MPFL reconstruction April 4th 2012

[yc_angel]

Hey tiggs,

Bio-oil is a good solution, I use dermatix and it drasticly changed my scars....they look smooth and awesome...But the catch is the tube is expensive...perhaps in your country the price is lower....but the small tube does go allong for a good 4 to 5 months cuz you only need a little...its a silicon based gel to help you reduce your scars and keep them smooth and I pay 40 euros for it...
Bio-oil and other oils are cheaper....So its up to you what you put on it..just make sure not to overdo it otherwise it will stain your clothes...a little is just fine.

I also must say to put sunscreen on your scars once you get to go out in the sun without the brace otherwise the scars will go dark now and stay dark forever...my PT was telling me that today in light of the summer coming and me taking of the brace in a few weeks...so thats something to keep in mind

I hope you get to 90 tomorrow ...

Xx

Angel

[krunzer]

Don't get too caught up in the whole I can only bend this far thing.  It will come when it comes, but you do have to work at it also.  I found the best way to do that is in the bathtub.  Lay on your back while having a bath and rest your legs on the far wall.  Lower you bad leg along the wall until you can bend it no further, then make it go another inch.  Hold it until you can't tolerate it anymore then soak it in the bath for a few minute and keep repeating.  The warm water will relax the muscles and it feels good to relax in once you have put through that. 

I have been using Bio-oil and I think it has been working quite wonderfully and it smells good!  I did not think that it was too expensive I bought it for about $15.00 I think and that was at the end of January once I got my brace off and I still have over half of a small bottle.  I apply it at least once a day if not twice. 

Good luck!

[Tiggs1986]

Week 5
Therapy today was AWESOME! I am now completely on track! (guess all my therapy 3x day until my muscles give out the last couple days paid off!) I was able to bend to 88 under my own power and then pushed it to 90!    I also no longer need to use the torture device (just a buttress brace) AND no more crutches!!!    Which means I can drive again! Now just get my leg to remember how to walk without an immobilzer...and to cash in on my friends bribery that once I can walk we'll go for sushi! YUM!
 NEW GOALS: Bend to 115degrees by week 8 and walk without a limp.
Thanks for the support guys!

[krunzer]

LOL!!! I remember getting the speech about walking without a limp too!!  I was told that with that much range of motion that walking without a limp is a no-brainer and there was no way that I should be limping.  It took all of my concentration to make sure I wasn't compensating by elevating my hip when walking.  It helps to put your hands directly on your hips and make sure they are staying level.  This also helps when you start to do stairs.  Take your time and really concentrate on your walking and you won't be limping shortly!

[Lorikeet]

Excellent progress! And good luck on your next goals. I do have full range of motion but I am still limping...sometimes more like lurching along...but sort of getting better too.

[Tiggs1986]

So yesterday I noticed the lower part of one of my incisions was becoming more and more reddend (I thought it was just irritated from rubbing against the brace) well last night whilst massaging my incisions, I noticed the reddened area was kinda soft feeling and hot then noticed the tiny scab that's been there since the steri-strips came off was white in the center. Went to touch it and pus came oozing out! I kept lightly pressing down and sopping it up with tissue until it stopped then put over the counter antibiotic on it and a bandaid. This morning MORE pus came out. Hoping that  that's the end of it but will continue to use the over the counter stuff and bandaids and hope that it's better come Monday. It already is looking less inflamed and less pus tonight, so I'm hoping I can just nurse it back to health this weekend and not haveta be seen.
On the upside I gotta go to a friend's daughter's dance recital (she specifically asked me to go, and she's 3, how do you say no to that?!) and got to just hang out with my friend for the first time in nearly 4 months. AND at home PT is going very well. There's just always gotta be some kind of dark cloud hanging around this rehab business though doesn't there?

[krunzer]

I would go see a doc about the pus issue!  You could get a nasty joint infection.  Over the counter antibiotics may not be strong enough to kill the infection and will probably not penetrate deep enough to get at the whole infection.  At least call your doc tomorrow to let him know what is going on.  Maybe he can just phone in some antibiotics to your pharmacy, but please get that looked at.

[Tiggs1986]

    Week 6
Well I'm probably going to go to the Ortho Clinic tomorrow. I had talked with a couple of my coworkers the other day and we all agreed I could watch my incision closely and if there were changes I'd go in. Monday morning it looked great, just a pinpoint serous drainage on my bandaid and very little pink around it, no swelling. Now this morning it was a little swollen and definetly more pink and warmer again, sigh I was hoping I wouldn't haveta deal with that nurse again.
   PT seems to be going well. I'm doing mini squats and modified lunges now. My OS even went flying through the PT department yesterday (taking a short cut to the OR I'm assuming) and made the passing comment that I was "looking good" during my lunges. I don't know how long he stood there watching but when I turned to see who was talking to me he was gone and the PT told me who it was. If I had known I would have quick mentioned my incision!

[Tiggs1986]

   Well my incision was inflamed and hot again last night, the one next to it was looking a little angry as well. This morning I was feeling like I was getting a cold (you know that exhausted for no good reason, hot but cold at the same time, kinda achy etc) My temp was my usual 97.2F (36.2C) but at the Ortho Clinic it was 99.7 F(37.6 C) which isn't considered a fever by medical standards but it was 2.5F greater than my usual in a matter of 3hours.
    PT this morning was tough to get through with feeling so tired and such. I tried a "total gym" machine that basically I lean against and control my sliding motion against gravity to get my knee to bend further and with all the work and how freakin sore it was to bend it as far as I could, I only got to 92degrees 
    My PA appt was after PT so of course my knee had been iced and the incisions didn't look bad. The PA looked and prodded the incision a bit then moved my leg around and said he usually doesn't prescribe antibiotics with the findings he had. I told him it was A LOT worse last night and my symptoms this morning, the pus I got Friday and Saturday and that I've been trying over the counter topical ointment and it doesn't seem to help anymore (plus after 4 days of use, my body has decided it doesn't like bandaids either-though it's nothing like the steri-strip reaction- so it's hard to keep the ointment on. My PT told me that I'm "getting quite the adhesive allergy" I told her soon I'll be allergic to every sticky thing on the planet.) Anyways he said the infection wasn't in my knee yet and he could prescribe antibiotics prophylactically to ease my mind so we decided to do that before it makes it's way to my joint. Hopefully this'll kill whatever's going on in there!

[krunzer]

I am glad that they gave you some antibioitics.  Sounds like you were getting an infection that could have been pretty nasty.

[Lorikeet]

I hope your knee has improved after the antibiotics. Maybe you needed a bit of down time to allow your knee to heal a bit more so I wouldn't worry too much about the PT and the bending.

[Tiggs1986]

Week 7
   I'm doing pretty good strength-wise, but my motion is still behind. At most I bent to 104degrees and I should be at least 115. I did see my ortho when I went to therapy (he was in there working with some weights during a break) and we chatted breifly about it. He said so long as nothing else is the matter he's not concerned, that the graft was made slightly tight with the intention  that it will stretch out some but will continue to hold my knee in place. That's why I'm having trouble right now, I just gotta keep trying to get it to bend and as long as we see progress I'm fine. I now only have to go to therapy once a week, so long as I promised to keep working hard at home.
   My incisions look great, whatever was growing was killed off with the antibiotic. AND I finally got to cash in on my sushi incentive, I and the friend who bribed me with it, drove an hour and a half for some sushi and shopping. I tolerated the ride well, but after a couple of hours of shopping my knee was not wanting to cooperate. Once I got home it was incredibly swollen and I paid for it that night, but it was worth it. Now I know I can handle going for reasonable walks and will be starting that once the weather decides to behave. I also am walking a lot better now and hardly limp (unless I've been up and around a lot). I've even done some quick shopping without having to use the scooter! yay!  It's SOOO nice to be more mobile! Here's to hoping that next week I'll have made 10 more degrees progress and will be about right on track! I think now that my incisions are completely closed I might try that bathtub trick krunzer suggested, see if that'll get me bending more...

[yc_angel]

Well i'm glad your doing better and that the antibiotics worked and killed whatever was in your leg..
I totaly hear ya on getting more mobile...its seriosly awesome ...and to think that only a few weeks ago we couldnt move to save our lives lol...and now its all coming back slowly  ...I also cashed in a few favors in my vacation hehe and sushi was also one of them...and it totaly lifted my spirits....so i'm all for bribing myself with goals and things to do cuz it works

Hope your doing alright and had an awesome weekend.

Xx

Angel

[Tiggs1986]

8 Weeks/2 months POST-OP!
   This past weekend was super busy (my little brother graduated from High School!  ) My knee was pretty sore and incredibly swollen most of the weekend from all the sitting, standing, walking, and helping that I was doing, but that went away once I could rest.  Yesterday without thinking I  picked a dryer sheet off the floor with my toes! yay! Still a teeny bit behind bending-wise (I got to 117degrees and should be 120-125) but have a new, more advanced method of bending involving puting my foot on a chair and getting it to bend since the stairs aren't challenging anymore-I feel I can bend further but haveto raise up on my toes to try it and that doesn't really help (the progress is AMAZING. I remember starting out with slowly lowering it down with my other leg and having tears at 65degrees, to using heal slides and belt to pull it closer to my body, to stepping up on a stair and leaning my body weight over it to bend it and now to a chair!)and I'm apparently still limping (though I think that is more or less a habit now and not a pain thing-unless I've been walking a bit). Therapy is going well (though now it's becoming more of a workout, I end up a little sweaty, tired and shakey by the time I'm done!) and my knee cap is slowly becoming more defined. Appt with Surgeon on Monday, hopefully I'll get a better idea when I can make my grand return to work! (other than "about 3 months(after surgery)")

[allyd]

Glad to see you’re making progress – Especially with the ROM stuff (even if you are a few degrees behind goal). I think it’s always interesting to see we all have different tricks to gain ROM

Call me crazy – but I loved when I reached the point where my PT sessions became a workout. Those first couple months, I was so restless it felt great to burn some energy. Sweaty and tired to me = some weird sense of normalcy. 