Derotational Osteotomy + TTT - 10/20/2009

[crankerchick]

So, I had pt yesterday after posting. We talked more about the tight clunky feeling. After a little examination, he thought maybe some muscle reeducation might be helpful, in general, not necessarily specific to the lateral tightness issue. He's just concerned about the likelihood of the VL in general compensating for so many years and the possibility that due to the alignment, the muscles just have never been firing properly. The fact that I can hardly ever feel any muscle engagement on the inside of my leg (i can feel it on my right leg) makes him feel like this is a definite possibility.

He wanted my doctor's opinion on doing the reeducation for strengthening the VMO, so that gave me an excuse to go ahead and send a message to the doc (the email had just been sitting in my draft box for a few days LOL).

My doc just said that the soft tissues can take a while (a long while) to adjust and basically just keep stretching the quad heel to butt lying down. PT does this every visit and I do it with the stretch-out strap 2-3 times a day. I'm anal and OCD, and as far as I'm concerned, my doctor has the final say, so it's always nice to hear the final verdict from him on whether something is cause to worry about or not. Not that I don't trust my pt, but it's not the same as hearing it from the doctor.

So, more patience and keep just going along. It actually feels a hair better today. The therapist had me leave out the exercises like the side leg raises, side walking, etc, things that work the VL I guess, just to see. Maybe it made a difference or may be it is just coincidence that it feels a little less tight today or maybe it's just in my mind and i'm focusing less on it now after talking to the doctor. Who knows. Just keep moving along. Almost there! Today is a gym today, time to push it!

[CHILLYdogs]

Just keep moving along. Almost there! Today is a gym today, time to push it!

Hey, crankerchick:


"Just crank it up till the walls cave in!
Just crank it up!
I systematically move every bone
So crank it up!
I wanna get in the zone"


http://s0.ilike.com/play#Ashley+Tisdale:Crank+It+Up:136302382:s50089253.12486857.12386700.0.2.150%2Cstd_c3a0e1dea66843599a613a7778b5c64a





OK, please forgive me... I know the song sucks! 
But the lyrics fit so well, I could NOT resist 

Kyle

[crankerchick]

Ok did you just post Ashley Tisdale lyrics in my diary?!

 

 

All is forgiven...this time...LOL

[CHILLYdogs]

Hey! Hey! I too can be 'shameless' when it comes to worthy causes!!!!!!! 

[crankerchick]

I wanted to remind a friend of how grateful he should be to even be able to bowl in tournaments (he's a perpetual complainer whenever he doesn't win), so I pulled up a calendar to tell him the exact last day I bowled. The last time I bowled was Jan 29th, 2008! I bowled a tournament Jan 25th, and then league on the 29th. I woke up on the 30th and felt my patella go out while walking to the bathroom and that started the beginning of Chapter 1,324,459 in my book of knee drama!

[crankerchick]

So I think I overdid it. LOL! I was sore this morning after yesterdays gym workout. I didn't do anything new just bumped up the weight like I always do, like I was taught to back in my sporty days. Hmmph, hip is soo irritate today, more than normal. My quad is sore but I can handle that, that's a good thing. Its always sore when i increase the weight, as it should be. But the irritated hip and the just overall leg ache is grrrr. I thought I was past the leg ache and moving past the irritated hip LOL. Guess not. Tomorrow will be better.

Its just hard to know when something hurts just because it does, versus when it hurts because I did something to make it hurt. Increasing the weight isn't something that normally results in pain.

[Lyndsey]

cranker,
I totally understand the feeling!!! That's EXACTLY how i'm feeling right now! I have overdone it too, except I am at the point, at least I thought, now that the plates are gone that overdoing it shouldn't be possible.... I figured i'd be fine by now. I don't understand why my hip, just the left, is bothering me so much. I have been outside and walking alot, and been riding a great deal the past 4 days, but still, I thought I would be over the whole pain thing by now. I'm so frustrated!

I got a total of 3 hours sleep last night because my hip and knee kept me up.... I tried ice and heat, but nothing could stop the pain. Now, I feel like maybe i'm just being wimpy, because I don't even have any plates in there and it's been probably 15 weeks since I had them taken out..... the doc says i'm free to do what I want. So why does it still hurt? I have been a zombie today because 1 my leg is still KILLING me, and 2 I got no sleep!

Sorry to vent on here again..... you were such a help last time I had a mini crisis I figured i'd see if it worked again! I love kneegeeks!

A very tired and sore Lyndsey

[crankerchick]

Kneegeeks really is awesome!

I really thought your pain days were behind you once the plates camw out too, but I guess that isn't the case, at least not yet. One thing that makes sense to me right off the bat is that to have the plates removed, the muscle, fat, and soft tissue gets cut/moved jsut like with the original surgery. Sure the bone fills in in the 6 weeks following, but the rest of the surrounding area still takes longer to recover. I'm pretry certain what I'm experiencing is still just surgery recovery and angry muscles. I haven't felt the stabbing bone pain in quite a while. It just makez sense to me that even though it has been long enough for your bones to have healed, perhaps the soft tissue and muscles are still agitated, especially with increased activity and you are still building muscle strengh too.

I'm certain and confident that once our bodies fully heal, things will be great. We might not be completely pain free, but I just know we are going to have a better quality of life. When I think about how things were, I just know that fixed has to be better than still twisted!

As for being awake through the night, I'll just say that I haven't slept completely for a while, and I know that because everytime I say I'm tired, my husband gets the bitter look and says, "me too!" I feel so bad for him because I toss and turn all night and wince quite a bit and he wakes up everytime I wince and asks if I'm ok.

You have had a busy 4 days and your body an legs have taken a beating over the years. It takes a while to get strength back. I never thought 7 weeks on crutches would take this long to get strength back just to walk limp free!

Just keep hanging there and work on finding that balance between too much and not enough. Sometimes it is going to hurt and yup it sucks but it will get better, and the next time it will hurt a little less or for less time.

I guess drugs don't help at all? What about stretching and light exercise? When I need to sleep or go crazy, I resort to the pillow mound for both legs and get real comfortable and see how that helps.

[crankerchick]

March 23, 2010
22 weeks post-op

I interrupt our internet bonding session to give a brief update. Yesterday my physiotherapist gave me the official green light to say goodbye to the cane. I was using that thing begrudgingly because I knew I was limping and didn't want to make things worse, but in the last week or two I have felt a marked improvement in my strength. I found I was finally able to go through the entire range of motion for walking with no pain through the hip and minimal feeling of lack of strength in the quad. So I had been leaving the cane by the wayside more and more anyway. So yesterday I asked officially and he said "cane be gone!" I am still to use it if I feel like I'm limping terribly or if i have to walk a long distance or very quickly, but beyond that, use it as little as possible.

Finally!

Now to just walk with no limp *all the time* and master these steps. Yesterday I stepped down from the big girl step (8" step) without holding on to the rail, although it is more of a fall off the step then a careful and controlled step down, but it will come. Now I just need more strength to be able to the side dips without holding on. I'm on the 4-6" step trying to dip the good foot down to the floor and back up but its still pretty hard and not well controlled at all. In good time though, just keep working it. Strength is definitely finally starting to improve at a faster pace then before.

And now back to your regularly scheduled bonding and support session.

[Lyndsey]

LOL, Latise you are so funny! I'm SO glad you get to say goodbye to the cane! That's so exciting! It sure takes a while to get rid of the limp, I actually didn't manage it until I got the hardware taken out. The plate was rubbing too much to not limp with it in there. Thats awesome you stepped down with the rail! It's unbelievable how scary that is at first, and it seems like such a tiny thing but it's not.

I really haven't had any searing bone pain, even on the worst of days, so that's a WONDERFUL thing. It's more muscle pain, and I think some pain with my tendons and the hip bursa still.... You are right, this is the first time the muscles and tendons have had to be in the position they are now, and I think it takes some getting used to.

The pillow mounds definitely help with sleep! I'm sure drugs would help, but I don't want to take any because then it messes my brain up for like 3 days, and I have way too much to do with school. Although, not sleeping messes me up too..... hmmm.... I don't know! Motrin helps a good bit most of the time, so I just stick to it.

Now I just have to get through classes today, hopefully I won't fidget too much. I can't ever get comfortable in the desks, so I move around alot. People probably think i'm the most impatient person in the world.

Hope everyone has a good day!
Lyndsey

[Becs3740]

Hi,

Latise and Lyndsey thank you both for your support. Today has been a bad day for me and reading that im not on my own does help.

I constantly have pain in my left knee. The reason why i feel so down at the moment is because when i agreed to have the derotational osteotmy i didn't think i could be in any more pain than i was at that time. Now 9 months after the surgery i still get alot of pain in my hip but this is better than it was but the pain in my knee has got so much worse. I am now doing less than i was before the surgery. I am just hoping that when i have the metal removed and lateral release things will be alot better.

Lyndsey i hope today wasn't too bad for you. I can't sit properly for more than 20 minutes so i can imagine how it must be to sit all day and have to concentrate on your work. People who do not have these problems don't realise they think that if your sitting down you won't be in pain.

Latise well done for being able to stop using the cane. I still have to use a crutch when i go out as the pain it just to much without it. I still limp quite badly. If i really try i can walk with just a tiny limp but this makes the knee worse.

Now that im not working i spend i alot my time online. Facebook and farmville are my life at the moment. lol. Really helps to take my mind off the pain.

Hope both of your days haven't been too bad.

Becks
 

[crankerchick]

Ladies!!!

Please forgive me for ky time away. As soon as I say I live and die online, I'm gone from the forum for longer than a few hours! I got swamped at work and then had to rush out to make it to the gym and then a poker game ($20 buy-in, yikes!).

Lyndsey, I hope you made it through class with an easing of the pain. I know hoy you feel having to sit and not fidget and tough it out. I sit at a computer or work in a lab all day everyday and it is just pure torture. My leg is never happy with the arangement and its like I live for the weekend just to recover from the 40 hours of sitting at work. If only I could get a recliner at work, or a big oversized ottoman!

Its funny how little accomplishments mean so much. Who would havethought I would ever be happy just to step down without holding on. We take so many things for granted until they are gone.

Becks, glad you made it to kneegeeks. It sucks you are goijg through more pain than prior to your surgery. Ihope hardware removal makes things better for you. Do you kbow your tibia roatation angles? Not that you want more surgery, but perhaps there is more left unfixed in your knee?

Omg everyone on my fb is into farmville, but I haven't drank the kool aid just yet. But at least you have something to distract you. Have you tried mafia wars, that is popular too.

At my poker game we were chatting about other group activities we could do. It was a bit bittersweet because there were a lot o things mentioned that I would like to do but know I can't for a while. Others are things like pickup basketball and the work softball team, things that in my younger years I would be all about doing. Now I'm so hesitant to try things like that, even when my knee is recovered. This is going to sound conrtived, but sometimes I feel like I've lost a part of myswlf over the years because of my knee problems. I used to do all kinds of high impact activities and contact sports. I wanted to sky dive! My spirit of adventure is still there, but uts like a spirit of trepidation has overwhelmed it. I'm 28, in awful shape, and fearful to do things. When I'm recovered, I feel now like I'll be so happy just to walk with no issue that I won't want to risk injury with something high risk and high impact. That really disheartens me because it is like I let my knees win and even in better times, they continue to win.

I guess I just went on the pity tirade and I don't mean to, but that is kind of where I am right now. Just a tad disappointed. I want back my adventurous spirit without the fear of pain or injury. I don't wish I had continued to play sports despjte my knees, I just wish my knees were never like this or that the problems were found sooner so iwould have never had to choose.

Like you all, it sucks having our lives affected so wholly by something so out of our control.

[sarbah77]

I've never even had that spirit, Latise.  But you know it's out there and you're SO young (technically, while I'm older, I'm still pretty young) and your surgery was SO recent that I'd advise the usual "give it TIME."  We're not quite 6 months from our surgeries.  Give it a year.  Give it maybe 2.  Remember the first George Bush president?  How old was HE when he went sky diving?  At age 28, there's still a HECK of a lot of life left ahead and you may need to give it a year or two before you're feeling better or before you don't think about your knee all the time.

But I know, who wants to wait a year or two?  We had our respective surgeries to feel better and to be able to do things again.  I want to do things NOW (I, of course, am that happy fun case of ending up with a stress injury, simply trying to do a minimum). 

We gotta find the patience somewhere anywhere! 

[Becs3740]

Hi,

Not sure if i told you but i live in the UK. Im not sure what our time difference is but that is why you might get a delay from me.

Latise, no i don't know my tibia roatation angles. I don't get told an awful lot. I had an MRI on my knee a few weeks ago because they were thinking of doing a TTO and a lateral release because of a tight lateral retinaculum which is causing a patellar tilt. When i got the result they said that they were just going to do the lateral release and clean out under the knee cap as there is alot of imflammation.

I know it must be really hard for you to think of what you want to be able to do and can't. But like Sarbah has said it is only about 6 months since your surgury. I know it proberly feels like everything should be better by now but it does take time. At 5/6 months my leg was still pretty weak. Now at 9 months its quite strong and i feel like its just my knee stopping me now. A few months makes such a differnence. I know you want to be able to do things now and waiting a year or two feels like a life time but you are still young and have got your whole life ahead of you. My friends and family say that yes i have got another 2-3 years of going through this (because i still have the other leg to sort out) but that is just a few years out of my long life. I never have been into sports but i have always loved dancing (although im not very good at it). I will be scared to dance again properly but i will be happy enough to be able to pratice a few dance routines in my room as a hobby.

Im really sorry that you are feeling like this at the moment. Like i said earlier i know a few years at this moment feels like a life time. But the way that i try to think to help my self is that if things can improve so much (apart from knee) in a few months just think how things will be in a year or 2.

I am sorry if i haven't been much help. Im not very good at writing down my thoughts and feelings.

Take care

Becks

[crankerchick]

Thanks Becks and Sarah. This is why so many people like kneegeeks, because we can get so much support in so many different ways.

I guess I'm not really too frustrated about the right now. I mean yeah it sucks to not be able to stuff like photography hikes, or trail riding, or bowling tournaments, but I know this is just temporary and I really feel like I'll be back to those things soon. Yeah, the right now is manageable, especially since I feel like I'm finally on the right path to putting this knee stuff behind me (unless of course the right, still twisted leg decides to be a problem).

What is getting me down is the change in my mindset that has happened over the years. I used to never think twice about trying something fun at least once, even with my knee problems, I didn't let that stop me. Then at some point I just started letting it stop me, and little by little it stopped me more and more to the point now where its like, "Oh I'd love to try that but I can't because I might hurt myself."

I feel OLD! Actually real old, cause even some just plain old people are still really active, LOL.

I'm just a little angry/bitter that I allowed my spirit to get crushed so to speak and even more so that I cant seem to shake that fear. Even my husband gives me a sideways look if there is something I want to try. Like when I decided to try mountain biking, he was just like why, you're knee is doing ok, just leave well enough alone, LOL. Of course I didn't listen, and nothing bad happened, so nanny nanny boo boo, but man i remember going back and forth about the mountain biking thing, should i do it or shouldn't i.

Maybe this is just a third life crisis or something, LOL. Tomorrow I'll wake up and won't give two sh1ts about mountain biking or basketball or ultimate frisbee (ooOOh ultimate frisbee, i loved that in college), but right now just thinking about how I used to feel about doing things and how I feel now, I just feel pretty annoyed that I let a piece of myself go in the shuffle. Letting my knees defeat me physically is one thing, but letting them crush me mentally is something i'm not too happy with.