Knee-Replacement Rehabilitation

This is for the record (so easily I forget!) and, in case you're curious, for your entertainment.  HA!

I'm at 13 weeks post-surgery today.  Let's just call it 3 months, since my knee replacement was on January 8th and today is April 9th.

Physiotherapist, Eline, says I can now do anything I want to do!  WHOHOOWOOHOO.  That includes driving (check)....and sports.  But I'm ahead of myself....

I wake up every morning with my new knee "defaulting" to a less than 100% extension.  More like 85-90%.  So, before I get out of bed, I do 4 exercises that more or less fix the problem.  The most important is what I call "the other" planking exercise.  It's like having to retrain the brain. 

 Astrid made the 6 planks which I depress 10x each.
By the time I'm done, my leg is back to 100% extension.  WHOHOO.

At some point in the morning, after breakfast and time at the laptop, I ride my exercise bike.


This bike is at the Parafit practice I attend in nearby Arkel and is still hard for me to ride.
However, mine at home is perfect for 10 minutes every day at 20 kmp/12.5 mph.  WOOHOO.
(Eline is the one in the video who goes to get her apple.)

I also do squats and lunges.  Don't forget those.
And climbing up and down stairs.
And walking here-n-there. 

Back at Parafit (for 3 months at twice a week but now at only once), Eline keeps me hopping.

 One exercise (right column) strengthens the glutes (with attachments to the knees, you know).
The one in the middle works on extension and flexion, repeatedly...ad nauseam.


At 3 months, my flexion is supposed to be at the maximum of 130-degrees.
But as you can see, it's not.  I'm lucky if I get to 115-120.  That's the part I'm still working on!

Up to this point, everything is just bite-the-bullet stuff.  I know I have to do it.
And no one else can do it for me.

BUT!

When Eline realized how sportive I've been my entire life, she figured something out.


Ginnie LOVES LOVES LOVES to play ball.  WOOHOO.
So, first, I do a weaving in-and-out exercise for stability and brain-to-muscle coordination.


And THEN I play ball.
Without having to think about what or why I'm doing it, I really have a ball.
Astrid says Eline really gets a kick out of it...since I'm 2 months shy of turning 70.  HA!

But isn't that what it's all about...even when it's rehab...to have a blast,
no matter how old/young you are!

Speaking of Astrid, special thanks to her for being my Partner in Crime,
taking me to PT every week and being my Fan Club.
Thanks to her for all these telling-it-like-it-is proofs that I am still alive and well.

WOOHOO.

Kinderdijk at the End of March, 2015

It so happened that Astrid made an appointment to have koffie break with a previous co-worker last Thursday, a week ago, just to catch up.  And when I realized she lived in Alblasserdam, the back side of Kinderdijk, I invited myself to tag along so that I could take a walk while the ladies hobnobbed.

You know, of course, that Kinderdijk is one of my favorite spots in the whole wide world!  It's where we like to go on Christmas Day as a gift to ourselves, remember?!

But this was my first time to enter the area of the 19 windmills from the backside.  You know how they say you should always turn around when you're looking at something?  Right.

First of all, a rain storm was coming, so I really tried to hoof it with my new knee.

I wove my way around the corners of a subdivision, trying to find the bike path to the mills...

...all the while snatching pics across the fields between the houses.

There they were, far away...but how could I get to them with all the canals crisscrossing the fields!

When all else fails, ask for directions!  Which I did...

and soon I saw the bridge that would cross me over to the promised land.

Standing on that bridge I looked to the left and saw the Kinderdijk mills.

Looking to the right I saw one of Alblasserdam's 2 mills, the home of the co-worker's friend.

It's the Kortlandse Molen from 1890, dressed in white.

The date was March 26, and though cold and windy, spring had sprung.

There were even groups of tourists taking rides up and down the canals.

You know me, I had to take another '360' video of what I saw.
For one thing, the wind was ferocious and 3 of the mills were working hard.
With the rain forecast, it was important to keep the mills pumping out the water.

Each mill has a name, of course, or a number, actually.
I should probably care, but I don't...at least not yet.
For now, I just bask in the whole, which is more than the sum of its parts.

And guess what!  I found 3 new weathervanes on this venture.

The 2 on the left are the same vane from different directions, showing the 3D design.
The 2 on the right are the same 2D vane with a charmed visitor.
(Most of the Dutch vanes I've seen, btw, have been two-dimensional.)

By the time I was done, I had walked non-stop for 1-3/4 hours, nearly killing myself.
But was it worth it?  Oh, yeah, Baby.  Oh yeah!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

BIG NEWS:  We found out this week that my "for life" resident permit has been granted, 
effective the day I applied for it, 17 February 2015.  YAAAY!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

And, today I celebrate my 12th week post-knee-replacement, progressing as best as can be expected.  The good news is that the Dutch government encourages an entire year of therapy after hip and knee replacements, requiring insurance companies to pay from the 21st session on.  Today is my 23rd session and, starting next week, I'll visit Eline only once a week, continuing throughout the rest of this year.  As Astrid says, it's a small price to pay for "getting it right."

Blessed Easter Weekend ahead, however you celebrate it.

Surely we all rejoice over Spring 'resurrecting' itself once again!