OK, So That's What PT Is...

The longer I sit in this spot, connected to all that is happening outside, the fuller my schedule gets. The physical therapist arrived right on time, just at the end of my Zoom meeting with Ciara and Michael. As soon as he left, I had more calls to make. And then I also had to squeeze in these exercises.

PT appears to be a series of exercises designed to strengthen exactly what needs to be strengthened by doing repetitions until you just can't do them anymore, and asking your knee to bend in ways that it is really unprepared to bend. The instructions say to do them five times in a day.  I did not manage to have that many different exercise sessions, but I did three, and I can keep trying.  It certainly hurts.  I can imagine my range of motion will improve, but it will take some doing.

I cooked my own breakfast and lunch because Jon was gone all day. I took my daily constitutional on my golf cart -- it was a sunny, beautiful day. I had a series of visitors. I read as much as I could, but there were lots of distractions and interruptions.

The best part is I sent a note to my surgeon telling him that I just couldn't handle the compression stockings and I took them off because they were strangling me.  He wrote me back quickly and agreed that they were the worst, and said I don't have to wear them if I get up and move around often.  Excellent. He said it was a good sign I was off the oxycodone but I could have another prescription if I needed more meds to get through PT. No thank you, I will manage. It makes me nervous to use such powerful drugs if I can get by on Tylenol and distraction.  

Distraction is a powerful pain management tool.  Anna says another way to think about it is "mindfulness" as pain management. But what I am finding is that if I have plenty of other things to occupy my mind, the pain is much less significant. This is why nights are so bad.  Pain can just take over your whole body and mind. I am looking forward to a night when it is mostly about sleeping, not so much about trying to get comfortable.

I got to go to book club tonight -- it was at the Common House, just a 30 second golf cart ride away.  There is nothing better than talking about a good book with a bunch of smart women, eating snacks and hearing about the last month in each of our lives. 

Day 6 is in the record books. Moving on.

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