Very Small Steps

I saw this picture and it reminded me of my knee progress right now.

Like these very small water drops ... I am taking very small steps....

I have achieved my 100 degree bend which is expected by week four. I hit four weeks last Tuesday and when my therapist measured my bend on Friday, she said I was at 102 degrees.

Yipppee!!

I am still struggling with straightening my knee and have only made it to -15 degress. A fully straightened leg should sit at 0 ... I started at -30 so I'm halfway there.

Unfortunately I am struggling terribly with my fibromyalgia. I find my days are definitely determined by my nights. For example, I didn't sleep well on Saturday night and ended up coming downstairs to read at about 3:30. So needless to say Sunday was a wash.

This is taking so much longer than I had anticipated. I thought it would just be a couple of weeks of pain .... then back to my walking, etc... Boy was I ever wrong, I still can't get too far without my cane and occasionally still fall back on my walker when I have a very bad day. However, good days are now more numerous than bad days. So that's something to cheer about.

I am still in therapy 3 x 1 1/2 - 2 hours a week. It's gruelling, the physio therapist is never happy with my stretching ability when I come in, so always pushes my leg further than I think it can go. So needless to say I usually come home to my ice bag and Advil. I'm still having acupuncture which continues to help with the pain. My scar tissue has finally released and now moves freely over the top of my knee. This tissue release is very important for knee mobility. The exercise to accomplish this is to lay on my stomach, put a long strap around my foot and then pull it until I feel the tearing under the scar. This is not extremely painful ... feels rather like having a multitude of needles all over the knee. Not fun, but very necessary for my future mobility. Today we released the last little bit ... I actually felt the pop when it released.

Here's to Better Days Ahead!!!