Post Op 1

After 6 days, I had a day full of medical visits with a bit work tossed in the middle. The day started with my first post-op appointment. I was looking forward to it as it was my first chance to get the full story on what happened and an explanation of the pictures I have been staring at for the past few days. So what was really done? The fat pad (I think anterior?) was inflamed and removed. Scary but true, I also got a CD with a video of it being cut and ripped out (ouch). The fiber near the attachment site was trimmed. If you look at the circular probe in the pictures, it turns like a drill and appears to have roto-rottered the loose fibers away. The cartilage in my knee was soft; however, this could be genetic and didn't appear to be arthritic. The cartilage doesn't appear to be worn down or show any other signs of degradation. My ACL and MCL look great. Finally, the star of my procedure, a Topaz device was utilized to coblated/removed with radio frequency radiation--death by radio, several small holes in my patellar tendon near the attachment site of the inferior pole.

Once again, the concept behind the operation is to remove some of the damaged area and stimulate the tendon to grown again in a controlled healthy way. The general message was everything looked good and was healing.

My recovery program got a little more structure. I was told I could lose the crutches after 7 days. I will still need a brace for another two weeks but no crutches is great news. I can start swimming when the stitches disappeared. He guessed it would be another 7 to 10 days. The hidden good news is that I can start getting the area wet in another day. Until now, I took a few sponge baths, not fun, and more recently used some Nathan Power Shower wipes--way better, to get clean. I can't wait for a shower. Back to the rehab plan. When I return to the pool, it will be with my feet tied and a pull buoy. No kicking for 12 weeks. I was told, to delay getting on the bike another 3 weeks, 4 weeks total. On the bright side, I can bend my knee as much as I can as long as I don't but weight on it. My PT gal temporary took that freedom away later in the day. She suggested it would be best if I let her move it and I only stay get happy with my brace.

As for pain, it's not too bad. I still have a lot of tightness in my quad and my knee doesn't have anywhere near a full range of motion, up to 90 degrees after a little help. I was told my quad hurt because I was lifting my leg with it more and adding stress to it. Of course, combine that with some operation stress and you get sore quads. My biggest problem is actually keeping the brace all the way up on my leg. My quads are too dang skinny to fill out the top of the brace. Come on, why can't we use something big like my butt as a reference point. Nope, they use my skinny quads and I have to take the Velcro all the way to the side of the brace and not the designed point. Think of having to make your hole in a belt to get it to fit.

Later at work, we had a health screening. Other than being the guy hobbling around on crutches all went well. I have a good cholesterol level, blood pressure, sugar level etc.... Now if my knee heals life would be perfect!

To finish off the trifecta of medical fun, I had my second PT appointment. We discussed the full rehab process and started a lot of basic movements. It feels great to have my leg out of the brace and moving. Ok, I am not moving it but to have someone moving it is nice. I did a few simple leg strengthening exercises but all with a straight leg to keep the pressure off my knee. Simple rotations, lifts on different angles etc... Then we worked a little bit on using one crutch. I am not transferring weight to my right, injured leg. After a few reminders, I was doing better. I have to admit, I am still really nervous to put any stress on my right leg. I just don't have any confidence in it. I should trust the brace but easy to say and hard to do after a night of screaming in pain. Oh well, that's all from me.