February 16th, 2011

When we are ill or injured, we follow doctors’ orders but we also find our ways to ease the pain. Mine are quite simple but I found out that I sleep better with my brace on and my leg elevated with a pillow that I stuck before falling asleep under my lower leg. The night was stormy but I’m the only one who didn’t wake up. I slept through the wind and rain and although I woke up sooner than I wished around 4:45am, I realized I had slept rather well.
It makes such a huge difference because I am able to read in bed for an hour while my husband gets the kids ready for school. They leave before seven under strong gusts of wind. I stay in bed until eight, relishing the warmth of my comforter as the rain slaps against the windows. I ice my knee and take my breakfast with music on. The tall pine trees and even the palm trees bend under the wind. Snow will fall in elevation, no doubt.
I unload the dishwasher, no small task for a limping woman. I have unloaded countless dishwashers as I was on the phone and getting four kids ready for elementary, middle and high school. Now, such a thing is impossible. I’ve stopped being a multitasked woman.
My hiking buddy is visiting me this afternoon right after her day at school is over. I bet she’ll be hungry so I bake lemon bars. Okay, from a mix which is such a heresy for the baker I am. But extraordinary circumstances call for unusual help, right?
In between, I manage to make my bed, clean the counters, and drink a cup of coffee. My eleventh grade daughter enjoys taking a mug for her hour long commute to high school so there is always fresh coffee in the pot when I emerge from my slow routine.
I do my exercises which become easier each day. The most difficult remains the thigh quad. I must contract my muscle for five seconds while I press my knee down against a rolled towel I place under my knee. It is the hardest thing to do. To help me I do the same with my other leg and also I squeeze my buttocks which seem to help a little. But this is by far the most difficult exercise. I am naturally flexible so I have no issue with the hamstring exercise which I must still do twice a day. 25 repetitions twice with extension of the injured leg while the good one is on the floor. Then, I have to bring my chest toward my leg until I reach a stretch behind my thigh. It’s important to avoid stretching the lower back. I do the dangle of my knees, sitting on the bar stool. The extension is better and I want to believe that the flexion is too although I can’t bend my knee very far. My goal for tomorrow is to reach 100 degrees. I was barely above 70 on Monday.
When I’m finished, I sponge bath since I am alone and dress. I use a lot of lotion for my legs as my skin has become a little drier which has never happened to me until now. I check my e-mail while my lemon bars are baking.
I am alone until 2:00 pm when my friend shows up. Until then, I keep a strict routine alternating dangle of my knees and icing.
I’m naturally pretty disciplined and I suppose it helps.