First Physical Therapy Session...

I stayed at my parent's house Thursday night so that it would be easier on everyone to drive me to my therapy session.

Kendra called me in around 9:30. The first thing she said to me was, "You survived the surgery!" I looked at her and thought, "If you only knew..."

Well, she was about to find out the truth.

As I made my way to a table, she commented, "Your moving pretty good." I told her I've had 9 days of practice on the crutches.

I then walked her through everything: Dr. Ramsey performed a lateral release, cut out all of the scar tissue, and removed one or more sutures. Also, he didn't have to repair the meniscus.

She said, "So what happened this week? You canceled your appointments because he wouldn't clear you?" I then told her about me doing exercises the first 3 days, and then being unable to lift my leg Saturday-Monday. Going to see Dr. Ramsey and the knee being enormous, and then him having to drain the knee.

"Do you know how much he drained?" I told her 40cc's. Her eyes popped out and she looked at me, "Oh my gosh! That's a lot!" She then said, "No wonder you couldn't lift your leg. That's a lot of pressure on that knee."

I showed her my pictures from the surgery, and she explained everything in even more detail than Dr. Ramsey. It was extremely interesting/informative. And, I learned something about that lateral release.

She said we're going to have to adjust some of the therapy because it causes "complications." She then went on to explain that it the kneecap is going to be a little more unstable since it's not connected to tissue on the outside of my leg.

I asked if this means I'm at risk for a dislocated kneecap... she said it's just the contrary. Because the kneecap was being pulled so far over by the tissue, it could have easily been dislocated had I experienced some sort of trauma.

We then unwrapped the knee because she wanted to see it. (Nosey Rosey!) She saw all of the stitches and swelling and said, "Well, you may not think so but it looks pretty good." I said she should have seen it on Monday and she said she could only imagine if he pulled out that much fluid and blood.

Speaking of, there are 4 little "marks" on the outside of the knee that she said is where he went in with the needle. So maybe he wasn't actually moving it around... it was him going in multiple times. Sheesh!

Then, it was time for work.

Most of the exercises I was familiar with - having gone through them prior to surgery. However, some were new. After about 10 minutes I was already sweating.

One exercise is very odd to me: I have to lie down and rest the heel about 8-10 inches above the ground on an object for 10 minutes. It sounds easy... but after about 5 minutes, I really start to feel it. The reason I'm doing this is my alignment is off. This helps to develop my muscles to straighten out. No wonder I walk with a "strut."

The final exercise was me walking over small cones. It was to teach my leg to come up from the toe and land on the heel... and then to lock the knee. After my first down and back, she had me remove my left crutch. I then had to go down and back 2 more times.

While I was doing that, I said it was very awkward and that I'm used to using the walker. Kendra asked if I'm on a walker for stability, and I said yes... and that it's just easier to get around with.

Then she wrote something down in my file... hence, the comic above (I saw that this week in the paper). How ironic...

My homework is to do my exercises all the time, 3 times a day... meaning, every 30 minutes I'm to do one of the exercises. The goal is to keep the blood flowing through the knee.

She also said that I'm to keep the knee unwrapped when I'm at home and I don't have ice on it. When I go out, though, it needs to be wrapped.

Oh, and she told me I'm to lose the left crutch. I need to be working on one crutch now... this puts more weight on the left leg, thus building up those muscles.

Believe me, it's not easy... NONE of it is easy... but I'm trying and adapting.

I go back to see her on Tuesday. Then Thursday and Friday.

One Big Fat Knee...

Tonight I was out on the deck with my Mom, and she wanted to see what was under the bandage.

So after the unveiling, this is what she saw: a pretty big knee with 5 areas containing about 10 stitches. (We're not exactly sure)

As you can see, the knee is still fairly swollen. However, it's definitely smaller than it was on Monday. I'm not kidding - it was huge!

Dr. Ramsey and his nurse both commented today how much smaller it had become.

On the left side is where we noticed 4 dark marks - at first we thought they were stitches. Upon further review: scabs.

Then it hit me - this is what Dr. Ramsey was doing on Monday. He was inserting the needle into these 4 places (and possibly one of his incisions) to draw out the blood and fluid. Wild!

If you were to touch it, the skin is very "spongy." You can tell there is still fluid under the skin... so hopefully in a few more days it will come down.

My Mom was like, "You can't even see any bone!"

Well, she didn't see it on Monday when it had "waves" in it - that knee was so amazingly deformed that it looked like a water balloon with ripples (bandage marks).

Pain? I'm about a 5-6 tonight. Can't wait to see how high my level gets tomorrow with Physical Therapy!

So now you can see why I'm constantly hooked up to that ice machine... I guess it's working.

It's About Damn Time...

Sorry for the curse word, but that's exactly how I feel after the week I've had...

I've tried to control my frustration, but now I can at least express my relief.

We went to see Dr. Ramsey this morning. Before we arrived, I made sure I could still lift the leg this morning because I knew he would be checking that. No problems... still could lift it as I've done since Monday afternoon.

When Dr. Ramsey's nurse came in, she immediately said, "Well, you look a lot better than you did on Monday." Joel was in the room and she said how I was very pale and my expression showed I was in a lot of pain.

Then she unwrapped the knee - no bleeding this time. Now that I was more cognizant than I was on Monday, I got a better look at it. The stitches are in multiple places - top, bottom, right, and left. However, the bottom has several along the pre-existing scar and the left side has numerous "stitch" areas where the release was made.

Dr. Ramsey then came in and said the same thing - "You look MUCH better." We then went through the leg lifts and he remarked that he could tell I was doing my exercises. I now need to do them every hour that I'm awake to maintain that muscle tone.

He said that Monday's knee draining was unusual. When he saw the stream oozing out the side of my knee, he knew there was a serious problem. Even though he had to insert the needle to get it all out, he said that was a risk of inviting infection into an area that needed to be healing.

Then he pulled out my pictures from the surgery.

First, the meniscus did not need to be repaired. It had a small tear in it, but he said it wasn't significant enough to need fixing. He showed it to me and I tend to agree. He said what we're seeing is normal in most individuals.

However, there was a tremendous amount of scarring. He showed it to me - resembling gray "spiderwebs" throughout the knee. He cut all of that out, which should help with flexibility and pain.

While he was cutting, he ran across a suture. It was blue. He said, "Obviously I wasn't a part of your original surgery, so I'm not sure why that was still in there." He said it was tied to the bottom of the kneecap, so he cut that out. Apparently that surprised him... and me, of course. (The other day he said "sutures" and I guess I forgot to ask if there was more than one today)

Then he went through the "release." He showed the pictures and explained that's why the outside of my knee looks like it has a "vienna sausage" inside of it. The swelling is causing that now, but that's normal.

Finally, he showed a picture of him cotterizing the blood vessels. "And, as you well know, not everything was cotterized even though I tried to get it all - which caused the bleeding and swelling."

So while my knee looks like it's twice the size of my other knee, it's come down enough that he is comfortable to send me to therapy. He doesn't want me to do much knee bending/heel slides right now... which means no biking yet... but at least I can get this process started. This next phase should last 4 weeks.

He doesn't want me to go back to work just yet. I told him I was thinking August 9, and he said he thinks that's the earliest but that I should plan to see him on the 1oth. I felt like he really wasn't sure if I'd be ready by then... but is leaving it up to me. Normally he sees patients 4 weeks later, but because of the complications he wants to see me in two weeks.

So I'm cleared for Physical Therapy starting tomorrow. He doesn't want me to stay by myself just yet, so I'll be bunking at my parent's house at least tonight. I guess I tend to agree... if you saw me, you'd understand. I'm just not there yet to be "Mr. Independent."

He said I might be able to start driving sometime next week. That would be determined by my Physical Therapist, Kendra. They re-wrapped the knee and said I could also start showering without the trash bag.

Overall, I feel like I got some good news today. I really couldn't imagine going into another surgery and putting my parents through all of that again. It's been tough on everyone this week, so I'm thankful for some good news in that I've finally turned a corner.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers...

I Spoke Too Soon...

For the record, I slept really well again last night.

However, before I went to bed, I was feeling quite a bit of pain in the knee. I thought it might be the ice pack "freezing" the skin, so I turned it down... quite a bit, actually. However, that didn't seem to help.

Throughout the night I took 3 pain pills - that's about one more than I should, but it's still within the limit.

Around 5:30, I woke up and realized the A/C temperature was going to start moving up after 8 unless I made a change. That's what has been waking me up each morning - after 8 it gets a bit warmer. So, I made my way over to the thermostat and cranked it down to 73 and hit "Hold." Ahhh... sweet cold relief.

I got up around 9:30 and noticed a lot of pain: knee and head. That was unusual... time for Mr. Pill.

After being up for about an hour, I realized something wasn't right. It's like my body is "off." I thought I might have a fever, so I took it. 98.2. Ok, maybe I just need some food. When Rachel arrived, she saw I wasn't feeling well and made me a sandwich. It was good, but it didn't fix the problem.

My energy level is just WAY down. It's like I've got the flu or something. I've forced myself to go through my exercises twice today already, but those didn't boost my energy level either.

Then I thought, "Maybe it's my blood pressure." So I took that and it read 134/89. Not great, but not "off the charts," you know? I mean, if you've been following this blog you know it's been a struggle... and the numbers have been much higher. To me, that's not the problem.

So Rachel was still concerned and wanted to know what she could get me to try and help the situation. I decided that maybe a smoothie from Sonic (props to Chandra) would give me some energy. I also ate a banana.

While I was sitting up, I showed Rachel one of my stitches (top of the knee) and she said that my knee is significantly larger than the other one.

Anyway, that's about how my day has gone. I've had zero energy and I've spent the entire day lying on this couch. Mom stopped by and wanted to know how I was doing... and of course, she feels bad as any mother would.

We talked about how it's been 1 week and I'm still feeling the same/worse than I was this time last Wednesday. And then she looked at my knee and commented how large it still is. I showed her the link below to the "lateral release" information so she/Rachel could see what happened.

Tonight Rachel is staying with me. She's taking me to the Dr. tomorrow morning (8 AM). I'm hoping to find out several things:

1. Is my knee still bleeding?
2. Are the pictures ready for me to see of what is going on internally?
3. What did he actually do/see during the surgery?

Overall, my pain has been about a 6 for the past two days. I can lift the leg, which is a good sign. I'm just completely wiped out and I've had a persistent headache all day. I guess it's just not a good day... maybe tomorrow will be different.

Feeling Better...

Today I woke up and my knee was bursting with pain...

My immediate thought was, "Oh great... more bleeding."

I had slept probably the best I have in over a week. I woke up just a few times (instead of every hour), and didn't roll out of bed until 9. I guess it's finally catching up to me.

I grabbed the walker and meandered out to the living room... and took my first pain pill of the day. After eating some breakfast, I settled into my spot - the couch.

Mom and Tanner showed up around 10:30 and she wanted to know my pain level. Well, it was pretty high still, and of course that bothered her (hypochondriac, remember?).

She wanted me to call Dr. Ramsey and move my appointment from Thursday to Wednesday. I told her let's play it by ear and see how I feel in the afternoon. She then left with Tanner and Carson for the next few hours.

Rachel showed up around 1:30 and immediately started helping out - cleaning up the house, changing the sheets, running the washer, etc. When Mom returned with Carson, she and Carson went to Target and Chili's for me.

While they were out, I decided to apply for "Short Term Disability" from my company. That was a lengthy phone call, and apparently I have a few more to make tomorrow regarding it. Awesome.

Then the Sears Repairman showed up - icemaker is on the fritz. When he was walking up, I thought, "Oh great... same guy." A few years ago he showed up to fix my freezer (different problem) and he spent more time gabbing then working.

Sure as anything... same thing today. This guy talked for 30 minutes straight... it went from "What happened to your knee" to me hearing about him riding motorcycles and his son piloting planes. (Note to Mel: His son is a Hunt pilot. Weird coincidence)

Then Rachel/Carson returned and I gave Carson a list to work through while Rachel finished up. She'll be back tomorrow and Carson will still be helping me.

Today I've been able to go through my exercises 3 times... not bad. Although the last one was a bit difficult.

My pain level is probably about a 6. Not bad. But I think overall I'm feeling better. Maybe the bleeding has stopped.

By the way, I got a little interested in what exactly is a "lateral release." The picture at the top shows that the kneecap is riding in a different position - which makes sense as I've always felt it wasn't lined up like the other one.

If you're interested in reading more, here is a link.

Still not doing much... just staying on the couch. My Mom said that Joel thinks I need to be checked into a hospital. Well, that's probably because when he saw me yesterday I wasn't looking that good... or the past few days. Mom said he was pretty shaken when he came home yesterday afternoon after seeing me.

I told her to make sure he knows I'm doing better... so let's hope things continue to go positive in that direction.

Monday's Update...

Sorry for the gruesome picture... but it plays well in today's update.

I guess everyone knows I've been in a lot of pain since Friday night. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say it's been a steady 7 with moments up to 8 or 9.

Misery...

This has been frustrating because I had no idea I'd be dealing with all of this after the surgery. I really thought it was going to be fairly simple and I'd be driving in a day or 2 after the operation.

I've also been amazed at how little I can move. It's incredibly difficult to get to the bathroom, or to the kitchen, or to wherever. I haven't left the house since Wednesday, until today.

Mom and Tanner showed up around 8:15 and picked us up. We got to Dr. Ramsey's office around 8:40, and were called back around 9:10. I wanted Mom in there with me to hear what he had to say - these pills still make me loopy.

Dr. Ramsey's PA seemed a little "matter-of-fact" when I told him I was in a lot of pain. "Well, that's to be expected since you had a lateral release." Mom asked him what that was, and he said the Dr. would explain everything. He then said, "And you're scheduled for PT today, right?" I said yes...

Then Dr. Ramsey's nurse came in to ask a few questions, and then Dr. Ramsey. He asked how I was doing and I said I'm feeling considerable pain. He wanted to know if I was doing my exercises, and I said, "I was doing them Wed, Thurs, Friday, but by Saturday I couldn't lift my leg."

He then had me lock my knee/leg and try and lift... no success. He told me to try again and this time he helped me... but then he let go and a pain that could only be described as "HOLY CRAP" shot up my leg and I came up off that table!

He immediately turned around and told my mom she needed to leave the room. I knew there was a problem...

They unwrapped the leg and my knee looked like a VERY large grapefruit. I could see various stitches in different places of the knee, but I couldn't get over the size of it. Then I saw it was bleeding out the side.

Dr. Ramsey said that it was filled with blood/fluid and he needed to get it out. Meaning... right now. So his nurse iced my knee with an ice cube for the next few minutes, and then he came in with the needle.

Good gosh... have you ever had the pleasure of a needle going into your knee? It's such a fun experience. Not only is he drawing the blood out, he's moving it around...

I laid on that table sweating like a pig and his nurse kept reminding me, "Breathe... breathe..." Man... that pain was intense. All the while I'm thinking, "Good gravy! What else can happen with this freakin' knee?"

Well, my question would be answered shortly.

He finished up and they re-wrapped the knee. He said he removed 40 cc's of blood and fluid, and that means there is a problem. But, removing that amount should help my strength and pain level.

He then had me try and lift the leg again... this time, success. He said I need to cancel my physical therapy sessions this week and he left to go get my mom.

Here comes the "Bad News" train...

The bleeding in the knee is a concern. He said he did a lot of cutting during surgery, and that he tried to cotterize everything but it's obvious I haven't completely clotted. He wants to see me on Thursday morning. Early. If I'm still bleeding like this, he's going to have to go in again. Meaning... another surgery.

Unbelieveable...

He then explained that a lateral release means he made a cut about 2-3 inches inside the knee to release the kneecap from the side of the knee. He also said he removed several sutures. But he said that we'll talk more about that later... he could tell I was fading.

So I go back to see him Thursday morning... I've canceled my 3 PT sessions this week... and right now I'm laying on my couch exhausted from the experience.

My sister is driving up from Houston tomorrow to stay with me for a few days... Carson will stay one more night.

Ok... I'm heading towards a nap. Just wanted to give everyone the latest and not-so-greatest.

Sunday's Update...

This is a picture of me about a year ago... and it could have been taken today.

If you had come to visit me on Thursday or Friday, you would have seen a much more mobile Regan. Dr. Ramsey had given me instructions on moderate physical therapy, which I was doing with little to no pain.

Then on Saturday, everything took a turn for the worse. I awoke and was barely able to hold myself up on the walker. It was incredible! I couldn't believe the change of events.

I'm not sure how many of you have experienced leg or knee pains before, but it felt like I had steel rods going up and down my leg. Even worse, the knee was constantly on fire.

Getting up or onto the couch was a major effort... as well as trying to get to the bathroom or anywhere else with the walker. I think Carson was even surprised...

Yesterday I spent the entire day on the couch. I also took two naps... the hydrochodone makes you extremely drowsey.

Last night, Carson and I watched "The Simpsons Movie" and then I had to call it quits around 10. Unfortunately, it wasn't a restful night's sleep.

About every hour I wake up - either I try to readjust (as much as I can since I'm restricted to sleeping on my back), or I've got to make a trip to the bathroom.

Around 3 I woke up to a lot of "firey" pain - the knee was killing me. I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed 2 ice blocks. I put them in a grocery bag and waddled back to the bedroom to fill the ice machine. Ah man... it felt SO freakin' good. Plus, the pill helped.

I woke up around 8 but stayed in bed watching a move until almost 11. Carson got up and went through the process of setting up my ice pack. I then decided to make him a list of things I needed him to do for me (lists are good things with kids I'm finding out).

Chandra came to visit and bring us a Sonic meal around 2. It was soooo good. We then watched a movie, "17 Again," and played our iPhone game ("Words With Friends" - it's fun, like Scrabble).

Overall, my pain is still pretty intense. It has been nonstop since Friday night. I think it's gotten a little better as the day has wore on, but I've got some decisions to make tomorrow.

You see, I planned to login and work from home in the afternoon. However, the pain coupled with these pills makes me struggle big time with "focus." We'll see...

Tomorrow morning my Mom is picking Carson and I up to go see Dr. Ramsey at 9. Then if he releases me, my first Physical Therapy session is at 10:45. However, "if" is a big word - I can't lift my leg as it is today.

Tonight we'll just continue to take it easy. Thanks for reading, and I'll try to keep the updates coming...