MACI following failed microfracture (UK)

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Monday 18th October - Back to work

I slept a lot more on my side last night, so hopefully it’ll be a lot easier when I lose the brace at nights too. Mornings have become a far more efficient machine now and we’re getting into a routine (which may be thrown into chaos next week if I decide to try for an office visit!).

Work is busy playing catch-up, but I’ll get there. I’m still making time to get my exercises done which is important. I can see my diary taking a bit of a back seat from now on, but I’ll still try and update everyone at least weekly for a while.

A full day at work wore me out more than I expected and I was asleep on the sofa (sans brace!) when he got home. Managed to eat at the table (my temporary office) again which was good, so hopefully I’ve taken one more step back to normality. For some reason this evening, we also decided to measure my scar too. I always presumed it would be 4 inches, but it is a chunk smaller. It’s only 8cm (just over 3 inches). About half the scabs have fallen off now, and it’s looking good.

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Tuesday 19th October - Physio session 4

I’ve a day off work today to use up my holiday before the end of the year. I’ve physio this afternoon and mummy is coming over today as well to be chauffeur. She ended up being housemaid to cleaning the bathroom and kitchen which was fantastic. Physio went really well. I got forced to lie on my front today but managed a ROM of 110 with it. Flexing on my front I have ROM of 90 which was what I need for when I see Prof Briggs in just over 1 week. As far as flexing goes, I’m slightly ahead of schedule, but my muscles are still quite weak. My aim for next physio session is an SLR completely unassisted!  I’ve met every challenge my physio has thrown at me so far, but this is going to be my toughest yet.

On a downside, I found out today that I’m not getting hydro therapy until I’m weight bearing just in case I lose my balance or slip. It’s just to safeguard the graft, but it’s a little disappointing none the less.

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Double update today

Wednesday 20th October - Day 26

A busy day at the ‘office’ today, but I made the mistake of putting my leg up on one of the dining room chairs. Getting up was not the problem, but getting the leg back down was. A few twinges followed and it remained sore all evening. On the plus side, I only had 1 Tramadol today.

Thursday 21st October

Slept okay considering how much I ached yesterday evening, but this morning it has all but settled back down. It’s now just toes and heels that are sore. This morning it was a little bit noisy next door and outside. It didn’t bother me last week, but then I wasn’t working. I ended up being picked up and taken into the office in the afternoon. I got to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for five weeks, so it was good socially as well.

Drugs wise, for the past two days I’ve had a full daily dose of diclofenac sodium, 6 paracetamol and 1 Tramadol. Pain wise, it’s starting to feel good again.

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Double update again

Friday 22nd October - Red Foot Day

My toes are still sore this morning, so off came the DVT prevention sock to reveal a red, hot and swollen foot and toes. Going back to working this week, I’ve been sat with both legs down for a large chunk of the day . . . so hubbie has now sorted out a box for me to rest on which elevates my leg by about a foot, and I’ll try and take more breaks. Naughty me.

However, work is now starting to pile on jobs for me whilst I’m working at home. It’ll make me busier and I fear I won’t get the time to get exercises done during the day.

I managed to cook most of dinner tonight which meant that hubbie didn’t have to do that much and could enjoy his Friday night wine. I can’t wait to get off the Tramadol so that I can join him again. I only had one again today, so I don’t think it will be too long. Cooking was a big bonus of my day, but it was also the first day I decided to sleep without my brace on.

Saturday 23rd October - 4 weeks and a day

I slept pretty well considering I didn’t have my brace on, and it’s given me a big uplift. My foot is also a lot better today. It’s still red and warm, but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. Lesson learned - I must elevate more!

We had a family birthday party today, which meant a bundle in the back of the car and lots of kiddies running around - brace time. I lasted surprisingly well considering what my foot was like yesterday. I was doing okay as I had my foot elevated most of the day and I managed to get all my exercises done.

I was having such a good day I was looking forward to not only sleeping without my brace but not having to take any Tramadol either. However, once I got upstairs to bed it just ached so much I gave in.

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Sunday 24th October - Big Sleep

Other than my usual waking at 1.30 and 4.30, I woke at 7, then after 9. Considering I went to bed just after 10 last night, that was a real big sleep. I guess I just don’t have my party feet on yet!

I’ve been really pushing my exercises today as I need to be able to do a straight leg raise by next Tuesday when I see the physio again. Today I managed my first one! Okay my quad quivers like there’s no tomorrow, but I’ve managed it and things can only get better.

Monday 25th October

I had a rough night last night waking every 3 hours as normal. I wish I could get into a longer routine, but my body just doesn’t want to. Whenever I woke up my knee ached, so I did a few flexes before settling back down. I’m reluctant to put the brace back on at night and this was my third night in a row without it, and the last thing I want to do is increase the pain relief either. I was hoping to cut out the Tramadol and just stick to paracetamol, but knee has other plans at the moment.

Managed all my exercises today and the straight leg raises are coming along nicely. My plan tonight is to go without the Tramadol, so I’ve upped the paracetamol to its max and we’ll give it a go.

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Tuesday 26th October - Physio session 5

Sleeping without Tramadol didn’t quite go to plan, and not only did I toss and turn, my knee ached so much this morning, so I gave in when I woke up this morning. I’ve got my last physio session before I see Prof Briggs tomorrow evening.

I got worked really hard at physio and managed a whole heap of exercises. I’ve been given some slightly more advanced ones and we’ll see what Prof Briggs says tomorrow night before moving on to the next stage.

Wednesday 27th October - Post surgery Check-up

Work, work, work, work, work. That’s pretty much been my day. I’ve had meetings galore, which enable me to sit with my leg up and do all my exercises. My SLR’s are coming along well now, which will help when I can start weight-bearing.

Got stuck on the M25 getting to Watford this evening to see Prof Briggs. We managed to get there with about 4 minutes to spare only to be told ‘he’s not here yet’. . . Anyway, once he arrived, he whizzed through the backlog and soon I was hopping in to see him. He’s well pleased with the scar and I even managed to get ROM of 120! He had a go about me turning up with my brace in hand (I’m only using it to travel and in public now), and said I shouldn’t need it at all now.

Travelled home that night without it and it ached all evening . . . Maybe I need to wean myself off of it for travelling rather than going cold turkey!

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Thursday 28th October

Second day in a row back in the office. I’m looking to up my days to a full week as of Monday with the aim of being full time back in the office in 3 weeks (8 weeks post op). I’ve got one week until I start PWB, and boy I can’t wait!

Friday 29th October - 5 weeks post surgery

I’m 5 weeks down the line today, so time for a bit of an update on how things are going. So far, I’d have to say I’m glad I’ve had it done. Who knows what I’ll feel like when I start weight bearing next week!

Pain wise, I’m currently on 150mg diclofenac (50mg x 3), 3000mg paracetamol (1000mg x 3), 50mg Tramadol (50mg x 1) each day. Tonight I’m going to try cutting out the Tramadol again and replacing with a dose of paracetamol. I first did this earlier in the week, but felt terrible the day after.

I’ve only had a fixed brace which I was given in hospital and kept on for the first 10 days solid, which I started to wean myself off of after week 3. I started at removal for exercises, then a few hours a day, then all day. I started sleeping on my side with it at some point between weeks 3 and 4, then at week 4 lost it at night completely. It’s now only used for public appearances and travelling. My next step is to wean myself of it whilst travelling, then in public.

I only ice once a day unless my knee is having a bad day, then I ice where it’s practicable, otherwise it’s ice gel (Biofreeze). It’s a bit like Deep Heat, but goes cold instead and still hasn’t gone over the scar. The knee is still swollen and if I press my fingers into the knee next to the scar slightly I get dimples, but it does stay elevated most of the time (either sat on the sofa with both legs up, or at my desk with a box and cushion underneath).

I massage the scar tissue twice daily in small circles over the scar, but not down the sides. This is upon my physio’s advice as we don’t know the state of the tissue underneath the scar, and don’t want to risk it breaking up (although by now it’s probably going to be okay!).

I can’t hop far without getting out of breathe (and I was pretty fit before my knee went last December), but I can do a 2-point turn on my sticks! I can stand still for a couple of minutes before the non-operated leg starts to ache.

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Saturday 30th October

I managed last night without Tramadol, getting through with just paracetamol this time. I’ll forgive the weird dreams, the broken sleep and feeling down this morning. It’s just withdrawal symptoms, and they’ll soon go. My knee doesn’t have the deep ache it did last time I tried going without Tramadol which shows how much difference a few days can make.

Sunday 31st October

Second night in a row without Tramadol last night. The weird dreams are subsiding, I’m getting more sleep and I feel fine today. Fingers crossed, this is now a turning point to getting off Tramadol. I still have a few just in case for when I start PWB later this week, so we’ll see how it goes.

Bundled in the car this afternoon with brace over to my best friend. They were going to throw their dog out in the garden as he’s normally quite a bundle of energy (and an over sized German Shepherd). However he was an absolute star and I was more than comfortable without the brace on around him. Travelling is becoming awkward sat in the back seat as it’s making me travel-sick over 20 miles. I can’t wait to get back in the front seat of a car!

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Monday 1st November

Back to an office today. I’ve managed another night with Tramadol and I’m starting to feel really tired and down in the evenings. Today was no exception. I am however, finding my exercises easier and have started massaging my right foot in anticipation of having some weight pushed through it on Thursday evening - boy does that hurt! I wish I’d done it sooner and I’m not putting that much pressure on it either.

Tuesday 2nd November

I had a really rubbish night’s sleep last night. I lost track of the times I woke up, thought I’d woken up but was still dreaming and basically couldn’t get comfy. I even went back to sleeping with my teddy bear which I haven’t had for a few weeks now. My dreams are completely wacked out, stupid or scare me and I was only on Tramadol for five weeks! I really can’t wait for the withdrawal symptoms to disappear. From what I’ve read it’s a least a week, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Wednesday 3rd November

Still having really manic nights, but hopefully it will settle soon. Today’s only news is that I pushed my exercises last night too far . . .d’oh!

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Thursday 4th November - PWB Begins!

I must admit there’s a lot of nervous anticipation about tonight’s physio session. Part of me is really looking forward to being able to not hop everywhere and part of thinks it’s going to hurt. . . .


PWB is the weirdest thing going! After starting nervously with putting a trainer on for the first time in 6 weeks which felt really heavy at the end of my leg, I managed to do an SLR with ease. Queue sitting on the bed with my feet down and a few simple exercises and I’m off on my crutches learning to walk again. Heel, toe, heel, toe, heel, toe. Apparently I have good technique, but I’m concentrating like mad! I’ll get there without thinking soon. I’ve climbed stairs one at a time now without hopping and it feels really good.

With every step I make I get a sensation of pins and needles in my foot which instantly disappears the moment the weight comes off. The best bit for me was no real pain in the knee at all. For the sensation in the foot (even though I’ve been massaging my foot every day for the past week), I can start to feel a little happier about myself and my knee now.

It’s been nearly a week without Tramadol now, and I am so looking forward to alcohol tomorrow night!

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Friday 5th November - 6 weeks post op

Rang the hospital this morning to check about surgical stockings as I’m still wearing two! They’ve said I don’t need them anymore, so it’s off to find where my socks have been hiding for the past 6 weeks. It’s going to be strange without them, but it’s one more step to some degree of normality (whatever that is going to be for me now).

I’ve been off Tramadol for a week now, and the withdrawal symptoms have almost gone. I’m sleeping so much better now as well. I’ve started to cut back on the Diclofenac Sodium to 100mg (2 x 50mg) a day, but still 4000mg of paracetamol (except for when I forget a dose!) I know I still need the maximum because m knee has a really deep ache that evening and the following morning.

I actually sat in the front of the car after physio last night. It felt so strange after getting used to the back seat. It’s only a 10 minute journey home from the hospital, but my red scar had turned purple in that time, so it was dinner on the sofa and ice on the knee. It’s never great having a techni-colour leg.

Saturday 6th November

I was sat in bed doing my first set of exercises of the day, but something in the knee went ping. I got a bit worried, but upon looking at the scar, part of the last big scab was missing. I must try not to miss any tablets today though, I’m getting really forgetful and this week I’ve missed a dose of pain relief at least twice. By the time I’d walked to the bathroom this morning, my legs were two different colours! It’s strange not having stockings on anymore, but I’m glad to be without them. The one thing I have noticed (and it’s one mainly for the ladies), is not to shave when you’re wearing stockings. It may be unsightly, but I’ve had so many ingrown hairs where they’ve had nowhere to go because of the tightness of the stockings it’s unbelievable. Looking back, the new scar on my knee is a big change to how my leg looks, and shaving could have easily waited (even though I looked like a yeti!) .

Sunday 7th November

I missed my third dose of pain relief yet again yesterday and I’m regretting it today. My knee really aches, so today it’s time to cut back on exercises and elevate (and not miss any pain relief). Getting in and out of the bath was much easier this time, so next week we’re going to fill the bath up before I get in to see if I can cope. All of the little puncture scabs from the clips have gone now and I just have one big chunk of scab left now, but it doesn’t seem quite ready to come off.

Unfortunately that all changed early evening as I had a sharp pain along the scar which made my leg jump and my jogging bottoms somehow managed to rip it off. It was quite a deep scab (so what remained bled) and now what’s left aches and feels uncomfortable. I can only see how it goes now.

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Monday 8th November / Tuesday 9th November
I’ve been having real problems with blood pooling in my foot these past few days. It’s fine when I’m elevating it and asleep, but if I let the leg drop when sitting or wake in the night, my foot swells, gets hot and purple. The moment I start flexing the ankle, it alleviates, so I know something is wrong. It looks like my veins aren’t working the way they should be and it’s only since I’ve taken the stockings off that I’ve noticed. Hopefully they’ve just become lazy, but I’ve ended up wearing a stocking to get back to sleep at night now. I have physio on Thursday, but I don’t know if it’s too long to wait or whether I should make a GPs appointment now.

Update: I ended up putting my tubi back on Tuesday afternoon, and hey presto - less purple foot! It’s only mildly pink and hardly aches. Maybe going from stocking and tubi to nothing was just too much of a shock to the leg. Hopefully I can wean myself off the tubi over the next week or so when I’m more mobile and everything will be okay.

Wednesday 10th November

I’ve left the tubi on for the past 24 hours and my leg is now much happier. It’s slightly pinker if I leave it down for too long, but on the whole it’s less hot and swollen. Maybe I didn’t learn from last time. I’m still doing ankle flexion exercises when it’s down which will help the veins do what they’re meant to do. I’ve got physio tomorrow and I’m supposed to be down to one crutch. Unfortunately this is one challenge I’m not going to meet, but I’ll try for next week (week and go from there.

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Thursday 11th November

I managed to stand for the two minute silence today which I was impressed with. I’ve tried more exercises at physio and have tried walking with just one stick. Apparently the mechanics are all there, I just lack confidence (plus it aches after about 5 minutes).

Friday 12th November - Week 7

I travelled to and from work today completely without my brace on. Hopefully, that’s the last I’ll see of it now before it gets put away in the cupboard. It’s only taken two weeks since Prof Briggs said I didn’t need it anymore to be able to ditch it completely. I still haven’t really been out in public since surgery, but I feel confident enough to not wear it if I go out. This evening I tried going down to one stick and it feels okay. The strength is coming back slowly to my quads (yippee).

This week I’ve dropped the paracetamol down to 3000mg a day and see how it goes.

Week 7 update

My crutch slipped off the bottom step on Saturday and I slammed my operation leg straight down. Big, big pain, but after flexing it for about 5 minutes and icing it has started to settle back down. It still feels good to walk on, so I’m hopeful of no damage done. I stayed on two crutches for the day, but straight back down to one the following day. It’s definitely getting easier to walk now, so fingers crossed, I’ll be down to a stick very soon, and then completely free within the next two weeks!

The weather has played havoc this week and being damp and cold hasn’t really helped, but then that’s autumn for you!

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Week 8 update
I’m down to just a walking stick now and can quite happily wander a few wobbly paces around the house. Pills wise, I’ve now started taking paracetamol as and when and am down to 2000mg a day and 50mg diclofenac sodium.

The strength in my quad is coming along a treat and I’ve now been allowed on the exercise bike for 10 minutes a day with no resistance.

I’m still doing plenty of exercises a day, and have started travelling short distances in the front of the car which means that I now don’t have to lay across the back seat so much (woo hoo!).

I’m also well on target to ditch all forms of stick by Christmas, and probably even by the end of November which is even better.

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Week 9 update
The start of week 9 is when the stick got ditched and I only go out on crutches to walk distance (like into town to do the Christmas shopping). It’s great being able to carry things again and not relying on a waiter (aka hubbie). I now only walk with a wobble when my knee gets tired, but it seems I can potter around for a bit more now.

Week 9 also saw the end of diclofenac for the first time in 51 weeks. Hopefully paracetamol won’t be too far behind, but I still ache and get twinges, so it may still be a while.

I’m still cycling 10 minutes a day on no resistance as my knee aches after 8 minutes still. If I slow down, I don’t ache, but I don’t feel like I’ve done anything either. Exercises are coming on gradually and moving to more advanced levels, but I still can’t sit on the bed and straighten my leg out because my quads aren’t strong enough.