No Pain- No Gain.

Thursday I started Physical Therapy for my knee. While it felt good to actually bend my knee again, I'm not going to lie, there was also quite a bit of pain involved as well. Both my Physical Therapist and my doctor have informed me that my rehabilitation will take a year to complete (to the point where I can jog and such again). Right now, our biggest focus is for me to be able to do a Straight Leg Raise (SLR) on my own "on demand". I'll be going to Physical Therapy 3 times a week, and completing at home exercises at home as well. Last night, I started my at home exercises, and wow- it was an experience!

I started with the easier exercises:

Then moved into the moderate:

Then the more difficult:

Then...the pain (oh so flattering photo Aaron!):
The good news? LOOK my leg is bent! Also, my incision is healing up very nicely.

This will be the scene around our house for the next few weeks I am sure- but hopefully very soon I will be without my immobilizer and walker- that's the goal anyway!

My Knee.

Today we set a surgery date. January 14th, I go under the knife to try to fix what apparently my body messed up awesomely on it's own. I'll be having "Bony Re-Alignment" surgery which my doctor so eloquently labeled as "Big Deal".

Basically, they'll realign the ligament that connects the femur, tibial, and patella. See picture below:
That's right, I'll have two screws in my knee which will equal super fun times going through security and TSA.

I'll be out of work 4-8 weeks recovering.

Anyone wanna come keep me company =)

What a month!

So I've been horrible about updating the blog- I know. We've just been so busy!

Update 1: My knee. Well, I'm not crazy, nor imagining things. My knees are in fact still messed up. So much so that I will need to have Petallar Realignment Surgery on both knees. As you can see in the X-Ray, my Patella is not sitting in the joint as it should:


It's hard to see, but basically my Patella is hanging out to the left, and has rubbed that side of my joint well, raw. The surgery will basically require the ligament that connects the Femur, Tibula, and Patella to be moved to a different location on my Tibula, and held in place with some screws- awesome right?

Update #2: Budders. A few weeks ago, Aaron and I were at Petco with Miley, and we met an adorable little kitty- Budders. He was up for adoption and we were just drawn to him (so was Miley) so, we brought him home! He's adorable and loves his Miley-Bear, they are the BEST of friends!
Update #3: Aaron graduates one week from tomorrow! Can you believe it- it feels like it's been close for so long and now it's finally here!!

Update #4: We bought a new car- I don't have pictures, I know awful. We bought a brand new 2009 Nissan Rogue SL. We LOVE it! The lease on Rex was up, so we decided to purchase a more fuel efficient vehicle. We still don't have a name for it :(