Sunday, April 25, 2010

Almost Straight...

It's been exactly a month since the surgery and my knee is almost back to being able to be straight. That's important, because if my knee can be straight, it can lock and support my weight through the skeleton instead of using my weak muscles.

The trend is generally very good. Tiredness is no longer a general concept. There's upper body (rare), lower body (more frequent), hurt leg (pretty frequent) and supporting muscles (very frequent). Bicycling seems to help a lot

The surgeon cleared me Friday to be in the pool (yay) and do aquajogging (yay, but he did give me a funny look on that question). I have just six little cuts/holes around my knee, and all the steri-strips are off now. The worst thing on Friday was that he reiterated the four months to jogging on the street/trails. That would have me waiting to be on the road until July 25.

I've really eased off the Tylenol - none so far today in fact.

My body has put on a few pounds, which I anticipated because of my solution to the nausea, but now would like to see melt away. Of course, nothing "melts away" - so it's diet and exercise for me. I really miss exercising outdoors. I was built to move, and this approach lacks camaraderie and actual moving through space. Maybe that yearning will ease up when I start swimming again.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Mass Celiac Screening Cost Effective

Screening young adults for Celiac is cost effective, says an Israeli study. It would be an excellent use of CDC money to do the same analysis for the US, especially since it appears it takes longer here to get a diagnosis (11 years?) than in Israel (6 years).

Friday, April 9, 2010

M Resort doing great job with Celiac diet

The Celiac diet is always a concern when traveling. I've been at the M Resort in Las Vegas for a conference, and they are doing a great job taking care of my meal needs. Usually, I give a report on the athletic facilities and so on. I can say that the ice machine always seems to be full enough for me to take the provided shoe bag and make really big ice packs for my knee. Usually, I don't like to be close to the ice machine or elevators, but this trip I made an exception. It's worked out pretty well.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Still moving slow

It's been about 10 days, and my knee is doing very well, in my opinion. Most of the swelling has gone, and I have been walking on it for nearly a week now and I've been off prescription painkillers for a week. It is not back to "pre-operation" mobility or strength yet.

It can turn revolutions on the bicycle stand now, but the right toe needs to be pointed down for it to work.

I have ups and downs. Usually lying down for a half hour will revive me. I'm sleeping about an hour past the tail end of my meds. When I'm awake, I started "feeling it" about two hours before the end, but now it's closer to an hour/forty-five minutes.

Still having issues with nausea. Coke and peanut M&Ms help, but those are not long-term solutions.

I have a business trip and have ordered a wheelchair. I just can't see myself walking through an airport yet.