Happy anniversary!

It's been a year and two weeks (been too busy to blog) when a cadaver and I became one: I received its tendon for my left ACL. A year and two weeks ago (give or take a few days), I was in pain, sweating in bed or on the couch with my leg wrapped up in a bandage and forced to move and bend while strapped into a knee bending machine. When not in the machine, I had the brace that took as much time to put on as it did to get dressed. I remember the pain and torture of physical therapy over the past 12 months: being electrocuted to jump start my muscles moving, making a first full revolution on the bike, getting used to putting weight on the injured leg, having my leg forcefully bent to the point of tears, and then all the strength training that made me probably the fittest I've ever been. Throughout the year, I regret not taking pictures of the progression of my knee, from being swollen, atrophied, and stitched-up to having some of the stitches removed, to the swelling decreasing gradually, and then the strengthening.
The one year mark was when I was supposed to stop my thrice-weekly exercises, but in reality I haven't been doing them since my vacation two months ago. I haven't really noticed much difference, but I don't think things will ever be the way they were before the injury. I've come to accept that some days my knee will feel weak, or sore, or achy. I've also accepted that I may never be able to fully kneel and that I can't live my life completely inconsiderate of my injury and rehabilitation. For instance, if I want to go skiing or skating, I really should prep by doing my exercises six weeks prior. I am also much more conscious of my shoes now. Or I am at least conscious of the effect of my shoes -- I still wear "bad" shoes because you really can't just wear sneakers every day and I have yet to find comfortable, supportive shoes that are not sneakers or ugly.

But I am glad that I have the reconstructed ACL because most of the time I don't feel it or think about it. I do wonder, though, if I didn't get injured, would I have a better Wii Fit score, or would I have a better center of balance instead of shifting my weight to the right so much (a flaw that the Wii balance board has pointed out to me)? Or was I always like that, and maybe that's why I got hurt?