I Found IT!!!

So, let's say you're a person who broke their patella... and when you describe it to people that there was a big dent in your knee, they basically go, "Oh... OK." Like, "You were in shock."

Well, I finally found a picture of what it looked like at the time... see above and take it all in. That's basically what I looked like while lying on that street. However, I didn't have a grimace like that. I really didn't feel any pain... the pain came much later, like after the surgery 3 days after the dent!

So today I had my 3rd visit to my doctor since the surgery... 4th overall.

After the X-Ray, Dr. Rutherford came in and said everything was looking good from the inside. Looking at the outside, he felt around and got really excited - "Hey, you feel that? There's a wire right there!"

Maybe I've mentioned it before, but there is a noticeable wire protruding from my knee... the middle part. However, he wasn't touching that... he was feeling around the top near the quadriceps. I had felt that before, but never knew the "hardness" was an actual wire.

So basically I have two spots you can really feel the wires. He showed me on the X-Ray what was happening... honestly, it's an odd feeling. Bones are kind of soft... mushy... but these things are just odd. You can definitely tell they are foreign parts in your body!

Next, Dr. Rutherford told me to lie on my back. He then grabbed my leg and started moving it in ways I haven't moved it in weeks! He pushed my knee towards my head... once I emitted a screech, he stopped. "OK... looks like you can take an adjustment on your brace." He then ordered his assistant to let it out to 90 degrees...

"I want you to wean yourself off of the crutches." I was stunned. "Huh?" He said now that I'm up to 90, he wants me to put more weight on the leg. I told him I move around my house without the crutches, but I'm not up for being without them when I go outside. His advice: "Baby steps." Try a little bit more each day... if it hurts, lean more on the crutches. Doing more on my own and less on the crutches will build up deteriorated muscles in my left leg.

Then, he said this: "When you come to see me next time (July 27), I believe you'll be walking out of here without your brace on."

Pause... take a minute... do you have any idea how much that meant to me? How much it shocked me? I had been told that this brace would be on my leg until September... to have it off before August is just astounding to me! I hate it... it SUCKS having this on every day during the "Dallas" summer... but it's necessary. And to think that in 5 weeks I can be rid of this "thing" is freaking amazing!

Finally, the big news... "surgery." He said that he is thinking my surgery will be 6 months from when I had the original surgery. That would be October 29. Given I have a big trip to San Diego for Thanksgiving, I'm really going to explore that on my next visit.

I'm one of those people that doesn't think of all of the questions until afterwards... so I want to ask him what exactly will my "recovery" be like after that procedure. I wouldn't mind waiting until December... even January... if I knew I would NOT be going through what I recently went through!

When I got home from the visit, I attempted my first "walking outside without crutches" moment. I went to the mailbox... which was weird! Not only did I not have my crutches, but my leg had all kinds of movement now that it's up to 90 from 60.

He told me this week it would be pretty sore... it's getting extra degrees which causes me to use muscles that haven't been "awakened" in a while. I could definitely tell the difference tonight... I've had a few moments where it felt like it was "buckling," but I caught myself... and it hurts. It hurts like hell, actually.

So there you go... my latest visit. I hope I didn't freak you out with the picture above, but it's the most accurate one I've found. I think my friends who were there for me would say, "OH MY GOSH.. THAT'S IT!!!

Then they'd revisit what they were doing... gagging!