Day 68

It was difficult to update lately due to a lot of family coming and going and celebrating the holidays. I have experienced multiple days where my whole body is sore because I'm starting to use muscles that I never use such as the hamstring and abs and upper quad, etc. Not much has changed with my knee, I think my knee is healing exponentially and the drastic changes are starting to level off. I have been working out at the gym nearby my house and usually run at least a half of a mile in the pool and do some pool exercises. I usually swim a couple lengths without using my arms and doing a different kick each time. I then ride the bike for 10 to 20 minutes and then maybe do some ab work. My range of motion is at 142 degrees and I'm starting to gain some muscle back. I can do 145 pounds on the leg press but I know I can definitely do more but they are holding me back. I'm doing new exercises that challenge my strength and balance but I can see an improvement through the tests the physical therapist runs on this big machine that measures balance. I’ve been doing more core strength work. I hope to be able to run in the next week or two. I had x-rays on my wrist on Friday and the doctor said it is still broken and he ordered an MRI which I had done yesterday afternoon, in order to evaluate whether or not to have surgery. I'm just looking forward to the year 2008 to finish.

Day 55

Day 55-

I guess life is a roller coaster with ups and downs. I haven't updated lately because I was studying for final exams and today I'm officially now a senior in college. I found out late last night from my surgeon that I will have to undergo surgery on my wrist as the healing is going backwards and they need to put a screw in my wrist to fix it up. That's a big disappointment because I'm finally starting to get back into the swing of things and feel great. I'm not sure when I'm going to have the surgery either during winter break in Chicago or come back a week early to school and have the surgery done here. I don't really want a cast over break because I have Christmas, New Years Eve, and my 21st birthday to celebrate, but I also don't want to be in a cast too long during school because I need to take notes. But enough about my wrist and onto an update of my knee. Yesterday during physical therapy I rode the bike for 5 miles and jogged at a brisk pace in the underwater treadmill for 1 mile and walked another .15 of a mile. The swelling my knee is practically gone and for the most part my knee feels great. I sometimes get a cracking sound or clicking but I think it's pretty normal. Today during measurements, I was able to bend my knee 145 degrees, only 12 degrees difference between my good leg and repaired leg. My left quad is 52.5 cm and my right quad is 57.7 cms around. All of my physical therapy has been concentrated on strengthening my quad and on balance. My physical therapist says that I should be able to start running in the next 2-3 weeks and when I get back I will do tests to see the difference in leg strength in various muscles of both legs. If my repaired leg has 80+ percent strength compared to my right leg then I can start to do soccer/sport exercises outside such as passing and dribbling. As for now I can run in the pool, swim, elliptical, biking, and treadmill walking as well as do upper body weightlifting but that will be hard with a broken wrist.

Day 43

It's day 43 and my knee feels a lot better. I can walk normal again and go up and down stairs almost free of pain. I can bend my knee 132 degrees when someone stretches me out and I can bend it 128 on my own. During physical therapy I have started to run on the underwater treadmill which is pretty exciting and I can go all the way around on the bike so I can start to get fitness in. I walk for 2 minutes in the underwater treadmill and then run for 10 and then walk for 3 minutes to cool down. I bike for about 5 to 10 minutes and Ive started to do more on leg press and im doing wall squats for a minute while throwing a weighted ball. Physical therapy still last around 2+ hours and 5-6 days a week. Most of the exercises I do work on balance and strengthening the quad muscle. My body is very sore from all of the new muscles that get worked during new exercises especially my butt, calf, hamstring, but I'm starting to get healthier. I'm beginning to gain some of my weight back. I took a bod pod test the other day in which you sit in an egg shaped machine and it calculates your lean muscle and your body fat and I'm at 153 pounds (still about 7 pounds underweight), 8 pounds of fat and 5.4 percent body fat. My last test was in August and I was 161 pounds with 8 pounds of body fat so Ive lost mostly muscle.