Well tomorrow is 10 months out from surgery. I have regained some quad strength and definition. I have minimal swelling (maybe the size of a quarter on the outside of my knee cap). The skin at that spot feels a little numb, but nothing I notice too much. I have no limp. I continue with weight lifting 3-4 times per week and elliptical 5 x per week. I am up to resistance level 6 and can do about 3-4 miles per work out. My biggest challenge is stairs – going down is difficult. I can do it normally, but with the bad leg it feels not very controlled, so I plop down hard on the step when I bend the “bad” leg to lower the good leg to the stair. I have called my doctor to get a script for one PT session to get some ideas about exercises specifically to deal with that problem. It appears from my research that it’s normal to have difficulty going downstairs after long periods of quad atrophy. I would definitely say I am better now than before surgery in terms of stamina and pain in the knee with high activity. My tip to anyone having this surgery: write yourself a note about what you are feeling like before surgery – so when you are doubting yourself and your decision, you can see what kind of shape you were in. I did that, and was surprised how bad off I was before the surgery in terms of everyday functioning, which now makes me feel like I made the right decision in having this surgery. The reality I think for me is that I am a high activity person who loves to work out. If I did not have this surgery, I would have become sedentary because my knee was getting worse pretty much by the week. Now I am getting better by the week. Not sure I can expect much more than that. I am still determined to at least try to run, if the doctor clears me to do that after my MRI in March. The closer it gets to the date of my MRI the harder I find myself working on regaining my strength – if the doctor clears me, I want to have the quad strength to at least try to run. Well, as they say, it’s a marathon not a sprint — I am figuratively at mile 18 (you know, when you start to feel kinda tired, sore and frustrated but there is an end in sight — but it’s still a ways down the road). 🙂
Aci – complete
19 MarWow- so the insurance gods gave a thumbs up, the cells grew, and now I am 4 days post op. To be honest – that really hurt. Can’t really get off the couch much. Can’t actually move my leg at all. Hope that is normal. First two days I spent wondering what on earth I was thinking about when I voluntarily submitted to this. Now I am trying to look forward and to keep a sense of humor. I will go back to work next week – which should be interesting. For now I am trying to figure out how to get my leg moving and how to work the t.v. that I absolutely never watch.
ACI Surgery Insurance Gods Part 2
27 JanWell, called the insurance company to see the progress of my claim…They had not received it from the company that grows the cells yet! I am three weeks post arthorscopic surgery and they don’t even know my claim exists yet! The lab, however, was very helpful. They had not submitted it because they did not have the paperwork from the doctor until the day I actually called. Wow, this is moving at a glacial pace. So pretty much I am not advancing the ball toward recovery and my knee is continuing to deteriorate. It swells every day, and is difficult to use on the stairs. I continue to use the eliptical (doctor said it was okay but that it might hurt) and to lift weights. I am starting to feel somewhat like a psycho, because I continue to exercise out of a mental need to do so, but it hurts (which seems unproductive). The rehab is one year, and it has not begun. My doctor says that there is a 90% chance the surgery will improve my function, but only a 50% chance I will return to running long distance. I hate to even complain because mostly people do not understand what the big deal is. Further, I’m sick of my own whining about the situation. I am using this blog because no one reads it anyway, and that way I can vent, reflect a year from now on my progress and hopefully be grateful I have moved on.
ACI Knee Surgery – Insurance Gods
23 JanWaiting what feels endlessly for the insurance gods to agree to my ACI surgery. Ughh. Very impatient to gt on with my procedure and recovery. It will cost in the 30k range, so not anxious to finance myself. Anyone had this procedure ok’d by insurance? Weird to be anxious to be operated on and to be in pain, but until it gets started it can be over…
desperate2run 