Week 8: day 3

Good PT visit today.

When I go to the PT, I either have my actual PT (with an MSPT degree) or her assistant work with me. They are both great and tend to agree on the same things. Today, my actual PT worked with me, for the first time since last doctor's visit. I mentioned that I was staying away from the elliptical until we begin hamstring strength. But she said that it's OK and I can start the elliptical at this point. I can keep doing it, as long as there's no pain, adding 5 minutes at a time.

So I did the elliptical for 10 minutes. At minute 2 or so, the knee felt a little bit painful, but it stayed at that same level through the whole thing, so I'm hoping that it will get "used" to this. I really want to be able to rock the elliptical full power soon.

I asked about stairs and she said that I should be navigating stairs normally, unless there's pain. Of course, I should limit the amount of stairs if I have a choice, so I'll still be choosing the elevator at work. However, at home, I should stop doing the one-legged stairs and do a normal ascent and descent.

When I got home, I attempted a normal ascent and it was alright (ascending feels weird, the right leg doesn't feel "full power" upon ascent). However, I was too afraid to attempt a descent.

The PT said that I should try to do things normally, such as stairs, because the longer I don't do things normally, the worse it will be to go back to normal.

She noticed I limped just a bit walking into the appointment, noting that I wasn't flexing my right knee enough on the right leg step off (I almost was keeping it locked straight). I walked around again, attempting to do it right and my walking was better. So I need to remember to keep that walking limp-free.

I stayed at 6lbs for ankle weights. The left leg is just barely able to finish those with the quads fatiguing, and the right leg had an easier time with the weights, with no quad fatigue felt. It's a bit strange, because my right leg is definitely not as beefy/muscular looking as the left leg, so I would have expected the quads to be strained less on the left leg.

Incision looks a bit red still but not any worse than Monday. So hopefully it's not an infection.

My flexion is kicking ass, I am down to three fingers butt-to-heel. (Or maybe even 2.5).