I had an MRI two weeks ago and a follow up appointment to discuss the same with my surgeon two days ago. Good news – there are no abnormalities in my MRI whatsoever. No tendon tears, no issues with the graft – nothing. I am pretty psyched about that. What I am not psyched about is the continued weakness in my knee and occassional giving out. Doctor has asked me to go to some PT to get my quad back in shape. He thinks the weakness in my quad is causing some strain on the knee joint. I start tomorrow. I agree that my quad is weak – as it is quite a bit smaller than my other leg and my knee does feel stressed as a result. I do feel that the knee has improved over the last few months and the spot on my quadriceps tendon that was sore is no longer sore. We shall see. Still dreaming of a run… Merry Christmas all.
One Year 3 Months Post Surgery
24 JunWell, I am continuing to improve. Went on a 25 mile bike ride yesterday. Was not sore or swollen afterward. Really it felt a little stiff, but that was it. The bike ride took about 2 hours and 25 minutes – which is not great, but given the rough terrain of some of the trails and the traffic getting to the park, not too bad. Biking is o.k. I have signed up to do the MS 150 in October to try to get thru the marathon season without feeling too depressed. I am used to training all summer and fall for a November or December marathon. This will give me something that simulates that training routine. The ride will be 70 Miles the first day and 57 Miles the second. I am training to get up to 60 miles between now and then. Still hoping to be running again someday… We shall see. But – I have to say I am pretty happy to be able to bike for 25 miles without pain or swelling. That has to be a good sign!
STILL IMPROVING – 1 YEAR 1 MONTH
8 AprWell, I am about one year one month post op. My knee is feeling pretty good. Still feels “not normal” on stairs, but I can go up without using the railing (with some effort). I did a 15 mile bike ride over the weekend in a pretty hilly area and did not experience any pain, stiffness or swelling afterward. Thinking about doing a 30 mile charity ride in a month to see how I like doing bike races. I do not like biking nearly as much as I did running, but I figure it has got to be good for the knee and surrounding muscles and it gets me outside. I broke down and bought the padded bicyle shorts – because – well – biking gives me a sore butt… Definitely not as cool as my running gear, as they make it appear as though you are wearing a diaper under your too tight shorts! I am still hoping that I will at some point return to running, just not sure when that will be. My doc says that the new STAR study shows continued hardening of the area for 5 years… Ughh – I’ll be too old to start running if it takes that long. Hope all of those out there that commented on having surgery soon are hanging in there!
11 Month Update
22 FebI am about a week past my 11th month post surgery. I don’t feel like I have made much progress since my 10 month update. Still at about the same activity level. Have done some traveling requiring extensive walking and have handled that pretty well, i.e., my knee was sore when my husband (who is a runner) began to feel sore feet. No pain eminating from the knee, but a weakness in the muscles around the knee continue to plague me. I intend to go on a long bike ride this weekend (15 miles) and continue with the weight lifting and eliptical. Bike riding is fine, except that I live in a pretty hilly neighborhood and I can’t stand up on the bike to pedal. My MRI is next week, with my one year follow up the week after that (one week shy of my 1 year anniversary). I will report on the MRI results and what the doctor says for those of you who are reading this and wondering what the result of this lengthy ordeal is. It has been a heck of a year. I am nervous to find out the results of the MRI, as I will be dealing with the mental let down if it is not as good as I had hoped. I feel like I have done absolutely everything in my power to improve my chances for a good outcome, so at least I won’t have regrets.
The ACI Experience Five Months after Surgery
14 AugI can’t believe it’s been five months. To some extent it seems like 2 years, but in some ways much less than 5 months. I feel like the last two weeks have seen a fair amount of improvement. I eliptical 3-4 miles per day, plus lift weights, do one legged knee bends, mini leg extensions, leg presses, etc… I may have gotten over enthusiastic with the resistence on the eliptical, because the last two days I have had a fair amount of swelling. Advil really does not help, so I am going to ask the doc for an anti inflammatory at my next visit (6 month visit). Some days I feel good enough to think I may run again. Some days I feel like that sounds impossible.
On an interesting note, my insurance company sent me a letter telling me that they were not coving the 70k cost for the carticel(!). Imagine my surprise since they had preauthorized the procedure. However, after I called and pointed out this inconsistency, they agreed that they had made a mistake and said they would re-run the claim… Good thing… Looks like the kid’s college fund is safe!
I am looking forward to a day when I do not think about my knee every 10 minutes, or feel it every minute. I feel like if I keep progressing, that in another two- three months I might be more or less as good as I was before the surgery and on my way to being actually better than I was. I am pointing out these things in the hope that if anyone ever reads this they will be better prepared with their expectations, and therefore not have the emotional turmoil which I experienced. My spirits are better than they were even two weeks ago and I am hopeful at this stage. Hope springs eternal. I actually picked up Runner’s world off my mail pile without immediately pitching it in the rycyling bin this week… baby steps…
Day 32- moving in the right direction
17 AprI am a little over 4 weeks post op. And finally starting to get some movement in my quad. I can’t lift my leg off the couch- but I can move it now. Started PT last week and religiously did my exercises over the last four days (pretty unpleasant). I am hoping to get some positive feed back tomorrow. Being that I am used to following training schedules, and actually liking them- it is not difficult to follow a routine. However going from a marathon training program involving the goal of 26.2 miles – to a schedule involving the lifting of a leg off the couch is a bit of a let down… I may need to find a new hobby…like wine tasting…my patience is running thin and I admit to being in low spirits with not a whole lot to look forward to, but I try to keep it in perspective- much worse things happen to much nicer people after all! Ok, so all my friends and my husband are going on a vacation I have to skip (after having already bought plane tickets) buy hey- I was the one who decided to go thru this ridiculous (I mean innovative and ultimately worth it) operation…:) that is all the whining I will allow myself right now- I’m off to do leg lifts.
desperate2run 