On top of the hard land therapy session on Monday, I also had water therapy on Tuesday and Thursday this week. We advanced in both sessions too! I’m now max’d out in my water therapy exercises and am increasing the number of reps from 10 to 15 and when it is a timed exercise, I move my leg quicker to work the muscles harder. The plan is to have one more water therapy session the first week of the new year and then most likely be graduated from the water! The pool is closed next week, so I have two land PT sessions and if I tolerate those well and continue to advance, then it has become more beneficial for me to be in land therapy and I will no longer need the water. If this plan works out, I will be so happy. I’m ready to check off another big milestone and to really start increasing my rehab sessions. My muscles are all so weak and I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work to get them back and to get my body back. I am ready and actually kind of excited even!

I think with the three hard therapy sessions this week, I have exhausted myself. My whole body is so sore and my leg is a weird feeling that I can’t really describe. The full soreness turns into full body exhaustion. I’m only using the one crutch when I go out, except that I did go to my local grocery store for a few items and I didn’t bring any crutch in with me! I did my first grocery shopping trip by myself last week and on one crutch and didn’t use the electric cart. So I’m definitely showing progression there. I also learned that Trader Joe’s will help you shop. One of the workers offered me help (I didn’t take it) and so it’s nice to know that’s an option. Gotta love Traders! I haven’t even brought home my one crutch from the car all week, which means I’ve been walking with no crutches while at home. I have also started doing the stairs without the crutches. Going down is easy, going up is quite the challenge. Each time I lift my left leg onto the stair, it takes me a second to engage all the right muscles and to lift myself up. It feels as if it’s not going to be able to support my weight, but then it does! I am doing them slowly so I can focus on contracting my glutes. It isn’t painful, so I figure I’ll just take my time and it’ll be a good way to gain that type of strength back. It’s really nice not taking each stair one at a time too.

I’m also exhausted because after my therapy sessions, I go to a coffee shop so I can catch up on this blog and document all my progress for you guys. It’s great and I’ve gotten a lot accomplished, but it’s not allowing any time for naps. By the time I get home in the evening, I’m basically immobile on the couch for the rest of the night. The good part of exhausting myself like this, it that I am sleeping hard at night. I start to have some pain in the evenings, but come morning it’s all gone so I don’t think I’m over doing it. I plan to use the five days around the holiday, when I don’t have any appointments, to truly rest and let my body recover from the workouts and the soreness.