MY ACL STORY: The Week When I'm Discharged....

I love this a lot!

Hello Everyone :)
Week 12:
This week just kept getting better and better as the days went on; in terms of recovery, revision and being a fan of a particular band ;)
So if you couldn't guess already, I finally had some more physiotherapy (in fact 2 rounds of it) and they both went well, and then I went to a concert WOOP WOOP! But there will be more on that later, and maybe even a whole other post dedicated to it - who knows hey?
I also had another exam this week which was English Literature, and I know that I messed up on one of the questions but I managed to remember all of the quotes I needed to, and I'm done with this subject forever so I am very happy!
3 down, 2 more to go :)

I'll start with the physiotherapy.
So the first round happened in the beginning of the week and my physio was finally back and I was more than ready to get going again.
This week I tried some new exercises that revolved around the exercise ball. The first new exercise was more of a re-work of one that I had already been doing. Firstly, you put your feet/ankles onto the ball and lie on your back. Then you roll the ball in slightly towards your bum with your feet, and then lift your bum off of the floor and hold for about 5-10 seconds. This exercise is great for working the hamstrings and you can really feel the pull that it gives you.
The second new exercise was a completely new one. First you sit on the exercise ball, then you have to roll off of it until only your head/neck are resting on it. Your knees should be bent at a 90 degree angle and the rest of your body should be resting in the air. You then hold this position whilst holding your arms up in the air and bring one down to each side. This should be done for about 20 seconds. This really works your core muscles and the hamstrings again.
After doing these exercises my physio told me that he could see how much progress my knee had made and how much stronger it had gotten since beginning physiotherapy, so that made me very happy! Although after this session, I did feel an incredible amount of pain in my knee and muscles in my leg. But once I'd had some ibuprofen and some CyroCuff time, the pain soon went away.

I seemed to find my second physiotherapy session this week a lot harder than the first, as I nearly fainted. I was doing a lot of steps and squats with weights and after abut 10 minutes I started to feel very light headed and dizzy so I took some time out and had some water. I did this for about 5 minutes and then I was ready to go again. This feeling may have come from being stressed from exams or maybe just exhausted as I am pushing myself very hard with exercises and revision at the same time.
But despite this, my physio remained positive and told me that he thinks I'll do really well in the ACL class (which I'll be starting next week) and that I may show people up in it haha! So that definitely cheered me up after the bad start.

My (close to) 3 month post-op appointment was this week too! I was really nervous about it, but I think that may be more to do with the fact that I don't like hospitals, rather than being worried about my knee.
Once I was called into the room with my surgeon, he got straight to work. He brought me up onto the chair-bed thing and tested out my new ACL (for those of you who have been through this, you know the kind of tests I mean!). So I had to bend my leg - as far as I was comfortable with - then he sat on my foot and pulled against my bent knee. Straight away he noticed how much stronger it was as my knee didn't really give - if that makes sense? Like it put up more of a fight? Anyway, then he felt all round my knee and normally on my right side (where I had the meniscus damage) there would be a lot of pain, but there was absolutely no pain!

You can see the staples really clearly and a screw in the
right of the picture.

He then sat me down and showed me the pictures from the actual surgery and from my X-Ray and they were SO cool! They took pictures before and after putting the new ACL in place and it really is so amazing the things that surgeons can do nowadays! I was also shown a picture of the meniscus that had been repaired. It wasn't a total rip in it but they thought that they may as well repair it whilst they were in there, so that was also cool to see.
Then he asked me if I planned on going back to gymnastics, and I said yes because it is a massive hobby of mine. But then he told me that if I go back there is a 50% chance that I'll do it again in either knee in the first 3 years. So obviously that terrified me, but it's given me a lot to think about. He then told me that I need to wait 9 months from my surgery date anyway to go back to high impact sports, so that can be my thinking time.
However, after all of this, he then discharged me properly and fully from the hospital for my knee surgery, wooo hooo :D

This week I also went to go and see 5 Seconds of Summer in concert, and they were so so so so amazing!!! I'm not going to go into too much detail about the concert as I plan on doing a post all about that, so you have that to look forward to ;)

The AMAZING 5 Seconds of Summer in their element :)

So this week was probably one of my favourite weeks (ever) as I finished learning about Wuthering Heights, I got to see one of my favourite bands live, and I got discharged from the hospital..... So it was all in a week's work ;)
I would also just like to point out the fact that ONE DIRECTION FINALLY ADDED NO CONTROL AND 18 TO THEIR SETLIST!!!!! I have been waiting for this day ever since the On The Road Again Tour started and that day finally arrived and there was so much happiness!
If you would like to read my experience of my other weeks post-op, then you can find those blog posts here. 
Feel free to leave me a comment if you've been through this (because I could use all of the advice and knowledge), or if you just feel like leaving a comment :)
Stay positive and keep on being you x

June Favourites

Hello Everyone :)

So for one of my ideas that I had planned for this blog I thought I would do a "Favourites of the Month" post once a month (funnily enough) about my favourite purchases within that month. This will include clothing, shoes, music etc.
So welcome to my favourite things from June (I know that it's nearly the end of July right now but I was running super late and I really wanted to start from June so here we go anyway......)

"X" by Ed Sheeran and "5 Seconds of Summer" by 5 Seconds of Summer (both are the deluxe versions)

 This month saw the release of the much anticipated 2nd album by Ed Sheeran and the debut album from 5 Seconds of Summer. Both of these being my favourite albums that I've heard in a while! "X" lived up to and exceeded all of the hype and expectation that surrounded Ed Sheeran's debut album, with it topping the charts worldwide. His soothing voice and incredible music make this album an essential for everyone! Meanwhile, the debut album from 5 Seconds of Summer is the perfect summer album, and you can read more about my opinions here.

One Direction Tour T-Shirt and wristband :)

So on a music related note, I thought I would add in my purchases from when I went to see One Direction on their Where We Are Tour in Wembley Stadium at the beginning of June. I got this T-Shirt with the tour dates on the back and this wristband (which I wear all day every day aha!). If you ever attend one of their concerts, or any concert in general, I would highly recommend buying a tour T-Shirt as it is a great way to remind yourself of the great experience!

Solana Beach Mist - Hollister Body Spray

My next favourite thing from June would have to be this Hollister body spray! It is the Solana Beach Mist spray, and in my opinion is the best one of them all. It is a mixture of jasmine, raspberry and white musk, and the result of this is simply heavenly! I like to call this scent "The smell of summer" as for me; it just screams summer whenever I smell it. You can get this particular spray here, or you can explore the other beautiful scents that Hollister has to offer here.





                         

 

Slip on plimsolls from New Look

 These shoes are the comfiest things that have ever graced my feet! I  have loved them and have wanted a pair ever since I saw Zac Efron wear them in High School Musical 2. They were a really great price  too, so I just had to get them! You can get them from most other  clothing shops, but I thought that the ones from New Look would  be more trustworthy.

Sport Shorts from Nike

This next pick is my new sport shorts. I got them mainly for when I do gymnastics but also for when I work out too. When I first saw them, I instantly fell in love with the colour of them, purple being one of my favourites. I love these shorts because they are so light, which is something that you want when working out. I would recommend these shorts for any sports lover as they are so comfortable and easy to wear.

Light pink dress from Miss Selfridge and Playsuit from Topshop

These two pieces are probably my favourite things that I have ever bought aha! I got both of these pieces in these shops sales and I am so so happy that I did! Before I bought the light pink dress, I had it in my head that I was looking for something to buy to wear for a wedding. And as soon as I saw this, I fell in love (insert heart eye emoji). It was just so simple, yet so elegant that I had to get it! And the playsuit from Topshop, wow....... I have such an obsession with playsuits, so when I saw this in their sale I ran straight to it and held it so tight in my hands because I did not want anyone else to get it aha! It is so beautiful and easy to pull off. Now I just need an occasion to wear it ;)

And that's the end of my June favourites post, I hope you love these items just as much as I do! If you've bought anything in the last month that you absolutely love, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment :)

I should have my July favourites post up within the next week or so, I hope!

Welcome to Typical Jess......

Hello there everyone :)

As my first blog post, I thought I would do a sort of introductory type thing so that I can let you know a bit about myself and what I will be blogging about and what my interests are and so on and so fourth...

So to start off with, my name is Jess (if you couldn't tell already!), I am 16 years old and I have just finished my first year of college, yay! I live in the UK with my famalam and cat, but I would love to go out and see the world some day...... Some of my MAIN interests include bands (One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer to name a few), music in general, cats, books (but I wish I read more) and food obvs! And these will be some of the main focuses of my blog posts.

I have a few ideas that I want to try out with this blog and hopefully they will work out aha - I even have a notebook filled with these ideas! And those ideas will be revealed in future posts. I've been meaning to create a blog for the past few months but it wasn't until my sister basically forced me to create one that I eventually listened (you should all check out her blog too: All Things Blonde and Curly.) I'm really excited to get this blog going and to share my views and opinions with y'all on some of my favourite things/topics.

I hope I haven't put anyone to sleep with this first post, it will get better I PROMISE! Anyway, thank you for reading :)