Sunday, August 18, 2013

School: Day 1, Therapy: Stage 2

As most of you probably know, every school in Washington Parish has started. Yes, I did have to wear my beautiful knee brace to school. No, I couldn't fit my school pants around it or my school shorts. Skirt? I can't cross my legs to wear one of those things, but I'm definitely not complaining (not really a skirt person). If you've met the principal at the school, you'd know she runs a tight ship. There was no chance of her letting me wear the cute running shorts that I'm used to wearing! First day of school? I showed up in my crazy long basketball shorts and a collard shirt. Let's just say my first day of school pic wasn't what my mom's friends on Facebook were expecting, but I'm loving it. Basketball shorts=the most confortable things invented!

 One thing I realized at school was how lucky I am to attend my school! I'm walking extremely well now with my brace unlocked, but I still cannot walk at a normal pace yet. Since Bowling Green is so small, I never have to worry about being too slow to make it to my classes. They're pretty much all in one hall. Everyone for the most part knew about my knee. No one was really suprised to see me in the brace and out of uniform except for the new kids. A couple of the new kids in my class gave me some pretty strange looks. Oh and one kid told me that if I was a superhero, my name would be Bionic Knee.

Therapy

 At the four week mark, you start really hitting the grinding point in therapy. That's how I feel at least. My pain is mostly gone at this point, and I'm just ready for this to be over (yes, I know that I still have more than five months left). I can now walk on the treadmill and do wall sits. Walking on the treadmill is about my favorite thing to do even though I still have to wear my brace. On the bright side, I can walk around my house without it. Anyways, I'm able to bend my knee to 145 degrees at the moment! That means I am ahead of schedule!

Since, I can stand now without any pain, I've been going up to the gym while my teammates practice.  It's hard to watch everyone playing pick up games.  I honestly have no idea how much it is going to kill me during the season.  I want to be playing so badly.  I think November and December won't be the easiest months for me.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!

I just want to say that I'm really sorry to my physical therapist for not writing in a few days!  She's been having to dodge questions from her friends about how I'm doing since I haven't written anything lately!  Even though she is my best friend's mom and I am pretty open about everything, she can't tell anyone what is going on because of patient/therapist confidentiality. Anyway, I haven't been writing much recently for many reasons.  The first one would have to be the fact that it's Shark Week on Discovery Channel (it's my favorite week of the year).  Also cheerleading -  I'm having to make 30 locker signs (much easier said than done).  And finally, I went on a beach trip this past weekend which is what I'm mainly going to talk about.

If you've ever met me, you would know that playing the "Damsel in Distress" role is NOT my style.  I can't stand crying, laziness, or whining.  So having to have someone help me put on my shoes and shorts at home is not the most fun thing.  The whole thing sounds pretty silly now that I am writing it all down, but the day before we left for the beach, I didn't want to go.  I was worried about having to have my friends put on my shoes and help me get out of the bath tub.  Don't get me wrong, I have the best friends in the world.  They would do anything in the world for me. 

I had decided I wasn't going to go because I didn't want to ruin anyone's vacation when I got to physical therapy on Thursday.  Mrs. Brooke, the lady I talked about above, basically forced me into going! She kept saying how good it would be for me to get out of the parish for a little bit. I'm so glad I went.

The big drawback of going was the fact that I had to walk around with this big old black brace.  The first day we were there (we only stayed for two), I was walking around in the sand with a bikini and a leg brace on! I can't even begin to tell you how many people asked me what had happened and how many crazy stares I received! One teenage guy yelled "Get it girl" at me when we were walking!  I wish I had a picture of what I looked like!

On the second day, I decided not to go down to the beach.  Walking in sand is tiring for someone who hasn't had any knee surgery!  Anyways, later that day before we left, we stopped by to see my friend's aunt and uncle.  They have a boat, so of course I rode on it.  Getting on that boat was horrifying.  As I was getting on, I pictured slipping, hitting my head and never breathing again (I was just a tad paranoid).

Once we were on the boat, Shaye's drove like a mad man! I wanted to wear a life jacket I was so freaked out! We hit bump after bump.  I didn't really hurt my leg too much, but I did feel like my knee was going to dislocate at any moment.

All in all, I had a really fun trip.
 My advice to someone going through this: Do what you want to do, just be smart about how you do it!

Here's a couple of recent pictures! The first is of my cantaloupe sized knee compared to my right knee! The second is of my friends and I on the beach with Black Beauty (my leg brace's name)!