Week 1

Hey,

I was pretty stiff on arrival home from Santry after the journey so after being greeted by Charlie (my puppy) I got my leg up on the couch and put on the Cryocuff (This is brilliant - would recommend, more details below). We had to babysit my sisters puppy Roco (Sprocker, lovely lad - place like a zoo) for most of the week and he even had a go of the cryocuff himself - fortunately not enough damage was caused to break it (Thanks Mel :)). For the first day I continued with my rehab, iced and slept. My goals for the week were 1. Reduce swelling and 2. Increase range of movement. I was given 5 exercises by the physio in Santry to help with this and told to do these 3 times daily. I asked of the benefits of doing extra sets and he told me to stick to 3 and not to overdo it. I was absolutely exhausted the first week, any bit of activity at all and I'd have to sleep after, the lack of sleep at night probably didn't help to be fair. The first day or two at home my routine consisted of exercises in the morning after medication, post lunch after medication and pre bed after medication. I also got out for a walk and each day increased the distance (Everything was done with two crutches). It's funny the small things that you take for granted like sleeping, putting on socks, showering or popping out in the car. These were an awful ordeal for week one! (My poor mother).

Cratloe were in a senior hurling county final on the Sunday post surgery (surgery was on Thursday) so I asked the physio in Santry if he thought it would be ok to go. He did, so I went. My friend Máire (she will be thrilled with her mention) brought me, stopped directly outside Cusack Park without warning in the middle of the traffic and told me to get out. (She's a kind soul, I knew things were bad when I was getting sympathy from her). When I got home later that day I was pretty shook, sore and tired! I had to go to bed again.

I had my first physio session 7 days post surgery. It went pretty well! Small steps had been made, the bend in my knee went from about 15 degrees in Santry to nearing 30 degrees. The swelling had come down massively also and the bruising wasn't too bad (cryocuff). Overall the physio was very happy, he changed one or two of the exercises from week one and set me goals for week 2.  Continue icing, resting, walking. It's all very exciting.

Goals week 2:

1. Cycle on stationary bike.

2. Improve range of motion - bending to 90 degrees.

3. Improve range of motion - straightening to as close to 180 degrees as possible.

Following on from physio we had a staff bonding day in the Burren on Friday before the midterm. We went to the Burren in a bus (not ideal) and then everyone picked their activities on arrival, Caving, Rock Climbing or Orienteering/Hiking - unreal activities! Couldn’t do any and I only mad to do them all! Pity about the crutches! I watched for the main part, took it upon myself to go for an ould stroll around the field (Exercise is key), and had an extended lunch - (couldn’t eat though, too shook from the activities). Came home again on the bus, had to hop off near home and get collected and straight back into bed for the evening (obviously post voting for Michael D). Very concerned about hamstring pain at this point - cryocuff on knee, ice pack under hamstring and the reassurance of hearing from other people put me at ease. People are great, lots of visitors :)

Looking forward to making more progress in week 2, however I must admit, I wasn't expecting it to be so challenging. I knew it would be sore and would take time but I didn't anticipate how sore it was going to be. I’ve some amount of day time sleeping done and I’ve finished Making a Murderer 2 (Highly recommend it’s brilliant). I suppose, I thought I'd have made more progress by the end of week one, it’s slow, it's very hard, it's not easy. Funnily enough since starting this, the response has been unreal. People who have been in the same situation giving advice is brilliant! It's also lovely to hear from people who are just waiting to have surgery or are in the same place that I am.

Naomi

(For anyone wondering about the cryocuff, it’s bascially an ice box that you also put water in, there’s a tube with it and a connection for different connectors, ie mine is for my knee. You hold the cryocuff up to fill the knee connector and then you can clip the ice box off, you can then clip the ice box back on, drain the contents into the box and repeat).