Hooray for Hollywood - Well Actually California

California, which is way ahead of other states on social and environmental movements, will have a referendum this November on animal rights in California. Proposition 2 would ban factory farms from raising chickens, calves or hogs in small pens or cages. Finally! While I do not think people should give up eating meat (they never will), the way animals are raised and slaughtered for consumption is atrocious and extremely inhumane. Witness the recent investigations by the Humane Society of the United States and others that have documented that "downed" cattle, those too sick or disabled to stand or walk, are routinely beaten, dragged with chains, shocked with electric prods, and pushed by forklifts in efforts to move them at slaughter facilities. California is taking a step to make the “food from the farm to the table” process more humane.

In his column in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof says this is a major gain for the animal rights movement and is part of a broader trend, which is about time and I more than welcome. While he does eat meat, as do I (but not the pig and I try to buy only free range chicken and beef), like me, he draws the line at animals being raised in cruel conditions. He goes on to say “The law punishes teenage boys who tie up and abuse a stray cat. So why allow industrialists to run factory farms that keep pigs almost all their lives in tiny pens that are barely bigger than they are?...penning pigs or veal calves so tightly that they cannot turn around seems to cross that line.” He has expressed my sentiments exactly in his Op-Ed column which you can read at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/opinion/31kristof.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin.

I Think Things are Finally Happening

Well the doc said expect nothing from around 4-8 weeks; for me it was more like 4-9 weeks. With 9 weeks post-surgery just beginning, I actually, finally can feel my knee bend a little when I walk. The horrible stiff peg-leg sensation is no longer and has been replaced with a bend – an ever so slight bend, but a bend – along with pain. The pain in not a sharp pain but rather it feels like something is in the way and there is some type of resistance. When I try to bend my knee, I feel I am trying to “break through” whatever is there and attempting to do that causes the pain. My PT said the pain is from not being able to relax my quad and other muscles and thus something needs to “give” if the muscles don’t relax and that’s why I experience the pain. So my challenge is not so much physical as it is neurological and to get my mind to signal my muscles to relax. It’s harder than you think; tightening muscles are much easier – at least for me. So if anyone has tips on how I can relax those muscles, let me know. Visualization, hynotics, and so on. I'm getting sleepy.

Good Monkey Business in Spain

Spain’s parliament approved a measure to extend some human rights to gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans, becoming the first country to explicitly acknowledge the legal rights of nonhumans. The parliament’s environmental committee approved a resolution that commits the country to the Declaration on Great Apes, which states that nonhuman apes are entitled to the rights of life, liberty, and protection from torture. “This is a historic moment in the struggle for animal rights,” Pedro Pozas, the Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, told The Times. “It will doubtless be remembered as a key moment in the defence of our evolutionary comrades.” Once this measure becomes law in about a year, it will forbid keeping apes for circuses, television commercials or filming. Zoos that currently have apes can keep them but they must improve the conditions to comply with the new law.

Now all they need to do is ban bull fighting and extend these rights to bulls. Mr. Pozas said that the vote would set a precedent, establishing legal rights for animals that could be extended to other species. “We are seeking to break the species barrier — we are just the point of the spear,” he said.

Hopefully this action will indeed set a worldwide precedent and we can follow the wise words of Albert Einstein, “Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

Did I Need Surgery or Something Else?

Just got back from another PT session and am even more frustrated than usual. From the PT’s standpoint, it appears the reason for my inability to walk properly is my lack of coordination skills (I’ll never be on “So You Think You Can Dance”) and inability to relax my muscles – my brain wants to control all of my movements instead of letting gravity take its course (if I had my PT sessions at the beach I think then and only then I could relax).

Yes, there also could be something physically wrong (i.e. scar tissue build up or God only knows what) which would probably need to be corrected again surgically – a fear that I had even before the ACL surgery. But there is definitely a problem on my end and I now wonder if surgery was ever needed in the first place as the problem wasn’t in need of surgical correction but of mental and physical training.

I just don’t think, at this point, surgery accomplished anything. I am worse off now than after my injury. I can’t bend my knee, I can’t extend my knee, I can’t walk correctly and my knee is still swollen. Tomorrow will be 9 weeks post surgery. To me, I am now going through the worst time of this whole ordeal including the injury itself (January 20), PT/rehab after the injury (4 months), and surgery (May 24). I’m at my breaking point and don’t want to do the rehab anymore. I’m sick and tired of it – all 6 months of it. Where is the progress?

I hope this is just one those bad days and that I can get back on track and move forward. Once again I’ll anxiously wait for my next follow up with Dr. K. (August 15) and see what he says. I really, really need to hear from him all is fine and these things take time and it’s just taking a bit of more time for me. Just hang in there.

8 Weeks, 24 Minutes & 124 Degrees

It is now 2 months post surgery. My doc told me during my follow up visit that not much happens during weeks 4-8 so here I am just past 8 weeks and I am expecting some things to start happening. I am tired of limping, not be able to come down steps normally, doing the exercises 3 days a day, going to PT 2 times a week, having this knee be the center of my life, and so on. I want to see improvement! I want to walk to the metro and then to run and ride a bike.

Improvement has come but very slowly to date. I can now ride up to 24 minutes on the exercise bike (no resistance yet). My knee will get sore and if I walked a lot (i.e. 4-5 blocks) that day, I’ll cut back to 15 minutes. After riding my exercise bike for almost 6 months, I never want to see this bike when I can finally run and bike. Watch Craigs List for a stationary bike come October. My last ROM measurement was 124 degrees of flexion (140 is normal and what I’m aiming for) so I do have a bit to go yet. The extension is still, as expected, giving me problems and I really need to work on this. And, my knee is still swollen so I ice it 2-3 times a day and take Advil daily.

If all goes well, I hope to be running and riding my bike in the Fall amongst the newly fallen autumn leaves.

An ACL Injury is Nothing to Complain About

Since my ACL injury and surgery, I seem to take more notice to people on the street who use canes, crutches, wheelchairs, etc. as well as zero in on stories of those who have had heart-wrenching sports-related accidents. These athletes have seen their lives change from being one where the things they did drew crowds of fans and admirers to one where wiggling a toe or lifting a hand is a great feat. As I continue my PT and rehab and wait months and months to get back to normal activities, they may have to will wait years and years, and maybe not ever, to gain back what they once had. When I read these stories, I am in awe of and have respect for them as they continue onwards after such horrific accidents and persevere with a determination that is truly amazing.

One such person is Stephen Murray, a top professional bicycle motocross rider, who was paralyzed in a crash during the opening event of the AST Dew Tour's 2007 season. It is considered the worst accident ever in BMX, a crash so severe that many witnesses still decline to talk about it. During his last run, Murray landed on his head and hyperextended his neck upon impact. He had crushed the C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae in his neck. Doctors inserted 16 screws and three titanium plates to stabilize his spine during two seven-hour surgeries. Murray, one year since the accident, can now move muscles in his arms and his legs and he will see usable improvement in muscle function that will change his quality of life. Murray does not dwell on what happened or express any bitterness. The accident, he says, is his reality. No use in trying to escape it. Read the full story in The Washington Post.

More or Less the Same

I had my 5 week + post surgery follow up today. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. My knee is a bit more swollen than it should be so more Advil and icing will be needed -- and no overdoing it. Until the swelling goes down, the quad really won’t start to do its thing. Dr. K. said I probably won’t notice too much improvement during the 4-8 week stage. After that is when I will start to really work to strengthen the quad to get that full extension which has eluded me since the injury in late January. Dr. K is confident it will come so I’ll believe him! So, until then, more limping.

However, once again I think I’m walking a little better. I’m going upstairs very slowly but almost normally. Going downstairs is still one step at a time – downstairs is always more difficult. I’m hoping to ditch the 2 buses I take to work next week and take the Metro. It’s a 3 block walk from the Metro to work, which I walked today, but a 5 block walk – uphill – from the Metro to my house, which is still a bit out of my range.

I also hope to start going back to the gym next week now that I can drive. I’m doing “heavy hands” at home but it’s been over 5 weeks since I worked on the upper body equipment. I’m up to 15 minutes on the bike and hope to increase that to 20 minutes, then up to 24 minutes which was my normal time. This is all fine but I still can’t wait for the big day when I can run and bike outdoors. I can only guess that will be in October. Tiger said it best yesterday: “As far as long-term, I really don't know. Everyone heals at a different rate. Some people are back playing sports in six months, some are nine, some are twelve. No one really knows until we start the rehab process and see how this thing heals."