A little bit of this, a little bit of that

I hit an important milestone the other day. I took my 15mg of morphine and it controlled my pain all day, so well that I didn't need any percocet for breakthrough pain. Woohoo. Of course I didn't go to the zoo or gym that day, I pretty much sat around the house except for a short excursion to Peter Piper Pizza with the family. But still, yeah for milestones!

Yesterday was a physical therapy day and oh boy I am feeling it today! So much that my aching leg woke me up and I woke my long suffering husband up to get me a percocet. Of course, being the nice guy that he is he jumped out of bed with a smile on his face and a song on his lips... oh wait, that was the dream I had. In reality he kind of grumbled and then made a mad dash to the kitchen so he could get back to the bed I was keeping warm. See, wasn't that thoughtful of me? I'm kind of hoping tomorrow's physical therapy session doesn't result in a leg so sore that it wakes me up. I'm trying to figure out what I did that would make me that sore, the only thing I can think of is the recumbent bike since I was a bit achy after Monday's gym session. Maybe I'll have to limit my time to 5 minutes during therapy sessions since I'm doing more exercises afterward. I'll have to talk to my therapist about that tomorrow.

My physical therapy session went really, really well. My therapist and the assistant therapist told me that I should be the poster child for knee replacements and that I am far advanced in my recovery than the other patients they see. Especially after three weeks (today) post surgery. Someone made the comment that I should work out with the other knee patients to get them to stop whining. Ha! See being stubborn and determined work in my favor sometimes. I rode the recumbent bike for about 10 minutes, normal seat position which means my range of motion is somewhere in the 100's. Then I hopped on one of the exercise mats and did some heel slides, with 5 second holds; ankle pumps, all 4 ways; clam shells (ugh); Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) for 10 seconds on 50 seconds off; and ice, while putting my ankle up and concentrating on stretching my leg, to work on my flexion.

We didn't have a chance to go to the gym so my husband and I worked out at home in the evening. I had to get a little more creative since I'm on one leg and can't do a dead hang pull up or get on the ground to do a push up. Well I could get on the ground, getting up would be a bit more interesting. Thankfully I found my exercise bands so I could do some band rows, lat pull downs and shoulder presses. I did incline push ups using my bathroom counter as support and then my husband hoisted me up onto the pull up bars so I could hold myself up and control myself coming down. As soon as I am able to walk I am getting some of these pull up bands so my husband doesn't have to hoist me anymore.

On my last bit of news, I have joined a weight loss group on Facebook. I've gained a lot of weight since my original diagnosis and it needs to GO. It's been really good to have people in the same boat as me, passionate about health and fitness but needing a little bit of accountability and support. In my case it's been easy to say "it doesn't matter I can't do x,y,z anyway" as an excuse to eat what I want. I know it's not all just my food choices, being inactive for 18 months hasn't helped either, but I need to get out of this rut. I wouldn't have worked out at home if the founder of the group hadn't encouraged me to think outside the box (I was whining about not going to the gym) and just do something. Thanks Jennifer for the advice and support!!