Diary3

Oct 28.00 - Back to Work Well this week wasn't that bad. I went to work three times this week and lasted eight hours each day, go me! Didn't have any significant pain but I did notice an increase in swelling. Probably just because I'm on my feet more then I ever have been since post op. Had two therapy sessions this week. First session we didn't do much because I was still suffering from some pain from my dilemma last week. The second session we did a lot of new exercises concentrating on my hamstrings. The pain on my medial side has gone away but I still hear and feel some crunching whenever I do my short arc sets, leg presses and when I go from a bend to an extension. Hopefully that will get better? Getting quite frustrated that I haven't been improving in the last 2 weeks. My next OS appt is on Nov. 9th and I have alot of questions for him and this time he's going to answer!!!

Nov 5.00 - Still Painful Not much has changed. Still painful, pain varies but is still there. My therapy sessions haven't gone well because of this, been having to take things down a notch. The therapist has put me on a DuraPel machine, which relieves swelling? OS appt is later on this week, hopefully will get some answers then. Also thinking about changing therapists if he prescribes more PT. One of my old therapists is working about an hour away from where I live and she told one of the assistants that I could go up there since I'm not seeing any improvement. Basically been in limbo the past 3 weeks and not happy about it. Been going to work but that is starting to bother my knee more and more. Getting frustrated with this whole ordeal. Seems like things never stop, now I'm battling the insurance companies. See what happens in a few days...

Nov 9.00 - OS Appt OK I guess I start with how my day started. Woke up this morning and had severe pain in my medial side of my knee. Figured it was because I had worked about 9 1/2 hours the night before. Well I was limping a little but figured it would be good to show y OS what was going wrong. I was walking up the stairs and BAM! My knee buckled and I fell down 2 or 3 stairs. I was fine afterwards but it had given me a good scare. Went to the OS and he started doing a physical exam, told him that I had fallen down the stairs and still hadn't improved since the last time I saw him. I flexed my quads for him and he didn't seem to happy, also informed him that I had seen several therapists in the past few weeks and he said that was half the problem. He walked out the door stating he was going to talk to them. Through the closed door I could hear him talking in a raised voice saying, " Well this is what happens when someone gets passed around." He entered the room and stated that I was now going to have the same PT form now on. He was going to talk to the therapist later on in the afternoon. Wasn't too happy that I had gone backwards. He baked a great cake and now someone was ruining it. Told me to cut down on work, and to get back into therapy and to get those quads working, which I have been! Next appointment with him is in 3 weeks. I called therapy to see if I could get an appt in tomorrow but they said they were booked. About 20 minutes later they called me back and said they would like to see me at 3pm. Guess my OS had called them! We'll see what happens, not to happy that is common opinion now that I am one month behind now. Hopefully things will get better, I'll be recommitted to my therapy and this pain and swelling will go away.

Nov 10.00 - Back to PT Well went back to pt today, tried to make it like new in my mind so I could have as fresh a start as possible! Therapist asked how the doctor appt had gone. I reiterated what had happened and then she told me what they talked about when my OS called her. He told her that no matter what, push it! I was way behind schedule and he wasn't happy at all. We needed to really work on my Quads and VMO, he wanted to see a major improvement in them in 3 weeks. He also wasn't happy that she was trying to diagnose me with a meniscus tear, she wasn't but anyway! She asked what we should do about my swelling, he said that that was probably due to me going back to work and that I should ice, elevate etc but do not stop my exercises. Quads MUST get better! She didn't seem to happy about getting yelled at! So we worked on my usual exercises, I added a few more hamstring exercises and she gave me a TheraBand to take home. Pushed it today but I don't feel to bad, maybe everyone's attitude changing and really pushing it will get me motivated and back to where I should be!

Nov 21.00 - No Progress Well been going to therapy and really working out, adding more weights, doing more reps, and doing more home exercises. What do I have to show for it? Not much. When I really hold a contraction you can't even feel my VMO! Only time you can notice it is when there is a contraction on the Stem machine. Swelling hasn't been to bad, only when i work a lot and ice usually does the trick. Pain has been present only the past few days, not sure exactly what it is but it's not work related because I've been taking days off. Whenever I'm at therapy and I'm doing leg presses or squats I feel a warm pain over my kneecap, not really the joint itself but the actual patella. Gets so painful I can't really do the exercise properly. Some pain when I walk and stand, but basically I'm trying to just ignore it! Only a few more therapy sessions until my OS appt. And a long weekend this weekend because of the Thanksgiving Holiday, not looking to the time off actually! See how things go...

Nov 27.00 - Argh! Over the holiday weekend had experienced some pain, couldn't really lift my leg to a full extension without feeling some mild pain under the kneecap and near my patella tendon. Sunday night at work I banged my knee on the desk at work. Ouch! Though my kneecap had broken but surprisingly there was no horrible bruise. Went to therapy today everything was ok except I had some problems do my short arc sets. We had tried to move up to a 4lb-ankle weight and it aggravated it. Later on in the day the office worker called and told me that my 30 visits were over and my insurance wouldn't cover me any longer. To go to my OS on Thursday as scheduled and call them afterwards for some at home exercises. Why can't I pay myself, shouldn't I get a choice? My OS isn't going to be too happy about this, I haven't made any progress and I see him Thursday as earlier mentioned. Oh well! Getting used to this chaos called my knee!