August 31, 2009
Ouch!
Hard-core physical therapy started today and boy am I sore. My current range of motion is still really impressive though. I can bend nearly 90 degrees with assistance! And then it hurts like hell! Honestly getting that bending back is going to just be the most painful part. My therapist is great and the therapy clinic is very focused on manual therapy, which means hands-on massage and soft tissue manipulation in addition to just exercises and stretches. My therapist would bend my knee, then massage my sore areas to release some of the tissue stress, then bend again and so on. As we pinpointed the pain, it was in precisely the 3 areas where the donor ligament was attached. Imagine that! In addition to bending, my quad muscles are pretty shot so I'm building that as well. But the great thing is that once I get the quads in action, I'll be able to lift my leg (straight leg raise) that that's a HUGE step toward getting back to driving and walking brace-free. The pain sucks, but I have to say I've never been more motivated in my life to get back to normal.
Library storytime started up again today, after the library took the month of August off. Theo LOVES storytime! We started going when we as about 3 months old, and it's a baby class for 2 months through 12 months. Basically when the kids are able to walk, they graduate to the next class. This is really nice because all of the activities are baby-focused and are all things that Theo and I can do. Storytime is actually a short group of activities. There's one story, and everyone gets their own copy to read along (baby stories are short). Then we play a variety of games, from peek-a-boo using scarves to patty cake to singing and dancing with both recorded music and just lead by the librarian. The is super-familiar with the songs and games and every time Miss Colleen, the librarian (who is just a very sweet person--she's really great), would start a song or game Theo knew, he'd squeal and kick his feet and wave his hands. That's how he shows excitement, and it's a lot of fun.
Unfortunately with my knee I'm totally unable to participate, but luckily Daddy got to come along! It was very fun for Kevin too, to get to experience this with Theo. And once again, we are SO fortunate that he works from home so he can take an hour away to do things like this. Here's a couple of shots I took!
