Less than 6 weeks from the One Year Mark

First let me say, that I love when people leave comments and let me know if this journal has been helpful to them. It absolutely makes my day! (I get an email when someone leaves a comment, so it does get noticed right away.) Good luck to those of you stopping by to prepare yourself! It was a life-changing experience, but it's been worth it for me.

One thing you learn pretty early when reading about ACI is that while it may take 2 years to feel "normal," the majority of the healing is done in the first year and restrictions are eased considerably after that. With this information in mind, I have my eye on the fact that my one year anniversary is less than 6 weeks away!

However, I am not quite where I want to be in terms of rebuilding muscle to properly support the knee. So, I have signed up with a personal trainer to see if he can guide me beyond my current plateau. I am very excited to start working with him this weekend. It has been a few months since I stopped seeing Sandy, my physical therapist. I really miss her, both personally and professionally. It was encouraging to have the regular, personalized guidance and to have someone cheering you on. I know a personal trainer can't bring the same level of experience and knowledge on this particular rehab, but his brand of guidance and cheering will be appreciated.

I have a few other notes: first, a reminder that not all aquatics classes are the same. I attempted to join an aquatics class held in 4 ft water which involved a lot of walking around the pool and some bouncing or hopping. I tried to keep the impact minimal, but I still had to leave before the class was over as I kept getting a "tweaking" feeling in my knee. I am glad I didn't stay - the knee was sore for days. Clearly only a class where movement around the pool is swimming-based and not impact-based will do.

Second note: I forgot to ask at the 9 month mark whether I could start to use the elliptical machine, so I followed up outside of my appointment schedule. Dr. Trice approved! Most ACI patients probably would have been allowed to use an elliptical much earlier, but I went over the reasoning for my particular guidance here so I won't repeat myself.

Also, a few weeks ago I relearned how to get up from sitting on the floor with no aid. It's such a small thing, but knowing I can get up makes me less afraid of falling. It's only February, so I expect there will be more ice and snow yet (though it is in the 60's today!?!)

So overall I am definitely progressing well, but I need to build more muscle and start losing some of this weight that I have put on over the last 2 years. I'll check in again in a few weeks after I have worked with the personal trainer for a bit.