Derotational Osteotomy + TTT - 10/20/2009

[Hooligan]

Hi -

Crankerchick, you certainly didn't sound perky or annoying or anything of the sort! Everything you wrote was right on the mark.

In my head I know you are right. I've got to just find out if it's fixed - push it and see...and live with whatever happens. I am just prolonging finding out - and since it IS fixed, it's so true that I am robbing myself of time with a great, functional knee. When I don't want to do things, friends think it's because my knee must hurt. It's so hard to explain that it totally DOESN'T hurt - it just feels weird, and sometimes I'm just exhausted from fighting to move/walk normally. I often repeat in my head, "I'm so over this. I'm so over this. I'm so over this."

I think the problem is that in my rehab we skipped some basic steps. I could squat and jump before the surgery - just about anything that kept the knee bent, and therefore stable. I could swim 2km, no problem. I biked 12km to work every day. What I couldn't do was walk properly or stand on that leg with it fully extended, with quad contracted (i.e., tree pose in yoga).There is a basic foundation that I am missing. My new physio and are going to start attacking that this week.

As for plyometrics - you are right about needing to get "moving". I like stable, isometric exercises - which will only get me so far. However, I am starting with a personal trainer this week. We are going to start slow and see where things go. I'm going to stick with this to the bitter end! I have to get this left leg working to its full capacity...because the right knee is twitching with a sneaky sense of instability and it needs to be fixed too.

Thank you for the inspiring words.

Hooligan

[WorkinWings]

Crankerchick,

Thinking of you today: the second anniversary of your untwisting...
CONGRATULATIONS!!

Your great spirit, your hard work, and very generous sharing of the knowledge you acquired, have made of your surgical success story such an amazing inspiration, that it has in these two years spawned several new "generations" of successfully fixed knees out there!

Many cheers to you (and to Dr. Mark Sanders) today!!

[crankerchick]

WorkinWings, thanks for remember my 2-year untwisting day or as I called it, my Happy Straight-leg Birthday. It's funny, I was doing something on Wednesday and thought, "Whoa, what day is it? Is it past the 20th?!" Then I looked at the calendar and breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't missed my straight-leg birthday.

It's nice not to think about that knee anymore. What a blessing to almost forget that 2 years ago I was giving some bald head doctor dude the evil eye as he made me bend my leg only moments after opening my eyes from surgery.

Thanks for remembering and thanks for your words. Sorry it took me a while to respond, but as they say, folks tend to stay away from here once they are out enjoying their fixed parts.

Happy 2-year straight leg birthday to me!

Special thanks to the folks on here for helping to save me from the clutches of those with less knowledge on this topic and super special thanks to Dr. Mark Sanders and all the folks at the Sanders Clinic for doing what they do best, and better than the rest, day in and day out.

Rock on.

[greyliston]

Thanks to you crankerchick for providing good information to those who are desperately seeking it!

[Driden]

She gives a pretty good pep talk, too. I see a career in
Motivational speaking.

[crankerchick]

Haha thanks guys.  I just feel pretty passionate about this topic and want to help in the same way that I was helped by folks here and the people in TX. My thread has gotten pretty large but hopefully it is still helpful.

[crankerchick]

I don't know if anyone even still reads this thread anymore, but I've posted an update (a positive one) in the PF section. I won't repeat it here, but here's a link to it.
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/index.php?topic=59747.msg577089#msg577089

[crankerchick]

I almost let the day go without popping in here to give a special update. Today marks 3 years post-op from derotation of my femur and tibia along with tibial tubercle advancement and I spent it doing something I love, something I couldn't do for what seemed like forever before I had this surgery.

I spent my straight leg birthday in the bowling center all day, working and bowling with the likes of 37-time PBA titleist and USBC and PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke and the fine east coast representatives of Storm Bowling Products. I was on my feet all day, and I'll finish my weekend off tomorrow with competition bowling.

Not a bad way to celebrate 3 years of being the proud owner of 1 straight leg.

This site was so pivotal in my journey towards getting better educated about the conditions and treatment options for patellofemoral pain. I'm just really happy and thankful for all of the help I got here. I can't say thanks enough to Dr. Mark Sanders for fixing me up, staying committed and involved in my recovery, and for continuing to be a great resource even now.

It's been 3 years. Wow. Rock on.

[crankerchick]

Well, here it is, 4 years later. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I don't have much to say because life is good.  My leg is good. I actually want to say it's better than it was this time last year. Not only does my leg not bother me noticeably, it really seems like the little nagging discomfort in my thigh has almost gone away completely. I don't know if it's even possible/probable that things can improve this far out from surgery, but I know what I feel and what I feel and notice is some of the situations where I did used to feel discomfort in the thigh, like laying on that side on the floor, or walking all day long and then trying to climb stairs, I just don't even notice pain in those situations anymore. My leg definitely feels like my own, even around the tibia. About the only thing that reminds me I've had surgery is the numbness, which will never go away and isn't an issue anyway.

Most importantly, I continue not to have knee pain. No instability. I don't trip over my straight leg anymore LOL.

This was also a very good bowling season for me, having bowled events across 7 states and having a very good run in them. After 3 years of knee issues, surgery, rehab, and practicing my way back, I had my best season in probably 7 years, capturing a tournament win, several top 5 finishes (3 in large national events) and a special doubles win in an event I bowled with my husband. It was our first win as husband and wife (we got married a few months before my surgery).

I have had some very positive developments in my life as of late, with the main one being the key motivator for this surgery in the first place. It's wonderful to feel things coming together, from the effort to find a diagnosis, the almost wrong surgery, the surgery itself, the rehab, getting back to sports on my terms, and now big life changes. It sounds cheesy, but all of this is no doubt thanks to the folks here who helped me, the people at the Sanders Clinic who went above and beyond to help me, and biggest of all, my awesome doc Dr. Mark Sanders who took time to answer my hundreds of questions and then fixed me up to better than I was before. Picking up some lifelong friends along the way just sweetened the deal.

I can't wait to see what life has in store for me in the next few months, but I'm so happy to enter this new phase of life without my leg being even the slightest worry on my radar.

[crankerchick]

I'm not sure who still reads this (that's probably a good thing), but here goes.

The last post was 1 year ago, on the 4 year anniversary of my surgery.

Here I am now 5 years out and still doing well.

Life is so different now from where I was when I was being wheeled into that OR 5 years ago. At this time 5 years ago, I was laying in a hospital bed wondering when I would be able to finally live my life on my terms. I was excited about what life would be like to have a straight leg, but I would be lying if I said I didn't also wonder what life would be like if the surgery didn't work out for me.

I was optimistic because I was confident I had made the right decision for myself after doing a lot of research, asking a lot of questions, and doing a lot of soul searching. Like anyone, though, there were times I was still a bit nervous--that something would derail all of my efforts.

Yet, here I am 5 years later and everything has come full circle. When I went in for this surgery, I had many things on my mind. I had just gotten married and starting a family was definitely on my mind. I wanted to bowl. I wanted to play sports without pain. Some days leading up to the surgery, I just wanted to be able to walk!

Now 5 years later, I am doing all of those things.

Yep, one by one each of the things that I dared to hope for and dream about as I did my cannonballs in that hospital bed 5 years ago have come to pass.

I walk. I run. I bowl. I play basketball. I ride my mountain bike.

Now I run behind my little one.

My daughter is 9-months old. Every day I carry her around. I crawl around on the floor with her. I run to her when she cries. I take her on walks around the lake.

I do all of these things and I don't think about my straight leg at all. Or, I guess I should say, I don't think about pain or instability in my straight leg at all. When I think about that leg, it's usually to smile because it's fixed and it doesn't bother me at all.

What a blessing.

Thanks to Dr. Mark Sanders and everyone at the Sanders Clinic for doing what to you all is probably just another day's work but for your patients is doing something that gives them the opportunity for a new lease on life.

[Clarkey]

Hi Crankerchick,

It makes a pleasant change to read a success story on KG bulletin board as the majority of posts are negative about failed surgeries with knee problem worse than it was pre op. Despite your setbacks with numerous amounts of knee surgery you have managed to get back to full fitness again.

Dr. Mark Sanders is one of the top OS's for knee problems to see and have not seen him for a while posting on KG Bulletin Board, I expect he is extremely busy so has got no time anymore to sign into the bulletin board.

I am hoping that despite being more prone to excessive scarring and AF that I will soon be running again at a competitive level long distance that has been put on hold since January 2013. Two scopes does not put me off pushing myself to run again despite knowing that running on a hard surface slowly wears the knee out.

Congratulations on your 5th anniversary success, you were lucky to have Dr Sanders and his medical team to sort out your past knee problems.

[email protected]

 

[Storres]

Hi I am not sure if you still look at this diary, but I would like to contact you but I am not sure ho how to send private messages. Still new in this website.

[vickster]

You need 20 posts to be able to PM. You can get your count up in the games room part of the forum, but do read the rules before joining any of the games. There are other get to know you threads to join too

[Clarkey]

Oct 20, 2009
Day 0
I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes.

I'm of course out of surgery now. It took a bit longer than originally expected. The doc said it took a bit longer to transport me from table to table (different table for femur and tibia). We didn't not do the arthroscopy. We ended up doing my femur 22 and my tibia. My patellas brought down 16mm.

They wheeled me out of the outpatient waiting aroomd 7:30, right on team. I said bye to mom, who I think held up really well. I, however, started to get emotional while they were wheeling me to the OR. I started crying. The anesthesiology joked with me while walking and then just gave me the sleepy medicine and that's all she wrote.

I woke up the recovery room to a very nice nurse who was tking my vitals and feeding me ice chips. Dr. Sanders came in told me how everything went and then did the cannonball stretch right away.

At some point after that I was wheeled to my room where my mom waiting for me.

The staff has been great so far. PT has been in twice (once every hour) to do my cannon ball. On the first visit, we got up on the crutches and took a few steps. I was a bit weak though, so we didn't do much.

Then I was able to eat, just liquid foot of jello, sorbet, juice, tea and water. They said as long as I keep that down, I can have reall food for dinner.

Doc just left my room again to check on me. His day is done, but he said to call him if I have problems, otherwise he would talk to me tomorrow.

I'm pretty tired, falling asleep writing this.

My pain level isn't bad at all, lyin gstill that is. THe cannonballs suprisingly don't hurt. Its the straightening back to normal after having bent. My femur just mostly feels like I fell on it. The tibia/shin hurts more than the femur, but so ffar not terrible.

I think that is all. My eyes are drooping. I probably have another 30 minutes before P/T comes back so its nappy time.

Hi Crankerchick,

Curious and intrigued on your 7th anniversary today if the 'Derotational Osteotomy' is still a success or are you now starting to feel aches and pains again, hindering your sporting activities. My OS’s registrar mentioned doing an Osteotomy over a year ago as I am on the borderline? My OS thinks it would not be a wise move, maybe the registrar was being to big-headed trying to be one step ahead and should never have suggested it in the first place.

Hope 7 years on that it is still very much a success story for you.

[email protected]

[crankerchick]

I'm a little late in posting this, as ironically, I was in Houston attending a technical conference on my kneeniversary.

Yes, 7 years since I had my left leg corrected for the mal-alignments that caused me so many problems for so many years. I couldn't be more grateful for the resources, help, and support I received here to get to the root of the problems and save me from the surgical mistake that was to be a Fulkerson TTT and lateral release in the presence of femoral anteversion and excess tibial torsion.

At 7 years out, I am 100% free of the pain and instability I dealt with for so many years. I walk, run, jump, kick, bowl, bike, and generally do anything I want to do without knee pain or instability. I'm the mother of a fabulous 2-year old that I'm able to care for confidently, without worrying of falling down as I run behind her.

I'm 90% free of the collateral damage of surgery to my femur and tibia. I do have tenderness internally   on the soft tissue of the femur that only bothers me when I lay on hard surfaces on that side. It's interesting, though, that even at 7 years out, this does still fade with time. I noticed a few months ago I was laying on the floor on that side in my daughter's room playing with blocks and I was laying on that side and didn't even feel it. The tibia is 99% pain free. It's a little odd sensation along the incision, and definitely still numbness lateral to the incision, but it's not painful at all and probably will never go away completely.

So my update is this. If you still read this, or if you come across it in your research. Do yourself a favor and make sure you have yourself thoroughly evaluated by a doctor that will look at each leg individually and will evaluate you for bony mal-alignments including knock-knees, bowed-legs, and excessively rotated femurs and tibias. This is not something that can be thoroughly evaluated by looking at your legs or regular x-rays. They are best quantified with rotational ct-scans and standing leg length x-rays. I found my doctor, Dr. Mark Sanders, in Houston, TX at the Sanders Clinic. There are choices out there and not every doctor is aware of or willing to evaluate these problems but is all too willing to do a cookie cutter procedure due to the presence of instability. It's important to treat the problem, not the symptom. I was able to eventually find a doctor that diagnosed the problem rather then just propose a surgical fix for the symptoms. I won't trust my legs to any other doctor now.