Ideally, surgery would have happened the week following my injury. Which would be basically right this minute.
You think the process is that easy? Wrong. I will fully admit that I have gotten close to VIP service thanks to the many generous people who are part of my life in one way or another (when you work in the sports world, people are bound to know the right doors to knock on when your ACL splats out).
So getting into a surgeon the day after I went down, having my MRI results by the next day, and having pats on my backs, hugs, and "you`ll get through this" talks from every adult in my life was honestly nothing short of miraculous. I am beyond appreciative. And. I will get through this. All things considered, it isn`t THAT bad.
That being said... My knee was too swollen and too messed up to schedule surgery any sooner than 4 weeks out from the day of the tear. It isn`t that I`m dying to get under the knife, but a) the longer I wait before having surgery, the longer away I am from recovery. Simple as that. And b) I am a soccer coach and my influx of eager teenagers and apprehensive parents comes on the coattails of scheduled surgery date. Ideally I would be able to string a sentence together and stay on my feet for 2 hours at a time. Eh.. Such is life, right? There is never a good time to break up with your boyfriend and there is never a good time to have ACL surgery.
Alas, it is pre-hab time.
August 11th is the magic date. This gives me a few weeks to pretend I am still a functioning human and try my hand at all of the exercising methods that old people, lazy people, and patient people do. I am a lot of things, but those are at the bottom of my list. Fine, maybe I am lazy sometimes.
What types of exercises am I doing? Try this. Sit down on the floor. No seriously. Sit down right now. Extend your legs in front of you. Very good! Now. Squeeze your left quad as tight as you can while pressing the back of your knee into the ground. Got it? (Look, the quad is the huge muscle that you commonly refer to as your "thigh"). Ok you did it? Great. Do it 30 more times. You just did my workout. This comes from the girl who takes an ass-beating from a room full of morons that wake up at 5:30am everyday. Flexing our quads isn`t typically in the workout, but hey. It isn`t nothing. (Get off my back, I can use double negatives if I want to).
I know you are dying to know what else I do. Ok. Want to get crazy? Sit back down. Seriously. Do it. It takes you like 2.5 seconds. Sit down. Press your left heel into the floor and bend your knee slowlllllly toward your hip. Easy? I bet it is! Whoop-dee-doo for you! That is the hardest exercise I do. And it is hard. You people with your bendable limbs and glue-tight ligaments. You really have not experienced life if it`s not a struggle to sit Indian Style. Congratulations. You just completed my daily workout.
Do not forget that I feel slightly good about my health right now. My muscles are tight (ish - no need to oversell here), and I have been working hard to keep them that way. So I will go ahead and admit that I have sadly been doing one-kneed push-ups, awkward variations of planks, and ab rolls by holding on to the top of my stair case with my legs dangling. I promise to let you know how much weight I gain despite my lackluster efforts not to. Did I mention I love ice cream?
That, however, brings me to today. Today is what I like to call the "teaser." It`s a day that feels pretty nice. It may even be considered a breakthrough. Today, my friends, I got to swim. Swimming does not fall on the list of old, lazy, or patient. Aqua aerobics does, but we will cross that bridge when we get there. So yes. I swam! Doc said so! No legs though! That wouldn`t be fun! Who wants to swim with their legs?! I squeezed the phallic booey between my quads (thighs), and swam my little heart out. While my outlook may drip in sarcasm, I truly enjoyed myself in the sun and water today. I swam about 20 laps. Everything hurt. My shoulders especially. But it was hard. And I liked it.
So while my unhinged knee and doomed surgical fate are wrapped and warped into this daunting and fattening future, today was a good day. It was a day that reminded me that there are many avenues my torn and triad knees can take me. I may not be running a touchdown anytime soon, but today felt like an endzone dance.
You think the process is that easy? Wrong. I will fully admit that I have gotten close to VIP service thanks to the many generous people who are part of my life in one way or another (when you work in the sports world, people are bound to know the right doors to knock on when your ACL splats out).
So getting into a surgeon the day after I went down, having my MRI results by the next day, and having pats on my backs, hugs, and "you`ll get through this" talks from every adult in my life was honestly nothing short of miraculous. I am beyond appreciative. And. I will get through this. All things considered, it isn`t THAT bad.
That being said... My knee was too swollen and too messed up to schedule surgery any sooner than 4 weeks out from the day of the tear. It isn`t that I`m dying to get under the knife, but a) the longer I wait before having surgery, the longer away I am from recovery. Simple as that. And b) I am a soccer coach and my influx of eager teenagers and apprehensive parents comes on the coattails of scheduled surgery date. Ideally I would be able to string a sentence together and stay on my feet for 2 hours at a time. Eh.. Such is life, right? There is never a good time to break up with your boyfriend and there is never a good time to have ACL surgery.
Alas, it is pre-hab time.
August 11th is the magic date. This gives me a few weeks to pretend I am still a functioning human and try my hand at all of the exercising methods that old people, lazy people, and patient people do. I am a lot of things, but those are at the bottom of my list. Fine, maybe I am lazy sometimes.
What types of exercises am I doing? Try this. Sit down on the floor. No seriously. Sit down right now. Extend your legs in front of you. Very good! Now. Squeeze your left quad as tight as you can while pressing the back of your knee into the ground. Got it? (Look, the quad is the huge muscle that you commonly refer to as your "thigh"). Ok you did it? Great. Do it 30 more times. You just did my workout. This comes from the girl who takes an ass-beating from a room full of morons that wake up at 5:30am everyday. Flexing our quads isn`t typically in the workout, but hey. It isn`t nothing. (Get off my back, I can use double negatives if I want to).
I know you are dying to know what else I do. Ok. Want to get crazy? Sit back down. Seriously. Do it. It takes you like 2.5 seconds. Sit down. Press your left heel into the floor and bend your knee slowlllllly toward your hip. Easy? I bet it is! Whoop-dee-doo for you! That is the hardest exercise I do. And it is hard. You people with your bendable limbs and glue-tight ligaments. You really have not experienced life if it`s not a struggle to sit Indian Style. Congratulations. You just completed my daily workout.
Do not forget that I feel slightly good about my health right now. My muscles are tight (ish - no need to oversell here), and I have been working hard to keep them that way. So I will go ahead and admit that I have sadly been doing one-kneed push-ups, awkward variations of planks, and ab rolls by holding on to the top of my stair case with my legs dangling. I promise to let you know how much weight I gain despite my lackluster efforts not to. Did I mention I love ice cream?
That, however, brings me to today. Today is what I like to call the "teaser." It`s a day that feels pretty nice. It may even be considered a breakthrough. Today, my friends, I got to swim. Swimming does not fall on the list of old, lazy, or patient. Aqua aerobics does, but we will cross that bridge when we get there. So yes. I swam! Doc said so! No legs though! That wouldn`t be fun! Who wants to swim with their legs?! I squeezed the phallic booey between my quads (thighs), and swam my little heart out. While my outlook may drip in sarcasm, I truly enjoyed myself in the sun and water today. I swam about 20 laps. Everything hurt. My shoulders especially. But it was hard. And I liked it.
So while my unhinged knee and doomed surgical fate are wrapped and warped into this daunting and fattening future, today was a good day. It was a day that reminded me that there are many avenues my torn and triad knees can take me. I may not be running a touchdown anytime soon, but today felt like an endzone dance.
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