I have decided to make my rehab a 30 day project. I will be charting my daily goals and accomplishments. If you have not heard of this kind of thing, check out my earlier blog post, "Three Days to Go."
Day 1: the day after surgery, in which I will be checked out of the hospital and sent home. This was a very busy day, with little rest. The morning was a steady steam of people in and out of my room, starting with my doctor at 8:30am, just as I was waking up.
I had a visit from the physical therapist and we walked the circuit of the floor..wish I had a concept of how far it was! He also went through my other exercises, and we marked the most important ones in my handout. He measured my flexion at 93 degrees--2 less than yesterday (more swelling today, I think).
After lunch, another therapist to check me out on stairs; the occupational therapist for shower and dressing, getting dressed, going home.
Day 2: also busy. Physical therapy at home, a visit from the home nurse, changing my dressing, and lots of paperwork!
My outside walk--100 ft and one trip down and up our 16-stair staircase.
Day 3: finally a day in which I can focus on rest/exercise in regular patterns.
My outside walk--300 ft and 4 trips down and up our staircase.
Day 4: physical Therapist (Sally) comes, massage to free up the knee, and workout to trigger quads into action. Afterward I can bend the knee easier and without helping it with my hands.
My outside walk--440 feet. 3 trips on the stairs. Secondary walk around the yard.
Flexion: 117 degrees
Day 5: 700 feet. Then later in the day, another walk of 360 feet. 2 stair trips.
Day 6: Sally works with me: 90% weight bearing,walking with cane in house, crutches outside. Bridges on the ball added to exercises. 740 feet. Stairs, 3 trips
I reach one of my personal goals: being able to get to the floor to stretch. (Tricep dips)
Day 7: I am measuring my walking distance based on the size of the lots on our street, most of which are 60 feet. I added three houses today-so my total distance is now 1100 feet!! Also 3 trips on the stairs, and hanging out clothes on the clothes line. This is the first day I am alone for a few hours, nice.
Day 8: physical therapy: FULL WEIGHT ON LEG!! Carrying cane in case it is needed, but focus is to polish and refine gait, engage glutes more. Instead of measured walk, I go to flute lesson and walk from parking structure to store and back. (Grandson carries flute bag, daughter drives me). 4 trips on stairs. I only take 2 half pain pills.
Day 9: 1580 feet walk, more briskly than before. Stairs, 4 trips. Yoga, 20 min, seated postures, no pain pills.
Day 10: 2006 feet..all the way to the end of the block!!. Stairs, 6 trips! 1 pain pill last night.
Day 11: attend church, coffee social after church, out to theater in the evening. Stairs, 6 trips. 1 pain pill last night..calf is cramping throughout last 2 days.
Day 12: My calf is still cramping, so moderate addition of 100 feet. Total now is 2106. Stairs...I am losing count! I think 6 or 7. I have started to work on building up to using
stairs normally, working on a 4" high step bench. (I am still baby-stepping, always leading with the good foot going up, and the bad one going down).
Day 13: My calf muscle is finally softened, and the cramp has gone away. I realized I need to make sure to stretch after my walk, just like I would if I were jogging. I make a half mile!!!! Well, kind-of..doing it in two parts.
Day 14: half mile in the morning, and another 1,000 feet later in the day. When I come t the corner, where the curbs have been cut for wheelchairs, and find the spot where it is about 4 inches, and practice stepping up or and down with my left leg. On the step bench, I can do 18 steps up before fatigue spools form.But stepping down is more of a problem...it hurts my "good" knee!! (Sigh). I notice that leg is starting to fatigue from having to carry the weight on the staircase, so am restricting the number of times I do the stairs.
Day 15: Three quarters of a mile all at once!! Most satisfying. I also walked from the parking lot to my flute lesson, not a super long distance, but add the steps up from the parking garage to the steps down to the music store, and standing during my lesson, and it adds quite a lot. Also Physical Therapy this morning, where we are still working on getting my gait corrected, and improving flexion of the knee, and building the ability to climb up/down stairs.
Day 16: out to lunch, a bit of a walk in/out, plus sitting up for the meal. Then stop at Target for a few needed items...dog food, MORE bandaids..later 1/2 mile walk. Feel a bit achy today.
Day 17: tired, frustrated, achy/itchy knee. Physical therapy session: hard work. Very short walk. Early to bed, notice more swelling at the edge of my TED stockings than usual..hmmm
Day 18: aHah. I think I overdid in the last two days. Take the day off, minimum walking, maximum ice/elevation. Knee still a bit achy in evening, but less swelling around TED stockings.
Day 19: still needed more rest. Cold and windy out, so very moderate walk: about 1/4 mile
Day 20: no sleep (see blog); raining, no outside walk, physical therapy. Early to bed.
Day 21: 3 week check with the doctor, stitches removed. Annual eye exam in the evening. And my first day back to Zumba Gold class. I only stay 1/2 hour, and sit down between dances..feels good, but I know I will be tired tomorrow.
Day 22: physical therapy in morning..it's amazing how tired I can get when it doesn't seem like we do much! I drive myself to my flute lesson. Between the drive, walking in and out, and the lesson itself (standing to play), it's enough.
Day 23: Zumba Gold. I do the entire class, and it feels just fine. But I spend the rest of the day, before and after, sitting with my feet up. I am tired of being tired. My brain is started to kick into normal and I am wanting to do more. At the same time, I don't want to overdo!
Day 24: Sabbath. I attend church - big outing! I get to play my flute as part of services.
Day 25: Mother's Day - lots of family time. Still very tired a lot.
Day 26: Half mile walk in two efforts, and an exercise routine of my own design. (no more Physical Therapy until I find an outpatient option and get it approved by my insurance.
Day 27: Set-back: infection at the base of my incision. Saw the doctor. On antibiotics and must be "very quiet" - no walking, no exercise for the next 7 days.
End of my 30-day plan.
Assessment:
It was nice to be charting my progress. I had hoped that by this point in time I would be ready to be back to normal activities. If I had not had the complication of infection, I would have been very close to achieving my goal.
There will be no more posts to this page.
After lunch, another therapist to check me out on stairs; the occupational therapist for shower and dressing, getting dressed, going home.
Day 2: also busy. Physical therapy at home, a visit from the home nurse, changing my dressing, and lots of paperwork!
My outside walk--100 ft and one trip down and up our 16-stair staircase.
Day 3: finally a day in which I can focus on rest/exercise in regular patterns.
My outside walk--300 ft and 4 trips down and up our staircase.
Day 4: physical Therapist (Sally) comes, massage to free up the knee, and workout to trigger quads into action. Afterward I can bend the knee easier and without helping it with my hands.
My outside walk--440 feet. 3 trips on the stairs. Secondary walk around the yard.
Flexion: 117 degrees
Day 5: 700 feet. Then later in the day, another walk of 360 feet. 2 stair trips.
Day 6: Sally works with me: 90% weight bearing,walking with cane in house, crutches outside. Bridges on the ball added to exercises. 740 feet. Stairs, 3 trips
I reach one of my personal goals: being able to get to the floor to stretch. (Tricep dips)
Day 7: I am measuring my walking distance based on the size of the lots on our street, most of which are 60 feet. I added three houses today-so my total distance is now 1100 feet!! Also 3 trips on the stairs, and hanging out clothes on the clothes line. This is the first day I am alone for a few hours, nice.
Day 8: physical therapy: FULL WEIGHT ON LEG!! Carrying cane in case it is needed, but focus is to polish and refine gait, engage glutes more. Instead of measured walk, I go to flute lesson and walk from parking structure to store and back. (Grandson carries flute bag, daughter drives me). 4 trips on stairs. I only take 2 half pain pills.
Day 9: 1580 feet walk, more briskly than before. Stairs, 4 trips. Yoga, 20 min, seated postures, no pain pills.
Day 10: 2006 feet..all the way to the end of the block!!. Stairs, 6 trips! 1 pain pill last night.
Day 11: attend church, coffee social after church, out to theater in the evening. Stairs, 6 trips. 1 pain pill last night..calf is cramping throughout last 2 days.
Day 12: My calf is still cramping, so moderate addition of 100 feet. Total now is 2106. Stairs...I am losing count! I think 6 or 7. I have started to work on building up to using
stairs normally, working on a 4" high step bench. (I am still baby-stepping, always leading with the good foot going up, and the bad one going down).
Day 13: My calf muscle is finally softened, and the cramp has gone away. I realized I need to make sure to stretch after my walk, just like I would if I were jogging. I make a half mile!!!! Well, kind-of..doing it in two parts.
Day 14: half mile in the morning, and another 1,000 feet later in the day. When I come t the corner, where the curbs have been cut for wheelchairs, and find the spot where it is about 4 inches, and practice stepping up or and down with my left leg. On the step bench, I can do 18 steps up before fatigue spools form.But stepping down is more of a problem...it hurts my "good" knee!! (Sigh). I notice that leg is starting to fatigue from having to carry the weight on the staircase, so am restricting the number of times I do the stairs.
Day 15: Three quarters of a mile all at once!! Most satisfying. I also walked from the parking lot to my flute lesson, not a super long distance, but add the steps up from the parking garage to the steps down to the music store, and standing during my lesson, and it adds quite a lot. Also Physical Therapy this morning, where we are still working on getting my gait corrected, and improving flexion of the knee, and building the ability to climb up/down stairs.
Day 16: out to lunch, a bit of a walk in/out, plus sitting up for the meal. Then stop at Target for a few needed items...dog food, MORE bandaids..later 1/2 mile walk. Feel a bit achy today.
Day 17: tired, frustrated, achy/itchy knee. Physical therapy session: hard work. Very short walk. Early to bed, notice more swelling at the edge of my TED stockings than usual..hmmm
Day 18: aHah. I think I overdid in the last two days. Take the day off, minimum walking, maximum ice/elevation. Knee still a bit achy in evening, but less swelling around TED stockings.
Day 19: still needed more rest. Cold and windy out, so very moderate walk: about 1/4 mile
Day 20: no sleep (see blog); raining, no outside walk, physical therapy. Early to bed.
Day 21: 3 week check with the doctor, stitches removed. Annual eye exam in the evening. And my first day back to Zumba Gold class. I only stay 1/2 hour, and sit down between dances..feels good, but I know I will be tired tomorrow.
Day 22: physical therapy in morning..it's amazing how tired I can get when it doesn't seem like we do much! I drive myself to my flute lesson. Between the drive, walking in and out, and the lesson itself (standing to play), it's enough.
Day 23: Zumba Gold. I do the entire class, and it feels just fine. But I spend the rest of the day, before and after, sitting with my feet up. I am tired of being tired. My brain is started to kick into normal and I am wanting to do more. At the same time, I don't want to overdo!
Day 24: Sabbath. I attend church - big outing! I get to play my flute as part of services.
Day 25: Mother's Day - lots of family time. Still very tired a lot.
Day 26: Half mile walk in two efforts, and an exercise routine of my own design. (no more Physical Therapy until I find an outpatient option and get it approved by my insurance.
Day 27: Set-back: infection at the base of my incision. Saw the doctor. On antibiotics and must be "very quiet" - no walking, no exercise for the next 7 days.
End of my 30-day plan.
Assessment:
It was nice to be charting my progress. I had hoped that by this point in time I would be ready to be back to normal activities. If I had not had the complication of infection, I would have been very close to achieving my goal.
There will be no more posts to this page.
Janet, what a great idea! Having just had my appendectomy on Friday, I'm also thinking about the recovery process. I'll definitely be checking in to see how you're doing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura. If you're on Twitter, take a look at the hashtag, #Project30Days. Good luck on your healing and rehab!
ReplyDelete