Part 1 of Week 2: Getting Restless Leg Syndrome While Awake...

THURSDAY (Day 8)

I awoke Thursday feeling great. I wasn't in pain constantly. I barely needed my pain meds. I finally had an appetite, but walking with the crutches made it a tad bit difficult. Luckily for me, I'm creative. I realized that Fage greek yogurt fits perfectly onto my crutches! I can walk around with it attached and not risk dropping it or falling down. At lunch, I made myself a sandwich and put it in a sandwich bag to carry around! Things got easier much faster. With all that being said, I must warn everyone that I still needed my pain meds Thursday to sleep. DO NOT try to sleep all night with your leg propped up without your pain meds nearby. I ended up having to get up at 2:00 a.m. to go get my pain meds to make it stop hurting because the nerves on the side of my knee that how lost their feeling were coming back and firing away like they were little sonic blasters going after Luke Skywalker (I've been watching a lot of Star Wars with my fiance because I barely remember it from my childhood, and I want him to have some Star Wars references with my Disney references in our Wedding. I want to like them too without totally faking it. I sooo forgot how cute R2D2 really is.)

FRIDAY (Day 9)

Friday, my mom came down and, for the first time since surgery, I wanted to leave my house. We went to my favorite coffee shop in town, Red Cat, and had lattes. It was my first coffee since surgery too. Oh SWEET GOODNESS (this was because hot beverages are NOT conducive to walking with crutches). After coffee, we went to PT. It was a good session. I got my knee past 90 degrees. I practically forced it, but I really wanted to get there so I worked hard on it. She had me start using my other leg to move my dead leg. I don't know what I didn't think about that!!! She made me get up and stand up and start switching my weight from one side to the other. After I got steady, she had me start hamstring curls which is where she told me to do the hardest thing since starting PT: Don't point your toes. It may sound like a simple request, but I point my toes naturally. I started ballet at age 2. You don't just stop pointing your toes. I have to make the very conscious decision to flex. It's awful. It feels so wrong. I feel like, at any moment, a ballet teacher is going to come by and smack me on my bottom!!!

After PT my mom and I met Lauren and April for lunch at Mug Shots. We had a good lunch and it was good seeing the girls after a long week of talking to my dogs all day. We had long fun lunch, but my appetite still isn't back (which is good because I have to fit in a wedding dress!!!). My leg started hurting halfway through lunch, and I had to take pain meds. I actually ran out, so I called my doctor. I didn't hear back though, so I had to use the other pain meds from before surgery (everyone was out of the office because it's Spring Break). I don't normally take pain meds because they make me hot and itchy (and b-itchy) so I wasn't sure whether I could actually take hydrocodone the same day as taking oxycodone. Haha, I had to send a message to one of my friends who is a pharmacist. I felt like such an idiot. He was sweet though. He said it was less effective and boy was it. I could still feel those nerves firing away after one pill.

Friday night, I was still feeling good and April called to invite us to dinner at a pizza place in town. I had been craving pizza, so we decided to go. About an hour in, my leg started hurting like crazy, but I was stir crazy at home so I dealt with it just to see some of my favorite people. We headed home around eight so I could get some sleep, rest my leg, and ice my leg.

SATURDAY (Day 10)

Saturday we woke up bright and early, and I did my PT exercises. I drank coffee, and had some yogurt. Then, we headed to the Y where I did arm and ab exercises on the weight machines! My fiance surprised me with my new fitbit which monitors my heart rate so I could finally get back to competing with people (or at least myself at this point!!).  I did the following weight machines, weight, and reps:

Torso Rotation 30 lbs 2 sets of 25 each side
Row Machine 50 lbs 4 sets of 25
Abdominal Machine 50 lbs 2 sets of 50
Overhead Press 30 lbs 4 sets of 25
Chest Press 5 sets of 20
Arm Extension 30 lbs 4 sets of 25

It felt good to use my body again. I want to increase the weight and do this at least 3 to 5 times a week while I'm recovering. I hope that this keeps me on track to have the perfect bouquet arms on my wedding day!

Saturday night we had dinner with Jon's mom and dad. It was good to be out of the house, and Jon's mom made steaks. Yum! We had a great time. We discussed our plans for the wedding since it doesn't feel so far away now that we have our date. I think his parents are getting excited too. It was feeling too far to get excited about, but now I can finally start telling people that in less than a year I'll be getting married to my lobster in Disney World!! Squee!! It's good to have something to look forward to while your leg is throbbing like crazy.

So, here are my tips and lessons from the first part of week 2:

1. Keep your pain meds nearby. You may think you're done with them, but you don't want to need them and then have to hobble in pain to get them.
2. Start exercising. Your body is going to get restless from all this sitting. Confuse it by getting your arms and abs to work a little extra.
3. Find a project to do. Once again, you want to take your mind off your leg.
4. Your leg is going to feel like it wants to run off without you. It's a weird feeling. It a dull ache with a mixture of longing (that's how I would describe it). Your leg is sick of sitting.
5. Get out of the house. It feels so much better than staying home and pouting.