Humble Pie

Slow walk home

Recovery is a humbling process. Two weeks after surgery, I was finally cleared to start physical therapy on Monday. Up until this point, I have been hobbling around on crutches with my leg confined in a straight-leg knee brace. Each day, I gently tried to nudge a little more flexibility back into my knee by hanging my leg off the side of the bed and trying to bend it. Ouch. I could bend it maybe 30 degrees. Needless to say, I was ready to start rebuilding strength and regaining mobility in my leg.

The crazy thing about living in New York City is that you don't realize how hard it is to get around when you can't walk on your own two feet. I had to call a car service to drive me 8 blocks to physical therapy. 

During my first session, my therapist took some baseline measurements to see how far I could bend my knee, the goal being to have my heel touch my butt when I'm lying on my back. On my first try, I was able to bend it a whopping 80 degrees. My knee felt so taut. I was afraid my leg was either going to snap or slingshot out and kick my therapist in the face. That would have been a great first impression. Afterwards, she taught me three basic exercises. 

At the start of my second session on Wednesday, my therapist told me to hop on the bike. I looked at her in disbelief. Excuse me? Was she joking? Nope. I hobbled over and managed to get on the bike. I could move my leg back and forth along the bottom path of the pedal stroke, basically from 12 o'clock to 9 o'clock (when you look at the spoke of the pedal). The last quadrant seemed completely out of reach. But each time, I tried to stretch my leg a little more. After about 10 minutes, I finally got my leg all the way around. Whoa. Again, I thought that something was going to snap. I did my exercises and learned a couple of new ones. By the end of my visit, I could bend my leg to 105 degrees! I also walked home since my car service left me behind for running about 10 minutes late. Thanks.

I had my third session on Thursday night. It was by and large the same drill as last time. However, I was able to complete a full revolution on the bike after only 3 minutes and I kept it up for a good 10 minutes. At the end of the session, my range of motion had improved to 125 degrees. 

It feels great to start moving my knee more. But, I'm not going to lie, it HURTS. It's incredibly humbling to see everything - your strength, flexibility, and basic muscle coordination - go to zero. It's humbling to have to relearn how to walk. I know that it's going to be a long road to get back to where I was previously.

I also know that I'm making progress. Going from 80 degrees to 125 degrees is huge! I'm also walking without crutches (for the most part). I'm most excited about this. Jasper gets worried when he sees me walking without my crutches and yells, "MOMMY!! You're not supposed to be doing that." Oh yes I am.

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