Final day - Or let's hope so

I think it's time to bring this blog to a close. I went surfing again Sunday and then did some suicide sprints when I got home later to practice spinning on my left leg, the day before that I bicycled, the day before that I ran probably somewhere around 3 miles, the day before that I cycled again, etc. So I'm somewhere close to back to normal. Returning to soccer might be up next, unless I get any good at surfing and move to the coast. My knee cap still doesn't track entirely properly when I'm moving from a straight-legged position to bending. But I think that might subside over time.

So thanks for reading. Both of you. If anybody stumbles upon this site while they're considering ACL reconstruction or has any other questions about the knee or wants to send me free cash money, drop me an email.

DJ Darwin will take us out:

Day 175 - Leg song Thursday

I've been delinquent in posting lately, mainly because I haven't had much new happening with the knee to post about and I've been on vacation. Tuesday, I started doing some pivot turns on the knee while running. That felt fine, both during and after. I've also continued running, which hasn't been a problem. I went cycling today. That's the first I've done that in about 10 days or so. It feels pretty good right now. The one thing that continues to be a problem is the knee cap still sort of catches sometimes when I move from a straight leg position to a bending position. I've continued trying to strengthen the VMO, which is kind of helping, it seems, but only time will tell if that continues to improve.

So this song seems appropriate for this week, Aerosmith's deep track Lord of the Thighs. No comment on what this song might be about.

Day 170 - Surfing

I went surfing Thursday. I was worried it might be too much for my knee, but once I was out on the water and caught a wave, I forgot all about my knee. I was out there for about 2 hours and caught about 5 or 6 waves where I was actually able to stand up on the board. It wasn't a problem for my knee at all.

Cowabunga.

And since I missed the Thursday song once again, here's a catch-up for you:

Day 166 - I'm eating more blue M&Ms

It turns out that the dye used in blue M&Ms protects against crippling spinal cord damage in mice. It turns them blue, but that's a small price to pay to retain the ability to walk.

And I wonder what this dye might do for ligament tears? I'm headed out to buy a bag of blue M&Ms now.

Day 164 - Passed another test

I walked a St. Bernard today at the Washington Animal Rescue League, a place at which I volunteer. I didn't know it when I started out, but this led to another test of my knee.

These dogs are huge, but sweet. This one in particular, who has been given the fitting name Stonewall, has tremendous strength. Don't let the photo at the right fool you. Here's another angle to show you how big he is.



But once I got him out to the park, he was ok. At one point, I got him running and playing with me. And let me just stop here and say if amusement parks really wanted to build a scary ride, they should forget about roller coasters. Instead, invent a ride where a 200 lb St. Bernard is running full-speed at you. It doesn't matter what you do, you're doomed.

But Stonewall is true to his breed's temperament. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He would get close to me, but veer away at the last second and gracefully blow right by me without so much as harming a hair on my leg. But at one point, I tried to be too clever and jump behind a bench, sort of like a matador pulling his muleta away from a bull at the last second. Unfortunately, that was the exact direction Stonewall was going. So he sort of hit my leg --my bad knee. Luckily, it wasn't planted at the time. But I stumbled and caught myself using that leg. It was a good test of whether the new ACL had healed into the bones. It had, and it held.

Whew.

Later, while taking Stonewall back inside, I had to hold back all 200 lbs of his brute strength while another volunteer was walking some dogs by. I don't think Stonewall really wanted to get to the dogs, but under those situations with dogs who don't know each other, you can't take any chances, especially since Stonewall could demolish the whole building if he set his mind to it. Yet again, my knee held. That's no small feat, considering that apparently a St. Bernard once pulled more than 4,000 pounds!

Day 163 - Passed the test

Yesterday, I had my final one-legged hop test for my knee. I passed with flying colors. So I'm now cleared to resume all activities. Even soccer. I'll have to slowly ease into soccer, maybe just some running on a field first, dribbling a ball, shooting, etc. And I still need to strengthen my VMO, but all in all this was great news. But just to show the universe likes to keep things on an even keel, I was later stung by a wasp on my good knee. I have no idea why he stung me. I wasn't bothering him at all. It wasn't too bad though. It's a little sore and itchy today, but nothing I can't manage.

Anyway, I celebrated my test-passing with a beer. And since I missed the Thursday song, here's one to make up for it:

Day 160 - Back to the tape

My knee cap still isn't tracking properly, so I've resumed taping my knee. It helps a lot, especially going up and down stairs. I think one problem is that my VMO muscle is still a bit weak. So I'm hoping the tape will allow me to strengthen the VMO and get my knee cap back on track, literally.

But I may be trying to progress too fast or too soon. My physical therapist kept saying it can take a year after the surgery to fully get the knee back to feeling normal. As it is, I'm able to run and bike and carry out most normal day to day activities without a problem. So it may just take more time.

But I'll keep taping and hope it speeds things along.