Chchchchchchanges....

Well, I got kicked out of Physical Therapy today! Marty gave me a big hug and told me not to come back unless I just want to say hi...

He warned me about this at my last appointment, but it was pretty surreal. So much about this whole ordeal has been scary and emotional and he was one constant that kept me grounded.

I saw him often. 
He knew me and what I could/couldn’t do and kept me from injuring myself.
He pushed me and motivated me.
He reeled me back in when I went too far.
Somehow he understood me early on, and just knew how to keep me moving, and really used that to get me to this point. 


He took me from the above picture, to what I am today. I’m so grateful he was in charge of my recovery!

Anyone who has needed medical help can tell you that having professionals that you trust and that work with you makes ALL the difference in the world. I would not be doing so well if Marty hadn’t been my PT...I’m certain of it. I told him that (through tears this morning) and he insisted it was all me. 
Nope. 
Not even close. 
He is really amazing and I will be forever grateful for his care. 
*I plan to bring him a Thank You card and a token of my appreciation in a few weeks, but I haven’t figured out what I want to do yet. I don’t want to just give him a gift card to Starbucks...any ideas?*

Anyway, so he did some strength testing again and he laughed (in a good impresses way) at how much progress I’ve made in the last few weeks since the last time I was tested. I’m at 73% on my quad strength (up from 62%), and at 60% with my hamstrings. I couldn’t even test my hamstrings last time because it strained my knee too much. My L hip is actually way stronger than my R because I’ve been doing so much work on the left side. 


So that’s it!  He wants me to come back as a “new” patient between 9 and 12 months from surgery to see if there is anything else he can help me with functionally. Otherwise he said, “ you’re free, go hit the ground running...well, not literally!”


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overwhelmed, in a good way!

Image
Me, this morning, with Dr. Z and Lisa Well, this was a pleasant surprise!  I’m discharged from Dr. Z’s care! I know, right?!   Hearing him say it didn’t feel real.  Typing it doesn’t make it feel real.  But it’s real! This morning I went for my 9 month post-op appointment. I couldn’t wait to tell Dr. Z about the 100k bike race. I couldn’t wait to tell him that I can walk 7 miles at once. I couldn’t wait to tell him that most days when I get up in the morning, my knee is not the first thing I feel or notice or think about.  Once he picked his jaw up off the ground, and hugged me, and congratulated me, and looked at the x-rays, and examined my knee, he told me that I’m doing better than he could’ve ever hoped and that there’s nothing else he needs to do for me.  What???  “Are you sure? I thought we were going to be together for 18 months, at least...” He’s sure.  I’ve had no setbacks.  I’ve had no complications.  I’ve had consistent forward progress.  I can do things pain free and swelli
Read more

End of the year, part 1

Image
One of my very favorite parts of the end of the year is tallying my running mileage, considering my goals-met, and thinking of goals for the next year. It’s very exciting to look back and relive the good and the not-so-good from the year. Inevitably I scroll through my pictures month by month with a huge smile on my face.  “Oh, I forgot about that race” “I can’t believe I PR’d in that humidity” “Thank goodness I didn’t give up and just swam through the tears” Obviously this year is really different.  I’m struggling to reconcile how happy I am in what I did accomplish running, with how terribly disappointed I am in what happened to my knee, with how proud I am of my recovery so far.  It’s impossible to come up with one primary feeling to cover it all...so I decided to not try and reconcile the feelings. I’ll let them be separate and not equal.  As A Runner As a runner I had a great year. It ended on 7/31 with a total of 862 miles. But up until then I really had an incredible year that I
Read more

Wistful vs Wishful

Image
The word Wishful  means to have hope for something.  The word Wistful means to have a melancholy longing for something. The words are so close, just one letter off, but they have very different meanings. This image very accurately depicts my mood lately.  Definitely more wistful than wishful.  Wistful for nice weather, running, running, running, doing anything that makes me feel like I am doing something physical! ************************************ My husband would likely argue that this picture is a far more accurate depiction of my mood lately, but this is my blog so I choose wistful kitten over raging bitch cat... ************************************* Regardless of which cat persona you go with, both are how I’ve felt lately (maybe one more than the other, but that’s not the point). And consider this fair warning in case you bump into me on the street...but actually try not to bump into me, my knee is still fragile and that’s a sure-fire way to see
Read more