We had the polor ice and the pain pump highly reccomend the pain pump and you might want to ask about it worked wonders stunk when it wore off but it lasts for three days.

Ice machine was really good who ever takes care of you try to have them schedule the ice machine work and changing with the pain pills til I got that on the same schedule seemed like my alarm was going off all night and getting up to take care of kate. I was exhausted.

talk soon

Sandra how is the ROM and the pool. we get measured today the mentioned havent done it in ages but she comemented friday about lets measure  you monday. So will update results on my post talk soon

update how your doing

Your post made laugh cankerchick I always felt like we had just gotten back to sleep and the alarm was going off again and I was like NO it cant be time YET thanks for the memory..........lol

have nice day. suzanne

I give +10 a perfect score.....lol because I totally agree schedule as much as you can on the same time it will make your life easier also with keeping track of what your doing when I was stressed and exhausted with worry I would wake up and go OOPS is this ICE or PILLS or whatever when I had it all on the same schedule I knew exactly what I was doing.  I had so much worry that my mind was so FOGGY

That's exactly how it felt to me and my mom. I wasn't sleeping more than 1-1.5 hours at a time anyway, so I didn't mind doing the stretch and using the bathroom. My leg would be so stiff and uncomfortable that I wanted to move around anyway. But it just seemed like as soon as we finished it all, I knew I would wake up soon and do it again.

I'm 3 weeks post op from my osteotomies and I still wake up usually twice through the night. I got a wedge pillow and that has helped a lot because i'm not a back sleeper either. Two nights ago I slept flat on my back with a pillow under my knees and although it felt good falling asleep, i woke up with my back feeling like super-crap. Back to the wedge for me. The wedge really helps for me.

Sandy, I would have loved to take that stand and just sleep, but I couldn't. After an hour, I just woke up and wanted to move, there was no getting around it. I know the way I was elevating my leg didn't help my comfort level, but it was for the best for maintaining extension so I don't regret it. Once I got to Atlanta, I started sleeping a little bit more at a time and once I got the wedge and ditched the strictly air under the knee elevation technique (with my doc's permission), I started to sleep more at once.

But in the beginning there's no way I would have skipped the pain meds schedule. The thing about pain is it is much harder to get under control once it starts. After my last surgery, I just took a pill before bed the first night and I woke up 7 hours later feeling like a truck had run me over, so staying in front of the pain was at the top of my list this time. I weened myself off the meds starting the second day post op since my pain wasn't too bad, but I did it by going from 2 pain pills to 1 pill and a tylenol to 2 tylenol down to 1, but maintained the every 4 hours schedule just to be safe. I'm glad your method worked out for you but i'm not sure i would recommend that. Even in the hospital, my night nurse told me since my pain meds were every 4 hours, they would wake me to give them to me.

I never took any benedryl or the sleeping pill to sleep though. When I told my doctor I was only doing the stretch through the nigth because I was waking up, he said that was fine. I wasn't "tired' through the day because basically, I was in a hospital bed or a hotel room, I just slept when i was tired. I couldn't imagine trying to work or care for a child or both! Sandy you are the bomb!

Sandy, it does feel good to cycle but one thing to remember is while we both had TTTs, the rest of my surgery is a bit different from yours. I didn't actually have any work done IN my knee (like an MPFLr or LR) so my ROM is a bit less affected. The only thing really inhibiting my ROM is the swelling along the joint line from my tibia.

In addition, my doctor advocates bending from the start for most of his patients. The stretch that I talk about (the cannonball) is basically a stretch where you lie on your back, bring your leg up (like stretching your hamstring), and then bend it so your knee comes to your chest. The idea is motion early and often. Your ROM will come back, and if its anything like my last surgery, it will be slow at first, and then it will just come all at once. The bike will definitely help with that.

I'm so thankful I didn't have any side effects from the meds, except probably constipation. But then again, I don't know how much the pain meds really helped me either. My doctor doesn't do nerve blocks or pain pumps, so I just had my spinal anesthesia. I don't really recall a point where I felt it "wearing off" either. My surgery was at 7:30am and was over around 1:30pm and I felt the same the rest of the day. The next day I felt worse, as to be expected, but I can't say I could tell when the spinal started to wear off. When I woke up from the surgery I could feel my legs and wiggle my toes and everything. I'm not sure what spinal anesthesia is supposed to feel like since i never had it, but I know when I woke up I felt as "normal" then as I do now.

PS LMAO @ being itchy all over like a crackhead. Glad the benedryl worked to keep that in check!

Today was a good PT day. I have been stiff the last few days and trying to break up some scar tissue that was messing with my extension. The therapist got it to pop so I was super happy. We also did a lot of bending today both on my back and on my stomach. We measured at 112 on my back with me doing the bend! I'm very excited about that. They said I actually did more than that when on my stomach. Come on 120! I can do this.

I have four covered visits left (I was approved for 20 by my insurance), so I'll be trying to make the most of my last two weeks of therapy. Hopefully I can hit 120 before my last visit so that I can be working on getting even better ROM before my 12/10 OS visit. Fingers crossed that everything will look great on the x-rays that day.

I'm still walking with one crutch but I've been going without the brace in the house and will try to go without it to work tonight and see how I do. I think there is a fear element in not wearing it...like it's protection or something. I tried walking holding my daughter and using one crutch the other day (with the brace on) and was able to go a short distance. I have until Thanksgiving to be able to do it on my own with her. That's a lot of strength to build up.
I'll be nine weeks post op this Friday.

Suzanne, that is insurance insanity. We'll never understand the curious way in which they operate...wish they'd have paid for me to have the game ready machine...I love that thing. I will be there in late morning on Monday. We're just going to have to hook up some time outside of the OS office. I hope the bone stim works well for Kate. It sounds really neat. Kate is doing so great. I hope she gets cleared for the cutting and slicing (or whatever the moves are called).

I bet the pep talk from Aaron will help. It sure is scary trying some things again after this surgery, and I'm sure it's doubley so for Kate since she had the failed op first. If she keeps persisting she'll be good to go. The key seems to be doing something enough times to where you don't over think it and then defeat yourself with nerves. It's so crazy how the mind works with the body (and sometimes against it). The cool thing is that she's over the hurdle of that first time back on the court running. Each time will come easier. She's still doing so great so soon after this operation. She is so far ahead of the curve. I thought it was cool how you wrote that she even ran down the stairs the other day...that's so good! She's going to be back to normal and so much better than before. How's the bone stim working?