08/08/2025
Kia ora all,
Thank you to everyone who has sent through well wishes & messages of encouragement.
Today officially marks one week since my ACL ligament & meniscus surgery.
It's been a week of mainly being in bed which has been quite the challenge for a normally very active & physical person like myself. But considering what my knee has been through it also has been much needed & not too arduous as my body certainly tells me each time I have a bout of exercise on my crutches, I have to rest a lot afterwards.
My days consist of my partner bringing meals to me in bed, medication, physiotherapy exercises, resting, getting up & hobbling to the bathroom, resting but also doing some fun things like puzzles, cross words, art projects and reading library books.
Some of the exercises I do are to keep the circulation going in my right leg due to the fact I will be non weight bearing on that leg for at least 6 weeks. Walking and using your muscles is how the lymphatic system circulates your lymph around your body, so I have to do this manually with the exercises and self massage to my leg, also the use of aspirin to prevent blood clots.
The other exercises are to stretch & strengthen my knee & legs muscles, the main goal right now is to get full extension : lengthening / straightening of the knee joint, with light bending to prevent my knee from stiffening up, while being mindful of the stitches.
I'm slowly improving on these exercises each day, millimeter by millimeter. The hardest one so far is lifting my straight leg up off the floor while sitting or lying down.
But I have 6 weeks to get that down pat.
I hope you all are keeping well.
Sincerely
Claire McIntosh -Phillips
R.M.T , C.Y.T.
