Knee Update

I had my first knee post-op appointment yesterday.  My physical therapists and doctors are actually amazed at how well I'm doing.  I am also amazed at how much easier the recovery has been so far.

They removed the steri-strips yesterday so I actually got a good view of my knee.  Here's a knee selfie.

Here's another view from the top.  You can't really see it from these photos, but it's really bruised.  Strange thing is that it didn't turn black and blue until about a week after surgery.  Now it's just ugly brown and yellow plus it's really swollen.  They tell me this is all normal.

My doctor gave me a full surgery report yesterday with every step explained in detail.  Let's just say I can't believe how they had to move my leg in so many positions to get in there properly.  Hanging off the table at a 90 degree angle then a 130 degree angle, then straight, and then in a four point position  that I had to google to see what that was.  It's very understandable now why my thigh muscles were (and still are) so incredibly sore.  It's frightening to even think about what goes on during surgery when you're sound asleep.  I really prefer not to think about it.

So I've been given the okay to walk on the treadmill, but I had to start with only half a mile and working my way up to two miles in the next six weeks.  This morning I made my way out to the freezing garage and walked my first half mile.  It took about 18 minutes because I have to start at a very slow space.  Did it hurt?  Yes, it was uncomfortable but building those muscles back up is a necessity.

Now I'm going to show you some photos from my surgery.  If you don't like this sort of thing you should say goodbye now.

So, my surgeon said he would take a look at everything while he was in there.  Here he is giving my ACL a tug to make sure it's nice and tight which it was.

Here's a few shots of the torn meniscus.    You'll see the horizontal line in the middle...above that is the end of the femur and below is the head of the tibia.  All the fuzzy area is the torn meniscus.

So, the MRI showed I had a tiny little tear, but the opposite was true when the surgeon got in there.  My tear went from one side of the knee to the other.  In his words "you did a job on it".  The size of tear caused some damage to the cartilage that covers the bones in the joint.  He cleaned all that up including some cartilage that was floating loose in the joint.  He says I have some meniscus left, but I will more that likely have more trouble in the future.  He showed me a picture where the femur bone is starting to break through the cartilage.

What can I say?  I am a 60 (almost 61) year old woman so some arthritis is to be expected.  Am I going to sit on the couch not moving my knee joint to save the cartilage?  Heck no, I'm going to wear that joint out then I'm going to get a knee replacement and wear that one out too.

I can't tell you how many times I almost cancelled that surgery because the MRI said it was a small tear.  I am now so grateful that I went through with it because his clean up is going to give me more time before things get worse.  Yesterday I came across a picture of my knee from last summer in Yellowstone.  I had kinda forgotten how swollen it was all summer and how I had to ice it every day after work.

Listen to your body and trust science and the experts when something isn't quite right.