knee update

[altagirl]

I went to work for 4 hours this morning and had PT this afternoon. Doing pretty good. No problems with lag doing straight leg raises. Extension is still good to go and I got flexion to 99 degrees. I was hoping for a little more, but I didn't take any painkillers before therapy today. Might take one before I go on Wed. My swelling went from suprapatellar to collecting around the incision. So that's all nice and black and blue now... The measurement around my patella is down more than a centimeter though, so that part of the swelling is definitely improving. Unfortunately having the swelling around the incision means it hurts more every time I stand up, but oh well. PT said that will probably suck for another week.

I'm starting to do really light weight bearing exercises, like calf raises and mini-squats, but with like 25% of my weight or less on my leg.

That's about it for today...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I went to work for 4 hours this morning and had PT this afternoon. Doing pretty good. No problems with lag doing straight leg raises. Extension is still good to go and I got flexion to 99 degrees. I was hoping for a little more, but I didn't take any painkillers before therapy today. Might take one before I go on Wed. My swelling went from suprapatellar to collecting around the incision. So that's all nice and black and blue now... The measurement around my patella is down more than a centimeter though, so that part of the swelling is definitely improving. Unfortunately having the swelling around the incision means it hurts more every time I stand up, but oh well. PT said that will probably suck for another week.

I'm starting to do really light weight bearing exercises, like calf raises and mini-squats, but with like 25% of my weight or less on my leg.

That's about it for today...

Go..go..go...go..go...go....we're cheerin for ya!


Babar -- yer getting hammy on 11/17? I'm gettin hammy on 11/16. sup hammy buddy?

[freshie247]

Hang in there!

[Arnold Babar]

Go..go..go...go..go...go....we're cheerin for ya!


Babar -- yer getting hammy on 11/17? I'm gettin hammy on 11/16. sup hammy buddy?

Can't wait to get it over with. This thread is just what I needed to strengthen my ever wavering resolve. AG is an inspiration. Just remember, I'm spotting you a one day head start

[Theodore]

Can't wait to get it over with. This thread is just what I needed to strengthen my ever wavering resolve. AG is an inspiration. Just remember, I'm spotting you a one day head start

Well then, its a race. First magion to make turns wins a hammy sandwich.

ba-dum-ching!

[Arnold Babar]

Well then, its a race. First magion to make turns wins a hammy sandwich.

ba-dum-ching!

I love competition as much as the next guy, but I'm not in Tyrone's league. Just a poor, over the hill elephant from CT, hoping to get well enough to guide his offspring toward steeper deeper powder stashes than he ever dreamed to drop into. Mmmmmmmmmmm...hammy sadwich...

[altagirl]

Well, and unless it's a race to get your doctor's permission to ski... that could be about the worst idea ever. I'm REALLY not into doing this over again...

Race to getting full ROM? Race to getting strength equal to your other leg? Much better ideas.

[Theodore]

I know. It was just a ploy to make the hammy sandwich joke. Jeeze....

[altagirl]

I finally went to the gym yesterday and did some upper body. Didn't stay long at all - just like 20-30 minutes or so for curls, french press, a few tricep extensions, lat pulldowns, dips, hanging leg raises and crunches. It ended up being nothing at all like any normal workout I do, but it was better than nothing I guess. I figured it would be best to just do a little of whatever felt comfortable and see how my leg felt afterwards. Wasn't sure if getting my heart really pumping like that was going to make my leg swell up or what.

Then I went home, iced, elevated, and did all my physical therapy exercises. Swelling is looking pretty good, I think. Nice and bruised though... I took a pic:

[altagirl]

I know. It was just a ploy to make the hammy sandwich joke. Jeeze....

That's cool. I guess I'm currently just a little frustrated dealing with people who don't get that it's a graft that has to heal. Or who don't get that the hardest part for me isn't pain or working hard at therapy - it's sitting still and letting it rest and heal and not overdoing things.

We have a friend who knew I had surgery last week and asked why I wasn't skiing this weekend. Gee, I have no idea, they only cut me open and drilled multiple holes in my bones a couple days ago.... Then I get the "You're not really going to follow the doctor's advice about not skiing for so long are you?" YES. The next person who tells me that I can be ready for opening day, or Christmas or whatever if I really TRY HARDER is going to get a crutch up their ass. Seriously.

Sorry I didn't catch the sarcasm... I've just heard one too many people say the same thing in all seriousness lately!

[Theodore]

I think I remembered my doc saying that the graft actually gets weaker about 6 weeks out and then toughens up to its final strength. That is for a patellar graft, not sure about the hammy though. I was expecting to see scars in different places on your knee.

[altagirl]

I think I remembered my doc saying that the graft actually gets weaker about 6 weeks out and then toughens up to its final strength. That is for a patellar graft, not sure about the hammy though. I was expecting to see scars in different places on your knee.

It was a patellar allograft, so the scars will actually be about the same as the ones from my hamstring graft on the other knee, since they didn't have to harvest anything. He said he was hoping the incision would be smaller, but once he was in there they couldn't get the angle to drill the bone tunnels/fix my narrow notch without opening it up another half inch or so. The top ones are just the arthroscope holes.

And I've read/heard there's definitely a phase where your graft gets weaker before it gets stronger. You also are a little more at risk as the swelling goes down because the swelling and stiffness was keeping things extra stable too...

[skibe]

Nice legs woman (sorry Mr. AG but it had to be said since your wife is showing her legs on the internet.) Awesome to hear your attitude is good for the situation your in. I had my MRI today and it was a little freaky at first but went pretty well up until I had a huge itch on my face about thirty min into the procedure and finally said screw it and proceeded to scratch like it was 100 grit sandpaper on a rough piece of wood . Needless to say what was suppose to take 45 minutes took 55 minutes but it was so worth it to take care of the neusance of an itch. Keep your spirits up and I wish I had half your motivation to get into the gym.

[altagirl]

I had my MRI today and it was a little freaky at first but went pretty well up until I had a huge itch on my face about thirty min into the procedure and finally said screw it and proceeded to scratch like it was 100 grit sandpaper on a rough piece of wood . Needless to say what was suppose to take 45 minutes took 55 minutes but it was so worth it to take care of the neusance of an itch. Keep your spirits up and I wish I had half your motivation to get into the gym.

Heh. At least for my MRI's I only had to keep my one leg still - not moving at all would be tougher. When do you find out the results?

And as far as gym motivation - you've just gotta force yourself to go the first few times. Come up with the schedule for the first week or something and treat it like it's written in stone. It becomes a habit pretty easily after that. And now I've got Mr.AG into it so he motivates me to go when I'm not particularly feeling like it. So that helps a lot too.

Speaking of the gym, I cannot wait to be able to ride the bike! I got to 102 degrees in PT today. I asked when I could get on the bike and try getting a revolution and she said I have to wait and ask my doc when I see him on Monday. Guess I can live with that. At least I'm able to do calf raises and mini-squats and bridges on the stability ball to keep my muscles alive for the time being...

[altagirl]

I dig chics with scars bigger than mine!


Lookin good AG, keep it up. My money is on you.

Hehe.... I laughed when my doc gave me this speech before surgery - "if we do x procedure, you'll have these scars - are you okay with that?" Uh, have you not noticed the rest of my legs? I think I'll live...

[Arnold Babar]

I finally went to the gym yesterday and did some upper body. Didn't stay long at all - just like 20-30 minutes or so for curls, french press, a few tricep extensions, lat pulldowns, dips, hanging leg raises and crunches.

You just worked out more than I have in 7 months. I am now officially nervous . Way to get after it. Are you doing anything specific, special, extra, to prevent infection from the Allograft? That risk really skeived me out, and led to my opting for the hammy. A zillion double entendres have popped into my head relating to "narrow notch syndrome", but I will respectfully keep them to myself.

[altagirl]

You just worked out more than I have in 7 months. I am now officially nervous . Way to get after it. Are you doing anything specific, special, extra, to prevent infection from the Allograft? That risk really skeived me out, and led to my opting for the hammy.

Don't stress over it. I've been lifting regularly for about 8 months now, so I just don't want to lose the fitness I have any more than I need to. You still have a couple weeks to work on your strength before surgery, right? - it can't hurt.

As far as allografts go, there have been very few incidences of infection. And keep in mind that people can get infections with any type of surgery. I looked at the numbers and it seemed like such a small risk I decided not to worry about it. They put me on antibiotics for the first week. Just finished that yesterday. And they've been keeping an eye on it, but that's about it. Other than that, I'm just taking a bunch of vitamin C and calcium (good for building tissue and bone), papaya and pineapple (which supposedly help reduce inflammation and just taste good anyway...), protein, glutamine and lysine to try and keep my muscle from deteriorating and build it back up with what little exercise I get. For the past 8 months I've been eating 6 small balanced meals a day (50%carb-30%protein-20%fat), which means like 20 grams of protein at every meal. Before I was just on a mission to improve my body composition - now I think it's even more important to keep my muscle from atrophy. I made sure I stocked up on protein sources I'd be willing to eat when I don't feel well and don't feel like cooking - stuff for protein shakes, eggs, sandwiches, good soup, etc. Anyway, maybe all of that is overkill, but it can't hurt. And at least I feel like I'm doing the best I can do for my body.

[Arnold Babar]

Damn! I've been drinking alcohol and wallowing in self pity for eight months, how do you think that's going to work out for me? That's an exageration, but I'm amazed at your preparation. Have they said anything about doing too much upper body work too soon after surgery?

[altagirl]

Damn! I've been drinking alcohol and wallowing in self pity for eight months, how do you think that's going to work out for me? That's an exageration, but I'm amazed at your preparation. Have they said anything about doing too much upper body work too soon after surgery?

No, actually the sad thing is that I injured my knee once I was in the best shape of my life. (I just blew the knee just over a month ago). So I certainly wasn't preparing for knee surgery - it was more like preparing for ski season. Which didn't work out so well. So now it's turned into preparing for late spring skiing and next bike season. Oh well.

My physical therapist said the only drawback to me going to the gym and doing upper body right now would be that I'm not keeping my leg elevated during that time and it might swell up. She said to go ahead and try it if I was feeling up to it and obviously stop if anything hurt. So I kept it short. Wrapped it up well, and it didn't swell up (any more than it was anyway.)

[altagirl]

Stitches come out this afternoon...

I can't wait since they're starting to itch and it's making me nuts. I already peeled off all the steri-strips yesterday. He did the stitches totally different than what I'm used to - there's nothing visible on the surface of the big incision - just a knot sticking out on either end. Looks like it's going to heal as a much smaller scar than last time.

Other than that, things are about the same. Swelling under control, feeling fairly good (it just feels achy more than anything), but I'm sick to death of sitting around. Mr.AG is up in Seattle today and I had to get into my frozen car this morning, which was an adventure. The door was totally frozen shut and I'm standing in the off-camber driveway on crutches trying to yank it open for 10 minutes. Fun. I made a half-assed attempt at scraping the snow and ice off the windows and decided to just sit in the car with the heat on until I could see. And I was still the first person to get to the office so no big deal...

I just want these stitches out now...

[basom]

Stitches come out this afternoon...

I can't wait since they're starting to itch and it's making me nuts. I already peeled off all the steri-strips yesterday. He did the stitches totally different than what I'm used to - there's nothing visible on the surface of the big incision - just a knot sticking out on either end. Looks like it's going to heal as a much smaller scar than last time.

i had those internal stitches too. its a total trip when they come out. basicly they just pull one end and it all pulls out like a daisy chain. wicked cool.

keep up the good work AG!

[altagirl]

My appointment went well today. Stitches came out (yay!) - the big incision pulled out and just looked like one big squiggley thread. Felt funky coming out but it looks like it's going to heal up really clean.

Doc is really happy with my progress and gave me the okay to try the bike provided I don't go crazy forcing it. (They had me spend 10 minutes on the bike at PT right afterwards rocking back and forth... said I can push it a little harder on Wednesday if it doesn't swell up from today's attempt.) Anyway, my graft is nice and tight, swelling isn't bad, muscle looks good, ROM is well ahead of schedule, and I'm able to walk on it pain free. He said to keep gradually weaning off the crutches and stick with the brace for another couple weeks whenever I'm up walking around. I can live with that.

Next visit is in 4 weeks and then I'll get fitted for a new Defiance. He said he anticipates that I'll be skiing in April no problem, we'll see how it goes, blah blah... Mmmmmm.... skiing.

[altagirl]

Phew. I was freaking out yesterday (but in the not-wanting-to-talk-about-it mood...) At PT yesterday, I could barely get my knee to 92 degrees. Everything felt tight. It wasn't particularly swollen, I guess it was just a combo of the scar tissue starting, and having walked around a lot with no crutches throughout the day so it was sore, and not taking any painkillers before PT. By the time I finished my exercises and realized I was having ROM probs, the place was packed and my therapist was in with other patients and I was in pain and the assistant I was working with told me to quit torturing myself and go home and rest it and try again later. The negative progress was making me freak out though.

So last night, I came home, took some Lortabs, worked ROM and massage for like an hour, woke up this morning and did the same before work. Then I dropped in to PT this afternoon when I knew they wouldn't be busy and asked Enid to give me some extra help. She massaged the hell out of the scars, I got some heat and e-stim and we got it to 109 (102 was my previous max). That'll work.

Strength is doing really well. I really don't feel like I need the crutches but I'm still supposed to be weaning myself off of them for another week and a half. I even walked down some stairs normally this morning without thinking about it and it felt 100% fine. (not really supposed to do that yet...)

[Szyslak]

Thanks for the updates. It helps the see what you are going thru to know what is ahead of me. I have been trying to strengthen my knee while waiting to schedule my surgery, but the last two days the swelling and stiffness has increased. Hope to get in soon so I can start to work towards recovery.

[phUnk]

AG, you are friggin amazing. Keep up the awesome work and we'll see you at Alta when you're ready.