Week 3

I can't believe it's already been three weeks since I had my surgery. I can bend my knee to sit down now, and I've regained some strength in my quad. I still have to walk around with one crutch to support myself, but at least it's not two crutches. I've been going to PT twice a week as well.

What bothers me now is my health insurance. I've been constantly watching my claims on my insurance website to make sure they go through. One of them was already denied because my PCP hadn't sent in a referral. I spoke to them today about it after I saw that the referral had popped up, and they asked me to get ANOTHER referral for that same exact day, despite the fact that it was already in their system. If the claim still stays denied, I might end up having to pay for it . . . which wouldn't be good since I just bought my books for the fall semester (some of them anyway - cost me about $300). I'm deathly afraid that my other claims for my surgery won't be covered, despite the fact that my plan states that all surgeries will be covered as long as a referral is sent to the doctor. I had that done, but it's been several weeks now that those claims remained "In Process." That happened to the denied claim and I know that I can't afford to pay the other claims.

I hate uncertainty. I also hate how my health insurance is confusing, and while it is a good program, I can't say that the customer service is that great either. This insurance fiasco is stressing me out unnecessarily, and it's making me feel real uncomfortable about going to the doctor's again.

As for PT, I've moved up to some new exercises. This is my routine every other day now:

Heel slides: 3 x 15
Quad sets: 3 x 15
Ankle pumps: 3 x 15
Passive knee extension/flexion: 3 x 15
Side-lying abduction: 3 x 10
Prone hip extension: 3 x 10
Side-lying hip adduction: 3 x 10
Hamstring stretching

Of course, I ice and elevate every day, too, but the need to elevate is becoming less. I also massage each day to decrease the swelling. It's been helping a lot . . . the only thing I'm worried about now is the random clicking I get inside the knee. It's hard to do complete heel slides as well, since there is still some swelling there.

Things to look after now:

- New PT referral
- Continuously check on insurance claims