New Toy

I'm loving my new toy, the Nike+ app for my iPhone. I can be a little "OCD" about keeping track of how far I'm walking or my short stints of running. The Nike+ app is a GPS tracker. I open the app, plug in my headphones, click on START, and begin my workout. A voice tells me when I've reached each 1/4 mile and how fast I'm going. Once I've finished my walk/run, I push END WORKOUT and someone talks to me, like Lance Armstrong or Paula Radcliffe (champion marathoner). They say encouraging things like, "That was your longest run yet!," or "You've recorded a new personal best!" I tell you, it cracks me up, but it's also motivating. I then sync my run to the website and I can get online later to check my route and pace. It's fun! Here's an idea of what it looks like, this is my recent walk from work around the ballpark.

One Year Later

It's been one year since my 2nd knee scope, can you believe it? To be honest, not much has changed lately regarding my knee. I had a follow-up visit with Dr. Dye on February 16. He said my knee is looking great! Minimal swelling and all. He asked me, "What type of exercise have you been doing to keep in shape?" I thought, "Huh? Keep in shape?" One year out from my surgery, my knee is still adapting to regular activity. By "regular" I mean the fact that I travel every 2 or 3 weeks, I walk around my office building each day from meeting to meeting, and there are a few stairs (as little as possible) here and there. Weekends tend to involve running errands such as grocery shopping and sometimes include a stop at the mall. Since my knee seems to be somewhat sensitive to these basic things, I've been wary to try real exercise. Each time I've tried baby steps of activity over the last few months, my knee has not reacted well. It's a bit sad, but I imagine my knee simply needs more time. It's hard to believe I was once a marathon runner and triathlete! Now I'm scared to swim or cycle short distances for fear that my knee will ache. Sigh.

Not to be all depressed-sounding though... I'm hanging in there, really. After I told Dr. Dye I hadn't been doing much exercise he said, "Try some walking." Hmm... interesting idea... "Start with a 1/4 mile every other day (flat, no hills)," he said. "Add 1/4 mile per week if your knee feels OK." My first reaction was disbelief. Why would Dr. Dye tell me to take up walking if I haven't been swimming or cycling (seemingly lower impact exercises) hardly at all? Another thought was, "How am I going to gauge 1/4 mile?" I'm pretty sure it takes me 15-20 minutes to walk a mile, so maybe a 5 minute walk will do? The last thing Dr. Dye said was, "Once you get up to walking a mile every other day with no knee pain, let me know. At that point, we can start you on some light jogging." Again... "Huh?"

While my range of motion is much better these days (ooh, will post a photo soon), my knee still seems to be very slow healing. For example, I'll fly to L.A. for work or up to Spokane to see my sister and my knee will ache after sitting on the plane and feeling the pressure changes. The aching feeling is hard to describe. There is no pain really, just discomfort, maybe a little swelling. It's as if I've aggravated the nerves, just a bit. After that happens, it takes a few days to go back to normal. One other thing that seems to trigger my knee these days is the weather. I swear, my knee is such a barometer! Don't many people say that after they break a bone that they can feel the weather change? I get that now. With all these things having an effect on my knee, it may be hard to tell if that 1/4 mile walk every other day causes me any discomfort, or not. As always, we'll see how it goes.

Have you nodded off yet with my babbling? I have... knees are kinda boring. I'll try to share something fun soon!

Woo Hoo!

The new anti-inflammatory is kicking in! Typically, my knee hurts quite a bit the day after physical therapy and yesterday, it was fine. That's a good reason for a "woo hoo!" Don't you agree?

In The Clear

Dr. Dye said my knee looks fine, actually better than most at this point after surgery. What? Really? I didn't expect him to say that! He told me again that setbacks happen for people and it's not uncommon at all. I'm so relieved. That said, I continue to have a heightened awareness to be cautious for a long time to come. I won't be ditching my crutches cold turkey again. Slow, careful progress will now ensue. Maybe by the end of the week I'll be ready to walk to the printer, but not to meetings down the hall. Next week could be walking to meetings down the hall, but not to the cafe for lunch. Baby steps...

Along with gentle physical therapy, Dr. Dye said he wants me to focus on increasing my range of motion. He encourages his patients to do easy cycling (no resistance) and even get in the pool for walking in the shallow end or swimming. I'm going to consider these things, but probably won't get in a pool quite yet. I'm not ready to push myself too much after my experience last week. Am I scared? Yes, rightly so. Maybe next week, once I'm walking a little more, I'll be ready to move on to something new. Dr. Dye also suggested that from time to time during the day, I should make sure to take a moment to move my leg up and down as if cycling. This will help towards the better range of motion. Currently, I cannot bend my left leg all the way so my foot kicks up to my behind. My flexibility is not great. I'll make an extra effort to work on this, all without pain.

Overall, my outlook is much better today. I needed this and for once, Monday is a good day!