Post #19 Oops, I fell.... twice

Good news before bad news.  As I currently write this blog, I am on my CPM machine.  I have it set at 72 degrees.  Last year I did not hit 72 degrees till 3 1/2 weeks after surgery.  I am one week out of surgery.  So far this surgery is almost completely different than my last surgery.  I really am shocked by this.

Ok, now for the bad news... I fell.  Twice.  The first time it was pouring rain all day.  I was walking into my house and my wet crutches completely slipped out from under me.  I landed on my left leg twice putting a good amount of weight on it (I am still non-weight bearing).  I had my brace locked and I think that is what saved me from doing too much damage to that knee.  The second time I did it I was not so lucky.  I unlock my brace in the car because the sitting angle is just too uncomfortable/painful for me, and I tend to forget to re-lock it when I get out of the car.  Which is exactly what I did this time.  I have a very steep driveway, so my friend parked at the bottom and I was going up the stairs to my house.  I forgot to lock my brace, and on the first step of stairs I just lost my balance and fell over.  My right knee (operated on last year) is having a lot of pain lately and is very shaky since I still do not have a lot of muscle built up.  I started to fall and landed right on my left leg.  Because the brace was not locked, my knee started to bend, so I threw myself down to try and save that leg.

It's painful, but I'm surprised it's not more painful than it is.  And I'm doing OK with bending, so I don't think I really did any damage to it.  I see my doctor tomorrow for my first post-op visit and x-rays, so I'll find out then.  I'm crossing my fingers that everything still looks OK.  I haven't had to increase my pain pills, so I'm guessing everything is good.

4/24 Update: I forgot to update after my first post op doctor visit. I told him I had fallen twice and he was not concerned at all. He said that is what the brace is for. That was a huge relief! I did not have to have stitches removed this year because he used a different kind than last year. Apparently this kind you do not have to tie knots in it because it has very very tiny hooks in the string that grab onto my skin. They dissolve over time and my scars might even be less noticeable than what I have on my right knee. I also informed him that I have been massaging my leg. He thought that was a great idea. And said that fluid build up is a big problem the first couple weeks after surgery. I have been using that tiger tail like crazy and I really feel like its helping. I notice if i forget to massage one night. I highly recommend it if you are getting the surgery!

My post op xrays:

Looking down on my bent knees. Both knee caps line up in the groove nicely.

A view of my knee from behind

Side view of my left knee

Post #18: Well, I got my left knee done

Yep, I figured if I didn't force myself to get it done this year, I probably would never get it done.  So last December I scheduled to have the surgery on my left knee done at the same time of year I had my right knee done in 2013.  I am writing this blog a week after my surgery, and so far it is almost night and day difference from last year's surgery.

I had the same exact surgery I had last year, a tibial tubercle osteotomy and MPFL replacement.  I also had the nerve block placed in my thigh again.  Last year I woke up to extreme pain the first night after surgery; everyone kept saying the nerve block was wearing off.  It went from painful to extreme pain fast, and it took me hours to get the pain back under control.  This year I did not have that problem.  My pain was very tolerable and I never had any true spikes to my pain.  I talked to the anesthesiologist and he thought the catheter in my nerve block might have moved.  He said there is a very small area that the catheter needs to stay at, and any little movement can move it and potentially make the nerve block stop working.  I'm guessing that is what happened last year.

Nerve block 

I had the choice of staying one or two nights in the hospital.  I was only going to stay one night because I was doing so good this time around.  But the anesthesiologist suggested I stay one more night and then he could mix one more nerve block bottle for me in the morning, and I could go home with it for longer relief.  So I stayed one more night only for that reason.  However, the nerve block ended up leaking all over me after only an hour of being home so that means once again I wasn't getting any of the medicine, and staying one more night in the hospital was a waste.  Oh well I can't do anything about it now.

Left knee three days after surgery, Right knee one year after surgery

The bruising begins about five days after surgery

Last time I ended up ordering a CPM (continuous passive motion) machine one month after surgery because I was having issues with bending my knee.  This time I ordered a CPM machine to be delivered to me the first day I was home from the hospital.  I've been on this machine as much as I can.  I had my first PT appointment yesterday and my therapist was amazed with how much better I am doing this time.  She bent my knee to 60 degrees and was so excited with how easily it bent.  Last year my knee only bent this early to 40 degrees with a lot of sweat and tears.  No tears this time!  I'm convinced having this machine right away has really helped.

 

This is the CPM machine. If you don't remember from my previous post, it is a machine that bends my knee to whatever degree I set

I  bought a tiger tail rolling massage tool.  I use this guy to massage my leg and move the fluid around.  I had huge lumps in my leg and it was fairly painful at first to massage them.  But after a couple days of doing this the lumps are completely gone and my leg feels so light.  Not heavy and weighted down.  I also feel like bending is way easier because I don't have a bunch of fluid hindering it.  It's just a different feeling than last year.  My right leg always felt very tight and hurt so much to bend.  The left leg does not feel tight at all and now the bending is a different, more tolerable pain.  It's only been a week since surgery; I'll keep updating if I think these two things continue to help or not.  But at this moment in time I am completely convinced that the CPM machine and the tiger tail are helping this surgery to be a lot smoother than the last surgery.

Tiger tail rolling massage tool