Author: Jen Rios

I worked with Brad on Monday and first and foremost, I talked with him about the heart-breaking defeat of Michigan’s football team by Iowa.  But, this was not the only reason I felt defeated.  I saw Dr. Frush earlier in the day.  I hadn’t been taped since last Monday and my knee hurt.  After seeing Dr. Frush’s, I knew the pain was NOT just because I was tapeless.

At my appointment, Dr. Frush had an intern (Dr. K) and a medical student (regretfully, I don’t remember his name).   They came in first and the intern poked my knee, extended my leg, and asked about physical therapy.  I told him that I would like to go back to work on December 5th.  My knee STILL hurts but I explained to Dr. K that it doesn’t hurt as badly as it originally did.  He told me that he would extend my physical therapy order and that I was moving in the right direction.

He and the medical student left and returned shortly with Dr. Frush.  It was Dr. Frush’s concerned look that concerned me.  He said that my knee was more swollen than it should be and ordered n MRI.  He extended my leg and poked it in all the same places that Dr. K poked.  He mentioned the base of my IT band was swollen and told me to make a return appointment with him to discuss the results of the MRI.  Then he told me that we would talk about, “surgical and non-surgical remedies.”  … WHAT?! ???  When I mentioned my return to work, Dr. Fresh made sure to correct me by saying that my return to work was, “Tentative.”

i told Brad that the thought of me needing surgery defeated me and Brad just listened.  He worked my quad and my right glute by kind of poking the right side of my butt down to my mid-thigh.  He did this for a while and then hooked me up for stim. and placed the ice.  When my time was up, he put my stars back on.  Even though I was re-taped, because my knee still hurt so badly coupled with Dr. Frush’s look of concern, I was defeated.

Luna’s back from her vacation and I was excited to hear about it.  I get on the table and she unsnaps my pants to take a look at my knee.  As she’s unsnapping, I excitedly asked how paradise was (she went to Hawaii).  Before she answered, she told me that we need to talk about my knee because it was STILL swollen.  Luba had been gone for two weeks so for her to comment about it still being swollen was a bit disconcerting.  Well, it STILL hurts so why wouldn’t it STILL be swollen?

As Luba worked on my knee, I told her about my skin breaking down because of the tape and going tapeless after having the “cradling” effect of tape for so long.  After all the knee talk, I got to hear all about snorkeling with manta rays, paddle-boating with sea turtles, surfing lessons, and binge-watching entire seasons of shows.  I asked about the weather in Hawaii but I know I wouldn’t be okay with a constant 84 degrees.

Luba set me up with ice and stim.  As she walked away, I thought about the fact that I would normally be uncomfortable with ice because I am ALWAYS cold now that the weather here is getting colder.  I guess that proves further that my knee STILL hurts.  I don’t like this because I’m having difficulty remembering it NOT hurting.  When my time for stim. was up, Luba snapped my pants back up because I was going tapeless… again.

I worked with Kristen on Wednesday.  There was no This is Us because of the election and because I’m not at work right now because of my knee, I was able to vote earlier in the day and therefore; I got my 1st sticker!  See?!:

I tweeted this pic a couple of times and texted it to some friends.  Simple pleasures, man!!! ???

Kristen worked my calf as I told her about my skin breaking down and being “Tapeless” because we didn’t talk about This Is Us.  She told me that my knee was less swollen as she worked.

My knee felt really good as she worked and she grabbed the cushion to ready me for ice and stim.  She told me that we wouldn’t tape again to give my skin a little rest.  I closed my eyes after my ice and stim. we’re set and I got a little nervous not having tape another day but it made sense to give my skin a rest.  I had discussed it a little on Twitter and skin breakdown is common.  My Dad had sensitive skin so maybe it’s hereditary.

Kristen examined my knee as she buttoned my tear-always back up.  (I KNEW there was a reason that I kept them these last 17 years!). My Mom had come back into ATI as Kristen was buttoning me up.  My Mom asked about the little peak in my knee that is at the base of my IT band.  It’s been there since the initial swelling subsided a bit.  Kristen let both of us know that it’s still there  and added that I have a little “Conehead.”

We both laughed and as they both transferred me back to my chair, I wished that the swelling would go away and that my knee would feel better soon.

Thursday, my Mom asked Brad to transfer me from the table back to my chair when my time was up.  He did and my Mom told him that he was, “Smooth.”  He laughed.  I thought about this, first of all, it’s Brad’s job to help transfer people.  He knows how to get the correct leverage to make the transfer easy or, “Smooth.”   Secondly, Brad is taller than my Mom.  Now, I am five feet tall.  My Mom has always said that she was 5’1.  I bought that.  She was taller than me.  Now, you can reach your own conclusions and reasons for this but now as an adult, I can see the top of my Mom’s head as I stand with her help in transferring. ??

Monday, Brad transferred me onto the table and my Mom reiterated that it was, “Smooth.” As Brad was loosening my leg up so my knee would bend.  He told me that my knee was still swollen and once my knee was bent with my foot pretty close to my butt, he used his fingertips to work some of that swelling away from my knee.  He pressed my leg with two of his fingers from my knee up to mid-quad.  I could feel something move as he used his fingertips.  I ALWAYS love feeling anything in my legs but I especially love this particular feeling because something was moving away from my knee so maybe it will stop hurting or at least hurt less!

After he worked with his fingertips and I rambled about my weekend and Sean’s mouth surgery, I glanced down at my knee and Brad was “knuckling” the outside of my knee.  Michael Rhoades used to do this so long ago.  I smiled at the memory and thought about Michael pressing his knuckles harder than Brad was.  Brad knuckled me more therapeutically.  I continued to feel movement and I really liked that!

Brad finished up and straightened my leg out and put it on the cushion to get me ready for stim.  Alanna hooked me up and iced me.  It felt really good!  I hate that I STILL wake up in pain but my knee feels SO MUCH better when I’m at physical therapy!  When my time was up and Alanna took off the pads and my ice, Brad taped me up again.  I REALLY liked that!  My knee felt cradled again and that makes me feel that my knee is more safe and secure.  It was a good night at therapy (they ALL are) but it felt good with the fingertips, knuckles, AND tape!  And then Brad transferred me back to my chair just as smoothly.

I’m still at ATI.  My knee STILL hurts.  It’s annoying!  Annoying that it STILL hurts! A month and a half later, I still wake up in pain.  It’s not the “knee cracked open” feeling but this new, “hike up my pant leg to take the pressure off” isn’t much different.  I have SO MUCH respect or Nancy Kerrigan!  Once I got to ATI, there was more paperwork to fill out.  Once that was finished, my Mom helped me onto the table and Brad began pulling the tape off of my knee.

As he pulled, he noticed that the tape was breaking down my skin.  The Kinesio tape is my safety net; it cradles my knee and feels comfortable.  But if it’s breaking down my skin…I guess… I explained how and where it still hurt.  Nicole was at the next table working on someone else and asked how my knee was feeling after we talked about the World Series as Brad went to get the protractor thing.  I told her the annoying part of it STILL hurting and Brad measured my knee bend and it was 119 degrees.  It’s getting better but STILL hurts!

Brad worked my quad and IT band hard but it felt good!  He put my leg on the foam cushion and the other Brad hooked me up for stim. and asked me about my sweatshirt again.  It’s a throwback Atlanta Falcons hoodie.  I wear it because the throwback Atlanta emblem is Sean’s school emblem as well. I’m not an Atlanta fan, (LOVE my lions and Matthew Stafford) but rather, I’m a Sean fan!

We talked about fantasy and I wasn’t sure if I was watching the Thursday Night Football game.  It was the Falcons and Buccaneers.  The other Brad came back over when my stim. was done and buttoned my pant leg up and I was done because I was going, “Tapeless” to give my skin time to rest and heal.

My knee still hurts.  I hike up my right pant leg at the knee and hope it  feels better until it’s time to go to physical therapy.  It’s Halloween and there was practically NOBODY at Barwis.  I make my Mom enter ATI in the back so we can enter through Barwis.  I miss being at Barwis so I like entering through the back so I can see what’s going on.  I like seeing everyone even though I am just passing through.

We got into ATI to see that everyone was dressed up for Halloween.  Brad was Frankenstein. He had a green face with a stitched on top of his head.  He even had bolts on the sides of his neck.  He still had his beard so I know he must not have fully committed to the Jim Harbaugh.  He asked how my knee felt and I told him that the, “C” around my knee still hurts.  He worked my quad very well.  My Mom came back in just after my ice and stim. and watched Brad tape me.

She asked if my knee was still, “Puffy.”  Brad said the swelling in my knee had gone down but agreed that the end of my IT band was still, “Puffy.”  My Mom asked if it hurt and I nodded and said, “Of course!”  When I got home, Sean and I had dinner and I settled down to watch Monday Night Football.  Vikings and Bears, they’re both in the NFC North so I wanted to see it.  I didn’t even see ANY of it!  I completely zonked and woke up during the post game show.  I NEVER see that because it’s way too late.  I got into bed and realized that I was relaxed enough to sleep as I drifted back there.  Thanks Frankenstein!

Now, the pain in my knee is DEFINITELY present and over a month later, I still wake up in pain.  It no longer is the constant throbbing all over from my knee feeling that it is cracked open.  Now, it is a more pin-pointed pain.  It’s not any less severe but it’s different.  The pain is not by my MCL (that’s in the lower inside of my knee) that was strained in my injury  but instead, it is the upper outside of my knee, (the area having to do with my IT band I’ve learned).  Greg told me that muscles don’t move in isolation and I have A LOT more going on so there is no clear-cut explanation.  Gotta LOVE MS! ???

One thing I’ve learned that helps a little bit with the pain is if I hike up my right pant leg at the knee to alleviate some of the pressure on my knee.  It only helps a little bit and I’ve figured out that this pain is also constant and I can’t shake it.  It’s the kind of pain that sends a numbing, tingling feeling through my fingertips.  I told Brad about the “pant leg hiking” as an attempt to alleviate the pain.  He worked on my knee by pushing up through my quad.  As he was doing this, we talked about Halloween coming up.

I don’t have any plans; now that Sean is older and no longer trick-or-treating and we live on a busy street, I don’t have to do anything.  Sean’s going out and trick-or-treaters don’t come to our house.  I asked Brad what he was doing/being.  He was doing a couples costume with his fiancé.  At first they were going to be a zombie bride and groom because they’re getting married this year.  But now, he’s thinking he’ll be Jim Harbaugh (so he’ll have to shave)  and his fiancé will be a football player.  It’s SO GOOD that Brad is on the correct side of Michigan vs. Michigan State game this weekend. I told him that that was REALLY CUTE, then I told him that that costume takes commitment.

I worked with Kristen on Wednesday.  She bent my leg and sat on the table.  She worked my calf a little bit, she kneaded it with her hands and then she got out this tool that she pushed and pulled it on my calf slowly back and forth.  As she did this, we talked about the last two episodes of This Is Us.  I didn’t know that my calf was so tight until it loosened up as Kristen pushed and pulled the tool back and forth.  I was laying flat on the table so I couldn’t really see it but it looked like the pastry cutter my Mom uses when she is making pie crust:

It didn’t really look like this, it was an Edge Tool and it really looked like this:

Kristen’s tool had a blue rubber covering where she holds it.  She continued pushing and pulling this tool over my calf as we talked about how much we don’t like Miguel (watch the show, and you won’t like him either).  My mom came back in and asked Kristen about the tool as she was finishing up.  She told my Mom all about it (that’s how I know about it).  She explained that loosening up my calf reduces the pressure that’s on my knee and it pulls.

After the ice and stim. Kristen came over with black tape this time.  She flattened my leg and my Mom asked about the “Poofy” part of my knee.  Kristen agrees that the welling in my knee has gone down but says that in time the, “Poofy” part will go down.  I will be glad when that happens because that is where it STILL hurts!