Recovery : After 10 Months & 8 Days

I am already near to a year after my surgery. Recovery been good. There are, of course, ups and downs with my recovery progress.

At Month 9 of my recovery, my therapists had got me started to run on the treadmill. I started with speed 3.5 and gradually increase the speed and now I am slowly jogging and limping (yes, I limp) and walking, all at the same time at speed 5.3 (this is my maximum speed so far).

I cannot jog for too long. And when I said long, the duration is like about 2 minutes. The jogging regime is pretty frustrating at times because I want to jog the longest possible time like at least for 2 minutes before I stop for brisk walking. To this very point, it has yet to materialized.

The goal is there still and I am not giving up. The goal I laid out to my orthopedic doctor was to gain mobility that a normal person has. That was basically the idea of this long ordeal I need to go through.

My weight has been going up and down pretty much like a yoyo. I tried my best to keep my weight below 64 kg. This is the maximum weight that my knees can take and nothing more. The best record I have with my weight is 61.2 kg. That was before Christmas last year. Last Saturday, I was standing at 61.8kg. The week before was the bad one where I stood at 62.8 kg. It was bad and I need not need to stand on the weighing scale to know I had put on weight because my calves were tight and my knees were aching a little bit.

Should I say I have the best weight trigger of all time? Maybe. Looking at the bright side of it is that I need not need a weighing scale to tell me that I put on weight.

Now is payback time. Drink more water. Much lesser carb intake. And yes, more sweating need to be done.

Week 21 of Recovery : Learning More from My Orthopedic

I had more than I bargained for in yesterday's follow-up with my orthopedic. What did I get? You are about to find out once you start reading this post.

In my previous follow-up, doctor was pressuring me to shed some pounds. I do understand the importance of shedding those few extra kilos. The burden on my knees would not help much in expediting the recovery. Therefore, I was under some certain amount of pressure in losing them.

Yesterday's follow-up was a really brief one. I did the usual catwalk and he discovered that my left foot is not walking in a position where the toe should face to the front. It tilted outward.

He accessed me and moved both my knees to bending position and listened for any clicking sound. Amazingly, he heard nothing. But, I on the other hand, heard a really almost quiet click on the left. Sometimes, I need not need to hear it. I just can feel the movement of the muscles and the building pressure on the knee before it goes to full bending position. And normally, I will hear a click.

Something which I do not like at all.

Upon assessing, he told me to give another round of catwalk. And I did. And this this he said the gap between both my legs are too far apart. It should be two fingers apart rather than four, as what he saw in me. 

And this where the interesting part starts.

Doctor : You should not have such far gap between your legs. That is too much.

Me : Then?

Doctor : Tell me why this happened.

Me : First thing is... I do know it is too far apart. And the second thing is... I do went and find out why this happened. 

Doctor : And?

Me : And I went to check on my pants to see if I could find out anything and I did.

Doctor : And?

Me : ( Impatient doctor ) So, the inner side of my pants got some roughed up parts. So, the best logical explanation is that there are excess meat on the inner side of my legs.

Doctor : And they are rubbing together and that boils down to... ( looking at me with a stern face )

Me : Unnecessary fats...

Doctor : Precisely. And that is why I told you to... ( looking at me expecting the answer that he wants to hear from my mouth )

Me : Lose weight...

Doctor : And right you go! And did you lose any?

Me : About a kilo.

Doctor : So keep losing!

Me : ( Gosh! Hate it when he said that. But, darn it. He is freaking right! )

And that is not all. He showed me an interesting app where he strongly encourage me to purchase. So, I got home and did some research on the apps and ended up with a problematic password accessing issue now. 

Gosh!

Gastroscope

Tomorrow is another day at the hospital. Unlike the many other rounds I had, this one is different. I am going to have a gastroscope done by a gastroenterologist.

With a tummy that is bloated up again because I was a naughty girl and had a latte during last night's dinner, I will have to suffer the consequences of it.

My dad found it humorous which kind of annoyed me. Some years back he did scope too and he does not like the idea of having something poke through him. Any logic person would not like and that includes me.

I have like 10 hours away from the process now and I can fairly tell you I dreaded the idea of having to go through it. But, as they said, what needs to be done, it has to be done.

I pray all things run well and that I would be able to withstand the long hour without food.

Week 16 ( Coming to 17 ) : Planks to Ease Back Pain

Planks are well known to strengthen the core muscles and working out your abs. That are the beauty of it. No matter how beautiful the outcome it may sound, the working out is really something. I pretty much like to plank.

And in my case, I do not only plank for fun. I plank for 2 solid reasons.

Reason number 1 is that I need to ease my lower back pain. The many months of lying down with just that one position because I needed to elevate my knees to control swelling and also prevent shocking-midnight knee-locks has taken its toll on my back. I still suffer the pain and with planking, it helps a long long way.

Reason number 2 is that I want to have a strong and trimmer abs. I know, I know. You have seen enough of my sinful food consumption. Honestly, this would be a heck load of work to be done. But, if that is what the heart desires, by all means give it a shot and be patient and also disciplined about it.

I went online and watch some videos and also did a little bit of reading on abs workout and planking techniques.

In case you did not know, there are really a variety of planking techniques. And I am to share that in my coming blog post.

Be INSPIRED

I may not know where my destiny is. But, i do know my goal in what I am going through now.

Attending physiotherapy sessions are easy. Enduring the pain is a different set of story. Nothing compares to the day when the doctor told me to get off the bed for the very first time after the surgery. I can never forget the pain I endured. Only God knows. My cries were heard by Him. Honestly, I can never go through what I went through without Him.

The remaining process is to build back the strength and to constantly be inspired by things and people around me. I have quite a long journey for recovery. A long journey to sustain the recovery period. A very long journey to keep everything intact and working well.

As I am recovering, I wonder where my life is leading. I know all happened for a reason. I questioned things like what all this is actually about, my callings and stuffs. The list goes on.

Some people has been asking me how I can sustain or go through this. Seriously, prayers the answer. I pray and somehow I have the energy to go through all these. I am nothing without Him. Think I can go through this alone? No way.

I tried my level best to be inspired. Apart from the people around me and people I come to know along the course of recovery and pre surgery, I watch a lot of videos that are inspiring, to remind me that I need to press on and that I have to press on.

And the video like this one is one of them.

Preparing My Mind & Stamina

I have been informed by my therapists that I my mobility would be quite limited. However, it is also depends on the individual itself. They have complete faith in me that I would have excellent recovery since I have equipped myself with 6 months of physiotherapy and rehab therapy sessions. I trained 3 times a week with every session last between 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

The sessions get more aggressive as time passes by. And with the much anticipated day drawing near, my rehab therapists expect the best out of me with extension of time for certain exercises and also pushing my strength to the max.

Nevertheless, they have been great. Most of them have become a friend to me too. I got myself an optimistic Joey, photography enthusiast Gan, cute Farid, humourous Chun, and more. The list is way long than I anticipated.

I am briefed of what to be expected during recovery and also timeline of progression of my recovery. With that, I also set a personal goal of beating another patient in terms of encouraging recovery and strength.

While I gorge down with lots of festive food especially my ever so favourite pineapple tarts and put on a good 2 kilo within 2 days time, I am quite positive that I would do well for the entire ordeal.  Hope that the therapists won't get a good shock of their life knowing that I put on quite a great deal of pounds.

Preparing Myself

I am like about a week away from the day where I thought would be a good present for my 34th birthday. Believe me, I am trying to be as optimistic as I can; knowing the long road ahead of me.

I told my physiotherapists and rehab therapists that I would give my best in working hand in hand with them not just for my sake but for everyone in my life who truly cares about me. Despite dreading the fact that I would not be as mobile as I am now ( though there are some limitation of some sort ), I know, maybe we all know, what is best to be done now is always for a lifelong benefit. Well, the time has come. After 6 months of rehab and physio theraphy, my strength ( both mental and physical ) would be put to test.

My weekends, for the past couple of weeks, been busy putting away things in my room, making spaces in the house, ditching off unwanted items, stocking up on my personal toiletries ( which I think I may need more ) for the coming 3 to 4 months, compiling contact details ranging from work to medical needs etc.

There are friends who called me up for a drink, knowing that they may not see for a while in future till hopefully 3 months later. I took the opportunity to gorge down my favourite food before the long road ahead of me arrive.

Most meaningful thing to me is that my cellgroup family been there for me the best they can. I can never thank them enough for finding me a really beautiful nursing home. Jennifer ( the owner who runs the nursing home ) is truly only understanding woman and indeed wise in many ways. It is a small home with 10 occupants and a number of caretakers. I believe I would be in good hands.