Strength Training

Another month on, and i can happily say that i can finally feel my leg starting to feel like a leg again!
The strengthening exercises i am doing for my quad muscle are really beginning to pay off.
Although i can still not support all my weight through my left leg in a walking movement, i can now stand for short periods of time on my left leg stationary.
The support my quad is giving my knee is also something that i am noticing more every week.
My knee feels a lot more stable when i a moving around now.
Still a long way to go yet, but finally i am actually feeling some improvement!
I can feel when i lie on my left side that there is definitely something not right with my left hip, and i am sure that this has to do with the pin in my upper leg protruding out of the top of my hip joint.
Something that hopefully will be removed from the equation next February!
I have started doing calf raises at the gym and also added Adductor and Abductor exercises on the machines.
I've also started swimming again every other day in the gym pool for a bit of cardio exercise.
Its almost December now, so just 2 months remain til my op. I am hoping that by that time i am almost walking without my crutches.
Time will tell though. It's all about exercising and strengthening for now...

Xrays & operations...

Early up this morning, and the now all too familiar procedure of catching the hospital bus through to George and joining the queue system.
To make things a little more interesting this morning, when i eventually got to the front of the queue, they told me that i did not have an appointment, and had to first go to the xray dept and get my name on the list, then to go upstairs to the orthopaedic dept and get my name on the list there, and then to return to collect my file in order to go and get my xrays taken!
Muttering under my breath i headed off to complete the process.
45 minutes later, and with my name now on all the required lists, i was sitting in the xray queue waiting for my turn.
At 2pm i finally made it to the front of the queue, and went inside to get my xrays taken.
Then upstairs to wait for another 2 hours to get to to see the specialist.
He looked over the new xrays, which showed multiple angles of the head of my femur, the ball part that slots into the hip.
His thinking was that maybe the screws that went at a 45 degree angle through the nail in my femur, and into my hip, were protruding out of the side of the ball part, and scraping on something, causing the pain.
Unfortunately the xrays were inconclusive. They only showed that the 1 screw was broken off, and the 2nd screw that they used was screwed very close to the edge of the joint.
He suggested removal of the hardware in my upper leg to see whether this would fix the problems i was having.
He looked through his diary and made my appointment for the next available date, 11th February next year!
6 days before my birthday! Oh well, maybe a nice birthday present awaits me? One can only hope hey?!
He notified me of the complications that may arise from the op, namely infection, or the re-fracture of the femur, or that they cannot remove the screws!
I was willing to put up with the risks involved though, as we all seemed to think that the op is necessary to get me walking again.
He explained that after the op, even if everything went well, he would need me to still be on crutches for another 6 weeks in order to make sure the bone was strong enough to take my weight again.
I dont think that the op will fix me entirely though.
I know that there are a lot more problems with my leg and knee that will develop over time, and perhaps even in the near future, but if i can lose the crutches and get walking again without them, then this, for me, is a huge bonus!
I have done a lot of research on calcium supplements too, as he mentioned that the bone around my hip area looked very weak, as i have not been using my leg for weight bearing much over the last 2 years. He was afraid that the hip might fracture whilst removing the nail as the op is quite a forceful one.
I have some Calcium Carbonate/Glycine chewable tablets that i am taking, and research shows that vitamin D3 helps the body absorb the maximum amount of calcium for the bones, so i have bought some D3 as well.
1 tablet of vit D3 in the morning with 2 tabs of Calcium Carbonate and then another 2 tabs of Calcium with lunch.
I'll keep on with the quad exercises as well, and hopefully by Feb next year i'll be strong enough to walk once the crutches can get chucked away!
At the moment i am almost able to stand straight legged with all my weight on my left foot. I can put about 90% weight through it now.
I know that walking requires the knee to be a lot stronger than just being able to stand on the leg, but i'm sure that as the quad gets stronger, the knee will will get stronger too.
Thats my aim now anyway...to strengthen the quad muscle to the point where it supports the knee enough to limit the amount of damage that will be done to it when i am walking again.
So, thats the news up til now.
Back to the physio and supplements drawing board, and pray pray and pray some more that Feb next year i get some good news for my birthday!
I was really hoping to be walking by the end of this year, but that doesnt look like happening now.
At least i've got summer to look forward to.
Its almost here, and by all accounts its going to be a scorcher!
Much love to all my readers.
Peace

2 days and 1200km later...

The trip down to Cape Town was a long one. Luckily it was overcast so it wasn't a hot one in the car.
The specialist there saw me, and i did the usual climb up on the bed and he pushed and pulled on my knee and did the leg rotating thing i've become used to by know.
His findings were that my knee seems to be stable enough to facilitate walking!
He said that the pain in the lateral part of my knee was, in his professional opinion, and without having looked at any xrays or seen inside my knee, coming from the upper part of my leg.
It was pain transferal from my femur or hip.
He looked at the xrays i had brought with me, and said that he could not tell from them where exactly the pain was coming from, and that i needed better xrays or an MRI to make sure.
And that was my entire 20min meeting with him.
A 2 day round trip, and a pretty expensive fuel bill later and i was still none the wiser...but at least i had been pointed in a direction to look now.
I took a chance the following morning and called the hospital in George to see if i could possibly get a late appointment for the same day, and i could stop in there on the way past.
As luck would have it, they could fit me in.
5 hours later and i was once again sitting in the queue system waiting to see the specialist at the public hospital.
3 more hours later and it was my turn.
They were interested to hear of my visit to the specialist in Cape Town, and agreed that the knee might not be where the initial problem lay. Unfortunately it was too late in the day for xrays, so they scheduled me to return the following wednesday for xrays and a better look.
So, off i went again, with a date to return in a weeks time.
The plot thickens...

Time for a specialist!

It's been 3 months since my last entry now, and i have been keeping on with the physio i am doing at home to try and strengthen my left quad.
I have noticed an improvement, but it is still very slow progress.
I have gone from straight leg raises, to straight leg raises with my work boot on my left foot, thus increasing the weight by about a half a kilo or so (they're steel toes caps).
My quad seems fine to take the exra weight, but my knee screams at me whilst grating and grinding under the kneecap!
But i'm still managing to get by every evening with a 50 set routine.
Luckily there hasn't been a return of the dreaded DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). I take Friday and Saturday off from this routine to give my quad a break from the workout, and this is seeming to give me enough of a rest to not have the muscle pain i've had in the past.
As these things usually go, i per chance, was speaking to someone and they mentioned a knee op they had had in the past and that there was an excellent specialist in the Cape Town area that i should get in contact with.
I found him online, and contacted him with my story.
He agreed to see me for free, waiving his usual consultation fee, and assess me and give me his diagnosis and also cost of getting fixed up privately.
I researched all about him, and am extremely confident that he is the right man for the job. He is 1 of the most highly qualified and experienced knee specialists in the country!
My appointment is finally (after 2 months trying to get a lift down to his practice) set for next week Wednesday afternoon.
I'm very excited to finally know exactly what is wrong with my knee.
One thing is for sure...there is nothing that i can bring to the table that he hasn't already seen and dealt with before!
So this is very encouraging.
Now just to hope that he has some sort of good news for me.
I'll be back online in the next 10 days or so to report back what he told me.
Peace

A change of thinking...

I had my return appointment with the hospital last week wednesday, and, armed with a few questions, i was hopeful of a positive trip in this time.

Over the course of the last month, i have done a lot of research on the net, and have found that it is more than possible to live without an ACL. I also have been researching partial knee replacement technology, as this seems a better option to a full knee replacement.

These were the questions i wanted to put to the doctor on my visit.

The usual preliminaries out of the way with the queuing, and 4h later i was sitting in front of my doctor.

I asked him first about the ACL and whether or not he felt that it was necessary at this point in my recovery.

He told me that i was correct in that a person could lead a normal enough life without an ACL at all. It would mean that the knee would be less stable and prone to collapsing if too much sideways stresses were put on it, but in normal walking and such, it would hold up ok as long as the quad muscle was strong enough to support it.

He said that the stronger the quad muscle, the more support the knee would get, as the quad runs over the front of the knee.

I asked him about wear and tear, and he said that the meniscii would slowly get worn out if there was no ACL. Unless the quad muscle was super strong, in which case it could fully replace the function of the ACL. But we're talking body builder strength here!

My next question was about the knee resurfacing technique i had researched on the net. I only found instances of the op being performed in the USA and not in South Africa, and he told me that this is because SA did not think that it was a good idea to perform this op.

He told me that it was the same as the hip resurfacing op, and that issues had come to light that the grating of the metal used in the resurfacing, against the bone, was letting trace amounts of the metal into the blood stream, and this was causing cancer, anaemia, and other problems. He said he would not recommend it.

He agreed with my thinking that it would be best to keep strengthening my leg to the point of being able to walk on it, and then to take things from there. If there was pain we would deal with it then, and decide what to do.

I would think that the ACL would still need to be done at some point, but certainly this would be a better idea once i was already walking, as it is a best case scenario of 3 months to start walking again after the op if you were walking beforehand. And i am not even walking yet, so who knows how far this would set me back again!

He told me that up until now, all the tests that have been done on me; the sonar, MRI, x-rays, nerve tests, physical exams, etc, have all been static tests, and that it would not make sense to go from these tests straight to operating.

He recommended that i start walking first, and also to try and see a biokineticist, as he said that there was a very good chance that my alignment and also muscle imbalance was a major factor in the pain i was experiencing in the outside of my knee.

I was pretty happy with the chat that we had, and left feeling a lot more focused on what needed to be done now.

So now i'm back on a physio routine to keep strengthening the leg, and to try and get walking as soon as possible.

I have tried walking with just one crutch on my left arm, and i can manage it, which is encouraging. It is a lot of a limp and not much of a walk, but it forces me to put a lot more weight through my left leg, so this is a good thing.

I am trying to do this once every other day, as even with a short half the length of the car park outside (30m) walk, my quad and knee are screaming at me.

But it will get better and stronger in time. I am dead set on walking before the end of the year.

In October it will be 2 years since the accident and that is WAY too long to be off my legs!

So, here's to physio physio and more physio.....sound like a stuck record!! ;)

Slow progress

Well, its been 2 months since my last post now.
I've been back to the physio a few times and the progress has been painfully slow.
I was hoping that after 2 months i would be noticing a marked improvement, but unfortunately, it is taking a lot longer than i hoped to strengthen my leg.
I have certainly noticed sum strength improvements, and mobility that wasn't there pain-free before, so this is encouraging.
I can now quite comfortably lie on my sides when i sleep, where as before i couldn't lie for long on my left side. Also, before when i used to fall asleep, i would have twitching of my quad muscle that would pull my leg straight, causing much pain. This seems to have lessened to the point of almost not happening anymore.
My physio exercises are getting a bit easier to get thru without any pain, and i have upped the length of time i am holding the contractions of the exercises for, from 7 to 10 seconds.
The straight leg raise is still giving me a lot of pain in my quad muscle 2 days after the exercises. Its just muscle pain, but most uncomfortable. I am alternating every other day with this exercise, to give my quad a rest in between.
The pain in the side of the knee is still there, but does seem to be recurrent a tiny bit less often now, although i can still not put my foot on the floor without pain.
My return to the hospital is in 1 months time, and my physio that i see every 2 weeks, reckons that i might be strong enough in a month for the doctors to let me go thru the next round of operations.
But a lot of hard work will need to be put in before then.
Its very difficult to stay positive knowing that i will still need another 2 major operations, with each one bringing its own 4-6 months recovery period!
I am busying myself with furthering my career with studies and courses in the meantime, and trying to line up some sort of business ventures in order to bring in some money, as i am still not working.
Unfortunately, its hard enough to find a job where i stay if you are able bodied, let alone on crutches!
Here's hoping that the next month goes well and that the doctors reckon i can get underway with the ACL reconstruction soon...

EMG

The EMG test was a little daunting once i was sat on the bed.
I suppose being an electrician, you know all about electricity, and even though that should probably help the situation because it is only tiny amounts of voltage, I think it just means i am more aware of what is coming!
3 small electrodes were placed on the nerves in my feet, near my toes, and then something looking like a soldering iron with 2 prongs at the end, was held further up my leg, just above the knee area, and a dial on the machine was turned up, slowly increasing the voltage, until an electrical kick was felt in my toes.
This electrical impulse was measured by a pc system and recorded for analysis.
About 5 shocks were sent thru my leg from each location he put the prongs, starting at very mild, to sumtimes quite strong.
The entire set of tests took about 45min or so, and i was chatting to him during the sequence.
He said that my nerve respnse was perfect. As though i had brand new nerves! He said that my sensitivity of the nerves was above the norm, and the response times very fast.
I told him that i was kinda hoping that he would find sumthing wrong so that i could find the cause of the pain, but he said that nerve damage is the last thing that you want to find!
Nerve damage caused problems getting signals to the muscles, and in turn meant that muscles would not function correctly or be as strong as they were before.
He told me that certainly a positive result to his set of tests is what anyone would be hoping for.
After leaving him, it was back to the hospital, the queue system for my file, and the wait to see the ortho specialist.
After 4h sitting on a very uncomfortable hard plastic chair, i finally got to see one of the docs.
He wasn't too impressed to see me back again, and after looking thru my file (i had not seen this guy before), he wanted to know how on earth i could be expecting them to diagnose a pain in the knee problem after only 2 weeks post op!
I told him that i had been sent for this EMG test, and that i was asked to return to look over the results.
He went thru the results with me and told me what i already knew...the results were perfect.
Another thing ticked off the list of possible problems.
Then dr Cappaert walked in and said hello. He'd overheard me talking and came in to see how i was doing.
He told me that i wa trying to rebuild Rome in 2 weeks and that it wasn't going to happen.
He said that i had a lot of things wrong with my leg as a whole, and that the recovery procedure was going to take a long time yet and that i should be patient.
I asked him about the possible knee replacement that i would need to have in the future, and he told me that i should pray that it was not anytime soon, as the nail in the tibia would need to be removed in order to facilitate this op. And he said that the tibial nail was inserted in such a way that it would make removing it very difficult indeed. To the point he feared that they might shatter the tibia or knee in doing so!
This wasn't very comforting knowing that the procedure would need to be done at some point in the future!
He reiterated the fact that until i was strong enough in my muscles, they could not proceed with anything to help me diagnose further.
They booked me in for a return assessment in 3 months time, giving me enough time to get myself as strong as possible.
My physio return is on monday, so until then, its back to the drawing board as far as pain and exercises are concerned!
Another frustrating day in my life, but on the positive side of things, at least one more thing ticked off that could be causing problems...
Ps: i decided on removing the stitches myself as i was pretty certain they were nylon and were not going to dissolve by themselves. I got a pair of tweezers and untied the knots, and pulled them out. Painless. Now my knee can heal up nicely!

Post op checkup

Today i was back to the hospital to have a 1 week checkup, and to get my stitches out.
After the usual long-winded queuing system to get my file and see the specialist, i was directed to dr Arnold, one of the operating surgeons with my op.
I spoke to him about the continued pain in the side of my knee, and he suggested that an EMG might be the answer to see if there were indeed any trapped nerves near the fibula head.
An ElectroMyoGram, is basically a nerve conductive test, where they check the condition of the nerves, and can tell you whether any damage has occurred or not.
He signed the necessary forms, and booked me in next wednesday for the test procedure at a clinic down the road from the hospital.
I asked about getting the stitches removed and he told me they were dissolving stitches and not to worry.
So, the knee pain saga continues...lets hope that the next set of tests reveals something...

Post op physio

I've started with the post op physio exercises that i have been assigned.
They may seem rather simple, but for a very atrophied leg, they are rather challenging. The same pain in the side of the knee continues to hinder me, and makes even the simplest movements such as sitting and standing a painful exercise!
But i'll try my best, as i need to get thru this...

The ticked exercises are the one's that i have been prescribed to start with so long. I have a return date in 2 weeks time to see the physio and she will access my progress and give me some more complicated one's if she sees fit.
The entire workout only takes around 20min to a half hour.
The pain i am feeling in my quads especially from these exercises is tremendous though.
I think they call it DOMS, Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.
Its from overworking a particular muscle group.
Unfortunately, when your muscles are atrophied to almost nothing, even the easiest workout is going to cause soreness, so i have just been working thru the pain, which at times, has been rather difficult.
But i have no choice...soldier on and get it done...

Doctors notes...

Monday morning around 9am dr Cappaert and dr Arnold (the assisting surgeon) came into my room and Cappaert asked me if i wanted the good news or the bad news first...
"The good i suppose", was my answer.
He told me that the good news was that i had had the op and i didnt need to wait for that anymore!
This didnt bode well...
The bad news was that my knee was a bit of a mess to put it mildly!
I had significant cartilage damage to my kneecap where it glides over the femur.
I had an extremely lax anterior cruciate ligamennt, to the point that the dr thought that maybe it was completely torn.
And i had osteochondritis dissecans, a bone problem that can cause arthritis and osteoarthritis. Even if treated.
What the doc did was to scrape away all the rough bits of cartilage under the kneecap that were scraping on the femur, and try to create the natural groove for the kneecap to run in again. He told me that he hoped that new cartilage would form now that he had scraped away the diseased and dead cartilage and it would start to work in a normal fashion. Although this is hope. There is no certainty of this.
He told me that the cruciate ligament tear is a big op, and that he was not prepared to do any of the ops to fix me any further until i could get my quad muscle on my affected leg to the strength of my good leg!
He said this because any op that he did in the future, would need a recovery period, and that would weaken the quad through inactivity, and with a weak quad, any surgery he would do would be doomed to failure in the long run.
He also told me that i could thank dr Arnold very much, as he had fought my case to be operated on on the sunday, as the anaethetist did not want to do the op as it was not an emergency. This was policy.
But he won his argument and the op went ahead, making me officially the first and only elective surgery ever to be done in the George Provincial Hospital on a sunday!
So i thanked him, and asked where we go to next?
He said that i needed to go home and strengthen my leg muscles to the point that he was happy, so that further operations could be performed.
I was looking at 2, possibly 3 more operations, in order to get back to walking again.
Each op had a recovery period of around 6-10 weeks before the next could be performed, and the final op, the cruciate ligament reconstruction, has a recovery period of 6 months!
So, to cut a long story short, it looks as though i will be on crutches for at least another year, to year and a half!
Not exactly the news anyone would want to hear, but the facts remain...
I suppose i see it that at a worst case scenario, i am already more than half way to walking again from the start of this ordeal, 1.5 years ago, so every day from here on out is a day closer to walking!
I was booked in to see the physio the following day, but she was busy with other patients, so i only got to see her today (tuesday).
She has given me a complete set of physio exercises to be done 4 times a day, and 5 sets of each exercise. She has told me that if i am diligent and work hard, i may be strong enough for my next op in around 3 months time.
Its gonna be a lot of hard work to get me to that point, but i am up for the challenge!
I cant wait to get walking again, so i need to do this, and do it good!
So thats my lot really...i'll post pics of the exercises in my next update, and follow my progress as it happens throughout the rest of this adventure...
Peace & Positivity
Si

Post op assessment...

Wednesday morning arrived and i was about to head out the door to go book myself onto the bed waiting list, when my dad shouted to me that it might be a good idea to pack my bags just in case they have a bed for me. Rather safe than sorry.

So i headed back upstairs to throw some clothes and stuff into my backpack.

Then it was off to the hospital.

I picked up my file around 11am, and headed up to see the ortho guy i normally see. After about 30min wait, i was seen, and was told that the paperwork i supposedly needed to fill in, had been filled in the previous visit, just as i had suspected!

The nurse who helps with the admin said that they had not heard back from the wards yet, and that there may be a bed available.

I was told to wait, and took a seat, not knowing whether i would be heading home again, or booking in for the night?

At 3.30pm i got my answer --- "grab your bag, we've got a bed for you"!

I was over the moon. I called my mum and told her that she could now head home, and i followed the nurse into the orthopaedic ward.

I was shown to a room with 2 beds, and no one in it, so i ended up the first evening, having a room to myself, which was pretty sweet.

Thursday morning one of the ortho surgeons came in, as i came to realise they did every morning, and checked out my file at the foot of my bed and asked me why i was there?!

I told him i was in for a knee arthroscopy. He asked to see my knee, asked me a bunch of questions, and then told me that he thought that i needed a better assessment, and took me off the operating list, and sent me for a bunch more xrays!

He said that the head ortho guy, dr Cappaert, would see me the following morning to evaluate the latest xrays and decide what course of action needed to be taken.

So off i went for the xrays, and then returned to bed to while away the rest of the day, wondering whether i would be sent home now, and have to go to the back of the queue again!

Friday morning dr Cappaert arrived around 9am and spoke with me. After checking the xrays out, he said that the femur was healing really well and showing signs of new bone formation around the break site.

The tibia he was not so sure about, as it was difficult to ascertain from the xrays.

He said that, as he stated in December when he booked me in for the op, he thought that a diagnostic arthroscopy would be the best way to go. This way he could be sure what was happening inside the knee and take things from there.

I agreed with him, and he said that he would try and get the op done on the following monday or tuesday now, as they always had busy weekends, and sundays were reserved for emergency cases only.

So i settled in for a weekend in the hospital.

I was very impressed with the professionalism of the staff, the food was not bad at all, and the wards were spotlessly clean. A very good advert for the government run flagship hospital in SA, where they are trying to install a NHS type system.

On saturday night i was told that i should not eat anything after 10pm, as they were pushing to get me done on the sunday, as they had a busy day monday, and then Cappaert was not working, so a different doctor would have to operate on me on tuesday.

On sunday morning around 11am, a nurse arrived to prep me for surgery, and did some tests, gave me my hospital gown to wear, and i had to remove all jewellery and bracelets.

About half an hour later i was lying on my bed and being wheeled down to the operating theatre.

I waited about an hour in the waiting area outside the theatre as they finished up someone before me.

Then it was my turn.

First thing i noticed upon entering the theatre was the 40" LCD screen on the wall, which i commented on, and was told that that was where they watch movies when the op becomes a bit boring!

Haha! A surgeon with a sense of humour. Always a good thing.

I joked with the anaethetist and the surgeon while they put a drip in me and prepared to send me under.

I got the mask over my mouth and nose, and was told it was just pure oxygen, so took a couple of deep breaths, knowing how good it tasted from my scuba diving experiences with it.

The room spun slowly around and then i was gone...

I woke up in the recovery room outside the theatre, and the doc said that the op had gone well, and that he would see me the following morning to discuss the results with me.

I was taken back upstairs, and, feeling rather nauseous, i refused lunch when it was offered.

I was given a shot of morphine by the nurse, and was back to sleep for a couple of hours.

When i woke up, my parents were there for visiting hours.

After that i was starving and happpily ate the feta and mushroom quiche my mom had brought me for supper!

Then it was back to sleep again, dreaming of good news in the morning...

2 hops forward and 1 hop back...!

Well, i said last time that the next time i blogged would be post op...unfortunately, this is not the case!
Monday 4th when i went in to see the docs to book me in for my op, they told me that there were no free beds, and that i should return on the wednesday! I wish it were that simple, as the hospital is a full 2h drive away, and then the return trip if they cant see me!
I mentioned this to the doc, and he gave me a number to phone to check if beds were available so that i was not wasting my trip coming in each time.
I phoned them on the wednesday morning, and they told me that there were still no spare beds, and that i should try again the following monday!
Apparently mondays aren't very promising cos of the weekends events bringing, usually, more trauma victims into the hospital, and hence, the beds getting filled up!
After 2 frustrating weeks of phoning every monday and wednesday, i still have not been seen!
I phoned this morning, and the doctor who will be doing the surgery on me answered, and told me that in his honest opinion, i was wasting my time phoning every week.
He said that the best route to follow would be to come into the hospital on wednesday this week, and to give my name in to the reception that i needed a bed. They would put me on a waiting list for a bed, and when one freed up, i would get it. This would normally happen over the course of the weekend.
I would then stay in the hospital, thus laying claim to my bed, until they could do the operation!
Now, seeing as though they only do these arthroscopy's on a tuesday, wednesday and thursday, it might mean that i spent 4 or 5 days in the hospital without even getting seen to!
He also told me that although they try their best to see everyone who has a bed, as soon as possible, it might be another week before they saw to me!
So, even with a bed, there is no guarantee that i would get operated on within 4 or 5 days...it might be a week longer! Sitting in a hospital, eating hospital food, for up to 10 days or so before i even got the op!
Good grief!
But, not having many options left, i will have to follow these recommendations and go into the hospital on wednesday morning.
I'll know the same day when my admittance date will be. Then its to go stocked up with enough stuff to keep me busy to make it through to the op date, whenever that may be!
The happy days of a patient without medical aid... :(
Hopefully the next time i write will be with happier news...

Almost there...

Well, its been a long 2 months or so since i went for my bone isotope scan, and i am happy to say it is now only 1 week til i get my op on my knee.
All things going well, i should have already had my op by this time next week!
To say that i'm looking forward to having the arthroscopy may be a bit strange, but i am certainly looking forward to putting all this behind me as soon as possible.
I have a lot of faith that after this op i will start to finally return to a somewhat normal life again.
There have been moments over the last 2 months where i have been in a lot of pain, and even phoned the hospital mid January, to see if there wasn't a chance i could get a place sooner if a place opened up?
I can see that over the last year my knee has slowly degraded to the point i am now, where even taking it from a bent relaxed position over the edge of the bed, to a straight out position, is painful, and a lot of clicking and grating can be heard under the kneecap.
Sleeping has been a bit of a battle for the first 6 weeks or so since the scan. As i am drifting off to sleep the muscles in my quad seem to have a nervous tic and contract, pulling my knee tight and causing a lot of discomfort. This would happen regularly during the night, making sleeping thru impossible.
Luckily as i have strengthened my quad muscle, that seems to have stopped, for the most part anyway.
Although i have been doing a fair bit of strengthening exercises, my quad still remains at around 15-20% of normal strength. This is not great, but at least i have managed to get some strength back into it.
Straight leg raises don't present such a problem anymore, and i can relatively easily do 5 sets of 20.
My op is on the 5th, but i will be admitted on Monday next week, the 4th.
I'll need to get my file and go up and see the ortho specialist, who will admit me to my ward, and i suppose, give me some advice on what the procedure will be and what to expect afterwards.
I have done a fair bit of research on the op though, so i have a good idea of what is to be expected.
I even found a pretty cool video on the net that explains the entire pre, during, and post op procedure...
Knee Arthroscopy Procedure
My brother has also had 2 arthroscopic knee surgeries to repair a torn meniscus, which i know that i have too, so i have spoken at length about it to him.
I dont think anyone can say for sure that they are enjoying going into hospital, but like i said, this is a necessary op, and i know it will certainly help me on the way to walking again.
All thats left now is to mentally prepare myself for surgery, and next time you hear from me will be post op!
"Break a leg"
8)