Re: Dons ACI/TTT update 15 months

[Guest guest]

That sounds great. I'm so glad that you've had such a marked reduction in

your pain and are starting to get back into some of your favorite

activities. Going from a 10 to a 2 is awesome. I don't have quite that

much pain, but people don't get it that it's a constant for me. I tell

people I wake up at a 2 and on a good day I get to a 4, on a bad day or if I

try to *do* anything, I get to an 8 or 9 (I tend to reserve my 10s) but most

days I end up at a 5 or 6.

I'm getting restless for my date. :-)

I may be holding out too much hope, but I want to get to get back to snow

sports... I'm looking at snowboarding instead of skiing, it looks like the

stressors on the knees aren't as high. I also want to get back to belly

dancing and martial arts. The style of martial arts I do is Krav Maga,

which isn't a formal style, so I don't have to do all those fancy forms &

such. It's all natural style kicks & hits (lots of knees & elbows) and I

cried when I had to stop, I was about to belt. And I want to be able to get

back on an elliptical & get the extra weight off.

I hope I'm not being too pie-in-the-sky. I don't want to run a marathon, I

*hate* running. I'm prepared to modify some of my activities, there will be

some groundwork in bellydance I probably will never be able to do again, and

some accommodation necessary in Krav, for example. But I'm just hoping and

praying that I can get back to the things I loved doing and that *used* to

keep me active.

Of course, for me, that's all a year and a half away, easily. More if we

have to dance this dance on my left knee too. I have friends who ask why I

don't just get a knee replacement, because they know people who got back to

all of their activities after their TKR or PKR with only a few months of

rehab and all this rehab seems too much. I can't seem to get them to

understand that though this has a lot more rehab, the KR is hundreds of

times more radical, and we (my OS & I) don't want to go there until

absolutely necessary.

I hope everything keeps going well for you and that you're done with the

surgeries!!

Meg.

On Jan 18, 2008 6:39 AM, panteradon <panteradon@...> wrote:

> I had a long visit with my surgeon yesterday. We went over all the

> film and still pictures of my last surgery and I have posted a few

> pictures in a folder call " ACT/TTT after 15 months " .

>

> Condition of knee:

> The surgeon found extensive overgrowth in at the patch area and did a

> debridement of the area. This has resolved almost 100% of my

> crunching in the knee. Since then, I have progressed to the point of

> being able to go up the stairs with little support from the stair

> rail.

>

> I can walk most places without fear now. Down small inclines, up

> curbs and even navigate yards without much trouble.

>

> I still have some pain at times at the patch area. It is no where

> near like it used to be, but last night while sitting on the couch

> with my legs straight out, the knee began to hurt at the patch area.

> I iced it and felt much better after about 30 minutes. This is a

> small inconvenience for now.

>

> I have little muscle tone in my quads and I believe that is what is

> causing most of my pain at the present time. (Doc thinks so also).

> I hope to have built that up by the end of summer. (about 6-7 months)

>

> Pain meter on a scale of 1-10

> Pain meter before TTT/ACI: 9

> Pain meter Now: 2

>

> What the surgeon did:

> Like I stated before, there was extensive over growth that was

> debrided. There was also a spur and roughness on the patella that

> he debrided.

>

> The surgeon found arthritis at my ACL. He thought that this was a

> little unusual and believe that it will give me trouble down the

> road. He did a procedure called a Notchplasty to make more room for

> the ACL.

>

> The future:

> The doctor is not convinced that I will not need a replacement down

> the road, but is happy with progress so far. He believe that with

> trauma to the overall knee and the arthritis, a full or partial is

> probably in my future. We hope to get 10 years or so out of the work

> that has been done. My personal hope is to never see the inside of

> my knee again.

>

> Time will tell. Until then, I plan to return to as much activity as

> I can. I always hoped to snow ski again, but that hope is fading a

> bit. (My wife would probably kill me anyway) Tennis will not

> happen. But I can play golf and I maybe get a hole in one like Mark

> did.

>

> Sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to get as much out

> there as I could. I could even write a few more pages, but then no

> one would read it.

>

>

>

--

Truth is not determined by a majority vote. -- Doug Gwyn

[Guest guest]

Hey Don,.. this is sounding positive progress (again)..

My eldest son is a tertiary student (Human Movement) and a budding

sports scientist .. he has hit on an idea for me to improve my leg

and core strength through the stomach and hips area .. it is a simple

fitness ball that i now use as a seat for my computer work..!!

By rolling around from side to side while sitting down and doing the

back and leg stretches I have removed all my lower back stiffness by

getting more strength and flexibility through the core region of the

body..!! go figure..!! why didn't the physio or chiro come up with

that suggestion..?? .. i suspect that for a one off $50 instead of

$75 per session that's why..??

I have to say that it hurt a bit for the first week but the results

are amazing as the quads and hammies have been given a good stretch

as well..!! must be something in all this stretching and core

strength business...??

Anyway give it a try .. 65cm ball for up to 6' and a 75cm ball for

over 6' tall people..

It might seem a bit passive for some people but it definetley

works..!!

Mark.

[Guest guest]

Mark,

That is interesting. I have a large ball I used to exercise with, but have

not tried your approach. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Thanks

Don

On 1/19/08, aussie7007 <no_reply > wrote:

>

> Hey Don,.. this is sounding positive progress (again)..

>

> My eldest son is a tertiary student (Human Movement) and a budding

> sports scientist .. he has hit on an idea for me to improve my leg

> and core strength through the stomach and hips area .. it is a simple

> fitness ball that i now use as a seat for my computer work..!!

>

> By rolling around from side to side while sitting down and doing the

> back and leg stretches I have removed all my lower back stiffness by

> getting more strength and flexibility through the core region of the

> body..!! go figure..!! why didn't the physio or chiro come up with

> that suggestion..?? .. i suspect that for a one off $50 instead of

> $75 per session that's why..??

>

> I have to say that it hurt a bit for the first week but the results

> are amazing as the quads and hammies have been given a good stretch

> as well..!! must be something in all this stretching and core

> strength business...??

>

> Anyway give it a try .. 65cm ball for up to 6' and a 75cm ball for

> over 6' tall people..

>

> It might seem a bit passive for some people but it definetley

> works..!!

>

> Mark.

>

>

>