Well I’m on Day 4 of Week 4… Man this process is long!! I could blog everyday but this past week is like groundhog day. It’s pretty much the same over and over. I can however move my leg on my own without the brace on. Before it felt like a ton of bricks! Man it was bad. But now I can lift my leg from the knee or a straight leg lift. Makes for a better time to not only get around but not feeling so frail. Yeah I feel so susceptible to everything… just feeling weak which is a new feeling because I’ve always felt like the protector of everything.

Yeah it’s day 24… I haven’t taken the perscribed meds that were given to me in almost 2 weeks. I felt I really didn’t need them. I take Tylonol and that does that trick… then I only that take at night before I go to bed so hopefully get a decent nights sleep.

I’m in this brace pretty much 24-7 and it’s pretty annoying! But I can tell without it my leg is so weak that I wouldn’t be able to move around like I am now. The brace is locked at 0 degrees flexion so I don’t bend it when I’m out and about.

I’m currently at 65 degrees on my CPM machine and I need to get it to 90 in another 2 weeks! So lots of time in this machine. As well as other quad strengthening exercises… that is the weakest part of me right now. I can’t even move my leg from my lack of quad activation.

Yeah so I had my first Physical Therapy yesterday and it went well. I didn’t realize how much my Quad had atrophied so bad. When trying to take a bath I couldn’t even raise my leg up, it was like my leg wasn’t even part of my body. Not even close to lifting it. But I’m keeping up with the Rehab documentation for the MACI guide. But so crazy how fast your muscles and nerves forget how to activate. I’m at 43 degrees on the CPM this morning and will be at 45 by 1100 hours. Lets go!!

Yeah so the CPM machine… ok yeah it’s slow and it’s slow… As a person who was always on the go and non stop its a real hard adjustment to just sit and let a machine move your leg. I don’t have any Netflix shows and I don’t have Hulu. I have recommendations from folks but its hard to get into these. I’ve been watching Last Chance U football. That’s not bad.

The good thing is my wheelchair showed up yesterday!! The box was tore up and Kristy was able to put it together super fast. It was cheaper to buy and not rent my wheelchair… plus the one I got is pretty legit with leg lifts so I can keep my leg elevated.

Oh yeah In the CPM machine for at least 6 hours a day… Right now I’m moving at 30 degree’s. The first week was 20 degrees. So it’s moving a bit more but it’s still not very much.

Time… I break up the CPM machine into about 2 hours at a time. That seems to be pretty good. The hardest part is sitting for so long. I’m used to always moving and always doing something. So to sit for hours on end is a struggle. Show and movies help but it still a struggle!

So I had my post operation appointment today. Everything is going well. My suture is doing great and it should be a few days and I can let water run over it with no bandage on.

I never thought I would be balancing so much… no weight bearing means right now I’m just toe touching! Going to the bathroom and just standing for periods of time make it a struggle!

Well I get home Friday afternoon and my heart was going crazy! Like 152 BPM and it seemed like my heart was skipping beats… my wife checked and we made our way to the ER.

They checked my plus and it was AFIB with Rapid Ventricular Response my heart rate was between 160-150 and wouldn’t slow down. They gave me fast acting meds to see if my heart would slow down but after an hour my heart didn’t slow down nor come out of AFIB.

They ran an CT Angiography chest contrast a didn’t find anything acute for the heart as far as blood clots go. I didn’t have a fever so that was the only good thing going for me. But to add to it they found a 8.3 mm pulmonary nodule in my chest… yeah awesome!!

So the admitted me into the ICU and proceeded to poke and prod and put on some more aggressive medication to bring my heart rate down and get me outta AFIB.

Finally it was Sunday at 0104 my heart slowed down enough and I converted out of AFIB into a normal rhythm! The most scary few days of my life…. But now lets get to the recovery!!

Well I had the surgery on Friday the 7th… I was pretty nervous about the surgery but still pretty positive about it. My wife Kristy was there for me giving me all the support I needed. But the surgery before me cancelled so I was bumped a little early. I was scheduled at 0800 but now I’m going in at 0745. So they gave me the IV with the meds and off I went into the the surgery room… all went dark. I woke up and I felt pretty crappy, it was about 1100. So I it was a very long surgery, much longer that I had expected, I was very very nauseous. They gave me two shots of anti-nauseous medicine but still didn’t help me much. This time the doctor didn’t see me out and I really didn’t get any instructions but what the nurse told us on the way out… What happens next isn’t what I expected at all.

Well my date is set… February 7th… I don’t know they time because they haven’t told me yet.

I’m sure it will be in the afternoon so I starve until my surgery! HA!

Yeah waiting is the worst part of this whole thing. Because of insurance stuff… it’s been causing delays. So now my surgery got pushed out another few weeks…