I continue to be blown away by this experience, which is so different from the last! I just finished walking down to the end of the block and back! It took a long time before I could do that last time. Today is beautiful with fluffy, white clouds dotting the sky and it is wonderfully warm. The neighbors are all working on their yards and the flowers are blooming. It feels outside like I feel inside.

Yesterday I had my first physical therapy appointment with Lori. I walked in with my hiking poles, but just left them by the lockers in case I needed them. She watched me walk up to her, unassisted, in amazement. “Look at you!” she exclaimed. She had me get up on a table and checked my range of motion. “Unbelievable, I’ve never seen this at one week post-op.” I showed her all the things I could already do, including getting up on my hands and knees and alternately lifting my opposite arm and leg. She observed that I was already able to safely pass the 90-degree angle limitation, but cautioned me against crossing the leg against my body. “Don’t do that until 6 weeks, even if you feel like you can.”

I really enjoy working with her, because she can so readily assess where I am and not try to fit me into a “standard protocol.” I told her I’d been doing the exercises she’d given me last time, since Day 4. I also demonstrated that I could stand and balance on the leg and weight shift, which I could not do on the right leg until some time after our last appointment. She decided that meant I could work on the balance board right off! I never even made it to the balance board after 6 weeks of therapy on the right side! But, today I’m sore and stiff, of course. Not nearly as bad as last time, though.

I showed her how my muscles snap over the cable surrounding my femur on the right leg, and told her that hurt until the 7-month mark and that I still can’t walk over a mile without the leg muscles seizing up. She winced. I said I thought that was the difference between this time and last time, that and not waiting as long. I also showed her how I still can’t stand on my right leg and extend my left leg back very far without it buckling. She wondered if I could have the cable removed? I said, that my agreement with Dr. Shukla was that we’d give it a year and if it was still seriously giving me trouble, like keeping me from walking over a mile, he would do it. I’m hoping my muscles will continue to get used to it and I won’t have to have another surgery.

The statement she made that really stuck with me was, “The first one was atypical (bad) and this one is better than I’ve seen at one week from surgery.”

I decided that means the whole thing averages out, and I’m just happy the golden girl was my second one and not my first. Imagine how depressed I would be if it had been the other way around?

When I got home, I cried with relief. I realized that I didn’t know if I could make it through another agonizing, long rehab. I am so very grateful to have this miraculous post-op experience instead! I wept tears of gratitude and thanked God, all my angels, and my great team at Reno Orthopedic Clinic!

I had this knowing deep down: It Is Done. Now, I move forward with steady, balanced devotion to healing and rehabbing, while being kind and gentle, yet persistently determined.