Day 17….Progress and Co-incidence.

Today is the best I have felt since checking into hospital today.

All allergies are taken care of, still have a sore lower back but this is taken care of by applying a heat-pack, have moved on to a standard wheel-chair instead of the one-leg stuck out chair and I have started walking rehabilitation.

I am able to bend my knee to a full 100° (105° if warmed up), still have bruising around the ankle area but this is normal. Apparently, the blood from post-op moves down the leg, settling around the ankle while hardening and bruising. It slowly dissipates over a few weeks.

Stitches have been removed, I forgot to take my phone/camera when they were removed, so photos will follow at a later date.

Swelling has almost subsided, still have a slight yellow/pink swirly colouration on my calf and when I lower my leg to a normal sitting position, my foot and lower calf swells slightly. This too will decrease over the next week….so I am told.

Now that I have all the allergies and problems under control I can get back to building my upper body mass back to where I was pre-op. I have been told to not push too hard, pilates style training is ok. Planking, hand strengthening, forearm training, back training…..basically anything from the torso up is fine, lower than that has to checked and if ok, proceed with caution so as not to impede an/or cause any secondary damage to my leg.

Am limited to stretching and “isolated” muscle training on my legs, this training has to be overseen by the rehab doctor and not to be done outside rehab unless given the ok.

I can finally see the end of my hospitalization and being able to return home.

On an unrelated note, I was making a coffee in the common room and was drawn into a conversation with a slightly older gentleman over my “jersey” (for those non-japanese accustomed, my Jacket). I was wearing my Australian Bugeido Karate jersey. He introduced himself as Tsutomu Kamohara, a Karate instructor living in France. He came to Hiroshima University Hospital to undergo complete knee reconstruction (cartilage, meniscus, tendons etc.) because they wouldn’t perform the surgery all-in-one in France. We talked about the stress karate places on knees etc. (especially Shotokan) and rehab. He even invited me to seek him out, should I ever travel to France for a holiday.
Ok, not so strange….until I “Googled” him….he is the 9^th Dan Kancho of the World Shito-ryu Shukokai Karate Union!!!

The world is large as is the number of karate-ka….but no matter how large the karate world is and regardless of style, karate-ka are “family” of sorts and we should strive to behave as such.