Week 7 ACL Recovery: Back to Work (Cue the Tears)

Heading into week 7 of ACL recovery, and it’s officially time to go back to work. Cue the crying. It’s not that I hate my job—let’s be real, who actually wants to go back to work after having weeks off (even if those weeks involved surgery, pain, and hobbling around in a leg brace)? Tomorrow is my follow-up appointment with the doctor, and if I remember correctly, they said 6 weeks in the brace. Well… I may have been testing the waters around the house without it. Call me stupid if you want, but I’m just over wearing that thing. It’s bulky, it rubs in weird spots, and my leg just feels like it needs to move.

I will admit, though, my leg fatigues faster without the brace. My left heel, which has been through two ACL surgeries now, is screaming at me. It’s always hurt, but with all this extra strain, it’s worse than usual. Honestly, some days I feel like my body is a patchwork quilt of sore spots.

Physical Therapy ProgressPT is going well, though. We’ve added the leg press machine—not the classic gym version, but the sled-style one where you’re lying down and pushing your feet against a raised platform. I didn’t touch this thing for 4-6 months with my BEAR ACL surgery, so being on it this early feels like a win. Everything else is business as usual: massage, stim, leg exercises. The bike, however, is finally getting easier! I can hop on and get a full rotation right off the bat now, and I’ve even bumped up the resistance. That tiny little victory made me smile.

Life Outside RecoveryWe’re also inching toward the end of summer, which means I’ve been tackling the chaos of back-to-school prep. Normally I’m that parent panic-ordering school supplies off Amazon at the last minute, paying way too much for notebooks and glue sticks. Not this year! We hit Walmart early, the shelves were full, and the kids actually got to pick out their own stuff. Small miracle.

What’s NextGoing back to work means this blog might slow down a little (because life), but I’m determined to keep this going—for me and for anyone else grinding through ACL recovery. This journey has been anything but easy, but every small win, from a smooth bike rotation to a successful trip to Walmart, is worth celebrating.