Hi everyone,
Before we get caught up on my world, I want to shout out to Paxton Parkhurst. Paxton is a young man who like me just injured his artiicluar cartilage. The only difference is that Paxton is 15. Paxton just had the same procedure that I did and I want him to know that he is not alone. So far I have spoken with 2 other folks who have had the procedure. We are all doing well, albeit, we are only a month removed from surgery. Paxton, if you have any questions or just want to chat about your fears then give me a shout at marc.rubin@mac.com
If you know me or have been reading my blog for a while then you will know that in a nutshell my life philosolphy can be characterized by the following summized by Wlliam Ward:
If you can believe it you can achieve it ... If you can dream it then you can become it.
In addition to that, I subscribe to Henry Ford and Mark Twain's belief that :If you think you can or think you can't then you are probably right.
Events over the last month have firmly entrenched those mantras indelibly in my person. In the end, the learning is that too much thinking can destroy the dream. God has more in store for us then we can ever predict, and what we fear are bad choices frequently turn out for the best, because our hidden aspirations know better where we are going than our rational minds.
Anyway, I had a little extra motivation today so I climbed the stairs to my bedroom and I hopped on my scale. And I weighed 184 pounds. I am so happy I could shout!!!!!! I have actually learned to eat right. I am within 4 pounds of my training weight. I have done little to nothing in 5 months so to be at that weight is flat out SUPER. If I was training, I could go from that weight to race weight in about 3 weeks. YAHOO!!!!
Lately, I am becoming less and less concerned about where I will be tomorrow in regards to rehabilitation. I am starting to really focus on what is happening now. I am trying to be wholly present in the now. I found a quote from William Osler that I liked on this subject:
Throw away all ambition beyond that of doing the days work well. The travelers on the road to success live in the present, heedless of taking thought of the morrow. Live neither in the past or the future, but let each day's work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your wildest ambition.
I have had an absolutely great week on the rehab front. Some really cool stuff is starting to happen. Some of the highlights include: (1) starting to get control back over my quad; and (2) increasing the time on the stationary bike to 25 minutes. It may be slow - as in really really really slow - but it is the time in the saddle that counts right now. Here is a shot of some of that quad work. I have some videos to share in this area also.
Here are some videos of me working on quad control:
Here are a couple of more examples:
And finally just one more:
Here is a shot of the affected leg only:
My major focus right now is on getting the swelling out of my knee. I still have around 2 cm of fluid around the knee. That is ok given I am only about 3.5 weeks post surg. However. if I can get the swelling out then I will see some huge gains!!!! The majority of my effort in this arena has focused on usiong pneumatic boots from http://www.normatecsports.com . Here is a video of me using the boots.
In addition to all of the above, I have increased my core work. At the beginning of the week, I was unable to do the drill in below. Now that is not an issue at all.
I thoiught this week I would do things a little differenly. Each week, I write a status update to Dr. Glashow and his PA Chris Prezanno. I thouight this week it might be helpful if I just shared what I wrote to them.
Saturday May 28, 2010
Hey Chris,
I hope you are out there training. I certainly miss it and am anxious to get back out there as soon as biology permits.
A little update as we have our one month skype appt. coming up.
1. Can we possibly talk around 11 your time on Wednesday? I have rehab at noon your time.
2. Incision has healed nicely and the guys at rehab are working on it to get it loose and broken up. It is still fairly sore when they press hard on it.
3. Swelling continues to resolve. Nate estimates that about 2cm of swelling remains. The vast majority is above the knee. I have a healthy knot near the lateral release location. The guys have started gentle massage, etc. in that area. They call it gentle but it hurts like ASS!!!! Will that knot resolve or will it be there permanenty as a result of the cut?
4. Rehab.
A. ROM I am still on cpm 2x1.5 hrs a day at 100 degrees. Do we want to increase ROM? Do we want to continue the 2x1.5 on the cpm? If so, I need a new script.
B. Bike - I am up to 25 minutes a day. Legs barely turning over. In fact, machine sometimes shuts off. At full extension, I am at 98 degrees. I sent you a pic. Getting about 3 miles in per effort. We are increasing time by 2.5 minutes per day. I am trying to just let the affected leg come for the ride but I am sure I am using it some. If I am using the affected leg less than 10 pounds is going though it.
C. Haven't really done much toe touching to ten pounds. Just a little concerned I'll put too much weight down. Plus figured some weight is going through on the bike so that's likely enough.
D. Swam several times with a pull bouy- no real problems. No pushing off obviously and while I'm sure my hips and legs rotated it was at a minimum. No real problems here. Have not done any true flutterkicking yet.
E. Core - getting in a solid core workout daily. Total of about 30 minutes per effort.
F. Stem - hitting the stem hard. I feel like a Russian athlete circa 1980. I have limited control over my quad again. At times, i can actually see all four quadrants again. :). That is a nice treat to be sure.
G. Pain -
1. If I contract hard I can barely feel the dull ache that I experienced all of the time prior to surgery. I'm assuming that resolution is more a factor of the flap being removed than the chondyle repair.
2. If the leg is unsupported and it is moved like going on to or off the table I will occassionally experience significant pain near the incision. This pain happens sometimes in my brace if i move quickly also. This is not the chondyle right?
3. Finally, there was an increase in clicking or popping involving my knee cap during my 25 minute ride yesterday. Nothing painful just some clicks and pops. I assume that is likely just swelling. Etc. There is no reason to believe that it is from the patella going over the chondyle right?
H. Brace- the unloader brace that I have is the Bregg solus unloader brace. Just looking ahead is that the one that I need? It has not been used and was purchaed for use following the failed microfracture.
I. Going forward - what is the plan/protocol going forward for weeks 4-6?
Is there anything that we should see at this point that would be indicative of success or failure?
Thats all i got right now. Thanks Chris, I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Cheers,
Marc S. Rubin
Here is a shot that I received from Chris in response to the above email. He said that indeed he was training and that he just finished a little 90 miler with his KONA qualifying girlfriend. I LOVE IT. SO CLOSE MY FRESH AND LOOSE FRIENDS.
Thanks for checking it. I am feeling great and looking forward to the next 4.5 weeks!!!!!
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