help!

[pianistimo]

yeah.  i just fell again.  straight on my knee.  now i am stuck with three week of doing nothing again.  not that i wasn't doing nothing already (except loads of laundry and stuff that i can't go down the stairs to do).  i have to start from square 50 and work up to 100 again.  i didn't break the leg again (thankfully) - but messed up my knee enough to know that i won't be out skiing this winter.  it even messed up my bicycling plans for tommorrow.

it's like - aww.  not this again! 

does anyone have any words of encouragment?  siberian.  where have you gone?  i thought you were coming to do physical therapy for me the first time.  noone sticks around when people are injured.

well...i did just get a pile of animal crackers from the youngest.

[johnny-boy]

Look on the bright side Pianistimo; at least you don't need it amputated.

Get well soon!

John

[pianistimo]

thanks!  you're right!  i will look on the bright side.  in the meantime - i am reading a morose but funny excerpt of 'amsterdam' by ian mc ewan.  you can read a whole chapter for free on barnesandnoble.com.  the main character, molly - who could do perfect cartwheels at 45 - has died.  clive liney, an old flame, cannot help but come to the crematorium.  he's introduced to several of molly's old girlfriends, vera and mini.  'you're the composer?' vera or mini asked.  'that's right!'  'it's a great honor, Mr. Linley.  my eleven-year-old granddaughter studied your sonatina for her final exam in violin and really loved it!'    grrrrr.

[leucippus]

Awe poor Pianistimo. 

Here, let me kiss it and make it all better.   






(Sorry Thal, I beat you to it!) 

[pianistimo]

thank you very much!  that's exactly what i needed.  besides the ace bandage.

well, amsterdam isn't the cleanest story i've read - but it is funny.  and now, i find, there are two chapters.  on to the second one.  he's back in his studio after the long crematorium service.  working on something at the piano.

[Mozartian]

My sympathies; I'm only now getting over a bad ankle sprain. Sitting around all the time. SUCKS.

[pianowolfi]

Gosh two patients now! Awful. And Mozy, still not better? I thought you were ok now. Hope you two feel better asap!!!

Greetings

Pianowolfi

[pianistimo]

that's right.  i hope your ankle mends very quickly now.  it seems that if you 'do your time' - then at the end the healing accelerates.  when i finally could walk around - i started exercising a lot and it got better.  unfortunately, this little pool of 3" wide water just did me in unexpectedly.  the indignity of it all.  i hobbled out the front door - jumping each step with my left leg and driving to the highschool with one foot on the acelerator and the other near the brake.  at least i play piano!  my son took over driving from school - but then scared me when he took the little one after school to the park.  after an hour i frantically decided that calling him on the cell phone would distract his driving.  he said it was still in the car when he was at the park playing.  i am really thinking that the last thing he really needs is a cell phone.  but, they are necessary.  i want to get one of those things that holds the cell phone in place and that he could just punch 'speakerphone.'

[pianistimo]

pianowolfi, how are you?  i hope you're able to find respite and good doctors that get you back in shape, too.  and a bit of prayer every day for your healing!

[thalbergmad]

Bad luck old thing.

Anyway, you will be able to spend more time here.

You have not posted much lately.

Thal

[pianistimo]

you haven't checked the religion thread.  anyways, yes...i suppose.  but i'm kind of depressed.  for instance - i've been waking up at 5 am. for the last few months.  it makes me really tired at around 5 pm.  but i just consider that time driving time and go on autopilot.  but, now i can't even drive.  trips to wawa are no longer exciting as they once were.  even when i would go and just sit in the car and watch the children go crazy over buying their own drinks and candy for dinner.  (just kidding)  tonight, my  husband is off to the drug store.  i told him i didn't need tylenol.  just a magazine.  something to distract me.  (wonders what he thinks that will be.  he brought me a cosmo i had to hide in the hospital).

what really frustrates me is that i was just getting it all together again.  i mean this happened when i was deep cleaning the house, had already bought everything for dinner from the store, and was thinking i'd really impress everyone.  and, my parents are coming in two weeks.  now, the house will be a wreck and i'll be moaning over in the corener again.  i think i'll just have a stiff drink before they arrive.

[thalbergmad]

Lucid as ever

[pianowolfi]

pianowolfi, how are you?  i hope you're able to find respite and good doctors that get you back in shape, too.  and a bit of prayer every day for your healing!

wow that's helpful. Yeah I've seen my doc. Good news: he can exclude brain tumors as well as MS and parkinson. puuhhh! But he said that it's in all probability focal dystonia. I'm taking meds from tomorrow. Then I've been at my craniosacral therapist today which was also very helpful as a first step. If you don't know what craniosacral therapy is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy. I'm more into alternative methods currently as you see. But I feel pretty well since three weeks without concert schedules. It simply was too much for me the last years. So my body sends alarm signals. I need definitely a break and a less strained work attitude.

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

I appologize if this has been addressed here earlier, but instead of vainlessly seeking consolation in this forum, perhaps go to a doctor or some medical website for advice.

Hope your knee improves.

[pianistimo]

that's what i did the last time - but i still needed human contact.  not that doctors aren't human.  but, part of the healing process is getting sympathy. 

[leucippus]

that's what i did the last time - but i still needed human contact.  not that doctors aren't human.  but, part of the healing process is getting sympathy. 

 

[pianistimo]

thank you,  leucippus.  you are very sweet!

thal thinks he can get away with less and less.  so much for him when my will is executed. 

pianowolfi is probably worse off than i.  although i don't see why, in both our cases, everyone suggests surgery.  the first thing my son says 'well, you might need a knee replacement.'  i'd rather DIE.  when i was in the hospital the first time - the lady next to me had just had one.  the scar was mid calf to 3-4 inches into the thigh.  she was stapled together.  and, they started making MAKING her do physical therapy the very next day.  she was tortured, i tell you.  tortured.

no.  this is a simple fall.  and good for you, pianowolfi, on alternative medicines.  they are better, imo, and gentler.  my mom went to a chinese holistic doc who used massage therapy to fix her 'rotater cuff.'  by massage therapy it got full mobility.  the docs told her she'd never have it again.  she never had surgery, either!

i plan to rest my knee for 3 days to a week and then start cycling.  the only way to get better, i've found - is to exercise.  right now i am stuck again going up and down the stairs on my bum.  thankfully i kept the crutches.  when i got better i was tempted to give them away.

[leucippus]

i plan to rest my knee for 3 days to a week and then start cycling. 

Don't let your knee rest too much.  The sooner you exercise it the better.  Especially with regard to range of motion.  Bending your leg to the max and back as straight as possible in the early going during the healing process will greatly increase your range of motion later.  Especially with respect to pain.  In other words, if you don't move your joint much in the early going it will be much more painful later to try to regain a large range of motion.

Trust me, the initial pain is a far wiser sacrifice.  And while you may have an intuitive tendency to "baby it" (with respect to range of motion early on), that's actually the worst thing you can do.

[Mozartian]

Gosh two patients now! Awful. And Mozy, still not better? I thought you were ok now. Hope you two feel better asap!!!

Greetings

Pianowolfi

It's almost all better- thankfully. Still can't run on it though; I'm going INSANE I want to play tennis! Arrrrgghhh!

[pianistimo]

understand the feeling.  i'm stuck now.  i can bend my leg enough to sit in a chair - but a lot of motion is very painful right now.  but, agreed about going to the 'limit' in terms of range of motion DURING healing.  totally agreed.  last time i slightly fell after week and a half - and it helped me!  i was so scared of the pain - but then once it happened it was 'ahhh.  i can bend my knee farther.' 

what happened to me initially when i broke my leg was that i also shattered the bones of the tibea plateau (right under the knee cap - and holds the joint in place).  they are thankfully not protruding and hitting the upper bone.  i really don't think i could avoid surgery if they were!  but, when i started walking again - i noticed a distinct slight slippage occasionally (usually going down stairs) where the knee wasn't totally in place all the time.  in fact, right after i started bicycling i happend to look down and my right foot was kind of facing out farther than it felt like it was.  that made me laugh to the ceiling.  i mean - i've never had the ability before to just move the entire lower limb to the right. 

so - now after months - i have trained my leg to stay straight ahead.  but, now - again i am faced with this crazy unstableness.  my leg can suddenly go out from under me without much of a push.  i've been relying a lot on my left leg - which has appreciated the few months of respite when the right leg was ok.  now that i'm back at it again - i feel the strain from the previous months of using the left leg for most of the support.  the crutches help some.  guess that it's mind over matter.  i hobbled around for about seven months - but this will only be a week or two.  it's a minor fall.  but i have to sort of make sure that i don't push these bones around into a bad place and get spurs. 

when i was rehabilitating before - i'd use warm water in the bathtub and raise and lower my knee and leg.  it felt much better than walking - so it was like warm water therapy.  also, rubbing and massaging the leg helped a lot.  and, direct sunlight.  i guess vitamin D really works!  the bones healed fine and straight.  just the knee is a little unstable still.

[pianowolfi]

It's almost all better- thankfully. Still can't run on it though; I'm going INSANE I want to play tennis! Arrrrgghhh!

I know. Sprains last. Unfortunately.