A Few Steps Forward... One Step Back

Yesterday was my second follow-up visit to see my doctor... and it was 4 1/2 weeks since my surgery.

Time for a pin to come out of the brace!

NOTE: OK, I want to make sure we're all on the same page here - when I say "remove a pin from my brace," I mean the brace... not my leg. There are no pins going from the brace into my knee. I do have a pin in my knee, but it's all sealed up in there. Nothing is attached to the brace.

When we arrived, the first thing was to get another X-Ray of the knee. Nothing has changed, so I don't need to display another picture of the X-Ray.

Doctor Rutherford then came in and examined the picture and said everything looks good. Whew! He then removed the brace, and started moving my leg around... or, specifically, my knee.

He then gave me the news: "We're going to move you up to 60 degrees of movement." Two weeks ago, he indicated it would just be 45 degrees. Wow! I guess things are healing up pretty good.

Then the news just seemed to get better. "I'm also going to clear you to start driving." I almost fell off the table! Are you kidding me? I can have some of my independence back? Holy Freaking Moly!

"Are you still showering with the brace on?" he asked.

"Yep," I quickly replied.

"OK, well you can start to shower without it. That should make things easier. Just don't bend that knee when you're in there, and put the brace back on as soon as you're out."

Wow! I was stunned! Remember, I was told on the 2nd day by his Physician's Assistant that this brace would be my "friend" until September... that I'd never remove it. Now I'm getting to remove it for showers! You have no idea how much easier things are going to be.

He did make sure I understood that I'm not standing on it when I'm showering - I still need to sit on the shower chair.

Then I asked a few questions of my own. He informed me that I won't be going through any Physical Therapy due to the severity of the injury. He said, "Think about it - that kneecap needs to be stable to heal and become solid. If you're moving it, you're causing it to weaken."

He thinks my leg will strengthen the more I walk around - which he wants me to do as much as I can take (using crutches or the walker).

I asked about the nerve damage, and if I'll ever have feeling on the top of my knee again. He said maybe, and maybe not. When he made the cut, he cut across a good amount of nerves. They may never heal back to the way they were. Oh well...

I finally asked him how far apart were the two pieces of my kneecap. He said, "About 2 inches. But, when you bent your knee they went further apart." Yikes!

They then got down to business with adjusting my knee brace. After removing the pins (one on each side) from the hinges, they broke the sides of the brace to allow flexibility. Finally, they cut off about 6 inches from the top of the brace. So while I previously had 3 Velcro straps on the top, and 3 on the bottom... I now just have 2 on the top.

The result is that this brace now fits more like a bulky sock... instead of a peg leg! Overall, it feels nice... comfortable... it doesn't bother me as much as it did. However, there is a downside.

With the added flexibility, it's caused a lot of pain. 60 degrees of movement is a huge jump from zero degrees. It will bend as I'm moving and hit a point that just screams with pain! Typically, if I'm walking about 10 feet, I'll hit at least one step that causes me to almost buckle over with a jolt of pain. Not fun.

I'm assuming this is to be expected. However, I've had a lot of "ache" and "pain" today... and throbbing numbness. Lots of that! So... I've started taking the hydrochodone again. The Tylenol just wasn't doing the trick. Hopefully this won't last long...

Tomorrow I get behind the wheel - just going to drive halfway to work so I don't overdo it. I've taken one spin around the block, and it wasn't too bad. A little tension on the knee... but I could get in and out of my truck - and that was great.

So while I've made some strides, having to go back on the pain meds due to the problems hasn't been very fun. I think this is a temporary setback... stay tuned.