A full week

And I still can't lift my leg up on my own. I think it has a lot to do with the surgeon dislocating my kneecap in the first place. It hurts when I try to tighten my quad, so I haven't been doing much of that. When I went in for my pre-op they gave me a list of exercises to do once I got out of surgery and on my way to recovery. This list looked just like the lists I got from my previous surgeries. I know the drill, I know what to do when I get out of the hospital. Although, a week or so before I went in for my procedure, I got a packet in the mail from the cartilage replacement company. Inside this packet there is another set of instructions for physical therapy after surgery. I flip through this information and it includes the use of the CPM machine (which by the way I never knew I was getting until being discharged at the hospital on surgery day) and 2 exercises which were on the list from the doctor.

Between waiting for the CPM machine to show up and calling the doctor's office every hour on the hour, I was lightly doing the quad reps both instructions indicated I was supposed to be doing. Once I had finally talked to the doctor on Wednesday, he told me to do absolutely no exercises (except the knee raise) until the CPM machine showed up, including the quad tightening one. He told me not to do anything until that machine showed up. I listened. I listened really well and even asked him, "Are you sure? You don't want me doing the quad reps or anything?" just to be sure. He told me no. Twice. Since I'm tired of having surgeries and really want this one to work out to my benefit, I'm doing everything the doctor says to do. I'm following every instruction to the exact specifications. Including being on that machine 6-8 hours a day, which can get extremely tiresome and can make one restless.

The problem I am now struggling with is that I cannot lift my leg without the help of my other extremities. Especially if I have this huge bulky brace that adds a couple pounds strapped on. To get in and out of the machine I've got to use both my hands to lift my leg up and place it where it needs to be. After a week, I'm trying to figure out if that's necessary. I'm going to have to call the doctor's office tomorrow to see if I should resume with the quad exercises. I shouldn't have to rely on someone else, or my arms to put my leg in a comfortable spot.

The machine isn't so bad either. It makes me move, which is nice...and actually keeps my ass from becoming numb and painful. I'm up to 40 degrees of flexion, but according to all the pamphlets I'm supposed to be at 90 degrees by next Tuesday at my post-op. If I go up 5 degrees a day, I think that only puts me at 80 degrees in a week. Oops. Maybe they should have gotten that dumb thing to me when they were supposed to have.

The machine itself doesn't make much noise and I can hardly hear it when the television is on, but today for some reason it caught my attention. While I was sitting there and my leg was straightening out, I could feel my kneecap stutter across the bone as it was resting into place. It didn't hurt, but it felt freaking weird.

For visitors today, my cousin Cyndi and her daughter Callee came by for a bit. They brought me a Blow Pop and a really cute plastic turtle ring. It was super cute how apprehensive Callee is around me. She knows I'm hurt, but thinks I'm broken...so she's afraid to get too close because she thinks she's going to damage me more. It's ridiculously adorable. Later on..after both my folks went to bed, Katie and Julio came by. Katie was kind enough to bring her new camera over so I could make her a case for it real quick. Katie picked out the yarn and I whipped one up for her. She likes it, but I feel the work is kind of shoddy. I wish I had different yarn and I probably should have used a smaller hook. It's one of those things that I'm going to notice and get irritated at every time I see it. I worked on the baby blanket today too. I'm really starting to want to crochet lately. I think this is a good sign. Hopefully it means I'm getting back in the mood for it.

Since I've been up so late and mom's gotta work in the morning, she's been up twice to check on me. She gets all concerned and well...motherly when I'm up super late. I think she's concerned about me having to get this gnar gnar brace back on and hobble down the hallway with all my goods in stow. She's incredibly sweet.