15 days into my recovery, Torn MCL

Its Been a little while since my injury, 15 days to be exact and things are going pretty well.


First I have to give MANY THANKS to Brittany, she has been giving me rides to work, picked up food and been there whenever I needed help.

Here is a short recap of the last 15 days.

Me at the ER


Day after:
I got out of the ER around 2AM with directions to go to Orthopedics before the weekend was over and to schedule an MRI. I woke up promptly at 6am to get this done. After A few phone calls and being told that I would not be seen till mid june, I knew this was going to be an arduous process.
We went to the ER first to see if they could schedule the mri. Since they couldn't I headed over to the adult medicine and explained my situation. Luckly my normal physician was in and was able to see me on an emergency appointment. I ended up seeing her intern instead who felt the need to bend my leg in every direction until the pain firmly convinced him of injury. Both of the Dr's felt it was severe enough to schedule an asap appointment with Ortho.
By 1pm I was in the ortho room reviewing my MRI's


The synopsis was a complete tear in my MCL and a partial tear in my meniscus.

Day 2-4
Being a holiday I was off work and did absolutely nothing. It hurt to move, It hurt not to move, it hurt being in the cast, it hurt to sleep. I couldn't even lift my heal off the floor. Even still I knew I had to retain my mobility in the leg so I would bend it 4 times a day.



YOu can see that its pretty swollen. The Bruising was pretty bad too. Starting from an inch above the back of my knee and wraps all the way down to the bottom of my shin. If I touch anywhere its bruised or swollen it feels like tiny little needles. Almost like if your arm falls asleep.


knowing im am going to be out for a while I decided to buy a cello. I bought it from CK violins and was very impressed by the costumer service.





I was also able to get him to throw in this pimp yellow case.





5-11

wednesday was my first day to work and it sucked. I was not ready at all. It was still nearly impossible to climb into Brits truck. And was pretty pointless in the office.
Thursday I had a follow up With Dr. Chin. He decided that we would take a conservative approach on the recovery and forgo the surgery.

I also got a cool new knee brace.




Friday was a long day at work waiting for the safety brief. By the time I got home I was grumpy from the pain. But my mobility is increasing a lot. Swellings going down and I can support a decent amount of weight on my leg when I pee. Moving my knee has become less painful and I continue to work its mobility 4 times a day.

Day 12
I start hobbling which eventually turns to a limp which I control to look more like a walk. Im not sure if this is ok or not so I am very conservative on how often I do walk. Although I'm not to inclined to walk much. Even the five steps to my bathroom looks like a very far distance. Although I did start to notice a pain in my lower knee when I try straighten it all the way, almost like my bones are touching.



My only way to get to work was on my motorcycle. So I figured out how to strap on the crutches and went for it. The bending of the knee didn't hurt that much, but all the bumps in the road was not very comfortable.

Day 13
My first appointment with my Physical Therapist. He seemed pretty impressed with how far I could bend and straighten my leg. He measures the angles and I grit my teeth as pushes down to give me that extra degree or two. I was told no real strength training for another 3 weeks. But that I can do leg raises (with a completely straight leg, mobility exercises, and that I can start walking with my crutches. Now I know he said crutches but the reason why is because when you limp and compensate your weight you put stress on the abductors and outer hip muscles causing strain. So I took this as " as long as you don't limp its ok"

oh yah!... look at that knee bend


and here it is straight



day 14

I did some underwater statics with Paul today in the pool. He did normal breath hold statics and came up with a 3 min hold.
I did an FRC ( exhale your breath and then hold, its what dolphins do) and came up with a 2:49 hold.. overall im pleased that I could do any hold.
the weightlessness of the water feels pretty good.

Day 15
Here is an example of my workouts I've been doing.