Knee

2006-11-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

It has been a very long time since I have posted. I just had another appointment with my doctor, this is 14 months post surgery. While I was there I got a couple of pictures of my knee during the surgery. The first picture is of my knee before they implant the Carticil, it gives a very good picture of the area that is missing cartilage. The second picture is after they have sewn on the cover and injected the Carticil. I have an upcoming MRI to see how my knee has been healing. Hopefully I'll get back on in the future and give an update.

2005-12-19T15:30:00.000-05:00

I met with the doctor this past Friday. The frustrating part of the cartilage replacement is that there is no way to tell how well it is going until I get to the point where I can really try it out. The only thing I can tell is if there is something going very wrong, thankfully that is not the case.

The doctor felt my knee and listened while I bent it to see if there were any crunchy sounds/feelings. There were not, on the occasion I still get that feeling but not very often. There is still swelling around the knee but that is normal for the procedure. I asked when the swelling should dissipate and I’m still looking at a couple of months before that happens. I then asked about the achy feeling and that will go away once the swelling does. I also asked if I was past the point of damaging the procedure and unless I do something foolish (like play basketball) or have a bad fall I am out of the woods.

The next thing the doctor checked was the ligament. He was very pleased with the graft and thinks that portion of the procedure went very well. At least I can know how one portion of the procedure went.

My last question for him was about a brace and they don’t start looking into that until I reach the six month area. That is when I can start doing more active things. The type of brace I would be fitted for is one that would take some of the load bearing off of the outside (where I had the cartilage replaced) of my knee.

At this point I am for the most part on my own. I don’t have another PT appointment until the mid of January and not another doctor’s appointment until the mid of February.

2005-11-29T15:47:00.000-05:00

My leg seems to be getting stronger, I still have not progressed to weight lifting but I’m hopeful that is in the near future. I think by next week I’ll be starting lunges. Yesterdays PT session started out with a quick bike ride and then work on the ball doing both of the exercises I described last time. From there I moved to the disk, this is just a disk shaped object that is mounted on a half ball. I stand on that with one leg and rock it under control front to back. With two feet on it I rock it left to right. The next balancing exercise I did was stand on a snowboard shaped object that sits on two cushions. While balancing on that I play catch with Karen the Physical Therapist. The next exercise was side steps. With a tightly tied band around both legs a step to the side across the room. The next thing we did was walk on the treadmill backwards with tension on my leg. Not done yet, it was a long session. The last new exercise was I lay on a half cylinder with the flat side on the ground. I had to balance on that and march (lift both legs up and down in place). Surprisingly it was very difficult at first to balance when I lifted my right leg. The last thing I did before I left was work with the exercising balls again.

My home regiment has not changed much. I need to continue to do all of the exercise I had been doing and ad the side steps with the band tied to my legs.

2005-11-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

It’s the day before Thanks Giving and I am working my but off. Karen had me doing a couple of new exercises today as well as riding the bike. She had me using one of the exercise balls. First I started in the sitting position on the ball and then slid down so that my shoulder blades were on the ball and I was making a table with my body. I needed to balance my shoulder blades while maintaining a flat surface. This exercise seemed like it was more work on my stomach than my knee. The second one we did was I was lying on the floor and I put my legs on the ball. I then raised my hips, this one was very similar to the bridges I am currently doing at home. To make it more difficult on my legs and less on the balancing I did it with my knees bent.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanks Giving (or weekend if you’re not from the States). Mine was very nice but I didn’t do many of my exercises. Really, the only exercising I did get in was walking my dog every day. Walking the dog tends to aggravate my knee and has been recommended by Karen not to do. I’ll have to get back into the swing of things this week.

2005-11-22T14:49:00.000-05:00

The quads are very sore today. Better that than the knee itself. Once again started off the same way we always do, riding the bike. From there we worked on straighten my leg. Karen thought it was looking much better. Talked a bit about the how I think my knee is doing and what causes it pain. I mentioned that going down stairs still causes pain. We then proceeded to do stair exercises for about 15 minutes. From there I worked out on the treadmill while Karen put tension against my knee. I will be having PT again tomorrow.

I’m now at 10 weeks out from the surgery. If I look at stage II (6 – 12 weeks) of the rehabilitation the goals are gradual increase range of motion (ROM), gradual improve quadriceps strength/endurance, gradual increase functional activities. I have been working on all of the above. The criteria to progress to phase III is to gain full ROM, acceptable strength levels (hamstring 10-20% contra lateral leg, quadriceps 10-20% contra lateral leg), balance testing within 30% contra lateral leg, able to walk 1-2 miles or bike 30 min. Of the criteria I can understand, my ROM is now at 135°, so I am close. I can already walk over a mile and bike for 30 minutes. I’ll have to find out in understandable terms how to measure how close I am when it comes to strength and balance.

My next post will probably be on Monday so have a very nice Thanks Giving all.

2005-11-18T13:04:00.000-05:00

Most of my PT yesterday was spent on straightening my knee (again). It started out like it almost always does with me warming up on the bike. From there I started a new exercise, I laid on my belly with a rubber band strapped to my ankle and the other end strapped to a table. I then had to bend my leg up toward my head and hold it. This is to help strengthen my hamstring. From there I went on one of the beds and Karen (the physical therapist) worked on my knee. This is probably the third time we have done this, I lay on my belly and she puts a foam cylinder or other object under my thigh and bends and massages my knee back (to straight). By the time she is done my knee hurts but I guess it is straighter. From there I went to the treadmill to walk backwards once again. This time I walked with tension on my knee. Again I used a rubber band wrapped behind my knee and Karen was holding the other two ends. She would then pull back on the strap forcing tension on my leg while making steps back.

For my daily exercises I can now drop the knee extensions as long as I get Mrs. Bentley to put tension on my knee while I do the treadmill. I have to also add the leg curls that I described above. So that makes it for strengthening: calf lifts, mini squats, leg curls, bridges, and stairs; for gait: treadmill with tension (walking backwards). I still need to continue to do balancing exercises and stretching.

As an added bonus this week I was sent home with an electrolysis unit (free use for one week). This is different than the micro-current unit I used earlier in the rehab. The electro-stim is the unit that will actually make your muscles contract. I actually enjoy this unit, I find it a really cool sensation having the muscles do that.

2005-11-17T10:24:00.000-05:00

November 14 and the PT is starting to get long again. There is good and bad in this also (see my last two posts). The walking is getting better but it still doesn’t feel exactly right and when my leg gets tiered I start to limp in a big way.

I started off my session the same way I seem to always do, riding the bike for about 20 minutes. My right knee seems to bend back a bit and Karen (the physical therapist) seems to now think the left will never do that again but it should be able to make it to full straight. On the bright side it is probably a good thing that it does not bend back at all. From the bike Karen worked on my knee trying to increase the bend. From there I went to the treadmill. She had me walking backwards on it to help with my gait. I continued on the treadmill for about 15 minutes. We then worked a bit on balance and then step-ups; I am now doing side step-ups.

By the end of this session my leg was quite tired. By that evening my leg was once again screaming and I was totally wiped. Wow is it nice to be back to the old regiment!

My daily workout schedule is now riding the bike for 20 min. For strengthening I do calf lifts, mini-squats, bride and step-ups (front and side). For gait knee bends and walking on the treadmill backwards. For balance I stand on one leg, usually on a pillow so that it is not an even surface, and play catch with one of my boys. I also continue to bend the knee to increase its range of motion.

2005-11-16T11:52:00.000-05:00

November 10th and the PT sessions are still not very long. The good of it, I don’t feel totally wiped when I get home and my knee is not screaming. The bad of it, my knee and leg are still not strong enough to do a lot of work.

I did a lot of the same basic things, rode the bike, did calf lifts (still could not do many) and walked on the treadmill a bit. I did add one new exercise this session, step-ups. It’s just as it sounds, I stand in front of a step and step-up. I still am not doing step-downs yet.

As just an aside, today (Nov. 10) is my birthday. I know you all wanted to know.

2005-11-14T12:04:00.000-05:00

November 7, 2005 was a feel happy day. I walked into the physical therapists office and got the nice fan fair about being off crutches. Spent a little time talking about how I am doing off the crutches. Said how my calf seems to be bothering me more than my knee itself. The pads on my foot were also bothering me after the walk to work. Karen figures it is just because of lack of use (kinda what I figured also).

The session was spent working on balancing exercises and calf rises. Just as an example of how weak the calf is I could do 40 calf raises with the right leg without issue, I could only get 16 with a lot of strain with the left. The good and bad of being off the crutches; Good: the session went very fast, there was not a ton I could do and Bad: the session went very fast because my leg is so weak.

For this week my exercise regimen includes biking for 20 minutes. To build up the calf and thighs I will be dong calf lifts, mini squats and bridges (lay on your back and raise you hips into the air trying to put most of your weight on the left leg). To improve my gait I am walking backwards, knee bends (using tension from a rubber band) and walking on the tread mill. For balance I am standing on one leg (left leg) and tossing a ball with one of my boys.

2005-11-10T13:35:00.000-05:00

November 4th I meet with the surgeon. He takes a look at the incisions and the knee itself. He has me do a leg lift and asks a couple of questions and for the most part that was my appointment. That morning I was able to put all of my weight my leg. I asked the doctor about any limitations to weight bearing and he said I was all set, as for strengthening I needed to proceed slowly.

One very interesting thing did happen at the doctor’s office; he asked if I had seen pictures of my knee. I said not from this last procedure. I was expecting to see scope pictures like the previous ones I have seen and can’t total understand. I was very wrong, he pulled out two regular developed pictures of my knee. It was very cool and a bit gross.I was wrong about the scars on my leg, I am so used to the very long scars from reconstructs of the past that I just assumed that the larger scar on the left of my knee was from the reconstruct and the two smaller ones were for the reconstruct. Well, the long one is for the cartilage replacement. The pictures show that part of the knee being pulled open and you can clearly see the large area of my knee that is missing cartilage. The second picture shows the knee after they have sown on the periosteal patch but before they inject the Carticel. Not only was I blown away by the pictures but how small the scars are now for the reconstruct. I am going to try to get a copy of those pictures at my next visit (mid December).

I went to work that afternoon only for a couple of hours to tie up some loose ends and then headed home. Once home I practiced walking around the house until the boys came home. That night was the last home football game for the High School so I figured I would take the boys to the game and daring as I was go without crutches. All of the games I went to last year I would park at the Middle School which is behind the stadium and there was a small gate behind that you could get into the stadium through. I made the assumption that the gate would still be open, I was wrong, it was chained shut. I was forced to walk around to the other side of the stadium and then back again to get into the bleachers. I had to do the same thing at the end of the game to get back to my car. The next morning I was hurting quite a bit from overdoing it. The funny thing is that my calf hurt a lot more than my knee did and I think that was limiting my walking ability more than the swelling on my knee. Regardless of the pain I had to suffer through for those couple of days I Was Off Crutches!!

2005-11-09T11:59:00.000-05:00

November 3rd late in the evening, I had to schedule this session late due to work once again. Tonight Karen wants to work on balance. Since I am still unable to get full weight bearing on my knee she had me standing with one leg in front of the other and my left leg (the bad one) being in back. She then wanted me to put as much weight on my back leg as possible and balance there. It was no challenge at all.

She then had me get on the bike for about a half hour and then work on a couple of other exercises. By the end of the work out the leg was feeling a lot more tired. She then had me try the balancing exercise. This time it was quite the challenge, for most of the time my leg had the quivers. It is still upsetting to see the difference in the size of my quad and calf compared to the right leg.

2005-11-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long laps in posts, this past week has been very long and busy at work. So since I last posted there have been 3 PT sessions and one doctor’s visit. I am going to try my best to catch you up.

October 31st in the AM, I had to schedule an early PT session because of work. I had another 2 hour session! Boy Karen (the physical therapist) likes to work me. The good news is by the end of the session I got my 120° and just under one week later then I was supposed to (Tuesday, tomorrow, would be week 7). I can now take the brace off while I am walking and start to move toward full weight bearing. Karen suggested that I wean the brace off, especially since I have a long walk from my garage to the office, nope! I could not wait to get pant on and get out of shorts.

Tonight I spent the evening crutching around the neighborhoods with the boys. I probably did too much for the first day without the brace. Thankfully the knee doesn’t seem to be too much worse for the ware and hasn’t swollen up.

2005-10-28T11:12:00.000-05:00

I paid to have my ass kicked! I had another physical therapy session last night. First thing we did was take a measurement of the range of motion I had in my knee, I got 102°, only a 2° increase from Monday. Next I went through the torture of them physically stretching my leg to increase the ROM. Most of the stretching was just gravity doing the work but it was quite painful. And on an aside, what the hell is with the 1 to 10 range of pain? I have the hardest time trying to describe pain and where specifically it is coming from. Let see, my knuckles are white from holding onto the side of the table and you have to keep reminding me to breathe, how much pain do you think it is 4? Despite the pain, regardless of the fact that I complain about their number system, I really don’t mind if it hastens the time until I get off the crutches and out of the brace. We measured once again and I was getting to 104°.

I then got set up on a large version of a CPM machine. I was on that for quite a while and that gave my knee a good stretch. The next stop was the bike. The nice thing about the bike was I was able to get a little speed and no pain at the same seat height as Monday. I also ended up lowering the bike seat two notches over that time period. At the lowest notch that I had it on (I think it was 6, not that it matters) I could feel the stretch in my knee but was still able to pedal with some speed.

After I was done with the bike I had one last measurement of my ROM, 110°! I was very happy with that, still not at my goal to move onto the next section of rehab but at least I seem to be making decent improvements. If I am able to get to that 120° mark by Monday that will only put me one week behind the schedule and maybe I can catch up.

The last thing we did was electro therapy with quad settings. A little over two hours from the start of therapy I was done. To say the very least I was beat! I plan on going to the gym this afternoon to ride the bike; hopefully I’ll have no problems making a full rotation now.

2005-10-25T11:36:00.000-05:00

It is six weeks today since the surgery and I didn’t make the 120° passive motion but I did improve. Friday I crutched my way over to the MAC (Malcolm Athletic Center) to ride the bike. At therapy this past Thursday I was able to do full rotations on the bike so I figured I’d be able to do it on the bikes there. Well, I was able to raise the seat as high as I wanted but the pedals are longer so I really was not able to do the rotations. Regardless of that I did half moons and continued to try to make a rotation. Before I was done I was able to do a few rotations but I should have apologized to the person on the bike besides me. The first time I made a full rotation a got a shock of pain and made a voluntary yelp that scared the life out of him. It embarrassed the hell out of me but the funny thing (other than the fact that it made him jump) was that he looked over initially but then went right back to biking like nothing happened.

Over the weekend I went to my in-laws to use their bike. I could not even get close to making a full rotation on that. Their bike I think is older than me and the seat is very limited as to how high you can raise it. Needless to say I had it at its highest level. I still used it and made half moons on it, anything to increase my ROM.

Yesterday at therapy I knew that I didn’t have the 120° but I did think the swelling went down a bit. We took a measurement of the ROM and I had increased to 98°. At this session I rode the bike, I went down to a lower level on the seat. When I was done with the bike I had some pain while trying to straiten my leg, first time I have had any real issue with that. My PT seems to think that it is possibly due to the fact that my knee was bent for an extended period of time while on the bike. After the bike I did electrolysis on my knee (not the type that just runs currents through it to reduce swelling but the type that induces the muscle to flex, I love that one) and quad settings. At the end of the session my ROM was 100° and the swelling (although looked like it had gone down a lot) was down from last session by a ¼ of an inch.

I have included a couple pictures of my knees so you can see the amount of swelling. At this point you can start to see my knee cap now but you can see the amount of swelling that is still there compared to my right leg. Something else that is a bit disheartening is the amount of muscle I have lost on the left leg. I have no thigh or calf in the left leg any more; you can really see this if you compare the calf muscles.

2005-10-21T09:57:00.000-05:00

I went into PT yesterday not feeling very good about my progress so far. I (thought I) had worked rather hard on my knee the past couple of days to try to increase my range of motion. First thing we did when we got there was to measure the amount of swelling and my range of motion. The swelling was about the same and I only gained a couple of degrees of ROM.

I think my PT saw the fact that I was disappointed with my progress so far. She called another PT over that has had some experience with Carticel to take a look. First off she didn’t seem concerned with the amount of swelling that I had on my knee. She then went through some initial tests to make sure that there were no calcium build-ups that are impeding my motion. Good news seems that there aren’t any. The next thing we did was some aggressive (another way of saying painful) stretches and exercises. By the end of that I was able to get a ROM of over 80°.

Next they had me get on the bike. They wanted me to start doing half moons but I was able to do full pedals (at no resistance and slowly with pain). I continued to do this for about 45 minutes while receiving electro-therapy. At the end of my session we did another measurement, the swelling was the same but I had 90° ROM. I was very happy with the progress of that session.

The reality! This coming Tuesday will be six weeks after the surgery. At six weeks the goals are to have full passive knee extension, minimal pain and swelling and a ROM of 120°. The only goal I have reached is the full passive knee extension. I’m going to work my ass off this weekend to increase my ROM but 30° in a couple of days will be a lot. The other issue is that my insurance only covers the PT for 60 concurrent days so I really do not want to fall behind on the rehab schedule. This afternoon I’m going to stick my way over to the gym to ride the bike. I hate walking around on the crutches in public (I have to go about 6 blocks to get to the gym) but I need to start seeing progress.

2005-10-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

It has been five weeks yesterday and the swelling has gone done enough that I can just make out that there is still a knee cap there. For me this is just not going fast enough. I just do not have the range of motion yet. By week six (according to the physical therapy protocol) I am supposed to have a 120° ROM, I am not even close to that yet. There are a couple of improvements though.

I decided to try to drive my car to the PT yesterday. The only reason I mention this is because my car is a stick and I have not been able to drive it since the surgery. I managed to make it there without much discomfort, the way home a bit more but I was worked over a bit. The best part is that I drove into work today! I was able to stay in bed a couple (yes couple) extra hours since I didn’t have to get up quite so early for my ride.

The PT seems to think the swelling has gone down a bit and was happy with that. She has also suggested that I try to take time at work and lay down with my leg elevated, not a very easy task at work. While there she had me doing isometrics with electro-stim. She also added a couple of stretching exercises for both my hamstring and calf that I now need to incorporate into my routine. The most painful part of the PT session was the knee massage I got before I was done, it is still quite tender.

2005-10-17T10:56:00.000-05:00

I had my first physical therapy session this past Thursday. Not much to speak of, it went pretty much the way I had expected it to go. I ended up going to the same place in Concord that I went for the last two procedures. No one there was failure with the rehab protocol for cartilage replacement (as most people aren’t) but luckily I was smart enough to bring Carticel rehabilitation manual.

Karen the therapist was surprised by the amount of swelling I still had (five weeks and still no kneecap). I am now taking 600mg every four hours as well as compression and ice to combat the swelling. I need to continue doing the leg lifts and ankle pumps. I learned a few new passive motion exercises; at this point I really am not supposed to do much active motion. As well as the passive motion I have also added Patellar mobilization (moving the knee cap around), quad settings, and multi-angle isometrics. The last two is just flexing my leg and surprisingly it is a lot of work.

My PT schedule is now twice a week. I’ll be back there again on Tuesday (tomorrow) and I’ll report on the condition then and maybe have an updated picture of what the knee is looking like (not a huge change).

2005-10-06T08:57:00.000-05:00

I’m back to work! I was planning on going back to work on Monday but Mrs. Bentley woke up with a nasty head cold. As I mentioned before, Tuesday the CPM machine was going to be picked up so I planned on returning to work on Wednesday. The pain I got from the CPM never dissipated and I never went past 90° and I can still only get about 40° outside of the CPM.

The CPM was removed by 9:30 Tuesday morning. Spending 6 hours a day on the machine despite how boring and painful it was really broke the day up. Not being able to do that really enforced the fact that I needed to get out of the house and back to work! You can only do so many leg lifts.

It was great to be back at work. I didn’t get much accomplished in terms of work; I spent most of my day going over other peoples work and changes that have been made to my projects. Right now I am getting a ride into work from a neighbor of mine; I get there before 7 and am leaving around 3:30, very odd hours for me. It is an odd feeling being the first person in the building (not just the office). I am going to have to figure out other arrangements for next week as he will be taking a class.

There may be a chance that I can borrow my brother-in-laws car for a while. His is not a stick and I should be able to drive it. The only issue there is that the garage that I park at is a few blocks away and I end up parking on one of the upper floors and it doesn’t have an elevator. I’m working with the parking department to let me park on the first floor. They are still waiting on a letter from my doctor stating that stairs can be treacherous for me while I am on the crutches. My HR person also notified the STD people that I have started back to work to find out that my doctors office never faxed back the papers they need. That was a bit disappointing since I had giving (and watched the doctor fill out) all of the paperwork to the doctor back on August 12th. Worst comes to worse I have enough vacation time to cover the laps in time; I’d just hate to waste it on my knee.

Work was relatively comfortable up until about 12:30. At that point it seemed like I could not get into any position that was comfortable. I’d lock my knee, flex my knee, put it up on the garbage can, and walk around a bit. It seemed as if I could not sit more than 10 minuets at a time with out my knee screaming. I’m guessing that each day it should get a little easier.

Once home I iced my knee for a couple of hours and did my exercises. I finally sat down to get entirely depressed by the Sox lost. It’s great to be back to work and have some normalcy!

2005-10-05T12:07:00.000-05:00

Three weeks and still no knee cap! There is still a lot of swelling around my knee. I need to be doing more of the Ice Man to reduce this. This was a week of just increasing my ROM and decreasing my drug intake.

Monday, September 26th I am down to only two pills, one when I wake up in the morning and another before bed. By Wednesday I have increased my ROM to 70°. This sadly is only on the CPM machine. If I try to move my knee outside of the machine I can only get about 20° (even now I max out at 40°). By Thursday I have increased my ROM to 80° but it is painful! I have also decreased my drug intake to just one Perkaset before bed.

I have scheduled my physical therapy to start on October 13th. I don’t know if they scheduled it out this late (one month after the surgery) intentionally to get the most out of the PT because of the procedure I endured or because that is the earliest they could take me. After the first visit I should have regular visits every Monday and Thursday.

Friday the dog has to go back to the vet to get her bandages changed. She is already acting more like herself but still hops to stay off her left hind leg on the occasion. I have increased my ROM to 87°.

Saturday I have increased my ROM to 90°! Once I hit 70° I start to feel some pain, by the time I reach 90° there is a lot of pain. I’m planning on staying at 90° for a while or at least until the pain subsides. I did not take any pills today!

Back to no knees! They removed my CPM machine today, Tuesday October 4th; the insurance only covered it for 21 days. I have been doing other exercises but today started doing them more consistently. I am doing ankle flexes with the use of a rubber band to give tension. I am also doing leg lifts in all four directions. None of these exercises seem to give me any pain, I just (sadly) get physically tired from doing them. Afterwards I have some, what I think are normal, aches in the knee. Again I should be using the Ice Man more to alleviate both the pain and swelling!

2005-09-30T08:34:00.000-05:00

Saturday September 24 I get to take a nice hot shower. It is not easy getting in and out of the shower and hopping around on one leg but oh is the shower nice. I need help once I get out wrapping my leg in the ace bandage but over all I can manage it. Today is Bedford day and my boys are planning on marching in the parade and I am going to try to watch them. My wife drove me to the center of the town and I setup a chair near the curb and was comfortable enough. A funny thing happened while I was sitting there before they stopped traffic for the parade; someone in a car passing by stopped and recognized me from my posts. He also wished me luck; funny I would never expect that to ever happen.

After the parade was over the boys had a soccer game and I decided to go to that also. By the time I made it home my knee was very sore but I guess that is to be expected. Regardless it was very nice to get out of the house and move around a bit. My wife picked up our dog after soccer, she had bandages on both hind legs, and they looked like little booties. She has to take both a pain medicine and an antibiotic. She’ll have to go back to the vet’s on Monday to have the bandages changed. I also was able to sleep in my own bed; my back felt much better and I slept a little bit longer before first waking up at 4:30.

Sunday I was up early and got on the CPM nice and early. Good friends of ours son came over today to mow the lawn. He did a great job and he is a good kid. What I cannot understand is how my whole family thinks he was able to mow the lawn so much faster than me? I think he spent about the same amount of time. They (the family) say that it s probably because he is younger (there so nice). I watched the games (Sox and Pats) and increased my range of motion past 50°.

2005-09-29T09:10:00.000-05:00

Thursday Morning September 22 what else could go wrong? My wife saw a friend outside across the street and ran across to see her. She did not notice but the dog managed to sneak out behind her. While across the street her friend noticed that the dog had gotten out. My wife told her friend not to call the dog because she didn’t want her to run into the street but it was too late. Our dog ran into the street and got clipped by a white pickup truck. Long story short we had to bring her to the vet and she needed to have surgery. We were very lucky that there is not any permanent damage. The guy in the white pickup truck didn’t even stop after he hit her! How can anyone not stop?

Now my wife has to take care of me, the boys and our dog’s injuries once she comes home. On Friday afternoon I went back to the doctors office. While there he took a look at my knee and said it looked good, not too much swelling. Dr. Richmond then started to take off the steri-strips and remove the stitches. I was planning on taking a few pictures of my knee while he was dong this but sadly I started to feel very lightheaded. I was only able to get this one picture when he finished before he wrapped my leg back up. I can now start to get my knee wet, which means I can start to take showers, YEA! I also have to start increasing my range of motion up to 90°, I am currently at 30°.

Before leaving the office I got a script for Vicodin and information about the physical therapists at Tufts University Hospital. I am still not sure what PT’s I’ll end up using, I may just continue with the group in Concord that I had used with my last two procedures. I am hoping I will not have to fill the script for Vicodin. I’ll be going back to see Dr. Richmond in a month, sometime in early November.

2005-09-28T08:48:00.000-05:00

Monday morning September 19 I spent some quality time in the bathroom. I still have the feeling that there is unfinished business but I am feeling much better. During the week my schedule has started to work out nice. I get my first CPM session after the boys get on the bus, my second before they get home and the last one before they go to bed.

By Wednesday I started to cut back on the medication, I am now only taking three pills a day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one before bed. At this point my back is killing me trying to sleep. I just can’t seem to get comfortable sleeping on my back anymore. Not only that but my bum kills me while I do the CPM machine. I cannot wait for both of these to change.

2005-09-27T07:12:00.000-05:00

Friday Morning September 16th I wake up in my own home. I must say I have one of the nicest wives. Last night after my wife got me all set for bed she said she would be down at 1 AM to administer my pills. She had already set her alarm clock so I do not need to worry about it. That night around 20 of one like clock work my knee wakes me up. I look up at the VCR for the time and figure that’s not too bad only twenty minutes to wait. Well 1 AM came around and no wife. 1:10 and still no wife and I have no idea where she has hid the pills. At twenty past one she pops into my room to find me wide eyed waiting for her. She had fallen back asleep, needless to say the pills now sitting right beside me before I go to bed with a glass of water. That just works out better for everyone but this does give me something else to tease my wife about, I’m so bad!

I had one thing I needed to do for work so after I finished with my CPM for the morning I got that done. That afternoon I got a gift basket in the mail from my coworkers, very nice of them. I’m guessing the Dean picked it out but that is just a guess.

Over the weekend I just tried to get into a routine. Wake up (way too early, but that is the case every morning), my wife gets me breakfast and fills my Ice Man, do the CPM for two hours, relax for a little while before lunch, eat lunch and hopefully get the Ice Man filled again, do the CPM for another two hours, get things done (this usually means some relaxing, some cleaning up, reading, surfing the web, writing these posts, etc.), eat dinner, get the Ice Man filled for the evening and do the CPM for my last two hours and read to the boys before they go to bed. After that it usually is a little TV and then to bed. To say the lease I cannot wait to get back to work.

I just want to get back to my point of having the nicest wife. Despite the hard time I give her I cannot imagine most wives would make sure I had 3 good meals a day and all catered to me. Make sure I was comfortable and well hydrated. Try to keep up with the Ice Man despite the fact it hurts her back lifting and filling that thing up. Give me sponge baths (I have had three to date) and make sure I am taking care of myself. All this while taking care of our two boys and dog and having to teach Sunday school and go to back to school night alone. I consider myself very lucky despite the hard time I give her.

One last thing on pleasantries, I am starting to get a bit backed up (if you know what I mean). My back is starting to really hurt me in the morning when I wake up and I think it stems from the fact I have yet to be able to go. Hopefully it will take care of itself soon.

2005-09-26T08:27:00.000-05:00

Thursday Afternoon September 15th I am finally dressed, being wheel chaired out and ready to go home. There were no issues going home except that everything seemed to take forever. I just really could not wait to be back in my own house.

When we got home I got myself situated in the family room, a small room in the corner of the house that is a mess and were the boys usually play. I had already setup my CPM machine before the surgery there so I got (my wife got for me) a few pillows, my Ice Man set up besides me and I was good to go. My wife borrowed her sister’s Aero bed so I’ll be sleeping in the family room for a while.

I got one session of my CPM machine in tonight. I logged onto my portable computer that I borrowed from work, only one work related email. I sent out a quick update to my co-workers. From there I just tried to get as comfortable as I could.

I didn’t have the best sleep I have ever had but it was wonderful to be home and with my family!

2005-09-23T15:12:00.000-05:00

Thursday Morning September 15th still in pain with my knee, awake but tiered. I figured I might as well order breakfast. I wasn’t overly happy with my last breakfast so I went with something very simple, Cheerios and a banana. The breakfast was fine and I had no problem eating that right up.

The nursing staffs shift changed around 7:30 and around 8 my new nurse came in to visit. Again I talked about getting sick yesterday, when I would be able to leave and the pain in my leg. As for the pain this nurse was much more lenient as to when I could get the drugs and seemed to disagree with last nights nurse’s assessment of drug distribution. She said she could give me two more pills about a half an hour early, around 8:30. She didn’t seem to think that it was the pills that were making me sick since I don’t seem to be having any issues with them now but she wants to watch how I do on them. As for leaving she wanted to first get the pain under control.

I got my two Oxycodone and within the hour my knee finally started to feel better. My nurse came in again around 10 to checkup on me. I again asked about going home and said how the knee was feeling better. She wanted me to hang around until after lunch so that she could make sure that the knee pain was now under control and that I was no longer feeling queasy. Since I don’t think I could argue that point I ordered lunch.

For the life of me I cannot remember what I had ordered for lunch now. The nurse poked in to check on me around 11:30 and my knee had already started to hurt again. She said she would be back around noon to give me more pills. Had my lunch and my pills and by 12:45 my leg was feeling much better. Again around 1:00 my nurse came in to check on me and I was really pressuring her about leaving. She said she would like me to hang out just a little longer but she does not see why I cannot get out by 2 PM.

While she was there I had her unhook me from my Ice Man and asked if she would get me some more ice. She said she would get one of the CNAs to get me more ice. All excited that I was given a time to go home a called my wife. She tells me that she will not be coming until 3, I want to get out as soon as possible, why do I need to have to wait until three. Wow, I hope I don’t always act and sound like a four year old.

While the Ice Man was still unhooked and I hadn’t got the ice for it yet I got up to use the bathroom. I had no issue with the bathroom, never felt queasy and I figured while I am up I’ll get my cloths from the closet and maybe get dressed. I managed to get the closet door open and with my crutch drag the cloths on to the ground but that is about all I could do. The cloths remained there for the time being.

Three o’clock rolls around and I’m still waiting for the wife to show up. My nurse pokes in to see how I am doing and the pain is still under control (finally). She saw my cloths on the floor and commented that I really did want to get out of there. She said I could relax for a little while longer because I would not be going home for another hour. WHAT? I said my wife was supposed to show up at 3. Oh, she says, she called and we decided that the best time for you to leave is 4. I cannot believe that this nurse would conspire with my wife to do what is best for me, how dare they!

When my wife and her sister showed up I had to grab the basin and pretend to get sick. I thought it was a hoot but no one else seemed to. We came to the conclusion that it was probably the antibiotic that had made me feel sick. I think I had mentioned that at one point!

2005-09-22T11:26:00.000-05:00

Wednesday Afternoon September 14th I am depressed in my room with my wife and her sister watching on. I feel terrible, not so much from being sick, that has already passed, but because Susan’s sister drove in to get me and I am now not going to be going home. I could tell they felt bad also, for me. They didn’t hang out too long, they wanted to beat the traffic home, we said our good byes and then again I was alone. So, with nothing to do and now feeling hungry I ordered dinner.

I ordered roasted pork loin, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad with Italian dressing, Sprite, and ice cream for desert. The dinner was very good; everything but the mashed potatoes but that is unfair to compare them because my wife makes the very best mashed potatoes. After discussing the situation with the nurse she came to the conclusion that she thinks my body can not handle taking two Oxycodone every three hours so for the next dose she would only give me one. I suggested that it might be the antibiotic that was making me feel sick but the nurse didn’t think do.

I guess it was around 6 PM that I got my next pill, I didn’t have much pain and I was feeling fine in the not sick to my stomach way. I called my boys; they were at their grandparents’ house still (my wife’s parents). They were a bit upset that I wasn’t coming home; they thought something really bad was wrong with me. I tried my best to alleviate their fears. The new shift of nurses came in around 7:30, again I really do not remember any of them except for the fact that they were very nice and I didn’t like mine!

It was a little past 9 and I was feeling my knee so I paged the nurses’ station to request more drugs. The nurse came in and delivered another Oxycodone for me. While she was there I had her unhook me from the Ice Man so I could go the bathroom. For some reason I had to go the bathroom a lot, maybe it was all of the fluids I had gotten while I was on the IV, I don’t know, I just know I was an never ending fountain. Since I couldn’t go to the bathroom unless one of the Nurses or CNAs unhooked me from my Ice Man I ended up using the bedpan off and on. Yes it is gross using those things but it was much easier!

A little past 11 I started to feel my knee again. By midnight I needed my pills so I page the nurses station and let them know I’m due for my pills. My nurse comes in and explains to me that I can only take the Oxycodone every three hours for the first 12 hours and since it is past those initial 12 hours I’d have to wait four. Being in pain like I was I tried to rationalize with her. I said that since I’m allowed to take two pills every four hours and I have had only one and since I am not feeling queasy any longer can’t I please have the other one now. She said yes but that would mean I would have to wait four hours from now before I cold have anymore. At this point I didn’t care I just wanted that pill! The Nurse left to get the drug.

When the nurse returned she informed me that the last pill she gave me I was not supposed to receive for four hours and I had it three hours later so I can’t have anything for another hour. WHAT! I’M IN PAIN AND I HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER HOUR! It was a very long evening. At 1 AM I got my two Oxycodone. It never caught up with the pain (hence long evening). At 5 AM I got another two Oxycodone.

2005-09-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

Wednesday Morning, September 14th I had got myself situated comfortably (as best as I could) in the bed doing my logic (Yes, I know I’m a geek as well as a jock) problems. Dr. Richmond’s fellow came in to check on me. He thought I looked good and said the procedure went very well. He said they could keep me another night if I wanted to stay. I laughed outright; I think he took that as no. I asked about leaving he said he didn’t think that should be an issue. I still needed to meet with Dr. Richmond and the PT and I should be able to go home.

My next visit was from Dr. Richmond. He went over the procedure with me again and again I heard that the procedure itself went very well. What he found after removing all of the bad cartilage away from the injured area was that the amount of cartilage needing to be replaced was much larger than he expected. The missing cartilage ended up being the area of a silver dollar. I asked what that meant for my knee. Basically it lessens the percentage of success. Not much I can do either way, there was plenty of Carticil to fill the area and I’ll have to continue through the same recovery protocol. How he explained it to me is instead of having a 95% success rate it will be more like 80%. I asked about going home today and he said I passed the look test. He said if the patient looks good more than likely they would be fine to go home. He said as long as I get the okay from the PT I should be all set.

One of the anesthesiologists stopped in next. She went over the basic pain management with me. For the first 48 hours she wanted me to take the Oxycodone without tying to wean off them. For the first 12 hours I would be taking two every 3 hours and then after that two every 4 hours. Once I’m past that first 48 hours I can start weaning off them. Before I could start taking the oral medicine I needed to get off the IV, I had no problem with that!

I paged my nurse and asked if it was all right to get breakfast. She said yes and all I needed to do was call room service (can you believe they call it room service in a hospital?). I ordered up toast, eggs and bacon. I also had some OJ to drink. Soon after I placed my order the nurse came in to visit me (I think her name was Jen). She said if I wanted to get the IV off I could. I quickly relied YES! I had just finished my second bag of antibiotic. She undid the IV but had to leave the lead in my hand. She said that I still needed to get one more dose of antibiotic before leaving. She also said that she would page the PT and let them know that I was ready. All his before breakfast!

I was going to call my wife but it was still a bit to early for her (she would still be busy getting the boys on the bus for school). I figured I’d call after breakfast. Breakfast was not very good. The toast was rubbery and the eggs were way too salty. The bacon was good but I ended up only eating one slice, for some reason I was feeling a bit queasy. I called home and said I should be coming home probably sometime early afternoon.

Quite a bit of time went by before the nurse poked her head back into my room. She asked if the PT had been by yet and I said no. She said she would page her again. She, the PT, showed up around noon, she said that she needed to talk to Dr. Richmond to get the exact protocol for cartilage replacement physical therapy. We really didn’t do anything special, she just wanted to make sure I could walk on crutches. We went down the hall, made sure I could make it up and down stairs, and then went back to the room. The hardest thing was getting out of bed. She did give me one good tip about using my other leg to lift my left leg up, which has helped immensity. I found out that the only exercising I would be doing until I saw Dr. Richmond again next Friday was the CPM machine 6 hours a day, ankle lifts, and quad contractions. Once we got back to the room she said I was good to go. I told her I needed to take a pit stop in the bathroom. I did my business but while in there I really started to feel sick again. On my way back to my bed I had to grab one of the plastic basins they had in my room and I ended up getting sick.

I called the nurse and she helped me clean up. There really wasn’t any mess, just needed to wash out the basin. I said that I got the okay from the PT and wanted to know when I could get out of there. She said I needed one more dose of antibiotic but she would check with the doctor first. She came back and said the doc wants me to have the last dose. She said that is probably better then, I can have lunch, make sure I am still feeling okay, get the last dose and I should be all set to go by around 4. 4! I wanted to get out of there now! Ugg.

I got a call from Jeff; he was surprised that I was still stuck in the hospital. Once again he offered to give me a ride home. He said it would not be a big deal; it was close to when he would be leaving work anyway and he could skip on in and get me and then drop me off because I’m on his way home. Again, what a nice offer but I declined. On the way home I really did want to see my wife, I know, sappy.

I called home to give the new ETD (estimated time of departure). I mentioned that Jeff offered to give me a ride home, I got the “why didn’t you take him up on the offer?”. I should have never mentioned it. I then called room service and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, Texas French fries and a Sprite. This was better than breakfast, the chicken was good just way too much roll in comparison with the chicken. The fries were okay and I didn’t have any issues eating. Basically spent my afternoon doing my logic problems and watching ESPN.

It was starting to get close to 4 so I was getting anxious to have my last dose of antibiotic. The nurse finally came in and hooked me up to the antibiotic. It was going soooo slow and time was now flying. At almost 4 she came back into the room and opened up the IV so that it started to move much faster. From that point it probably only took a couple of minutes to finish. Yea.

It’s four o’clock and I am excited to get out of there a well as feeling a bit queasy again. All of a sudden I had to get up and get the basin because I feel like I’m going to get sick again. At that point I could hear my wife and her sister coming down the hall. Susan’s sister was singing something as she turned into my room. What she got was me with my pale face and hand up trying to motion her to stay out, just moments before I got to taste my breakfast and lunch again. They were much better the first time!

2005-09-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

Tuesday Night September 13th I have been transferred to my private (nice surprise) room. They get me situated; show me the call button, the controller for the TV, the light switch and the PCA (patient controlled anesthesia)! The PCA is a morphine drip that I get to control. As it worked out I ended up not using it very much until the following morning.

Soon after I was setup my wife calls. It was very nice to hear her voice! I asked her about her conversation with Dr. Richmond because I hadn’t had the chance yet. She relayed that he said it went technically very well which made me wonder about how well it went in general? I asked if she was worried that it took so long. Yes, but according to Dr. Richmond it didn’t take that much longer than expected, he didn’t actually get started until about 4 and was done a little after 8. I still didn’t have a clear idea as to when I would be going home and she said that they might end up keeping me another day, needless to say I did not want to stay anther day! After I get to meet with the doctor in the morning I was going to call her and give her information about when I can be picked up.

Once I got off the phone with my wife my co-worker Jeff called. I was unbelievably touched (as much as a guy could be) that he called to check in to see how I was doing. The first thing he said was that he hoped that I hadn’t seen the Red Sox score, he didn’t want me too feel any worse than I already had. I found out that he had also called my wife to see how the surgery went before that and was surprised that it had taken so long.

My Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA, the first of many and I do not remember what her name was) came in to get my vitals. I asked her if I could get something to drink and eat, she had to ask my nurse. She came back with some ice chips for me. By the time the CNA came back to get my next set of vitals the shift had changed, now Rene, the new CNA, would be taking care of me. I again asked for something to drink and eat and again she would have to ask the nurse. This time I got crackers, gram crackers, peanut butter and Sprite! I was very happy with this and ate most of it up quite fast. My mouth was still quite dry so eating the crackers became a bit difficult. After a while it was like a cow chewing on its cud but I was not complaining.

I didn’t get much sleep; Rene was coming in about every 15 minutes to check my vitals. Either way I don’t think I would have slept, I was not overly tiered and I was uncomfortable. It felt like I was in a constant “just resting the eyes” state. During this time Rene introduced me to my bedpan. I was set up in the bed with the post-surgical brace and the sleeve of the Ice Man under the brace pumping in cold water. I wasn’t in the most mobile position so the bedpan quickly became a friend of mine. Rene informed me that she would really appreciate it if I was able to pee, or void as she put it. Thankfully for all concerned I had no issues voiding! The only embarrassing thing about it is that I had to call the nurse station every time I went; they wanted to continue to measure how much I voided. It was during these times when I had to roll over on my side that the PCA became my friend!

2005-09-19T11:33:00.000-05:00

Tuesday evening September 13th I wake up in the recovery room. This part of my experience is a bit fuzzy and hard to recall everything. I know I woke up around 9ish but the who’s and when’s for a while are not exact. I know that I was the only patient left on the recovery room. I know that I got my blocker for the left leg while I was there but I cannot remember who gave it to me. I can remember the needle going into the groin area and thinking that that should be hurting a lot more than it does but I have no idea who was at the other end on the needle.

I can remember feeling a bit concerned that it was after nine. I knew that the procedure was only supposed to take about 3 ½ hours. I remember getting the feeling that my nurse was perturbed to still be here taking care of me. I remember feeling very dry and wanting to get something to drink. I remember feeling worried that my wife must have been sick with worries since the procedure took so long.

Things I know that happened, I asked if Dr. Richmond called my wife and he had. I asked what the Red Sox score was; they were losing (and the Yankees were winning too boot). Another nurse that was there gathered this information for me and kept me up to date with the scores while I was there. She was also nice enough to get me a wet facecloth to moisten my mouth. I asked if Dr. Richmond would be coming in to see me, and he had already gone home and that is where my nurse wanted to go! This is about when I confirmed that my nurse was perturbed. I must note though, everyone else that I dealt with at the hospital had to have taken their happy pills. They all could not have been any nicer to me while I was there. My wife called me while I was there but they could not forward the phone over to where I was so they gave her a quick update and told her I would be able to call her later. I have no idea what time it was when I finally got transferred to my room, only that the Sox game was over.

2005-09-17T08:05:00.000-05:00

Tuesday morning September 13th I get to see the boys onto the bus, one of those small pleasures that I never get to do because I’m at work. After my wife got ready she drove me into work. I made the attempt to stay as busy as possible; I really didn’t manage to get much work done. I spent most of the time surfing the web, sorry Tim (my boss), my head really wasn’t in the right pace to be doing work. Anyways, I’m sure all of the code I would have produced then would have probably been junk!

Around 1:30 my coworker Jeff drove me to the New England Baptist Hospital. I had to bring my post surgical brace with me as well as my Ice Man (it looks like a cooler that circulates cold water through a cuff, a supper-dooper ice pack). I registered and got set-up in the pre-surgical room, both processes went very fast. I then proceeded to wait until around 3:30.

While at pre-surgery I had my IV put into my right hand. I am always nervous about getting IVs. When a was a small child I hit my head and had to go to the hospital and get an IV, the nurse did an awful job and made a pin cushion of my arm. I few years later when I had my appendix out they missed the vein with the IV and made my arm swell up. The nurse did a perfect job with the IV.

I met with a physical therapist (PT) while I was waiting. He was under the impression that I was going home after the surgery. I explained that I thought I was gong to be staying over night due to “Pain Management”. Regardless he wanted to show me the proper way to use crutches as well as go up and down stars with my post surgical brace on.

I then met with a slew of nurses, I cannot remember what all of their names were, what their actual positions were and what they all wanted. They pretty much asked all of the same questions, what is my name, what am I having done and to what knee, when was the last time you ate, did you take any medications, has the doctor seen you yet and has he signed your leg (and was it the right leg), have you signed the anesthesia release? I know one of the nurses I met was the surgical nurse, she said I would not remember her, funny, she was right, but then I didn’t remember any of them. One of the other nurses was in charge of shaving my knee.

In between seeing all of the nurses Dr. Richmond’s fellow came to see me, I cannot remember his name. He went over all of the same questions as well as briefly go over the procedure again. Next came the anesthesiologist, again asking all of the same questions as well as “have you ever had any issues while being under aesthesia?” The answer was no. He also explained (and recommended) that they could also give me a block to my left leg. It will greatly help with the pain following the surgery. If after the surgery I didn’t want it that would be fine but he wanted me to sign off on it and I did.

The next doctor that came to visit me was Dr. Richmond. As he walked into the pre-surgical area he was greeted by a hug from one of the nurses. I found out that he had just recently done knee surgery on her brother. A few of the nurses also came up to me and told me that I was very lucky having him and that he was very good. Regardless of how true or not it was it made me feel good. Again, we went over all of the same questions. I got another description of the procedure I am about to go through. I found out that he decided to graft my ligament with one from a donor (a cadaver), I don’ know why he made that change but at the time I really didn’t care and I trust his judgment. I’ll have to ask him at my next visit. The last person I met with before one of the nurses wheeled me into surgery was a student anesthesiologist. He seemed nervous, just the impression I got, it’s probably good he is still a student.

It was about 3:45 when the nurse started to wheel me into surgery. She asked me where I would like on go on vacation because I won a trip to anywhere. We had this little conversation about whether to go to Europe or to an Island. I was saying that my wife would enjoy an Island more than Europe. She explained that on this trip my wife would actually enjoy whatever I made as my choice. So off to Ireland, Scotland and Germany for me! On the way to the Operating Room (OR) they gave me something that started to knock me right out. I remember getting to he operating room and moving over to the operating table and that is about it.

2005-09-16T06:37:00.000-05:00

Monday afternoon September 12th I get a call from the surgeon’s secretary. My surgery time has been moved from 7:30 in the morning until 3:30 in the afternoon. My first thoughts were how am I going to ever survive not eating until then? My thoughts probably should have been more focused on how am I going to get a ride to the hospital.

My brother-in-law can no longer drop me off at the hospital; he’s a plumber and would have to leave the job to do it now (although he still said he would). After making a few calls I am now planning on getting a ride into work from my wife sometime the following morning and then getting dropped off at the Hospital by one of my coworkers, Jeff, around two. My Wife is still planning on picking me up the following morning. She will be getting a ride in with one of her sister.

I stayed busy tonight doing chores and trying not to think about the upcoming surgery too much. I went grocery shopping, took the garbage out, watched the baseball game and had a large bowl of ice cream at 11:30! I actually had an okay night of sleep (the last one for a while it turns out).

2005-09-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

The big day is tomorrow! I’m nervous but more than anything can’t wait until it’s over and then I’ll just be waiting until rehab is over and then…

Sergi-care came to my house very early this morning. They are the company supplying all of my medical products. They dropped off the CPM (continual passive motion) machine, Enhanced Trom (post surgery brace), and the Iceman cold therapy unit. I am now all fitted and ready to go. Thankfully my insurance is covering all the cost for these items (21 day rental for the CPM).

The next post will be post surgery. I’ll be dropped off tomorrow at 6:00 am for my 7:00 am procedure. I’ll be picked up sometime the following afternoon and depending on how I feel I’ll post then. I’ll probably not have any pictures but I’ll be sure to take a bunch to post at a later time. Till then…

2005-09-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

I am making this post purely to torture my wife (does that make me a bad person?). My wife (and most of her family) can not drive in Boston. It is not like they are banned from doing it, they are just afraid to. Because of this I will be hitching a ride with my brother-in-law into town the morning of the surgery. The following afternoon Susan will be getting a ride in with her sister Jo (the only one brave enough to drive those mean streets) to pick me up at the hospital.

Now the fact that she will not be driving me into the hospital or picking me up without a driver really does not bother me at all. I am quite aware of who I’ll be going home to when the procedure is done. Despite the fact that it doesn’t bother me and I understand Sue’s fear of diving into town it still bothers her. So really, am I a bad person for torturing her?

2005-08-31T09:22:00.000-05:00

My pre-op screening was yesterday. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME! I had to do it at the New England Baptist Hospital, I could not even do it with my own physician. The appointment was at 2:30 but they wanted me there at 2:00 to fill out forms. The forms part I just don’t understand, they have an online site that allows entering all of your information prior to getting there, what other forms are there?

I hit major traffic getting there and arrived at 2:20, thank goodness for the online form entry because there really were no other forms to fill out (except sign all responsibility away). I then proceeded to wait until 3:15 before they called me in. The RN took my vitals and then said she didn’t think it was necessary for me to get an EKG or have blood taken (fine by me). She went down the no list (do you smoke, have you had tuberculosis, etc.) and that was it. About seven minuets with the RN, $4 parking charge and I was done. I then proceeded to hit traffic on my way home!

The only interesting things out of that visit are that they wanted me to stop taking the Glucosamine Chondroitin. They also sent me home with soap (I’m guessing it must be different than my Dove). Starting on the 11th they want me to wash my knee twice a day with the special soap. This will also be the last weekend I’ll be able to drink because I also need to stop all alcohol intake three days before the surgery. I’ll have to make sure this weekend is not all yard work!

2005-08-22T08:44:00.000-05:00

This weekend the family and I got invited to friends in New Hampshire. They have a beautiful home on a lake just north of Ossipee. Well, I had the opportunity to go water skiing. Yes, I know that it is not a very smart idea to do before an upcoming surgery and with the condition of my knee but I just could not pass it up. I have not been water skiing in about 10 years, loved it when I used to ski and seeing this might be just the last time I would be able to do it strapped them on. Initially I thought I’d be able to get up on one ski like I used to but that did not go that well. Got up on two skis and dropped. It was unbelievable fun and I don’t regret that for anything! The good news is that the knee doesn’t seem any worse for the wear; the sad news is that the shoulders and forearms do. Sucks getting old!

2005-08-15T09:10:00.000-05:00

Friday I went to see the doctor the last time before the surgery (September 13th). He did the basic look over and asked if there are any changes, basically everything was about the same as last time and I’m a go. I had to make a decision as to what I was going to use to graft my damaged ligaments. I was given the choice of using a cadaver’s tissue or some harvested from my own body. The doctor could not guarantee that the donor was a 21 year old that could dunk and run a 4.1 40 so I went with my on tissue. I did find out that if I did go with a cadaver they would try to use a “subject” of similar age, if I use my own tissue I would have a little extra discomfort but since with what I’m doing will put me on non-weight bearing for about 8 weeks it does not matter much. My doctor recommends the use of a cadaver for younger patients that are still very active in sports and that should not really be me any more. While there I also went through the process of submitting my short-term disability paperwork. My hopes is that I will not need it, even if I can’t get into work I should be able to do a lot of it from home.

The company that grew my harvested cartilage and made it into Carticel has a rehabilitation guideline. You can find it here, it is some interesting reading. From what I’m told having the reconstruct at the same time has a better result at the end of the process. The picture I included shows the process of cartilage replacement. Steps one through three have already happened, that is when they harvested my cartilage and grew it in the labs. Step four the chondral defect is debrided back to healthy tissue. Step five they harvest the periosteal patch from the proximal tibia. Then finally, step six, they suture the patch into place and the Carticel is implanted under the patch.

I have one last appointment concerning my knee before the surgery. That will be my pre-screening on the 30th. Just one more physical I’ll need to go through before they will do my knee.

2005-08-04T13:57:00.000-05:00

Sorry this is so off topic but every so often you need to do something fun….

I found this post on Gran’s on Bran, read on and you’ll get the gist.

Doris asks:

You were a young fit man when you sustained your knee injury. I know lots of people who have also sustained sports injuries so my question is: Do you now think sport is bad for your health?

Nope! I try my best to continue to be active in sports however limited it is now. I am now involved with my boys in sports (t-ball mainly). The benefits I gained from being on teams highly outweigh the injury I sustained. I think being idol is much worse for your health.

2. What is your favourite house paint color?

Never gave it much thought. I guess White??

3. Which is longer... your big toe or your second toe?

Had to look. On my right foot they look to be the same length, on my left the big toe.

4. Where is your favorite vacation place?

Northport, Maine (just North of Camden), although I seem to go to Cape Cod, MA much more often now.

5. A while back you helped out some people who had run out of petrol. They seemed in a hurry to get away with little thanks. If you had the situation over again, what would you do different? And is there any chance they were nicking the car and you had assisted them?

Situation being the same I doubt I would have done anything different. I much prefer thinking the best of people and performing acts of kindness than the alternative. And yes, I guess there is always that chance they could be “nicking” (not being from England that term gave me a chuckle) the car but I doubt it.

In accordance with the rules I need to post these instructions:

Instructions:

If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying “Interview me.” (”Tickle me” or “Caress me” are not acceptable substitutes.) You must leave your blog address so I can think of good questions for you!

I will respond by asking you five questions - each person’s will be different. I’ll post the questions in the comments section of this post.

You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.

When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Don't forget, you will need to check back for your questions and please let me know when you have answered them.

2005-08-01T12:59:00.000-05:00

So I was on vacation this past week. I did the usual fair on the Cape, went to the beach a couple days, played in the water throwing the boys around, went to the park and threw the football and baseball around, walked a bit around the town and waited a lot for my wife at the Christmas Tree Shops. I tell you this only to point out that my knee is feeling okay despite the extra activities. One thing I have noticed is that my knee has started to pop again with more frequency and usually while I’m laying down. Not overly bad, just a little pain when it happens. I’m not looking forward to the time it happens while I’m walking and I end up on all fours. I’m sure this will happen at work, those things never happen while your alone walking in the back yard. I also did a bit of drinking, card playing, and all around fun stuff if you were interested.

2005-07-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are a few pictures of the inside of my knee.

This was taken when they went in to harvest the cartilage this past January. I have another set of these pictures taken at the September surgery; to me they look all about the same. From what I was told, in picture 4 you can clearly see the amount of cartilage I am missing in my knee. Click on it to see a larger version, Enjoy!

2005-07-14T11:41:00.000-05:00

So I played softball last night, really just BP and shag some fly balls, and golfed this morning. I know, what a hard life I lead but it was the first time I’ve been out golfing this year. The knee help up for both activities, actually the legs were a little sore from chasing some of the balls. Riding the bike just does not exercise all of those muscles. I wish I could go out and golf more often but it is just so expensive. It happens to be one of those sports that puts no pressure on my knee and I enjoy it (except for the fact that I suck but I’m not going to get better unless I play, Ah, there’s the rub). So there you have it, I can do BP and play golf now with out much ill affect on my knee. I’m thinking I’ll post pictures of my knee taking during the last scope next time.

2005-07-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

Something I did forget to mention yesterday. I have been taking Glucosamine Chondroitin ever since my surgery in September. My surgeon recommended it but was very non-committal on its benefits. He basically said that some of his patients have said that they get some relief from the arthritis pain. I don’t think it has helped at all but how would I know with all the work that has been going on there.

I need to mention a couple of things about it. Supposedly you need to have a very large dose for this to have any affect. My pills suggest taking the horse-sized pills three times a day. I’m relatively okay at it; I take my morning pill with my multi-vitamin religiously. The afternoon pill I am usually good at, at least on the workdays. It’s that last evening pill with dinner that I routinely forget. Lastly, those pills are expensive! At this point I do not think I am going to be getting any more once I run out of the batch I have.

2005-07-11T13:41:00.000-05:00

Initially I was planning on using this blog just to post pictures I was using on my other blogs (see url) and I still may use it for that from time to time. On my way in to work this morning I was thinking about an upcoming knee surgery I have scheduled. It is still a procedure that is not overly used and I though, “Hey, maybe I should write about it and the recovery process, maybe someone would be interested in that”. So, that is what I am going to do.

Let me give you some general information and the history of my knee (the best I can remember). I am a 35-year-old male, 5’9”, 140, in good health and relatively physically fit. At this point I cannot do many really physical activities, most of my exercise is limited to riding the bike. Now about my knee…

About 15 (Oct, 1990) years ago I blew my knee out playing college football. No, there is no great story about an interception or runback, it was a game day practice (shorts and shoulder pads) and I just got pushed to the side, my foot stuck to the Astroturf and my knee popped. I damaged my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and meniscus. I had my first scope where the doctor cleaned out the knee and trimmed the meniscus. I was done with football and it was a good six months before I did any real sports stuff. I built up to playing basketball about twice a week and the knee felt okay.

About 10 (Jul, 1995) years ago my knee started swelling anytime I played basketball. Went back to the doctors and surgery was once again recommended. I had the Pridie procedure done to my knee. It is very similar to the microfracture surgery that they do now; they drilled four holes into my kneecap with the hope that the flow of blood would help the re-growth of cartilage. Personally I think the procedure went very well. I was laid up for a good week (maybe more, memory) on crutches but once I finished rehab I was back playing basketball three times a week.

About a year ago my knee started to swell up anytime I played basketball again. The difference this time was the swelling didn’t go down nearly as fast and there was pain as well as discomfort. Again, after a MRI and doctor visit a scope was suggested. I had the scope done in September, 2004 were the meniscus was trimmed and the knee cleaned out. What he found was that both my ACL and MCL had tears (which I knew) and that I was missing a large area of cartilage. He recommended I see a specialist about the possibility of cartilage replacement.

I have since seen the specialist and I am a candidate for cartilage replacement. I had the harvesting procedure done in January 2005. That step was a since, very little down time and basically no rehab. The cartilage has been grown and is in a cryogenic state. So, what am I doing now? I go to the gym almost every weekday and ride the bike for about 20 minutes and do squats (not full), leg curls, and lunges three times a week. I have only cheated once by playing a pick-up game of basketball and I paid for it.

My surgery is planned for September 13, 2005. So at this point you are caught up. My next posts will not be nearly as long and there probably will not be another one for a while. I have an appointment with my doctor on August 12 and then my pre-screening on 30th. My next posts will be after those appointments. If you have any questions or comments during any of this please feel free to ask.