oohheykate's MPFL reconstruction on 4/14/2011 (LOA & MUA on 6/21/2011)

[oohheykate]

Well, I survived my senior trip...barely. I had tons and tons of fun. I wouldn't change anything about it for the world. My friends are amazing and I love my school and class so much, half the guys even offered to carry me when I hurt my knee.

Yes, MY KNEE...left knee to be exact. I can't escape it. I was moving to a different section of a ride and stepped back to let people pass me. I failed to realize that there was a step behind me and half my foot teetered on the step causing my knee to hyperextend. So much pain. It eased up a little bit after we all went back to the hotel. I didn't think anything about it until we went back to the park. We got there at 7pm. I lasted about 2 hours and 90 minutes was spent waiting in line for a ride. I had to go back with my best friend to where our chaperones were to get pain medicine and sit. My knee ended up swelling to three times its size, I had muscle spasms, and I was physically shaking from the pain. I ended up crying for like three hours. When we left, the CEO of my school got me a wheelchair because I couldn't move my leg without a lot of pain. Yesterday, it was a little bit better but I still couldn't walk which meant I rode in a wheelchair all day. Woohoo...not. I hate riding in those. Today, my knee still hurts a lot. I don't have the ROM I had and I can't straighten it all the way. I had my mom call my OS while I was in Florida. I'm seeing him on May 2nd because he wants all the swelling to go down. In the meantime, I'm RICE-ing.

[TwoBadKneesUSA]

Well Crap!  At least you had a good time inspite of it.  Hope it's something easily taken care of.  Good luck and RICE, RICE,  RICE!!!

Milly

[oohheykate]

I'm hoping it's nothing as well, Milly. We'll see what happens next week when I see my OS. I have no idea what he's thinking it may be. But as of right now, I can't walk down the steps because I can't weight bare and bend my leg at the same time. My knee feels super tight and it's painful to bend. Ugh, I seriously cannot win.

[TwoBadKneesUSA]

(((((((HUGS!!!)))))))))))  Sorry kiddo, wish I could wave the magic wand and make it alright.

[oohheykate]

Post-op day 384 days from MPFLr; Post-op day 316 from LOA & MUA.

I saw my knee OS today to see what is up with my knee since hurting it in Florida.

…yeah. I didn’t get the best news. My OS was not happy with how my knee felt with all the tests. When he was doing the Lachman’s and Anterior Drawer tests (for a torn ACL), my knee moved way more than it should’ve. However, he doesn’t know if this is my normal because of how loose my ligaments are. He kept comparing my left (operative and now injured knee) to my right knee and said that my left was moving more than the right, which is not good considering I have less mobility overall in my left knee from all of the surgeries I’ve had on it. I also have tenderness on the inside of my knee which concerned my OS for a possible medial meniscus tear. All of this combined with the fact that my knee has been giving out and swollen since “the incident” is not okay. Along with all that, I can’t straighten my knee because of pain and, most of the time, my knee won’t bend passed 90 degrees. And my knee swelled almost immediately after I hyperextended it.

Also, when he was doing those tests, I could feel my bones separating. There was a huge clunk every time he pulled on my knee. I swear to god, if I have a torn ACL or meniscus (again), I will be so angry

So, I’m getting an MRI on Monday afternoon. I have an appointment to follow-up on May 29th (because they are the worst at giving appointments and follow the dumbest system ever). But I’ll be seen sooner if something is wrong. Regardless, I’ll be calling around next Friday to get the results if I don’t hear from them first.

My OS told me I was killing him when I told him all these things…Seriously, I can’t help it. How does he think I feel?

[TwoBadKneesUSA]

Oh goodness!  I sure hope the OS can fix you up again.  Just not fair!!!!  You poor thing!  Tons on hugs to you.   

Milly

[oohheykate]

Thanks, Milly! I really appreciate it

I really don't want a torn (partially torn) ACL or meniscus but, at the same time, I feel like there should be an explanation for this pain because my knee has never felt like this before.

I'll update again when I find out what's going on.

[Lottiefox]

Geeeeeeeeeeeee Kate!!

Just saw this as I know you had your MPFLr a week before my toe fusion last year! Happy Anniversary to the MPFL but I cannot believe that you've got another problem that might have happened. I am SO hoping it is just a bad sprain of something and the MRI doesn't show anything sinister. But as you say, if it has happened, then at least you have an explanation for the pain.

I am SO hoping things settle down for you,

Fingers crossed,

Lottie xx

[oohheykate]

Thanks, Lottie! It means a lot. How are you doing?

It definitely sucks that I might be dealing with another injury but what can I do? It's not like I was doing anything stupid. I couldn't have prevented this if I tried.


Here's a picture of my knee from about an hour ago:

[TwoBadKneesUSA]

Goodness that looks swollen alright.  Take care!  RICE ok!

Milly

[oohheykate]

Milly, I am constantly RICE-ing when I'm home. My ice machine is my best friend, once again.


QUESTION!

Okay, so if you go way back in my post-op diary, you'll see that at some point my knee started getting red and hot after surgery. My knee is getting like that once again. It's so warm that I don't even need to touch my knee to feel it...if that makes sense. Like I can feel the heat radiating off of my skin and my school pants even get hot! From sitting in school, my knee and a little bit above it gets bright red. So my question is: Should I call my OS about this? Of course, this started happening on Thursday, the day after I saw him. I don't know if this is a big deal or not since it's kinda like what happened before.

[KinnaMarie]

I don't think I am really answering your question, but i've had this problem too.  My OS's answer for everything is it's angry inside so that is why it is hot.  He thought it was an infection because it was hot, but he put me on on drug that would eliminate an infection but it didn't work.  So he just said everything is angry inside.  I also just really hurt my ankle last week and didn't think much of it till yesterday when it was still really swollen and my foot was starting to bruise.  Since my knee surgeries my muscles and nerves got messed up so my ankle always turns in and is just really weak.  While I was teaching I stepped on it as it was totally turned in and it made a weird noise.  So now my ankle is super hot, and like you said you can just feel it without even touching it.  I sent a picture of my ankle to my OS yesterday because I was thinking it would have been better for now.  Well I got a call this morning after he saw the picture and was concerned and said I had to come see him because it probably is broken.  They said by now I just have a really high tolerance for pain so I could be doing more damage by walking on it for a week and not calling sooner.  Oh well.   

[oohheykate]

Thanks, Kinna!

I was pretty much assuming that's what is going on because of what happened after surgery last time. Which has me really concerned that I actually might have torn something in my knee since my leg is reacting like this two weeks after the incident. My leg won't stop swelling like the entire thing not just my knee, it's all the way down to my foot. And like I already mentioned, my knee is pretty much hot and red all the time.

Sorry about your ankle. You cannot catch a break. I hope it doesn't give you any more problems and heals nicely. Good luck!

[oohheykate]

I had my MRI done today. Nothing new. This was my fifth MRI on this knee since all of this began. The tech said the report would be done by tomorrow so I'll call my OS tomorrow after school and I'll probably know the results by Wednesday.

I'm so nervous!

[Runner1993]

I just caught up, and all I can say is wow!! Fingers crossed for good results.