that require us to be sitting, we have to walk quickly with purpose and poise haha!. Wearing a pedometer you can walk 10,000 steps in the first 4 hours and we do up to 12 hour shifts. We have to park and walk 2 blocks to the hospital up hill which was great exercise pre-op. As this is not workcover I want my knee to be where i feel comfortable before i go back and if that means more sick leave than so be it. My Dr suggested triage and although one of my favourite jobs in the department i dont think triaging with crutches is going to be OK. Dr wants to see me again in 6 weeks which will put me at 3month mark so I asked for a medical certificate until then and he abliged.

The Dr removed my brace and gave it a stretch sitting my heel on his knee and asked me to relax it into a straight position. Interesting I had thought with the brace on I was extending the leg into a straight position. OUCH! clearly not. Dr explained my last 30 deg has been blocked by the brace and it was now up to me to gain this back, lucky me. He then proceeded to bend my knee back under the the chair...ouch ouch ouch! so tight it feels like an elastic band is going to go PING. 'I am very happy with that! was his response to that movement so I guess if he is happy then I am too.
I still feel like the knee is very swollen ans feels warm to touch compared to the other knee, surgeon said to carry on! That i will...
I don't know exactly why but that first night sleeping without the brace was excruciatingly painful! I was quite excited to be without it as I thought i would have a great night sleep as i wouldn't have to chase the support pillow that i put between my leg all night (I toss and turn a bit) and i wouldnt have the weight of the brace to manouvre under sheets, blankets and doonas. I woke crying, actually not just crying sobbing! I couldn't even vaguely move my leg without wincing and trying not to squeal. I couldn't get comfortable. I had already taken panadol osteo and nurofen and wasn't due for more, so i asked my husband to get me an endone, i hadnt used narcotics since week one. I did have to laugh my husband who by all account has been very helpful brought 1 tissue for a crying woman, well better than none. Sleep didnt come easily but it did come and i woke feeling fine, so just a bad night. The leg feels like jelly kind of like the lower half of my leg isnt being controlled and its doing its own thing.
So off to make a physio appointment and get this knee moving!
Liss x


(15/8/2016)

10. pain/no pain/pain, trying to reduce crutches unsucessfully and the rubber band knee feeling at week 5

It is interesting the pain process that i have had. In my mind I assumed i would have acute surgical pain and then be back to  normal sore knee. I don't think anything could have prepared me for the initial post op pain but after that first 2 weeks the pain was really easily managed and each day within that two weeks you could tell each day you needed less.
As the wound healed it remained feeling sensitive if touched and i still remain with some numbness to the right hand side of the wound below my knee.
Weeks 3 and 4 the pain had reduced considerably and I think following my post op visit i still remained cautious about doing anything extra things so i was relatively pain free for these 2 weeks bar a bit of panadol. In these 2 weeks i also heard a clicking sound like when you stand and you've been stiff and something cracks. It didn't happen all the time but it could be heard by others.
Week 5 however i think i overdid it, and after i got home after a day out to watch a school singing concert my leg was aching and had big diverts where the brace was on all day. Sitting awkwardly in a chair with a partial bend in your leg that doesnt reach the floor...mmm not my best choice but i had kids to watch sing and beautifully they did. I had walked 2 days before on crutches to our main road which is 500mtrs down and back approx, the longest i have done since surgery.

 

The 2 big diverts where the brace sits on lower leg after a full day up on my leg...oops

The pain that has really hit this week (week 5) though, is like there is 2 rubber bands one below my patella and the other on my inner patella ready to go ping!!! They feel so tight you can feel the stretch and pull with each small movement. It feels like when you bring your knee passively into a bend position that it would spring it self straight back into a straight position if it was allowed! So i have had to go back onto regular panadol and i started naprosyn as i was having trouble tolerating the celebrex.
I remain dubious about steps and have been avoiding them when i go out as i feel like i am going to be a victim of the ground if i do. At home i am managing quite well as we have a railing which i hold onto and use the crutch under my other arm.
I became frustrated with the crutches and not being able to do simple tasks like get the butter out of the fridge to make the kids sandwiches and being able to put washing away in the cupboards, so i tried to go back to using one crutch whilst at home.
I think the key here is i made the decision myself and i should have respected that i was to be on crutches for 6 weeks. I would do ok for a while and could do what needed to be done and then all of a sudden in the middle of the kitchen i would have the oddest sensation of unsteadiness and the frozen i can't move my legs for fear of toppling over. This happened a few times and I realised i was not ready to be rid of my crutches just yet and that this process was going to take time. So i employed the kids unpaid of course and i now have helpers to get lunch ready, empty the dishwasher and set the table and i think this has been a great lesson for a 6 and 8 year old to recognise all the little things that a mum does that go kind of unnoticed because they are always done for them. I am very proud of this pair!
Week 5 also saw my first 'real bend' and i don't know if it was coincidence but it happened about 48hours after i started on naprosyn the new anti inflammatory for me. Sitting on a chair with a straight leg i could bring my leg into about 45deg and passively bring it in to sit and nearly a 90deg, although only for a short time but still my first bend really in 5 weeks!! A little progress, i took a photo, i dont really know how the numbers work on the brace but thought i would show you what it says.I can now fully straighten my leg, where this has been needing a small pillow underneath the knee to keep it up a little to be comfortable.

Brace a bit low in this pic ...(they are troublesome to keep in the right spot!) but i have bend!!

Maybe i could drive??
Maybe i should start some single leg raises??
Maybe i should just be patient!!
Maybe i should enjoy the fact i haven't had to go the grocery shop for 6 whole weeks, cause it aint going to last forever ...hahaha

Liss xx

9. Mishap with the cat,Tears and Stairs issues...week 3.5 not my week!

Well i should have known it wasn't all going to be roses and its amazing how one simple mishap can seemingly put you off track.
We have 2 outdoor cats , 1 is 15 years old, he scooted in the house at feed time and darted across in front of me. As i only had one of the crutches in my hand i over balanced, i felt myself bending at the hips and going down, my knee did a funny slooosh, i corrected but not quite enough. Both my hands went to the ground, my knee did another sloooosh feeling. So i was hands down, bum up with my daughter in the background saying 'mum what should i do?'. I didn't know i was stuck neither up nor down, couldn't get up, didn't want to go down on my knee/knees and i didn't know if it was hurt, it didn't feel hurt, so i slowly put my head up, pulled my core in and used my good hand to work my way up my leg holding on the crutch with the other. Few... i was up and all seemed OK, and that story became the first thing my daughter told everyone, mum fell over the cat. Never tripped over the cat before but suddenly things that werent obstacles before are now, lesson learnt.
3 days after this i noticed i was having trouble at the top of our stair case, we have 7 up to a platform then another 7 to the top and exiting/entering the one step out of the house. Over the weeks since surgery i have had this happen maybe 3 or four times mainly when going downwards with a feeling of 'give way' when i lift my good leg to bring it down.
Not thinking much of it, i carried on, realising i was struggling more and more until i just couldn't do it. my knee felt like it was just going to give way, so when the main weight was on the operated knee it would kind of push itself all the way back and then feel like it was going to keep me up. Unfortunately this meant when i got that feeling in my knee which i didnt want as it felt really awful, my good leg would start to shake and my arms would go to jelly. I was doing all my jobs upstairs of a morning so i didnt have to go back up and i was waiting for my husband to get home from late shift at work to help me up the steps to get to bed. Some days I could get up one or 2 steps and have no trouble going down, then others i could go up 4 and then struggled to go down, the pattern didnt make sense.
I started to think it was all in my head, it seemed really ridiculous that i had been doing stairs without any great issue the only difference the cat mishap. I had no issue walking on flat ground but unfortunately life gives you steps. So i thought i should contact the Dr. He wasn't concerned about the mishap, he said that is why he put the brace on so as the knee would only go from 20ext-90flex it wouldn't allow it to go any further than  he wanted. The stair issue he explained is a loss of quad strength because of the splint and that it is not an uncommon scenario. I felt much better that it wasn't in my head but i did feel i had lost a lot of confidence and i so didn't want to hurt the knee as i dont want to have to go through this all again...some kind of weird self preservation maybe.
Unfortunately i waited one night just a little long for my husband to come home, i wanted a shower which was upstairs, i got stuck 3 stairs from the top, couldn't go up couldn't go down, grasping onto the railing like i was going to fall to my death, ridiculous i know! I did those last 3 steps by dragging myself in the most awkward position, i don't know how i didn't hurt myself. I had just reached the bathroom door and my husband arrived home and was so excited i made it up the steps, my response wasn't nice, it wasn't his fault, I got myself into the shower and cried and cried, and repeated the why did i do this question. I am suprised i lasted this long, with all the things you cant do, that you could do before it is very frustrating to not be able to do what needs to be done! Tears dried up i needed to move forward as there is no way back, i am alot further ahead than i was in week 1.

This tided me over the weekend and i was struggling still into the beginning of the 4th week, I know i wasn't to start physio but i messaged my physio to ask his advice, He wanted to see me.
I got worried then i didnt want the physio to speak to my Dr as he had made it clear no physio, and like i said i like to follow the rules. I went to the physio for crutches support only ! I promise...
I'm really glad i went he took me up and down the step with canadian crutches then got me to use the normal underarm crutches and suprisingly the underarm crutches made a huge difference he did agree that you lose quad strength quickly but also thought it was mainly a confidence issue. The other part of my physio visit involved rearranging my splint, it didnt look right and had been slipping down heaps over the last week. Apparently this is common as the swelling recedes the braces need to be adjusted and whilst i tightened the straps there was more to it. When that brace was put back on my leg it was like an instant comfort, it felt way more secure and seemed to fit around the knee much better.
I stopped taking the celebrex again i just didnt seem to be able to stomach it, so am in the process of arranging the naprosyn to try it and see if that will help.

Enjoying a little sunshine on day 20

Wound Day 22

Liss x