Physical Therapy funtimes

It's official, it's been more that 4 weeks. It's great, I'm allowed to bend my knee and am in physical therapy learning how to use my muscles all over again. I went to the Dr last Thursday and he made me cry by bending my knee, then told me to go to his referred PT and work with her. She is great, and a fan of all sports Boston, even pronounces Car - Cahhh.

I also finally got to hang out with my boys last week. Betz, Josh, and Murray came over to hang out with me, since I can't really go anywhere. We had a blast, at least I did. I miss hanging out with people, not that I don't like Galen a lot, but I miss other people. I miss my friends. I also met some new friends in the courtyard of my apartment. All in all, a great time and much needed break from the norm.

Physical Therapy was on Friday for the first time. My PT is great, I really like her and I can tell she's good at her job. She massaged my knee area to try and break up some of the swelling that's just been stuck there since there hasn't been any movement. She also had me do some exercises for bending my knee and strengthen my right leg again, since it's pretty much lost all its muscle. She recommended doing exercises in the pool too, so yay! Too bad it wasn't very nice Saturday and all day Sunday I was exhausted. Pool will be open tomorrow and I will test them out.

A thank you to Galen - Cafe Atlantico. So I told him that it was a surprise and wouldn't give him hints as to where we were going. He's been by my side and wonderful, because I know I'm hard to deal with, I have my bad moments with the leg. My friend Domenick is a chef at Atlantico, so I made arrangements to let him know we were coming. We had great cocktails and the manager even brought us Mini-bar treats (olive oil encased in sugar, beet tumble weed, and nitrous frozen popcorn called Dragon Breath). Dragon breath was awesome, we each had the smoke from the nitrous come out of our mouths and nose. Dinner was expensive, but worth it because it was a great experience.

Mom and Kimmie came down on Saturday morning to spend the day and evening with me. Kim sure is pregnant, and so cute. I'm so excited to be an Aunt. So mom took Kim and me to Target (which is quite hilarious walking around with me in a motorized cart and Kimmie very pregnant) and then we went to Home Goods. Since Home Goods doesn't have carts for me I somehow managed to walk around on crutches for over a half hour. I was definitely tired and done by the time we left. We went to Mexicali Blues for dinner then came home to watch "He's Just Not That Into You." Galen decided to go out, which is great to get away with his friends. He did decide, also, to come over at 3 am to stay with me, which is better than driving. We all went to breakfast at Whitlow's the next morning and then took Kimmie to the train station. Galen and I slept for the majority of the day as I didn't sleep well Saturday night and he didn't' sleep much.

I was back at PT this morning and got my leg to bend to 100 degrees, yay me. The goal is by next Thursday to have it to at least 135 degrees for the Dr. I slept for a lot of the day as still catching up from the weekend and not sleeping well last night. I have some great arts and crafts to start doing to keep me occupied. I'm totally ready to learn to walk again, but have to be patient and keep doing my exercises daily.

3 weeks done

Yep, I'm still extremely frustrated and having good days and bad. This past weekend was fun, at least I got to go out of town. Galen got to wakeboard, and I got to sit on the boat and drink beer. Seems like my life is sit, eat and sleep right now, but I'm trying to fit in work, ab work, arm lifting, etc. I've completely stopped taking Vicodin, so that's the good news, and I have no pain, so no Tylenol too. Just in time, since the trace amount of tylenol in vicodin has reason for it to be possibly taken off the market.

I miss walking, more than anything. I just want to get up from the couch and walk to the kitchen. I also want to clean my place so bad, I've never wanted to clean more in my life. It's either that I'm noticing more dust because I'm at home all the time or I'm so bored that I just want to do something (that and I don't like to live like a slob - unlike my teenage years). There are certain people that like to be waited on (I'm sure I've mentioned this before), and I want to do everything myself. I hate not being able to make my own dinner, clean the house, go to the store, etc. I feel like one of the humans in Wall-e who hasn't used their muscles/bones forever and I feel that fat too.

So I've been dealing with work too, am I working from home or am I on short term disability. Today was the most frustrating part of this process as no one on the leaves team and the right contact info for my HR. Then when talking with my HR, she needed the forms I sent the leaves team, so what's the point of the leaves team? I'm not sure. I've just decided to keep myself on a work from home status unless I hear differently. I'm starting to actually do some work too, which is great, because boredom has hit an all time high.

I crutched 2 whole blocks yesterday to get my check from the person replacing me in the Army 10 miler, since I won't be able to race 10 miles by then. I'm still looking for a replacement for my Reach the Beach relay race in September. I have asked a bunch of people, but it seems that I don't know many females who want to run 22 miles over 3 legs of the relay. I was so looking forward to this too. ARGH!!! And the other morning it was beautiful outside, like morning run beautiful.

So enough whining for now, I have another Dr's appointment for this Thursday. I am supposed to be in physical therapy (PT) this week, but they didn't have any openings. At this point I'm ready to burn my crutches and brace, but we'll throw a party to do that when I get to walk again. Yay, walking!!!! In the meantime it's abs, arms, and upper body lifting.

Frustration - 2.5 weeks

That's the favorite word now - frustrated. The leg feels fine and doesn't hurt, and that's great, but it also means that I feel fine enough to walk and can't. I know that I can't put any weight on my leg and I miss walking/running, etc. I made appointments for the physical therapist, but they didn't have anything for next week, so I go on the 15th. I'm excited to start the process of healing so that I can walk again soon. I'm getting really good on the crutches though. But I still get tired if I try to walk too far.

The whole work thing has been a pain, took 2 weeks to get the Dr to fill out the forms. I'm required to work from home, but that has to be approved by HR, so waiting for that final approval too. I really needed a vacation, and I only had one more week of work until the beach when this happened. I wish I could do anything to be back at work without a broken leg. And the unfortunate thing is that right before the accident I was starting to get settled in my new position and was learning and had the opportunity to get on projects.

I was able to get a ride to girls night at Mc and Schmicks with Chops, Missy, and Cristen. I also got to go out with Lauren for her birthday. And I even made it to Hard Times for wing night last night. I'm trying to get back to normal life, I just have to sit everywhere I go and take up 2 seats, but if that's the worst I do, it's not that bad.

Everything was going so well, and now the frustration has set in. But to count my blessings, I have friends and Galen that want to take care of me and are doing a great job. I'm off to Tappahannock with Galen to his dad's house for some fun in the sun. Yay! Happy Birthday America!!!!

Week 2 - Done

So Saturday was 2 weeks since the accident, freak accident I've decided. I was really mean and grumpy on Friday, I think the leg is starting to irritate me more than anything. I went to see Terminator 2 - awesome, but was very hard to sit through such a long movie with my leg not elevated. The foot was quite swollen by the time we got out of the theater and I was not very nice to Galen because I was upset and frustrated. I called Mom on Saturday morning to learn that Grandmother had fallen on Friday night and broken her bone that was connected to her new titanium hip (femur I think). She just had surgery yesterday, so I have to realize my leg could be a lot worse.

The Dr.'s appointment went well on Friday, I don't have to have surgery for the break as of now, but there is a slight depression on the bone so we will have to monitor the healing progress via getting x-ray's frequently. I have also learned that there is a slight tear in my PCL, but the damage can't be assessed until the tibia bone heals completely. The test is to bend my leg at 90 degrees and push down on the tibia to see if the PCL holds or if it doesn't and the bone goes back behind my knee (ouch). So in about 6 weeks I'll know whether or not I have to have surgery on my PCL. I start physical therapy next week and can (hopefully) start bending my knee again. Still no weight bearing for 6-8 weeks from the date of injury (I think).

Galen was able to go out with his guy friends on Saturday night, a much needed break for him as he's been by my side to help me for the past 2 weeks. I'm learning to be more independent, but still have to rely on people for rides as I can't even walk more than a block without getting tired. Stupid crutches, I hate them! Right now the most frustrating part is that I am not in pain (which is good), but that I can't function like I used to. I hate not being able to be active, I hate not being able to walk, and I hate having to be dependent on people. There are some people in the world that would love to be waited on, I am not like that, I want to be able to do things on my own. Hopefully I will find out about work today, as I need to let the leaves team know.

Back from the beach - Dr today

So I decided to leave OBX early because I wanted to get an earlier appointment with the Dr to read my MRI. The leg is starting to feel better and is looking more and more "normal." Wednesday on the beach was really hot, and it was only supposed to get hotter throughout the week, I would've been miserable just sitting there not being able to get in the water. People keep asking me why I didn't just get in the water, and there are numerous reasons. I only have one brace for the leg, and at $500 I didn't want to ruin this one and risk insurance not paying for the other one. Secondly, I want to have a fast recovery and be back running in the future, the strength of waves in OBX could have done more damage and I didn't want to risk that. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the Dr to sign off on short term disability, but I have no clue how I would get to work or a client assignment if I was put on a project. I guess a lot of my questions will be answered today, which is why I got an earlier appointment. When I spoke with the surgical scheduler on Wednesday she said that there was no Meniscal damage, but didn't' say anything about ligaments/tendons. I'm very happy that my leg is feeling better, and can't wait until I can bend my knee again, much less bear weight on it too!

Week 1 - Going to the beach

Have had a family reunion and beach trip planned since August 2008, good thing I broke my leg a week before. Jeff, Terri, and Cade rode down in my car and Galen and I rode in his car. I have been more cranky lately, probably a mix of a lot of things. We got Dunkin' Donuts on the way down and that was just great. Hit the road at about 8:45 and didn't hit traffic on 95 until Fredericksburg, and then again getting onto 64. The trip was fairly uneventful, despite me trying to start fights because I was so tired. We finally arrived in Whalehead at about 3 pm, and it was a mere 95 degrees with a ton of humidity. My foot looked like a 500 lb person's and was so swollen. Galen piggy-backed me onto the beach (which was hard on my knee but the only choice before we could check into our houses). The beach was hot and windy and I wanted to go back to the houses and go to the pool where I could at least get in the water. Mom and Dad made me put my leg up for the remainder of the night so that the swelling would go down.

It was hard to just sit in the chair as family arrived, and all I want to do is play with the little kids. Hannah (16 months - cousin) is so cute, and so are my other cousin's kids (Conner - 5, and Kylie - 8). I love seeing all the cousins as they live out west or mid-west. I had so much fun just seeing everyone though.
The first full day of the beach was Sunday and we went down in the morning. This is the first day that I got to use my awesome beach wheelchair (that we originally rented for my grandmother who just had hip replacement surgery). The beach was nice, but it was awfully windy so the afternoon was spent back and the houses. Galen and I took a nap on a twin bed, yikes! Kimmie (sister) and Alden (bro in law) arrive with their two dogs (Buster and Gus). They just make me smile, such a great family and Kimmie is very pregnant and so cute.

I really wish that I was capable of moving around. I've had ups and downs lately where I just wish I could walk. Especially being at the beach, I'm that person that body surfs and is in the water constantly. I miss not being able to go in the water, but if this is the only summer I have to deal with it, I guess I'll survive.
I called the Dr. on Monday and they won't read the MRI over the phone to me, so I have to wait until I go next Monday. I've called the office about the short term disability too, waiting to hear back from them. The swelling has definitely gone down though. And the beach was awesome on Monday. I have a great tan, but only on the front of my body, just like back in the day life guarding. I'll post pictures soon, I have them all on my camera for the week. The highlight of yesterday was killing everyone in scrabble.

Day 6 - MRI Day

So today is the day for the MRI - FINALLY! Jimmie comes to get me and we go to into DC, he goes to Starbucks and I'm off to the Dr's office. I walk in, give them my name, update my address (yes, I'm this young with this being my 2nd MRI) and the lady tells me I don't have an appt. "Yes, I do, the ortho's office told me I did, 9 am" I say. She tells me to have a seat and wait. "The ortho office called and your appointment is for WRA not here, but we'll fit you in" she says. Um, wait what? I went to the wrong office - yes I sure did. Don't give injured, vicidon using, already mad for waiting patients information - it is too much to handle and they will screw it up; just like me. haha. After waiting only an hour (which is lucky since I didn't have an appt) I got to get the MRI done. I jammed out to Dark Side of the Moon during the process.

I take Jimmie to Silver Diner for his patience and ride to the radiologist and am headed home to try and get ready for the beach. I'm picking fights with Galen because I'm tired and frustrated and that's not fair to him. I'm just about ready for a nap and I invite Pablo and his friend from CO over to go swimming. They come over and I give them my keys for the pool so they can enjoy themselves. I am far too lazy to take the clean clothes I've folded off my bed, so I just nap on the floor.

Galen comes over after work and is awesome and vacuums and cleans the bathroom and kitchen floor for me. Jeff, Terri & Cade (cousin's and kid) are arriving from Co. Springs for our family reunion at the beach. I'm so excited, but stupid leg! Galen and I go to his place so he can put away his laundry and pack. The cousin's arrive and we're off to DCA to pick them up and decide to go to Piola for late dinner pizza. I love my pizza (4 cheese) and Galen has his bacon & egg pizza, Jeff gets pineapple and ham, Cade gets artichoke and something else and Terri gets smoked mozzarella and spinach. I think all but Cade enjoy their pizza, but he seems content enough. We get back to my place and pop in Zoolander as I attempt to pack. Packing consists of throwing all my stuff towards my suitcase figuring I'll stuff it in later. I'm off to bed, I'm exhausted.
I'm now taking 750mg of Vicidon at night, but I still wake up in the middle of the night freaking out about something ridiculous and call Galen to calm me down. I think the leg is starting to get the best of me. I'll survive, the beach is Saturday!!!

Day 3 - 5

Nothing too exciting, I was able to get used to the crutches a little more. Nurse Galen has been more than amazing. I'm still very frustrated with the health insurance as it took all the way until Thursday morning for them to approve the MRI, so I couldn't even get it done until Friday. The pictures will do more justice than my words. Ugly ugly ugly leg. The pain went away slowly and I was only taking vicidon at night. I had a great outing with Jimmie and Erin on Wednesday and went to Walmart. That was so much fun, I got to ride in one of those handi-slammed carts, woot! The cart was interesting to learn to drive, I only scared everyone in my path and made Erin laugh the entire time. That was until I was leaving CVS on Thursday and missed the crutch and had to step with my right leg, OUCH! I did manage to go to Nordstrom though and buy some Sperry boat shoes so that I don't have to tie my shoes anymore, yay! And I actually went to dinner at Rio Grande, I went out of the house for a long time on Thursday and boy was it exhausting.

Day 2 - Back at home and Dr's visit

All set to go to the orthopaedic doctor on Monday morning, Galen's doing a good job so far as a nurse. I only had to sit in the waiting area for a mere 45 minutes; not too bad not having an appointment. The doctor pops up the x-rays and immediately see's the break and wants to take a look so he takes the brace off. He's definitely not worried about hurting me as he jerks my leg all around while taking the brace off and getting me a new brace. So the only new news is that the swelling will get worse, need to get an MRI because he says most of these breaks require surgery and he'll look for ligament damage too. And I get a new leg brace, yay! Much better and more comfortable (if you can even use comfort as a description for leg brace). Can't move my knee for at least 3 weeks and it's locked in that position.

Can I just say how much I hate health insurance companies?! I have to wait at least 3 days while UHC approves my MRI scan before I can get it done. Srsly UHC?! My leg is broken and my leg looks like it's been hammered all over and I need approval? ugh. Guess I'll just keep taking pills and suffering while health insurance takes 3 days to make a yes/no decision. Thanks UHC.

I'm slowly learning to get around on my crutches, I'm doing ok, and still positive, but that might just be the drugs. I have the couch pulled out into a bed and am all set up for the next week. The most frustrating thing is that I haven't trained my brain to get everything together before I sit down. Takes me forever to get up and down and I keep forgetting things to bring to the couch with me. I have a ton of DVR'd shows to catch up on, so I'll be entertained for a bit. I took a long nap, as my body has been through trauma and so has my mind.

I take my first trip to whole foods to get ingredients for shrimp fajitas for dinner. Galen is being a total champ for helping me out. Just going to whole foods takes a lot of my energy and I'm happy to have someone helping me. We eat and then watch the DVR'd episodes of "Royal Pains." So far, the break is just more annoying than anything.

Day 1

After sleeping through most of the night on Saturday, I woke up Sunday took my vicodin at 7 am and slept for a few more hours. I woke up to Mom and Dad walking through the door with Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins - yummy! I had a cup of coffee and some munchkins and decided I should finally wash the bay water off my body. This would be my first shower since the break, and I still wasn't used to standing up on just one leg. So 28 and 1/2 years later my mom is helping me shower by helping me into the shower and putting soap into my hand, etc. I survived, no falls in the shower and felt a little cleaner, but still all loopy on vicodin.

All packed up and ready to leave the cousins, Galen and I set out for his dad's house, where we were supposed to go wake boarding again. We arrive in Tappahanak at lunch time and I find my spot on the couch with the little Yorkies - Rocky and Macy Grace. Galen cooked up a very delicious tuna melt and I was set on the couch for a bit while he got the boat ready. Not quite sure what made me think a boat ride would be good the day after breaking my leg. I take another med and Galen helps me out to the boat, I'm all set, chilling in the back of the boat so the bumps won't be as noticeable. Galen's dad is trying to set up the battery so that we can start the boat, not enough juice, great, just took all my energy to get on the boat. I suck at crutches!

We all decide to wait for the battery to charge up and wait for Galen's brother (Alex) to get home so he can come too. I don't want to move off the boat, so I enjoy a nice cold beer just relaxing in the sun. Try 2, we're all set on the boat with cocktails, and the battery fails again. Maybe it's God's way of telling Galen he shouldn't wake board the day after I bust myself up. Either way, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of steak and ribs and got on the road to head home to Arlington. Night 2, was probably the toughest one, but I knew that the Dr would see me Monday morning to assess the damage.

The break

I ran my Lawyers have Heart 10K on Saturday morning with a time of 51:05, I was happy with that time for not being in ideal shape. Right after the race I was headed down to Poquoson to see my cousin (Mike) off to baseball (drafted by the Astros) and see my other cousin (Clark) graduate from high school. Kelly (cousin) and her boyfriend had asked Mike to take them wakeboarding earlier in the day and my dad suggested they wait until Galen (my boyfriend) and I arrive.

Swimsuits on, piled in the bronco, we were set off for a few hours of wakeboarding. After filling up with gas and figuring out how to restart the boat (half the key was broken off - Schurz style) we were set to get our wakeboard on. I volunteered to go first, it'd been 3 years since I was last on a wakeboard or waterskis, but I was confident, having been pulled behind a boat since I was 5 or 6. First try - I'm up and feeling confident, out of the wake I go, then get convinced by the boat riders to go back into the wake - fall. I get up a 2nd time, great, feeling comfortable again, and out of the wake I go, now to come back in. I'm thinking "what did I do wrong last time to fall?" So I cut a little more this time and go back into the wake - fall. Not just a fall, but felt my knee do something not right, and I was under water with the board still strapped on and finally popped up to the surface. Mike pulls the boat around "ready to go again?" "No, guys, I'm really hurt, I think, I can't move my leg" I respond. You know that feeling you have when your arm falls asleep and you can flop it all around and can't feel it, now imagine that with the lower part of your right leg. Mike and Galen suggest I try to straighten my leg, can't, then I swim over to the side of the boat so they can get my feet out because I can't reach my right leg without pain. Thank goodness 2 strong guys were able to pull me into the boat without the use of my leg. I sit down and we assess the situation. Galen says "can you stand up, can you straighten your leg, can you put pressure on it?" I try to stand, the leg bends almost the wrong direction, I can't straighten it, all I can do is bit my lip and pretend like it's not that bad, for fear of scaring myself. I've never broken a bone - ever! Since I was the first to go, I feel bad, "hey guys, you can go, I'll be fine sitting here on the boat" I say. Everyone insists we immediately go back to the dock, as my leg is getting bigger and grosser. We pile out of the boat, which seems to take an eternity, as I'm finally crying my eyes out, yes, I finally give in to the pain. Galen attempts to carry me the distance of the dock and through the yard to the Bronco. "Mike, I need help" he says, to which I respond "OMG, am I that fat?" (at least I still have a sense of humor). We lose Chance (the dog) and decide that Mike will come get him later. We pull into the driveway and Kelly and Garrett immediately run into the house to get my Uncle Rob and dad.

As I sit in the passenger seat of the Bronco, in more pain than I've ever experienced, Uncle Rob comes running out, takes one look at my leg and says we're going to the hospital. Uncle Rob and Galen put me in the passenger seat of my parents car and my dad comes out of the house after only hearing "Cassie's hurt, she has to go to ER." So ice, water, Advil, a t-shirt and shorts to put on over my wet swim suit, we're off to the ER. Dad is driving, Galen behind me and Uncle Rob giving directions. Mom and Aunt Linda are leaving Costco to meet us at the hospital. We pull up and they have a wheel chair waiting for me. At this point I'm freaked, because I have no idea what's wrong with my leg and I'm in so much pain. After text pictures, I get called into the room and Galen and my dad come back with me as the triage nurse gets my vitals. Yep, blood pressure 155 over 93 - wow, I was in some pain. The PA and Dr. come in and poke around with my knee, they don't have MRI's there, but I will have to get one as they don't think there is a break, but some ligament/tendon damage. I will have x-rays done just in case.

The x-ray technician comes in to wheel me away, little does he realize I can't bend my knee or move any of my body parts without pain. He tells me to get onto the table under the x-ray machine, to which I wobble my body onto it. He's moving my leg around to get decent pictures and asking what wake boarding is, he still has no idea. X-rays are done (after the final picture requiring me to move my knee in a 45 degree angle). The Dr. and PA come in and I have a tibial plateau fracture - good news, it's a break that will heal, bad news, I'm in a brace and can't put any pressure on my leg and require crutches.

Walgreens, here we come with my prescription for Vicoden, darnit, all I wanted was beer for the night. After waiting in the parking lot of Walgreens for over a half hour, thinking my dad is getting arrested for drinking beer out of the coolers because it is way past happy hour and way past all of our patience levels for the day. We have my prescription, we're on our way back to the house for dinner. I'm propped up and am waited on with food, water, beer, etc.

I'm exhausted, having slept 5 hours the night before, run a 10K, broken my leg, and on Vicoden. My air mattress is blown up, since I can't go up and down steps and I'm ready for bed. It takes a while to get to sleep with my leg propped up and sleeping on my back. The first night goes as smooth as one can expect, and everything still seems a blur. I can't believe I broke my first bone, and I'm so thankful it wasn't worse and that I was around family. I sleep through the night until about 7 am, Galen comes downstairs and I take another Vicoden.