So, this is a follow-up to my distal femoral osteotomy story, which can be read in its entirety here: http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/index.php?topic=50020.0

I had a distal femoral osteotomy (and some complications) in January 2010. I kept that journal fairly updated, until my last post about a year ago, asking about HWR. I had been having issues, and my ortho wanted me to wait. So, I spent a year doing PT and soft tissue manipulation and all that jazz, and the IT band was STILL catching. I could run and ride, but not at the volume or intensity I wanted to, and it also bothered me a lot on stairs, etc.

So after a lot of going back and forth with ortho (who opposes HWR in general), and a full year of trying to fix the issue, I finally had the hardware removed from my distal femur yesterday. Condylar LCP and eight screws came out just shy of my three-year anniversary of them going in.

I elected a spinal, and watched almost the entire thing...up until the spinal wore off. Oops--it had taken a bit longer than they planned for. A bit more bony overgrowth and scar tissue than had been initially thought. So they had to quick put me under for the last bit, but just the closing, really. I got to see all the good stuff, and it was AWESOME! It was crazy weird to feel them cutting and scraping and all that...but not have it hurt (well, until the end part...).

I had a bone graft/bone matrix for the screw holes and for a bit of the bigger chunks, and am on crutches for four weeks, minimum. We'll evaluate after the one-month X-rays. No nothing in terms of exercise (other than standard ROM and mild PT) for two weeks...then light spinning on the trainer after suture removal. Also pool running, possibly. Hopefully back to running in 4-6 months, but we shall see what we see.

Here's the pictures of the metal, now that it's out: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151238981936262.442661.655441261&type=1&l=bfd9c56dcc

Day 16 Post-op

Had my sutures out on Friday (two-week mark). Incision has healed pretty well, so it was uneventful. Still have very little sensation over the incision site and surrounding area...but again, there's been so much nerve damage there from all the surgeries, it's been diminished for awhile--and may never come back entirely.  The bruising up my hip and quad is still a lovely shade of black and purple. I'll try and post pictures later.

ROM is getting better, missing 5-10 degrees at extension; same at flexion (although these are guesses, since I haven't been to PT yet). I did get in two, very very easy 30-minute spins on my bike on the trainer w/the lowest resistance, so the ROM is good enough to do that.

The biggest PITA thus far is I ended up with the flu for the past five days, which sucked. A 103 degree fever when you are on crutches really makes you want to just lie on the floor and cry. :p

I'm still telecommuting for work, as it's just easier logistically, esp. in terms of eating, getting to the bathroom, etc.