Nothing Is Impossible

Sorry it has been a while since I updated my blog. I have been feeling so good, and making so much progress, I didn't want to jinx myself. However, I am over that now and with my progress to date, I feel like if I had to... I could ski the Olympics today.

After returning home from Utah last week with a 24 hour delay in LAX, I met with my surgeon as soon as I landed in Sydney. He said if I wanted to have a crack at the games, he wouldn't touch it with the knife. He was less optimistic about my chances than I was, but said he would love me to prove him wrong. He said to come and see him after the Games for surgery. So with that, I hopped on the next flight to the AIS in Canberra to begin intensive rehab.

The team up at AIS all sat down, and mapped out a plan for my recovery. They have been great, and have gone above and beyond to help me out. My days are full, and intensive but the results so far have been better than I think any of us imagined.

I am doing 6-8 hours a day of rehab, consisting of; one and a half hours in the morning of ultra sound and magnetic therapy, followed by an hour of physio, then a 20 minute cold bath recovery session. Lunch, followed by a two hour gym session, then back to the recovery centre for another 20 minute cold bath, then back to physio for the same ultra sound and magnetic therapy.

Today, is exactly 2 weeks since the accident happened, and I still have more than 2 weeks until the event.

At the moment I have 120 degrees range of movement. I can contract my quads at full extension. The MCL, and medial retinaculum tear shows symptoms of a grade 1+  (from an original 2 +), I have no irritation from my lateral meniscus, and my PCL is not really a concern in the short time, as it is not overly important in skiing, when the ACL is healthy.

In the gym, I have been doing 80kg decline squats to 90 degrees, Single leg more than 90 degrees squats and leg press. I'm doing lateral jumps, single leg dynamic balancing, mogul specific knee angled weighted squats and weight transfers amongst other things. A lot of balancing, stabilising and strength exercises. I can cycle, jog and almost run. Tomorrow I will begin some more dynamic exercises on the trampoline. With all that in mind, I am confident I can pass the medical assessment coming up in a few days, and get back on skis in Vancouver shortly.

It has been such a shock to be back in Australia at this time of year, mainly because of the intense heat. The room I'm staying in at the AIS is a tiny heat box with no air conditioning. With temperatures hitting 37 degrees over the past week, the fan in my room has been working at capacity 24/7. Luckily I'm half deaf and the sound doesn't bother me too bad. I've been staying in "block 7" with a bunch of post-grad physiology interns which has been great!

Thats it for now. I'll update again once this medical assessment is behind me.

A big Congrats to Scotty Kneller, Katya Crema and Britteny Cox for qualifying for the games!

Ramone