Two weeks post-op and I feel like a brand new person.

Well, I feel like regular old me with a brand new knee. I’ll take it.

I have had some serious distractions with this injury for almost two months and now that life is returning to its regularly scheduled programming, those distractions are beginning to clear out and some old worries are returning. That being said, my biggest hurdle right now is to step up 6 inches without pain. Is that asking so much?

Can’t Get Discouraged

Progress is slow but definitely noticeable.  My PTs keep reminding me I’m only a few weeks out of surgery; I need to give my knee time to heal. But this week, I was given not one but two tasks that I couldn’t do without pain. Little, tiny tasks that I had to stop doing because it hurt. It didn’t hurt a lot, but grin and bear it is not helpful at this stage so I had to abort.

It Hurts

PT Greg asked me to bend my knees just a tich and side step leading with my left (LM instructor friends: you can get behind that, right?) for about 20 feet and then come back leading with my right. I did the first 20 feet with mild pain and started back. I took two steps and said, “This hurts. I was hoping it’d go away, but it hurts.”

That was the end of side stepping.

Two days later, PT Lindsay had me step up on to a step without risers. Up on the left, down on the right. Nope. It hurt right under my patella. No go. So we tried side stepping up on the left and down on the right. It was mildly better. Sigh.

The Good Stuff

Ok, so two exercises didn’t go well. But a LOT has gone really, really well. After having to abort the side stepping, I was clearly upset and PT Greg reassured me I was doing very well. He told me he was so pleased with how far I’ve come already since surgery; that I really did just need to be a little patient because I wouldn’t be healed from the trauma of surgery for a full eight weeks. He didn’t expect me to already be able to do what I am doing so I should be happy about that. And I am. I just also want to dance.

The very best of the best of the best stuff though, is how GOOD my knee feels. Prior to surgery – hell, prior to my injury at launch even, I couldn’t walk without a limp and without pain. In fact, I couldn’t walk without it giving out completely on me. (I still have NO idea how I taught Jam and got through rehearsals for the last two weeks leading up to my knee/launch debacle. Adrenaline is an amazing thing.)

I couldn’t sleep.

There was really no point at which I was comfortable.

Then I had surgery and life…changed. Immediately. I can’t even begin to describe how much my quality of life improved that night. I slept and I could move. MOVE. Prior to surgery, I had such limited range of motion I could barely get in and out of my car. I couldn’t sit at the dinner table. But the SAME DAY as surgery – I could move and it was and is glorious.

So while I might have a set back or two along the way, I have to keep in mind that I couldn’t be happier about these improvements. It really has changed my life and I am so thankful.