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Because sometime you just have to laugh through the pain. And if you
can't do that, laugh over here. You can't lose, really.
06/06/2004 - 06/13/2004
06/13/2004 - 06/20/2004
06/20/2004 - 06/27/2004
06/27/2004 - 07/04/2004
07/04/2004 - 07/11/2004
07/18/2004 - 07/25/2004
07/25/2004 - 08/01/2004
08/01/2004 - 08/08/2004
08/08/2004 - 08/15/2004
09/05/2004 - 09/12/2004
10/03/2004 - 10/10/2004
11/28/2004 - 12/05/2004
04/10/2005 - 04/17/2005
06/26/2005 - 07/03/2005
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Sunday, September 05, 2004
12 WEEKS.
Yeeee-haa! I'm now three months out. And since I haven't posted for the last three weeks, here's a list of everything I've been doing that's different...
...*...
...so, THAT was pretty boring, wasn't it? As I stated last time, my PT got cut down from once every week to once every two weeks. This all meant that I didn't get any kind of input from either my PTist or Dr. Don, so all of my PT remained pretty much unchanged. The only real difference is that I upped the number of repetitions on some of the exercises. Essentially, I did all of the same things, just more of them.
That is, up until last Wednesday, when I had my 3-month follow-up visit with Dr. Don. Doc told me that now that I've healed some more, it's safe to start putting more weight on the knee. So now, instead of upping my reps, I'll be upping the weight of each rep. That and...
TA-DA!
I get to run again. Finally! Although, Dr. Don said, there are restrictions. He had a plan for me. Go to the track. Walk a lap. Jog a lap. Walk a lap. Do this three days a week, and then following week, add another lap to the jogging phase. Add a jogging lap every week for the next three months, and by my next follow-up with him at the end of November (6 months), I should be up to three miles of running.
"No problem," I thought! "I've just been waiting for the go-ahead! Let's go running!" So that night I did.
My first lap--the walking lap--went very smoothly. As I've said before, my walking stride now looks almost completely normal. I have a slight limp when I'm walking on bumpy ground, but on a perfectly flat track, nothing. The old man jogging slowly around the track probably wondered what I was doing. Until he saw me start to jog.
As I finished the first lap, I was reminding myself to take it easy, since I hadn't run a step since I injured myself in March. It turns out that reminding myself was unnecessary. I couldn't go fast if I tried. I broke into the world's slowest jog. I'm not even sure if my jogging was faster than my walking. When Dr. Don had told me to only do one jogging lap, I was thinking he was just being overcautious, not wanting me to get injured again. But by the time I was midway through the first turn--about 100 meters into a 400 meter lap--I was beginning to think he was crazy for having me do so much. I honestly had doubts that I was going to make it around. I did, but I was breathless by the end. Meanwhile, Mr. Old Jogger had lapped me TWICE. I'll just use the excuse that he was in the inside lane. Yeah, that's it.
Another activity that's been okayed is golfing. However, Dr. Don put restrictions on that, too. I can golf, but I'll need to wear my knee brace (I don't need to wear it while running). This is so I don't injure myself if I end up on rough ground or in a trap. Obviously, Dr. Don has seen me golf before. Also, I can't swing full strength, as this would put a lot of stress on my knee. Although I haven't been golfing yet, I now imagine that this will be obvious--much like trying to run--once I actually do it.
But all in all, Dr. Don thinks I'm doing well, which is good. I go back to PT this Thursday, and my PTist has already said that once I reached the 12-week mark she was going to introduce some exciting, new, painful weightlifting-type things to my therapy. So I guess I have THAT to look forward to this week. Oh joy. I'm sure I'll have another update then about whatever new device they put me in. Probably the Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden? Excellent! (sound)
Updated at 11:06 PM
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