Browsing all posts in "knee".

Tomorrow’s Surgery – Hope the Doctor Is Better than His Front-Desk Staff

I’m anxious about tomorrow’s re-do of my ACL, especially because the people coordinating this surgery seem to have their heads up their asses. I have been assured the doctor is very good – so as long as the surgery goes well I can forgive the poor front-desk performance.

My surgeon is Dr. Golden at Cedar Sinai. His staff seems to have a number of issues:

1. They don’t answer phones
2. They don’t return phone messages, expecting you to get psychic messages that they are doing what you asked
3. They act as if you are really wasting their precious time

If I hadn’t had this surgery before, I wouldn’t even know just how much they are messing up the planning. The last time I had a CPM device that kept my leg bending 10 hours a day automatically while I was lying in bed. According to all the paperwork from this new doctor, I will have one again. Well, here it is a day before surgery, and noone has contacted me about delivery of the machine (it’s a huge thing so it’s not like I can carry it home from surgery).

Today I called a few times, ignoring the voice mail (what’s the point of leaving a message if no one calls you back) and finally got them on the phone. They stuttered around a bit – I’m sure they realized something went awry with me not getting the machine today. They put me through to a woman who said that Team Post-Op would be calling me. Now four hours later – no call. I think I may have to find Team Post-Ops number and call them myself.

Second ACL Surgery Almost Here

For those of you who don’t know already, my first ACL surgery did not take – something happened and the ACL was disrupted again. I am having another surgery this Thursday, and I’m not looking forward to it. I’m definitely not in as good shape as last time – my leg is still below normal from the previous surgery and not as strong, and, of course, I have gained back the weight I diligently lost before the first surgery.

My approach this time has been to ignore the fact I’m going to go through this again – otherwise I think I would run for the hills. I know it’s necessary because the knee has become increasingly unstable – I feel it wobble and it’s only a matter of time before it really gives and I tear other ligaments.

This time they will not harvest my patella for the new piece – they will use a cadaver piece to replace my damaged ACL. I’m told the recovery is NOT as bad for this type of surgery because you don’t have all the patellar pain, but others say it’s still pretty painful.

The first few days are the worst.

The doctor has not given me a handicapped parking permit, which was essential last time for grocery shopping and the like because, well, you can’t dodge crappy parking lot drivers very well with a straight-leg brace on. I’m calling tomorrow to see if this can be rectified.

I have to show up at Cedar Sinai outpatient surgery center at 7 am on Thursday – so I will update in the days following to let you know just how miserable I am

My ACL Surgery Did Not Work

Doc isn’t sure if it was due to an unfortunate fall about 2 months after the surgery, but my MRI last week shows it is disrupted at the midsubstance and we need to do a revision.

I am going to another surgeon for a second opinion. I really do not want to be in that damned straight-leg brace for 4 weeks, and I don’t want to be in that pain you get for the first few days, but most of all, I don’t want to put out another 3-4 grand in deductibles and copays and out-of-pocket crap. I have to try to do it before year’s end to avoid that!

This is one of those months:

My Aunt Vera sat down wrong on her couch and slipped and hurt her hand so she’s in a splint, and she was already off balance, so I have hired special 24-hour help for her for the next week so she isn’t trying to do too much (she also keeps trying to take the darn splint off).
My dad has been diagnosed with cancer and is probably going to have surgery.

The company I work for has been bought by another company – which I think is actually a good thing, but it still creates anxiety when you have major changes like that

My knee hurts much of the time

Good news – I don’t seem to have Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura or leukemia, my self-diagnoses after my doc was concerned by these petechiae on my lower legs and took a blood test and I decided to do a little online research (note to self: don’t do online research until after the tests come back to avoid needless panic).

First Day Back in the Office Results in Very Achy Knee

Yesterday was my first day working in the office – first day driving a long distance (30 milies each way). I’m paying for it today. Last night when I took off the brace I had more swelling than usual. I iced it a couple of times and that helped. Today Ithe knee has been very stiff and painful. Guess this is just the normal course of recovery – but I was nervous all day that I had “done something” to the knee and ruined the graft and that’s why it must hurt so much. It’s also doing some weird “settling” at times – as if all the bones are shifting when I put my weight on it. Kind of creepy.

Other than that…I’m under quite a bit of pressure at work this week and feeling the result of being out of the loop for a while – things really do catch up with you!

ACL Recovery Right on Track

Sorry for another long delay – trying to get back into the swing of work, plus those two hours a day of exercises that seem to knock me out. I have wanted to do lots of napping these days .

I moved to the smaller brace today, so I am no longer in the straight-leg brace from hip to ankle. This one takes a little getting used to – it basically keeps your knee from doing any twisting/turning until the ACL is healed enough to handle that type of movement. I am up to 10 minutes on the stationary bike – might not sound like much but I was pretty happy to make it that long. I am still having pain, but usually just first thing in the morning when everything is stiff – and bending the knee is really difficult, and then late at night, especially if I walked a lot that day.

I am being very assiduous about my exercises and watching my diet carefully. I have officially lost 23 pounds now – I started about 2 months before surgery. I am not sure how much the recent loss is actually loss of muscle in my right leg, but my clothes are definitely starting to fall off. I am glad I have been able to reduce calories – when you are so immobile you really have to watch every morsel. I have not been perfect (a few self-pity meals thrown in there), but overall I’ve been strict and stuck with the very low fat diet.

The scar is healing well, although it does look like it will show toward the lower part of the knee as it is pretty wide there. Oh well – battle wounds of a sort!

Very Good Progress after ACL Surgery

The physical therapist says I am way ahead of where people usually are at this point – he said I’m on a “fast track” to recovery. Woo hoo! All the physical conditioning done in advance of surgery is paying off. I did 40 leg lifts today! If you’ll recall I could not do even one the first first days. I’m not doing full lifts yet, but much better than even two days ago.

I’ve gotten into the groove on the CPM – I just set myself up and relax into it. I’m up to 110 degrees, although each session I have to move it back to about 95 and slowly increase the bend over the next half hour as the leg muscles warm up. I stopped in at the Conservatory coffee shop today with my friend Serena and saw my “crew” – lol, by crew I mean my favorite people I love to chat with in the morning over coffee and newspaper. It was so nice to spend a little time with friends!

I will be back to work on Monday, although I will probably work a slightly reduced schedule due to physical therapy and the fact I get really tired and need breaks throughout the day.

6 Days After ACL Surgery – Conclusion: The CPM Machine is BORING

Being in one position with your knee bending up and down for 2 hours might sound like a blast, oh, it doesn’t? Well, you’re right. You can watch TV, read, sip a soda, chat on the phone…but nothing changes the fact you are stuck on your back in one position with your leg bending up and down. I haven’t managed to get in the full 6 hours a day yet – I get in 5 and feel like I’ve done my purgatory. It also rubs annoyingly – even though it has this fluffy pad I noticed today after my first 2-hour session that it had rubbed some spots of my skin off in two places. I put some aveeno cream on them then tried putting a towel in the machine to get less rubbing. That made the bend weird. My roommate picked up a self-sticking bandage, but that was too rough. I may cut a leg off a pair of stretchy pants to see if that works – also under the brace as that is annoying and rubs too.

I was going to post a picture of my colorful leg, but decided not to because it is unpleasant. It doesn’t look as bad as you would think – but it is definitely yellow, red, blue…and swollen. I have some weird muscle stuff going on in the quads – little spasms.
I prepped for the surgery for a few months so I built my quads up pretty well in advance, but I’m already seeing some atrophy.
My big accomplishment today? 10 straight leg lifts. Before the surgery I could do 60 without sweating. Up until today I just …could…not…lift…that…leg. It’s like trying to lift a cement log that someone stuck in your leg’s place.

The cryo-cuff ice machine is heaven still. I am raising the leg a bit more because the physical therapist said I should get it as high as possible so everything drains. Pretty.

My second physical therapy is tomorrow morning. I have been doing my quad sets, knee squeezes (ouch), and ankle rotations. The heel slides are the worst thing – even though I’m up to 90 degrees on the CPM, I can’t do the heel slide more than maybe 6 inches in and it feels like a steel band stops me.

I have been managing to do a little work each day so I don’t get totally behind on e-mail and nothing turns into a crisis at my job, but I get tired pretty quickly. It doesn’t help that I got a bad cough and cold two days after surgery. The cough seems to be subsiding, but I’m still pretty stuffed up.

One of the toughest parts of this is the sense of isolation – when you are trapped on the CPM device you are pretty much on your own. I start to feel a little lonely as the day wears on – doing my exercises, the CPM, the ice cuff…TV is a sad substitute for human companionship! When my roommate calls or comes home I’m like a kid who just saw their best friend for the first time in 10 years – I’m so overjoyed to have a little company.

Over the Hump?

Pain has decreased dramatically today – and I’m hoping I can try to do the CPM tomorrow and start that part of my rehab now that I can get in and out of the brace without feeling like I’m going to pass out! I seem to have picked up a bit of a bug – had a fever today and I have developed a deep cough. I am unbelievably tired, but haven’t been sleeping as much as I should probably – pain pills have a way of disrupting sleep but leaving you in a constant state of drowsiness.

My first physical therapy is Monday. Today I have been able to walk with one crutch without too much pain. I’m starting to tighten and release my quads to get those working again. It’s amazing how much different one day can make – yesterday I was crying and could barely move! Today I’m feeling mobile enough to get things for myself and move about the house. I had a tough time waking up this morning – but finally after a few “naps” I was able to get up and going. I managed to take a shower by covering the brace with plastic garbage bags and sticking it out the shower door. It felt soooo good to wash my hair. The little things in life we take for granted!

My living room looks like a funeral home with all the flowers from various people – which is particularly amusing because my roommate grew up in a funeral home and has a thing about flower arrangements. It is really nice to come into the room as see all the different types of flowers. I love tulips – both my sister and my boss sent me beautiful vases of tulips!
I am just not energetic enough to call people back yet who have called – I’m conserving my energy for rehab and so my updates here will have to suffice at least for a few more days!

I got a blast from the past this week – a mentor and friend from my screenwriting days – what a nice surprise to hear his voice, especially during a week when friends mean everything!

Pain

About all I can say today. Losing the pain pump the first night means excruciating pain now that the nerve block has worn off. Doc says I can lay off the cpm machine for a few days since the transition to and from the brace is the most painful. The ice cuff seems to be leaking so my dressing is getting wet – the Team Post Op people are supposed to come by at 1 pm to see if it is leaking and replace it.
In the meanwhile, I get a message our AdWords are down and it looks like click fraud to me, so I had to send a request to Google to investigate. We have some pretty scummy competitors so I wouldn’t put it past them to get a gang of friends to click click click our budget away. We went from $6 a lead for one phrase to $109 spend one day with no leads. Clearly something isn’t right. It’s like they knew I’d be out of the office.

There is no such thing as time off with my job, even when you feel like someone is stabbing you repeatedly in the leg for hours.

CPM Machine

CPM Machine

Originally uploaded by Smash Monster.