ACL revision (6/7/2010)

[clarky_vl]

Hey!
So I thought I had better update now surgery is only two weeks away!! I can’t believe it has come around so quickly.

I had the CT scan and the pre-op assessment on the 17th November and came home for the weekend which was nice. Haven’t heard about the CT, but I am assuming It was all fine. Some interesting correspondence in my file between the Truro and Bristol man, looks like they are both looking forward to doing the surgery, a little weird, but at least they are both coming and doing the surgery for sure! Have to be in hospital at 7.30am on the 21st, I think I am the only one scheduled for the day. Unfortunately it is in the big hospital, not the lovely little one I was in last time, still I guess it is probably better being in the bigger one with more resources. Will have to get up at about 4am to get ready and there on time too!

Also saw my physio on the Thursday. We just talked about how the knee has been and made a plan for Jan. He will see me once before I return to uni. He asked me to find out the local physio department and call them to find out the name of the knee person, but they were not telling me anything, so I passed the number on to him, and he rang them and has already spoken to the knee person there, who he will be referring me to (rather than the Truro man) after he sees me in January, and he will be able to liaise with them. I have to get hold of all the op notes and rehab plan I can from the surgeon and pass them on. I am glad my great physio is still going to be involved, and he has sorted me out with another knee person in Coventry, I was worried I’d get put with someone who didn’t know what to do with me, and the contact with him will mean they also know more about my history.

My lectures and exams have all finished now, but I have to wait to be picked up until Friday because I have one more tutorial to attend, but I cannot wait to go home again! I love it here too, but am definitely looking forward to being home with my family again. Will just make for an interesting Christmas with the surgery just before!! Starting to get very nervous, but also I have been waiting for this bit for a year, so can’t wait to get it done, as long as it is successful!! 

Oh! and I forgot to add that the decision re the ehlers danlos has been taken out of my hands; the geneticist actually sent a very long letter to EVERYONE even those I said not to- including the truro man and the old plymouth surgeon. I am ok now with the Truro man knowing because he is obviously fine with everything still and it is better he does know, but i wish the old surgeon didn't know anything about how/what i am doing now, which he does as a result, it was a very personal and detailed letter too! ah well...

Vicky

[tez27]

Hey Vicky its great to hear from you, not long now till your revision, it must be a good feeling to be finished your exams for now, and I can understand how much you will be looking forward to getting home and getting this surgery over with so that you can get on with the rest of your life, how long do you think they will keep you in after the op? I guess its going to be a very quiet christmas for you this year there will be no wild party's just you on the sofa with lots of ice and some good pain meds, at least you'll have the family to spoil you and make sure you have everything you'll need, if I don't get a chance to post before your surgery good luck and I will be thinking of you and sending good healing thoughts your way on the 21st.
Take care Tez   

[vinnic]

Best of luck Vicky!  The 21st will be here before you know it.  Sending lots of positive thoughts and well wishes your way.  Take care and post with an update when you can.  In the meantime, enjoy the time with your family now that coursework is winding down for the term! 

[tez27]

Hey Vicky I keep checking to see if you had updated your diary, but nothing so far, how did the revision go? if you can, please pop online and let me know how your doing.
take care and I hope everything went well
Tez

[clarky_vl]

Hi,
Thanks tez for checking in, sorry I havent updated I just dont really know a lot of who uses it and sometimes it's nice to get away from here. It's grat to see you here though, you've always been so lovely and I hope that knee of yours will soon calm down, I always think of you if i'm kept up by mine in the night, it's no fun.

sorry if this has spelling or grammar mistakes, i am just typing quickly in between things...

I am not really going to say too much about it, just that i had the surgery which has been very painful and recovery is slooow.pretty much same wounds except the extra articular one, which is about 17cm long, so pretty big, from just beside my knee cap and up on the outside. for some reason the whole thing is still quite swollen and sore to touch, it kind of looks like a swollen growth or something out the side of my leg, but still not as bad as i was expecting given the warnings i had. i had it on the 21st and got home very very late on christmas eve which was something. i am now back at uni, having missed the first 2 or 3 weeks and returned after the first follow uo which was done early at 4 weeks.

one thing i absolutely HAVE to say is how amazing Mr Lee is. He has done so much for me, and he has gone above and beyond what i would expect even a surgeon who had known me since the beginning to do, let alone someone who was kind enough to take over someone else's mess. he is amazing, and so modest, i wouldn't know any of what i do if his secretary hadn't come down to visit me and tell me all about the crazy things that happened. i have absolutely nothing bad to say about him, i'm so grateful to him, and just thinking about everything he has done for me makes me feel almost guilty. i hope he knows how highly i think of him and how thankful i am, i dont really think there is any adequate way of getting that across, but i'll try. also Mr webb was brilliant coming down to be there and do the extraarticular, and another surgeon from truro was also involved, not that i met him, i was just told about it after. so yeah, all in all, they are completely amazing, and i have been so lucky to end up under his care.

the knee felt pretty strong in the first few days, then not so much after that. it was hard for me to say anything negative at the follow up because i of course dont want to say anything bad and would love a good result for me as well as for everything they all did, but also i was just hoping what i was feeling was the surgical weakness rather than the usual. luckily Mr Lee is fair anf honest, and like me wanted to be sure and to know what was going on with it and tested it in the usual way. at four weeks post op i had positive lachman and positive pivot shift, and Mr Lee says it looks as though the new graft had ruptured. i guess i'm not surprised, just gutted, for myself, and also for them. i feel terribly guilty. it sounds odd, but i feel like they deserved a result too, and even though it's nothing i have done, its my leg so i kind of feel responsible. he got this and tried to tell me not to feel like that, he never once accused me of having done anything to it like my old surgeon would  suggest (although to be fair at that stage i was still on crutches and hadn't actually walked much on it at all, let alone anything else!). i think he is really confused, but he still said that he would ask other surgeons, because he like me doesn't understand how it could actually happen given everything and the little amount of time it took. i am to see him again during my easter holidays. my mum rang his secretary to book this the other day, and she asked how i was, and said that they were all gutted it hadn't worked either. I feel very taken care of properly at least, and i completely trust them all, i just dont know what i expect or want to hear at easter. i think i am pretty tired with it, but i dont know what i think about things any more.I am of course back in the brace all the time, not that i had a chance to get out of it! the little one is rubbing on the swollen part on the outside of my knee so i am still in the monster (got a new monster brace...) until it is easier to wear.

also during the surgery, mr Lee says that there was even more cartilage damage than last time, now saying it is grade 3 all over. this also very much concerns me, i have no idea what i can expect from pain and how much that will even be possible to reduce even in a perfect solution, and how long i can last with it continuing on like this. its only taken 5 years to get to that stage, and i hurt and am tired. I can't believe i am a 19 year old with this to deal with. i feel like i have a lot on my plate and i'm just exhausted at the moment, it doesnt help that uni is so huge and it doesnt take much... anyway, i think thats all i'm going to say on the matter for now. i just hate that after everything my knee is still being do difficult for no apparent reason and that this took a year to plan and do, and less than 4 weeks to fail. it rally doesnt feel fair at times, the only good thing i have out of this is an amazing surgeon.

Vicky

[tez27]

Oh Vicky I am so so sorry your going through all this again I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better, just know I am thinking of you and praying that there is an answer for your knee problems somewhere, from the sound of things if anyone can help you its your new surgeon, I dont know how you cope with all this and all your uni work I'm sending you a big (((((hug))))) please take care
Tez xxx 

[Snowy]

Oh Vicky. I'm so sad and sorry to read this - I've been thinking of you and wondering how your knee was doing. I really wish that the surgery had had a better outcome. At least it sounds like you have a fantastic medical team on your side who are willing to be honest with you, and do whatever they can to help you find a way forward. It's really unfair that you're having to deal with all of this and the arthritic changes in the knee at such a young age, but I hope that a combination of your determination and spirit and the great folk you have on your side will help you find some answers and the best solution possible - whether that's surgical or something else at this point.

I so wish this latest surgery had had a better outcome for you. I'm not surprised it feels unfair - it isn't. But please don't ever feel guilty or responsible; we're all born with the bodies we have with all their strengths and weaknesses and quirks, and it's no-one's fault or responsibility. I'm sure your surgeons would tell you the same.

Good luck with whatever comes next. I completely understand if you don't want to post too much here (I'm sure you get sick to death of talking about everything to do with knees and hypermobility and surgeries) but please know that no matter whether you post a little or a lot or not at all, I'll be thinking of you and sending good thoughts your way.

K xxx

[vinnic]

Hey Vicky, just checking in...  Hoping you're hanging in there!