Physical Therapy - Reality Sets In

My physical therapist is named Alexandra. Cool, right? She goes by "Alex" not "Ali," so we won't have to call each other by the same name. : ) Alex is a rather studious-looking, maybe a little bit of tomboy mixed in kind of girl. Natural light blond, somewhat frizzy hair, pulled back by a headband and short braid, with Prada eyeglasses. Of course, I've only met her once now, but that's my take on her so far. I know that's not too important, I'm just trying to set the scene for you. 

I went to my first PT appointment with Alex yesterday. I wanted to make sure I got on the PT bandwagon right away since last time around, it took me 2-3 weeks to get in after my surgery. The majority of my appointment was answering the tons of questions Alex had for me and her typing my answers into her laptop she rolled around on a small mobile table she stood beside. She also ran me through some of the usual tests checking the healing of my knee and flexibility at this point. She said I seemed very limber which was surprising to hear since I don't think I'm flexible anymore at all. She also checked my strength through a series of tests pushing and pulling on my leg and said other than one area, I seemed really strong. Good. One surprise from the appointment was that she changed the amount of times I should go to PT over the next 6 weeks. Dr. Dye's referral said 2-3 times per week for the next 3 weeks. Alex rolled her eyes and said, "Dr. Dye always states 2-3 times, but that is too much. You are still healing from your surgery right now." I was a little relieved to hear this since I really wasn't sure how I was going to be able to get out of work for that many PT sessions per week! Alex said I will see her (and only her since she is very familiar with Dr. Dye's recovery plan) once a week for the next 6 weeks. Cool. I will have to do the 3 exercises she gave me every day. I was happy to hear that and felt pleased that she wanted me to see only her and not be pawned off on another PT that wasn't as good due to scheduling problems. Maybe it's the name... ; ) 

Here is where the "reality set in." I knew going into this surgery that I would not run for a year and it would be more like a year and a half until I will hopefully be back to a routine of healthy exercise. I thought I had accepted it. A year flies by, right? Still, when Alex told me I couldn't start training for a marathon for a year and a half, reality set in. She said I couldn't even think about it. At that time I will need to come back and see her so she can help me start my training the right way. Apparently, people with my type of knee issue should take twice the time to train for a race such as a marathon. The build up of miles needs to be much slower than the average person. Wow. I have to say, I was a little crushed by this news, even if it wasn't all that surprising. I guess in the back of my mind I hoped, maybe once this inflammation is out of my knee, I'll be one of those super-healers and it won't take as long as people think to get back to regular exercise. Whether that's true or not, I realize I need to follow the plan so this never happens to me again. At least, Alex added that she has seen runners with my issue get back to races again. 

So, I left my appointment and was feeling like I needed a little pity party. I drove all around looking for a leg weight I needed for PT (I still haven't found the right one, the sports stores Alex told me to go to haven't had it in stock so far) and ran an errand or two. By then, I was exhausted. I'm not used to being out and doing much. Before I went home, I stopped at the grocery store and bought some Tostitos Queso dip. I brought it home, heated it up, and dipped pretzels in it for my "feel sorry for myself" time. Some people buy pints of ice cream, I buy cheese dip.