Rehab Update

Just got out of my Monday morning session with Mark and I am psyched.

I was able to get my knee bent to 122 degrees and Mark removed the final 2 or 3 stitches that didn't seem to want to come out. This happened at the end of the workout when his Assistant rubbed in some cocoa butter ointment and massaged the incision areas to start breaking up scar tissue. After months of rehab now (2 months before surgery and 3 weeks after now) I have been waiting to get these awesome massages that everyone around me seems to get, but no, just a little cocoa butter stuff around the knee; at least it wasn't Mark rubbing it in :)

Today in the workout we added a new element to all the other crazy stuff I am doing. Mark hooked me up to a weight belt that is attached to a 10 foot or so bungy cord. He made me drag him around the gym both forwards and backwards as he kept trying to pull me back. This was the FIRST time I felt like I was doing 'real' work again. One of the therapists was cheering me on and was pleased I could do so well 6 weeks after surgery, to which Mark smiled and said, "it's 3 weeks Shannon". :)

I am psyched and am seeing so much progress. Except for a little swelling and the still noticeable limp I have I feel pretty normal. There is always the steady uncomfortability/borderline pain, but nothing like last week. Ten years ago I was still immobilized in a boot and working from home with the left knee. It still amazes me how far science has come. Say want about sports, but from a medical perspective, big time sports has paved the way for these advancements. Teams need their athletes on the field as quickly as possible from a financial and competitive standpoint and surgeons like Dr. James Andrews have heard that loud and clear. The cynic in you might say, "shouldn't that be doing that with cancer, etc..." and the answer is of course yes, and they have, see my friend Steve's blog on my blog roll for evidence of that and yes, more research money needs to be thrown at everything. I can only speak from my 10 year experience between knee reconstruction surgeries.

Lastly, in the gym, with Mark's back turned I almost thought about trying to do a light jog in place but opted not to push my luck. I have heard from everyone who loves me not to overdo it and I am trying hard to listen :)