Total Knee Replacement

Day 12. I dabbled with reducing my pain meds again last night. Bad idea, back to the heavy regimen for at least a little while longer. PT is concerned that I'm not getting good range of motion but I think it has something to do with a knot of muscles in my thigh and not the usual back side of the knee that has kept me from bending it in the past. Going to the doc Monday to talk to them about it. But the most interesting part is that I took off my bandage to inspect the wound. It's an 8.5" incision with 40 staples. I just want to know how they did it so crooked??

knee.jpg
 
@Nick - that looks painful!

I've got a story for you. Thirteen years ago (2001) I shredded my ACL in my left knee while playing basketball at the end of May. I had already reserved campsites in Yellowstone for my 13 day trip through the Thorofare and out at the South Entrance for the first week in September. On the second week of June, when they went in to replace my ACL with a piece of my hamstring, they discovered that my meniscus was 95% torn, so they cut it out.

Recovery from this procedure is usually six to eight months depending on the patient and the first few weeks were tough, particularly from a mental standpoint. I was finding it difficult to trust my left knee again. But when September rolled around, only two and a half months after surgery, I went on my backpacking trip.

When I went to pick up the official permit, it turned out that there had been a fire in the Thorofare and they had closed a bunch of campsites, one of which we had planned to stay at on the Yellowstone River. The only way I could get the permit was for me to move campsites which made for a 16 mile day through the area with the closed campsites. I agreed, but knew that there was no way I could make a 16 mile day on my knee. I accepted the new route though and stayed at the burned campsite anyway (only eight miles) instead of hiking the 16. I had my hiking partner snap a shot of me balancing on my left leg with my arms and right leg stretched out horizontally and with my backpack still on and Turret Mountain in the background. I gave my surgeon an 8X10 of the shot when I got back.

While it took me longer (most of the day truthfully) to make the mileage we had scheduled for each day (we stayed at the same campsite twice and did day hikes to Bridger Lake and another to Heart Lake), I seemed to gain confidence in the knee each day. The only issue I had was when we went to cross the Snake River for the fourth time, and the far bank was tall and steep. I couldn't get out of the river! It took a lot of effort for my hiking partner to help me up the embankment on the south side of the river. I'm sure if anyone had seen us they would have gotten quite a chuckle out of it. I chuckled myself when we got to camp that night. The next day was our last day and we made it out at the South Boundary Trailhead.

I'm back to playing basketball competitively once or twice a month if the rest of my body (hips and pelvis) feels up to it and of course I still get out and backpack and hike as much as time allows.

I'm confident over the next few weeks, you will start seeing significant progress in your recovery effort. Hang in there and soon you'll be stuck in your own river! :)
 
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Scars always look better crooked anyways Nick. Hope things get better and the pain goes away.
 
scatman said:
@Nick - that looks painful!

I've got a story for you. Thirteen years ago (2001) I shredded my ACL in my left knee while playing basketball at the end of May. I had already reserved campsites in Yellowstone for my 13 day trip through the Thorofare and out at the South Entrance for the first week in September. On the second week of June, when they went in to replace my ACL with a piece of my hamstring, they discovered that my meniscus was 95% torn, so they cut it out.

Recovery from this procedure is usually six to eight months depending on the patient and the first few weeks were tough, particularly from a mental standpoint. I was finding it difficult to trust my left knee again. But when September rolled around, only two and a half months after surgery, I went on my backpacking trip.

When I went to pick up the official permit, it turned out that there had been a fire in the Thorofare and they had closed a bunch of campsites, one of which we had planned to stay at on the Yellowstone River. The only way I could get the permit was for me to move campsites which made for a 16 mile day through the area with the closed campsites. I agreed, but knew that there was no way I could make a 16 mile day on my knee. I accepted the new route though and stayed at the burned campsite anyway (only eight miles) instead of hiking the 16. I had my hiking partner snap a shot of me balancing on my left leg with my arms and right leg stretched out horizontally and with my backpack still on and Turret Mountain in the background. I gave my surgeon an 8X10 of the shot when I got back.

While it took me longer (most of the day truthfully) to make the mileage we had scheduled for each day (we stayed at the same campsite twice and did day hikes to Bridger Lake and another to Heart Lake), I seemed to gain confidence in the knee each day. The only issue I had was when we went to cross the Snake River for the fourth time, and the far bank was tall and steep. I couldn't get out of the river! It took a lot of effort for my hiking partner to help me up the embankment on the south side of the river. I'm sure if anyone had seen us they would have gotten quite a chuckle out of it. I chuckled myself when we got to camp that night. The next day was our last day and we made it out at the South Boundary Trailhead.

I'm back to playing basketball competitively once or twice a month if the rest of my body (hips and pelvis) feels up to it and of course I still get out and backpack and hike as much as time allows.

I'm confident over the next few weeks, you will start seeing significant progress in your recovery effort. Hang in there and soon you'll be stuck in your own river! :)
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:) I always knew you were a rule breaker ;). Now about camping at Beach Lake.......
 
looks like my scar and staples they gave me after my first big knee surgery some 15 years ago.
It still looks painful Nick, I hope you heal fast.
And it takes forever until you can use your muscles again and lift your left.
I needed weeks to simply move it a bit and it was not a knee replacement, just the reconstruction of a completely destroyed knee.
Dealing with chronic knee inflammation right now and am definitely not ready to do the big step like you did.
 
Well at least the incision looks infection-free. Good luck with the pain control, therapy and all that other stuff. Unfortunately making a huge slice in a human body, taking parts out, and replacing them with synthetic parts is not a simple recovery. Hang in there and let me know if you need anything. Seriously. I would be glad to help.
 
Sucks that your still in a ton of pain Nick but I'm glad you haven't suffered any setbacks. At least you'll have a mean looking battle scar!
 
steve said:
how are you feeling today nick?
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It was a bad day in knee recovery. Today was the 2 week mark so I went and saw the PA and got my staples out. She must have been having a really bad day because she was not a happy camper that I wasn't able to bend my knee more. She sat down and slammed it in as far as she could with no warning. It sent me flying out of the chair screaming in pain. She then walked back to the computer and basically told me that there is no excuse that I'm not able to bend it more, nothing is really stopping it and I need to get over the 'anxiety' of bending it. I was pissed. Going to start outpatient physical therapy on Wednesday. Hopefully we can get it bending more, but in the meantime I'm just here at home trying my hardest, but WOW oh WOW does it hurt. :(
 
steve said:
feeling any better after the long weekend?
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Definitely starting to improve but still pretty rough. Getting forced off the meds slowly which sounds great but really sucks because it still feels like someone chopped my leg open and stuffed it full of metal. But I am finally bending it to 90 degrees and I'm feeling more confident walking. I actually went shopping with Audra yesterday. Tossed the crutches in the shopping cart and used it as a walker for a long walk through Costco and then Petsmart. It felt nearly as epic as a nice, long hike. Haha! At this rate, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to hike to Delicate Arch in a year or two! :)
 
Nick said:
Definitely starting to improve but still pretty rough. Getting forced off the meds slowly which sounds great but really sucks because it still feels like someone chopped my leg open and stuffed it full of metal. But I am finally bending it to 90 degrees and I'm feeling more confident walking. I actually went shopping with Audra yesterday. Tossed the crutches in the shopping cart and used it as a walker for a long walk through Costco and then Petsmart. It felt nearly as epic as a nice, long hike. Haha! At this rate, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to hike to Delicate Arch in a year or two! :)
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I don't know, you have bad luck with Delicate Arch. Rolling your ankle and all :lol:
 
Nick said:
Definitely starting to improve but still pretty rough. Getting forced off the meds slowly which sounds great but really sucks because it still feels like someone chopped my leg open and stuffed it full of metal. But I am finally bending it to 90 degrees and I'm feeling more confident walking. I actually went shopping with Audra yesterday. Tossed the crutches in the shopping cart and used it as a walker for a long walk through Costco and then Petsmart. It felt nearly as epic as a nice, long hike. Haha! At this rate, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to hike to Delicate Arch in a year or two! :)
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Looking forward to the Costco/Petsmart trip report! Seriously though, nice to hear that your seeing gradual improvement.
 
...nice zipper look.
Always step by step, Nick. Fight your battle and next season you're on trail.
All the best.


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Woot. Congrats, that's great news. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer.

How bad is your other knee? Will you still be able to hike with your bad knee, or will it need to wait 'till you get it replaced as well?
 
Cool!
Good news - Congrats!


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