So yes I have officially finished 10 twelve hour days! WOOHOO, I'm using my brain again! It's funny how staying home for three months made me feel like my brain was going to mush. Anyway, back to my knees and how they felt. Well as I said the first two nights went great, but the third night was rough. The patient load I had that night was very busy. I was on my feet pretty much all night not able to take a break; running from one patient to the next. As exciting as it was, my knees sure were feeling it. I was limping pretty bad by the end of the night. Not so much in pain, but just exhaustion. A couple times throughout the night my knee "gave out". Meaning I'd be standing or walking and my knee would buckle. I never completely fell on the ground but I dipped enough for people to notice and ask if I was OK!
I got through the night and woke up the next day feeling just fine. I was surprised; I'd been nervous the day prior that I might have to call in a sick day. But the fourth night was just fine. Now i call it my third and fourth night cause technically it was; however I really worked two days on, two days off and two days on again. That's just how my schedule worked out. After six days off i started my normal work schedule. Which is four on, two off, two on, six off. If you're not confused by this point let's continue on :-) My first week of a straight four days came and went. Again i surprised myself and did OK. I was exhausted and by the third and fourth night it was getting painful. But nothing that I couldn't handle. I wore my brace all three nights and gave that up on the fourth. I gave up because I got sick of the brace falling down. When it's in the right position it really helps but it slides down so fast that I am constantly adjusting it. My knee felt weird/slightly weak without the brace but I made it through the night. So now I bring the brace to work but rarely wear it unless I have a patient load where I must walk from one building to the next. Then I'll wear it.
I met with the doctor the other day and he gave me the go to start running. He said I can basically do anything besides sports that would cause me to do a fast twisting movement (ie: tennis, snowboarding, etc). I haven't tried to deliberately run yet; the few times I forgot to be cautious and sprinted (before the doctor gave me the all clear to run) my leg gave out and I'd almost fall. In all honestly I'm a little scared to try. Maybe I'll try soon.
I did go on a fairly hard hike today. Knee was painful and had a few issues but otherwise good.
This is one of my first real hikes since surgery. It felt amazing!!! I've really missed exploring my state. Can't wait for my next hike! :-)
Picture of my scars four months after surgery. one picture with flash, one without
Hey(:
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. I get my surgery August 5 I'm barely 18 yikes! I have knock knees and my right knee has been giving me trouble for months. I did therapy for about seven months, I had my good days and bad. Sadly in a blink of an eye I got back to ground zero. With the pain being back, and I feeling like I can't take anymore they offered surgery. The doctor don't give me the name of what type of osteotomy he is doing but he explained he has to cut a wedge on the upper bone from the knee. All my ligaments from the inner knee are streacthed and sprained. My biggest fear is one leg will be longer than the other and my nerves will be damaged. It's hard to decide if I want to go three with this but as a write this its another sleepless night for me. Any comfort would help:) trying to stay positive. -Gladys
oops I replied but i guess it showed up in its own separate comment... please see below :-)
DeleteI am so sorry to hear about your troubles! But i know what you are talking about. PT gets better and better then one day you're back to square one. It feels like you just wasted time. And surgery is very scary (at least for me it was). But you gave PT a really good chance! seven months is a long time. I can't tell you if you are making the right decision or not but for me I already know I made the right one. My right knee (surgery knee) feels completely different than my left knee. It feels SOOOO strong; even if its painful. Every month it gets better and better; and it never felt like that with PT. I really hope your surgery goes smoothly!
ReplyDeleteYeah my nerves were cut during the surgery so the outside of my right knee is numb. But i think the feeling is slowly coming back. My doctor said it may come back or it may not. Either way it hasn't bothered me that much. I mean how often do you try to feel something with the outside of your knee? haha.
The surgery is A LOT of work ( if you are getting the same one as me); however, only four months after surgery and I already know I made the right choice. The pain i feel is completely different than the pain I felt before, But i am also still healing so that pain might be there for awhlie. But its a pain I can tolerate without taking any medicine. I tend to ramble so Ill stop here. If you any specific questions please ask! Before surgery I was very scared, hopefully I can ease some of your nerves! GOOOOD LUCK! :-D
Thank you! It helps they changed my surgery to Thursday so ah! But you're right if I have PT a change then I shouldn't stress a lot about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting osteotomy (tibial) if I'm not wrong.
My concern is what if one leg is longer than the other one?:O
Have you talked to your doctor about that? My understanding is once you're 18 you are pretty much done with growing. Thats why they wouldn't do my surgery until I was 18.
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