The major league baseball season is 162 games long, and if I think of rehab as 162 mini-battles, I can pace myself to success. Today was such a little victory, because this morning I completed my first leg raise.

For the non-ACLers out there, a leg raise is simply lying on your back, straightening your leg, and elevating off the floor to a 45 degree angle. From Thursday until last night, I was unable to lift my left leg off the ground on its own, and had to use my right leg to steer it around. Today I succeed in doing a couple of leg raises at a time. Tomorrow I will try to complete a set of ten.

The other exercises continue to go well. My goal is to achieve 90-degree flexibility by my first PT appointment on  Thursday, and I’m getting there.

The biggest challenge on this Funday was balancing pain and focus. I have difficulty concentrating after taking painkillers, and morning pain is still pretty intense. That said, I got through most of the day without painkillers and was thus able to get some good work done.

I haven’t been outside since the surgery. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, but as soon as the semi-spring sun starts shining I look forward to crutching it around my backyard.