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April 14, 2008
Still swollen
I tried to sleep with my ice machine last night but it is very restrictive every time I try to move because I am connected to this cooler on the floor. When I started to wake myself up, I disconnected it. It didn't seem too swollen when I woke up and I walked down to the gym for some lifting. When I got there, I was shocked to see that the UBB is now functional again (or, at least, it was lit up like it was. Someone was using it as a coat rack and I had already planned to do that in the afternoon). I mentioned its brokenness on Friday to the staff but I can't believe they actually did something about it! It's nice to be surprised like that sometimes.
I had about an hour to lift before I needed to get back to shower and catch a ride with Matt and I used most of that time. Most everything I am doing is sitting down or when I do stand up, I put my weight on my "good" knee. When I walked back to my apartment, I noticed that my knee was feeling less swollen, which was why I was really surprised to feel my pain level increasing throughout the morning once I got to work. Even through my jeans, I could tell that it was swelling up (above my knee, kind of where the quad comes in) despite having an ice pack on there almost all morning. I intensified the icing and it didn't seem to be getting any better, so I called one of the nurses in my knee doc's practice, who said that it was normal to fluctuate in swelling for 6-8 weeks (!) after surgery and that it was probably due to just my increased amount of walking around (and other activities). She advised me also to start taking anti-inflammatories and I started that right away.
I'm sure I should have gone home and put my leg up after work (I know, I know) but I hadn't gotten in my aerobic workout of the day and I took out my frustrations on the UBB. I did another hill course and was quite pleased at how sweaty I was afterwards. I tried to keep my leg pretty still, because I sort of have a habit of putting my whole body into it and that may be putting extra stress on my knee. I think I will try swimming in a couple of days.
That's about it for me, time to go clean up from dinner!
Posted by becky at April 14, 2008 9:57 PM