Mary Bellamy

My surgeon has officially confirmed that I am behind where I need to be for recovery. My knee is just not bending enough. MNB came to the appointment with me, and we talked about how to get my knee bending more. It may take a village to raise a child, but it only takes two people to work on my knee.

Thus, when I got home from rehearsal, my roommate and boyfriend were waiting for me. I got comfortable face down on the floor and they took turns bending my knee for me. We only did 2 cycles of 5 bends, but it took 30 minutes. Basically, they bend my knee, and then I have to push as hard as I can trying to straighten my leg for 30 seconds to fatigue the quads. As soon as I stop pushing, they push my knee into a deeper bend for 30 seconds. Then I'm supposed to try to push again from there for 30 seconds, followed by an even deeper stretch for 30 seconds. I don't think it's easy on either of them to do it, as the stretching makes me scream, sob and beg for them to stop. Halfway through the first round, I felt my face go numb and realized I was perilously close to passing out. My roommate brought out a damp washcloth for my neck, but as soon as I was recovered from that, the stretching began again.

I'm eternally grateful that I have both of them there to help me. There's just no way I could do this on my own. If I don't succeed in getting 30 more degrees of flexibility in the next 3 weeks, my surgeon is talking about having to put me under general anesthesia and forcibly restoring my flexibility. That does not sound like a good thing.