I went back to the orthopedic surgeon yesterday for another follow-up appointment. They took more x-rays and things still look good. I took the brace off and the doctor wanted to see if I could bend my leg. He put his hand under my knee and raised up. The initial movement hurt, but once it got past a certain point, it felt fine. It really just felt like something stretching (which I'm sure is what my tendons were doing after having been kept in a compact position for the past two weeks). I can't raise my knee up to bend my leg on my own power, but at least it's a good sign that it can be bent at all. The doc told me I should try to lift my knee up periodically like that at home, just to give it some exercise and flexibility. I feel okay with that, because it really doesn't hurt to do it, and I'd like to keep those muscles/tendons from atrophying. I tried the exercise a couple times last night before I went to bed.......bad idea! I woke up numerous times throughout the night in pain. I guess it was a little too much stress on my kneecap. It's so deceiving that it feels fine at the time, but the pain hits you later! I'll have to figure out the best time of the day to do those exercises, so that my sleep isn't affected.
In other news, I regained a little bit of my independence. Mainly out of necessity, I figured out a way for me to drive myself. It's not the most comfortable position in the car, and I have to use both feet on the pedals, but it will work for now. It was starting to get impossible to coordinate my work schedule with Meezy's, and then throw in my weekly doctor visits on top of that. It's a lot to ask of someone to disrupt their workday to bring me to an appointment. I'm glad I'm a little less helpless now, but you can be damn sure I'm going to use my handicapped placard whenever possible!
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