I worked with Brad on Wednesday. My Mom and my brother Dave got me onto the table and Brad pulled his rolling chair right up to my knee. The table was kind of high, at about Brad’s chest, and he started moving my kneecap around. Methodically, toward the top, and then toward the bottom, pressing his fingers in the middle.
It hurt. Not like “excruciating pain” hurt but the kind of pain when someone is tapping on your arm or your leg or your hand and you push their shoulder and tell them to “stop!” because after a while, you realize it kind of hurts! It was like that. He obviously knew what he was doing, but it kind of was the “annoying pain” after a while.
He was deliberate in his movements so I asked, “what are you doing?” I explained that he was ensuring that there was no hypomobility in my knee. My kneecap specifically. I told him that the top of my kneecap hurt right after surgery and the nurse in recovery said that she read that Dr. Frush had shaved it a little. Brad nodded his head.
I remembered telling Brad at physical therapy, before surgery, that I just wanted Dr. Frush to open up my knee and pick out the bits that were hurting me on the top of my knee toward the outside. I guess the “shaving”worked because even though my knee hurts, it’s not the kind of hurt I had before surgery with the “bits” hurting. Brad told me that he didn’t want my kneecap to be “stuck.” So, it all made sense for him to move my kneecap as he was. Then he started bending my knee.
I told him that Luba got my knee to 65° and her intern, Will, told me that it was 66° to him. The first time Brad measured my knee, it was bent to 62°. After he measured, he kind of rocked my leg back and forth and the second measurement was 78°! I think I let out a, “Yeah!” Or something like that. It felt good!
He slightly bent my knee and pressed on the outside of my calf and I kind of winced a bit and he asked if that was a little bit “tender.” It was! He continued to work on that spot and I continued to wince but I know that “Its got to hurt if it’s to heal” so I just dealt with it.
I told Brad that I am almost out of narcotics. This fact concerns me a bit but that is how it is. I still will have my ibuprofen but would no longer have the hard-core stuff so I am anticipating it to hurt a lot, like it did before. I still am not weight-bearing which is bothersome but I will see the doctor on Monday and see what he says.