I am currently writing this blog at 3:15 am. I am very tired but I have had several people ask for an update and I've just been too busy to actually sit down and do so. I finally had a moment tonight to blog. However, because it is so late and I am so tired I do not feel like proof reading this. I apologize if it is horrible written. Not only am I tired but i am a HORRIBLE writer. Mix the two together and you get this post. SORRY, you have been warned! :-)
WOW someone forgot about their blog! I applaud people who have blogs and post stuff every week! Ok ok where to even start, I'm that far behind!
Well I saw my doctor for my six week check up (obviously at this point). He gave me the go to come off crutches and walk on the leg as much as I want. However, no running/jumping until I see him again. Which is some time in september. I wish I was better at keeping up with this blog cuz I can't remember exactly how long it took me to completely ditch the crutches; but I know it was sooner than my first surgery. I want to say my last surgery it took me about two weeks to ditch the crutches and use just a cane/no cane depending on my day. This time I'd say it took about a week to a week and a half for me to completely ditch the crutches. So not MUCH faster. I feel like I used my cane a little bit more this time verses my first surgery. But I also did not baby the leg as much as I previously had; I was really working out trying to get the quad firing again. I was also ditching the brace as much as I could. That really helped to build up muscle faster.
On June 12th I was forced to go back to work from my employer. I was hoping to have at least one more week to try and build up muscle, but when work says they wont hold your job position after the 12th, you go back on the 12th. Last year I did not go back to work till June 28th. So I was a good 2.5 weeks a head of last year. And to be honest I did just fine. Yeah it was sore and I ended up having to wear my brace ( I'm on my feet for twelve hours ). It did ok the first four hours of my shift but after that it just kept snapping back (knee being completely straight while stepping down on it) while I walked which caused it to be achy/sore/exhausted. My job was accommodating and let me come back to work for only two days a week for the first two weeks. If they did not let me do this I would of had to start my first week back at work doing four twelve hour days in a row. I could of MAYBE done three, but I would of for sure been calling in that fourth day. My knee was soooo tired by the end of the second day. I also iced it about five times throughout the night, both knees. One night I got lazy and only iced it once, or twice; and boy did I feel the difference that night.
My right knee has been very swollen every time I go to PT lately too. Also warm to the touch; but not as warm as the left knee. I was doing great, every day my knee was getting stronger; but last week I had a step back... or two. On my days off of work I do not wear my knee brace, unless if I know I will be on it all day long. This last week I noticed my knee snapping back and buckling more. It's way more achy and exhausted half way through the day than normal. I brought it up to PT and she thinks its because I am wearing the brace at work. The brace is preventing the knee from snapping back, but it also prevents the quad from having to work as hard, Because of this my quad muscle has basically "fallen asleep" again. And once it falls asleep its hard to wake it back up. So at PT that week she suggested I wear the brace on and off at work. Maybe two hours on, and two hours off. Also at PT we used the muscle stimulator. This machine uses electrical stimulation to make my muscle contact. Oh I also forgot to mentioned going up and down stairs hurts extremely bad. Its a very sharp pain in my knee. During PT while I was on this muscle stimulator machine she had me do exercises. One of the exercises was just stepping up on a block and stepping down. With the stimulator stimulating my muscles my pain was significantly lower. Still painful but tolerable.
My PT may order me this machine to use at home for a couple weeks. We are going to talk about it again at our next appointment. I also cut down my PT to once a week, now that I am back at work. I also do not use the pool anymore, just land. I stopped using the pool June 12th. At PT we are mainly working on mobilization/bending/ using the ultrasound machine (which helps with pain) and addressing any concerns I am having. My PT lady is great at stretching me and I always feel more mobile after my appointment.
My first surgery I had a lot of issues with bending, I am not having those issues as much anymore. My PT lady wants me to be slightly higher in bending degrees BUT every week I add a few more degrees so she's happy as long as i progress. I think the farthest I've bent so far is 132.
I joined a gym and found that using the bike has really helped keep that joint mobile/move the fluid out of it. I would highly suggest riding a stationary bike, if you have that available to you after surgery.
I think thats about it on updates. Not on anymore pain meds. and rarely have to take even ibuprofen . There has been a day or two were I took a small dose of percocet right before bed because it was so achy from work. But I think I have only done that twice, and I can usually tough out the pain until bed time.
Thanks for the update! So glad things seem to be going pretty well for you :)
ReplyDeleteWell I had my surgery June 10 so I am just over 4 weeks post op. My surgeon had me in a knee splint for 10 days after surgery and then told me to ditch it and not use a brace and to ditch the crutches when I felt strong and steady enough. I was kind of surprised since everything I have read online about these surgeries you are in a locked brace for weeks. But I guess I have to trust him, he is the chief of orthopaedic surgery at the 3 hospitals in my city so I have to assume he knows what he is doing LOL. I do wear the knee splint when I leave the house but otherwise I have it off at home and physio. I was also so surprised at my pain tolerance, I barely had any pain after the surgery...just the first couple of days were painful and then i was barely taking any painkillers. By far the most painful part for me was whenever I would stand up I would get CRAZY bloodrushes to my knee. OMG they were horrible I would scream and cry in pain. Thankfully those rushes only lasted 10 days after the surgery. I am currently at 75 degrees for my ROM which is lower than I would like but on my first physio appointment I could only get to 40 degrees so my PT is not concerned as long as I am progressing. But man is it ever painful, I scream everytime she tries to bend it further and further. The other people at the physio place probably think I am nuts lol. I just started using a cane around the house and at physio but still use my crutches when I am out and about.
How was your physio this time around? Was it at painful as the last time to you did it with your other knee? I am starting to dread going now because it kills to bend it further than I am comfortable with.
Small update...I have been stuck at 75 degrees since Monday (today is Saturday)...And that is 75 degrees with A LOT of pain...I am pretty much screaming to get to that point. I am so frustrated, I feel like if my physiotherapist can't get me past 75, and I can't get it past 75 on my own clearly, what is going to magically happen to my knee to get it to start bending further?! It just feels like it will never give me more bend! You had a bit of this problem with your first surgery didn't you?
DeleteThat's great that your pain is tolerable! everyone/every surgery is different. I had the same surgery on both knees and my first surgery (right knee) had way more pain associated with it then my second one. My only degree restrictions was I couldn't bend past 90 degree until I could put weight on it; which for me was anywhere from six-eight weeks.
DeleteDo your scars look like mine? I wounder if we have slightly different surgeries ; or maybe we had different techniques.
YES the bloodrushes were the WORST! Man they will take your breath away for a minute. BUT it gets better after a week or two. Promise!
I had a lot of issues bending with my first surgery. Are you taking your pain meds before PT. Also i would stay on my CPM machine a good hour or two before PT just to help have it loose already. I would highly suggest getting the tiger tail massage tool... or at least massaging it right before PT. Moving the fluid around (even when i didn't feel like there was fluid build up, but believe me, there is) really helps with the stiffness. Has your PT person tried different positions when bending your knee? For me being on my back and having them bend my knee (whether that be in the air, or having my foot on the table and sliding it back) was very very painful for me. It felt a lot better to use gravity when they would bend my knee. I would sit on the edge of the table and let it slowly relax down then they would push on it a little bit..... while massaging the tissue around the knee (ie upper tight and calve).
My scar is just one big line down the middle of my knee, it is about 5 inches long. I had the fulkerson and mpfl reconstruction as well. I noticed you have 2 smaller incisions, I would have preferred that but oh we'll, it's just a scar right :)
DeleteI returned my CPM machine 2 weeks after surgery which I am
Now slightly regretting but it wasn't covered by insurance and it was costing me $150 a week to rent it.
We have tried several different ways of bending at physio. We started with me sitting in a chair and my PT on the floor slowing pushing my foot towards me. That worked for a while but then I started to lift my hips up to compensate for the pain. We then tried bending with me lying down on the bed and that didn't work so we have been doing what you did: sitting on the edge of the bed with my leg hanging off. We use a similar thing to the tiger tail tool at the beginning of every session and it does seem to help a little.
I haven't taken pain meds before physio since 3 weeks ago which I am now wondering if I should start. I wonder if taking some before I leave would make the bending pain a little more tolerable? Were you taking meds before your physio sessions?
Hello
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to drop in and say I am a little over 3 months post op and doing great! I can bend my knee to 140 degrees so far. After my last post I had a huge jump in degrees (went from 75 to 105 over the course of 5 days). Question for you...how long did it take you to rebuild the muscle in your leg after surgery? And how long did you do physio for? I am still going 2 times a week but it is getting really expensive!!! Hope all is well :)
One more question! Do you ever kneel
ReplyDeleteOn your knees? Is it comfortable yet? I can do it but its not very pleasant! I've read that it may never be
Like it was before the surgery.
Hi heather. Sorry i wrote you back after your first comment but apparently it didn't post. That's great that you are doing soooo good! It always feels good to have big accomplishments. People who haven't had this surgery don't get it, but bending is such a big deal! haha. I went to PT, twice a week until i went back to work (march 19th- sometime in June). After i went back to work i cut it down to once a week ... i THINK for a month, maybe two. and now i only go once a month just to check in.
DeleteWell my first surgery i was still building muscle a whole year after surgery. But once i had my second surgery it really forced my right knee to build muscle fast. Just for reference i was in a wedding last weekend, and the bride wanted me to wear wedges (the wedding was outside so the ground was uneven). I could not do it. My leg kept giving out. So its six months later and I am still not able to wear heels. HOWEVER, I work at the hospital anywhere from 4 to 6 days in a row for twelve hours. And with what I do i am walking most of those twelve hours. Because of my job my knee is usually swollen and pretty painful after my work week. Because of this I rarely go to the gym. If you work a job that allows you to maybe sit/rest your knees then i would suggest going to the gym after work. And then i think you would build up muscle much faster than i do.
kneeling for me is just how it feels for you. I can do it but its very uncomfortable. And i can't do it for long. My doctor and physical therapist basically said that i probably will never be able to really kneel again. In fact my physical therapist said people who have knee replacements ( granted thats different than what we had, but we still had a pretty extensive surgery) are usually told to never kneel on their knees again. Because its painful/too hard on the new knee.
So good to hear from you! keep the questions coming if you have anymore. Hope i was able to help! :-)
Also, if i remember correctly, you weren't on crutches a long as me. Right? I had to be non weight barring for six weeks. So that caused me to lose a lot of muscle
DeleteHi, I'm a 14 year old girl and im due to have the MPFL and Fulkersons op on my right knee on Monday (6th October), I'm quite terrified to say the least! Your blog has helped me get a really good understanding and overview of the healing process so thanks for that (although it scared me at times!) I wish you all the best in the rest of your recovery, thanks again :)
ReplyDeletei responded but for some reason it didnt save. Its very scary, but i am so far, not regretting my decision to get the surgery. Heather (who left comments above) had a much better experience than i did. Everyone is different/every leg is different. Clearly my second surgery went way different. Good luck! please ask questions, if you have any :-)
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