Week 7

I woke up this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find that shuffling to the bathroom wasn't as painful. The knee itself is still stiff when I first try moving it after being stuck in the same position all night, and it still feels like there's a weight on the calf part of my leg, but overall it seems to be doing a lot better. The swelling has gone down a great deal since the last time I posted a photo, too (which I don't have for now).

I had my 12th PT session since the injury today - my therapist upped some of the weights for the exercises I do:

Knee warmup with stim: 10 min
Stationary bike: 10 min on strength training
Leg press: 3 x 15 x 6th weight setting
Short arcs: 3 x 15 x 2lb
Leg lifts: 3 x 15 x 3lb
Hip abductions: 3 x 15 x 4lb
Prone hip abductions: 3 x 15 x 4lb
Hip adductions: 3 x 15 x 4lb
Hamstring curls: 3 x 15 x 2lb
Wall squat with exercise ball: 3 x 15 at almost 90 degrees
Heel raises: 3 x 15
Step ups (front): 3 x 15
Step ups (side): 3 x 15
Calf/hamstring stretches
Game Ready icing with stim: 15 min

My physical therapy sessions are lasting about 1.5 hours at this point if I do my exercises at a relatively quick pace. It's been helping a lot and compared to when I first started PT up again after surgery, I've come a long way. Apparently I'm able to walk normally now, too - sometimes I have a limp after sitting for too long, but that usually goes away when I "warm up" and walk for a little bit.

In the meantime, school has been draining me daily, and work is exhausting, especially when you deal with an average of 10-15 students a day. But, I'm slowly getting back on track with what my schedule was before the injury, so we'll see how I fare.

It's motivating to hear that things are getting better, and to compare the results to a point in the past. I hope that I can progress more by this time next week.