The First Seeing

Today I finally got to go back to the doctors to talk to them about my knee. They told me it was a success and that I should make a full recovery. Also today I got to see my knee for the first time today it was exciting to see since its been trapped in a wrap for a week. They cut it off and cleaned my leg up so the dry blood would not be on it anymore. Then I noticed my leg was all bruised, but really I thought I was just turning yellow for some reason. Now I am trapped in this brace for another full week, but at least my leg can breath now and I can see it.

The other important thing is what they really did and why I have so many cuts around my knee. They made a total of 7 different insertions or well areas that they cut me open. These insertions were used to; feed water in, feed water out, scope to see knee, 2 for tools for the knee, camera for hamstring, and tools for the hamstring. I know, so many things that must be done for a surgery, but then again years ago they would cut your knee wide open. So I am thankful they make it less noticeable now a day.

Next week I get my stitches out, I am quite happy about this too. I will get back to you next time I got something on my mind. There has not been much going on then laying around that’s all. If any other questions just ask me if you want.

Fun In the Brace

Here are some before and after pictures from me before being in brace and after. The before picture is in my bed i was being take care of in before and after surgery. The others are just outside at other places after my surgery. All I have to say is its like carrying around a small child wrapped around your leg. I have to be in this brace for a week and then I get a different one after that. Right now I am still just laying around doing nothing really, however I will get some school work done soon once I can think straight.

The day after

So today is the day after my surgery, I was going to try and write a blog the day of my surgery but it didn't work out. The surgery was a success, I did not die or lose my leg so I was happy about that. My knee still hurts, but that is normal for right now.

I arrived at the hospital at 5am on April 1st, the darkest hour of the night that is. I put on my single piece of clothing they make you wear and laid in bed till they came an got me. Then they pumped me full of drugs and brought me into the surgery room, which reminded me of a horror film. All I remember was seeing like 8 people, being put on a small bed, and passing out.

Right after passing out I woke up, I had this huge and heavy brace that covered 4/5 of my leg, I was not happy. My coach then came and got me and I was on my way to get my medication and sleep my whole day away. After my coach dropped me off I went to stay at my buddies house and just been relaxing since. I will put some pictures up tomorrow that I have taken of my leg and such.

Tomorrow

So tomorrow is the big day for my knee and myself. I also have the luxury of getting up at the darkest hour of the night, 5 am. It is only a day surgery so I will be out of there by the afternoon and ready to rest the week away on my crutches.

My leg shaving was a very successful mission. Silky smooth in less then 25 minutes, I even surprised myself. This was only due to using an electric razor to take the long length in hair down. Also tonight I will be writing on my leg to make sure they do the right leg because I have heard some awful stories.

The visit with the doctor today was a success, he told me that he could take pictures from the surgery and put on a CD. Also we went over some paper work and said that I could lose my leg, but slight chance not too. We both laughed and then he said that you might also die from going under the gas. This just made me want to do the procedure even more now.

When all was done, I had to give a very quick blood sample and urine test, and then we headed back to the school. Where I enjoyed my last day of walking around as much as possible because I get to use lovely crutches tomorrow.

2 Days Left

So today I have 2 days left before my surgery. I am really not that nervous for it, but who really is until they are at the hospital. These last few days I have just been trying to enjoy the fact of being able to walk. The reason this is because if you have ever used crutches before they are horrible and aggravating. On top of that I have been just upper body at the gym, which I will have to give up for only a week or two hopefully. I will probably get many looks when I go back to the gym on 2 crutches but hey at least I am there doing something.

I have discovered something that made me think of an idea. This idea is that I am going to shave both my legs. The reason I came up with doing this is because I have heard that the hospital only does half of the one leg. So why would I want to look bad with half of a leg shaved when I can do both on my own and look good.

Also, I got my meeting tomorrow with my doctor to go over a few things so I will let you know how that goes. I am going to try and persuade them into doing a few things for me if I can for my dad. Other then that I will get back to you tomorrow with how my legs and the pre day meeting went.

Good vs Bad

Since my injury I have contemplated on whether it was for a good or bad reason. Surprisingly I have actually come up with more good reasons then bad, does it mean it happened for a reason? Well I think things do happen for a reason really, because without obstacles we would have nothing to overcome in life.

I will start with why I think it is bad that I injured myself this year first then say why I think it is good. So there were really only two things so far that I have come up with for bad reasons. One being, that I will have to be on crutches for a few weeks after my surgery. This will make me unable to do cardio vascular activities after three months of rehab. The other being my summer season, it is my last year to be able to throw at the junior level. This will make me unable to throw at the Canadian Junior Nationals and defend my title This is being held at Prince Edward Island also and I have never been there before too. I will also not be able to attend the Junior Pan America Games located in Trinidad either or break any records if I could have.

Now onto the good, I have come up with plenty of good things that I think will make me become better in the end. For my rehab, it will make my knee stronger after and make me have to stretch more then I did before. I am not going to lie I really never did that much of stretching so it will be a good turn around. Another thing with the rehab is that once my knee gets better after surgery I will have to do cardio workouts for my knee. This is to strengthen my knee, but it will also help me get into better shape then I was because I never did much running ever. So in the end I think overall as an athlete it will help me to become better then I ever was.

It is always better to look on the positive side of things when you are hurt because if you don’t you might fall off track. People have always told me I am going to hurt myself with how I throw; I guess it decided to come true. I just think that now I know that my way of throwing had a negative effect, I will have to learn how to throw with my foot in the right place. This is just and obstacle to over come, never give up and never surrender.

Still Keeping In Shape

Since my injury I have been unable to do my daily routines like I have been doing the last 6 months on the track and off the track. With being unable to do what I did before I my injury I had to come up with something else to do. The result of this came to a lot of upper body, so it would consist of arms, shoulders, back and abs.

I have not come up with an exact program yet because my surgery is in one week. This makes there no point in getting into a routine when I wont be able to train for a few weeks after getting surgery. Each day total I do maybe about 90 minutes of training just to get a good workout in.

First, every time I go to the training room I do a certain exercise before and after my ice, stimulation, and stretching. The certain thing I do is 4 sets of chin-ups, I started with 5 repetitions the first week I hurt myself. I do chin-ups with my hands facing forward, backwards, and alternating. Now my second week in it I am doing 7 repetitions, by adding one each week it will push my limits slowly and help me get over my fear of chin-ups.

Other then that each night I go to the gym located in the recreation center. I start and end with the same chin-ups, and also dips of the same sets and repetitions. Besides that I do a mixer of 5 different arm exercises each time, usually with 3 sets of 12 repetitions. Then in-between each set of exercises I do 50 crunches, I keep doing this until I reach a total of 300 crunches overall. It’s not the best workout I have done, but it’s all I can really do at this stage in time. If anyone has ideas on other stuff I could or should do just let me know.