This is a post I am writing for myself, mainly. There's lots of photos and links back to other posts. There is also a bit of sad. Don't read it if you don't want to. I totally understand.
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The trouble began in high school. I was on drill team for four years - loved it so much. If you had told me that I was going to have knee troubles in middle age, I would have scoffed. I felt fit and flexible, and young and strong. And drill team was my LIFE.
Here I am perched in a tree. If you look veeery closely you can just make out an ace bandage on my left knee. I distinctly remember my kneecap subluxing during the finale of a halftime show. Did that keep me from climbing a tree? No. I either had a lack of common sense or a felt invincible. And, no one told me not to. My mother, an x-ray tech, took me to get it x-rayed. "Normal" said the radiologist. In actuality, I had probably torn a medial patellar ligament. Too bad MRI was not in widespread use yet.
In college I injured it the same way, again. And it started happening more often. Brushing it across something unless it was fully bent could cause it to shift to the outside. Eventually, my kneecap was tracking laterally all the time. Over time I had damaged the medial ligament so much the lateral one could yank it harder sideways. Then in August of 2014 I tore my meniscus and went through a month of searing knee pain before I could see the doc. During this time we lost Hubby's sister, bought a car, got the boys ready for school, and sent The Girl back to Waco for her last semester. I was too busy to have it slow me down for long. But I saw an orthopedist and made plans to get it repaired.
So that's what I did in October. Eight weeks of pain, followed by surgery that should have about a two to four week recovery time. A meniscus repair, and a lateral patellar tendon release.
Unfortunately when the doc got in there he found bone on bone and quite a mess. My patellar groove on my femur was very shallow, adding to the problem with it tracking normally. It was as bad a knee as he had ever seen - but he didn't rule out a knee replacement in the future.
I wish I could say that I handled it with grace and courage and a sense of humor.
The cat never left my side. My Hubby made me breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the first week or so. People were kind and waiting on me at home - what a blessing.
No one warned me not to look under the ace wrap!
See the tiny dot between the two stitched areas on the left? That is a needle hole from having it drained post-op. OUCH.
It wasn't a beautiful knee before, what did I expect?
My ankle was ridiculous.
As the days passed, the bruises came more and more to the surface. The big one here must be exactly where the tendon was cut. (You can still see the marks the surgeon made on my knee with a sharpie.)
Some bruising lasted a long time.
Eventually I got my stitches out and my days became filled with: eat a very tiny amount, take drugs, sleep, eat a tiny amount, take more drugs, sleep, text, drugs, sleep, pee, don't forget to try to eat, cry, cry, cry. Gradually, I moved to the front room so I could sit at my computer. My sister said sorry for your luck, read the Gospel. People were tired of me crying about my knee, for sure.
Physical therapy wasn't the happy experience I'd anticipated.
The PT took charge and got me a shower chair and a TENS unit.
HALLELUYAH.
My ankle swelling went down and some bruises starting disappearing.
My knee became more knee-like. With the shower chair I could shave my legs!
I started crying less, trying hard, working on my home program like a mad woman.
It was getting better every day, that knee o' mine.
I just had to give it time to heal.
Best piece of advice? If you've done it once before, you can do it again. And you can try it at least once.
Eventually, my leg muscles remembered how to contract, I went from two crutches to one, then cane, then returned to work, working on gaining strength.
Update 10 years later? My knee has its days, but I am able to do all of the things I did before and I feel strong.
Gina
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