Moving Out of State

No, not out of California. Although we all probably should given our governor's inability to do anything helpful for those of us who live here. Please don't get me started on that dude. If he had his way, he'd sell his soul to the Devil to change the U.S. Constitution. He wants to be President. Thank whichever deity you worship for making Arnold a foreigner, thus preventing him from ever running for this country's highest office.

Now where was I? Oh! I'm moving out of the state of mad. I'm long gone from the state of panic. I live in the moment. At the moment, I just don't care. The knee is coming along. Yes, it continues to hurt. Yes, it's still stiff as hell. Yes, I'm still being tortured by my physical therapist. All I can do is keep pushing myself and the knee. Now that we've joined the ranks of the uninsured, I'll only go to PT once a week since I'm paying out of pocket. On the days when I don't go, I'll work on the knee at home. I don't need the physical therapist for strengthening as much as I require her services for breaking up the scar tissue. I can't do that to myself. It's much too painful.

I did some kicking in the pool the other day. I didn't feel too bad while I was doing it. Once night fell, the knee was not happy. I am finding that the marijuana does help with the pain. I only turn to it two or three times a week. I still don't enjoy it though.

While I don't see how I can possibly return to surfing any time soon, I'm feeling a bit more optimistic about the knee in general. The pain is much less than it was five weeks ago or even two weeks ago. I gain more flexion each week. The extension continues to be an issue, but I'm not going to obsess about that any longer. I don't need 0 extension to surf or do anything else. I've not had a straight leg most of my life. I will not be bothered by it now. The flexion, however, is a necessity. My physical therapist is concerned that too much flexion will affect the integrity of the implant. I will have to talk to her about that. I want as much flexion as I can get. I'm not worried about the implant. There are people out running on their prosthetic knees. I don't plan to be that extreme or hard on my knee joint. I think, though, the professionals need to let the patients decide how much they want to tax these joints. With that said, I doubt that my knee will get much more flexion than it had before. I think what I had before (at about 120 degrees) is what my physical therapist is shooting for now.

Summer is coming. Crowds will soon be upon you. Before you do something rash, ask yourself this: WWDD?

What would Duke (Kahanamoku) do?