Knee Update

So, I went to the orthopedist today for my first post-PT check up. I was nervous because frankly, my knee is grinding like crazy. when I put my hand on my knee and bend, I can feel crunching. However, the ortho seemed very pleased with things. Driving still aggravates it the worst. If I am stuck in the car for longer than about 30 minutes, I can hardly walk when I get out of the car. You can imagine that this week has been a real challenge.

So I mentioned that and he explained the problem. Most people's knees, when they bed, are like roller blades gliding along linoleum. Mine are like roller blades trying to plow through plush carpet (in terms of the fact that my cartilage is soft).

So, I am supposed to keep up with the PT at least through the end of the month, if not longer. But the good news is this: with small modifications, I can go back to doing aerobics. I did some tonight, skipping the lunges and hard parts on the legs, and it felt so great. I got through the entire DVD. It made me so happy.

And I found out something interesting doing it: The upper body work out I was doing in lieu of the aerobics has really strengthened my arms. The worst part of the Sweating DVD's for me was the arms, and now I can breeze through that no problem. I am thrilled with that. I'll be doing the upper body stuff in the morning, since it's a quick 10 minutes, and the rest in the evening.

Our leader has us this week thinking of the Olympics and said that each time we hear something about the Olympics, we should think about what we can do to get some extra AP's, and that ideally, WW wants you to get 4 per day. So at least for the end of this week, I'm going to try pushing it just a little bit. I want to have a good weigh in in only 3 days. I think I might... The signs are positive. Today at work, I arrived in a skort because I didn't have time to come home and get changed after the orthopedist this morning. I got compliments ranging from "Sassy!" to "Sweet!" to "You look so good!" to "you look so cute!" And two men actually held doors for me in the past week :-) That's pretty stinkin' nice too.

Let's hope it translates to the scales!

Knee Update

Well, it turns out I have something called patellar-femural syndrome and I'm developing arthritis. Years of extra weight, plus overcompensating for my weaker leg, plus driving have worn down my knee's cartilage and now my kneecap is trying to find itself a new home by sliding. It would also appear I may have been overdoing it slightly with my workout routine...

I saw the folks over at the clinic where I had my leg repaired, and I would seriously trust them with my life after the great job they did on my leg. I saw someone new today, and I really liked him, although it's clear that Sunshine is the star of the show. This guy looked just slightly beleaguered, kind of like "I dare you to be disappointed that I'm not Sunshine." But I was a good patient and let him poke around, even when I thought he was trying to kill me. Seriously? It HURT. Joe (the PA) even said, "You've got a lot of movement going on in there."

They took some x-rays to confirm it, showed me some diagrams that I really didn't understand very well, and then sent me across the hall to the physical therapy department. Fortunately, the place where I'm going to have my PT is only 2 streets over from here. Unfortunately, the earliest they can see me is a week from now. And until then, the most activity I'm allowed to engage in is to walk and possibly do water aerobics (fat chance, the Y here is too expensive to join if I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it). Otherwise, I have a few exercises to do daily to strengthen my knee, and I just have to wait for PT.

The good thing about doing WW is that they were very encouraged with my losing weight and taking some of the pressure off my knees. So an added benefit of all this is that my health, even though I'm in pain, is improving. Cool.