Road To Recovery: Mile 1

On Monday I underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, including a procedure called "Microfracture." Basically there was a legion or "defect" on the articular cartilage (the cartilage that covers your bones) of my femur. This was caused by my cycling "incident" on the century last year. Basically, the surgery involves poking tiny holes in my femur causing it to release marrow / stem cells / collagen etc. to form a blood clot. This eventually hardens and replaces the damaged cartilage with new stuff. Unfortunately, the new stuff (fibro-cartilage) isn't as good as the stuff I was born with (hyalin cartilage). But, it's better than nothing, and hopefully it will remain in place for a long time.


The big "NO" on my left leg above is to let the surgeon know which knee to fix. And yes, underneath the bandages of my right leg, there is indeed a big "YES" written on it. Kind of hilarious, and yet...I'm glad they put it there. You never can be too sure, can you?

So far, no major pain, although the numbness from the drugs administered yesterday haven't fully worn off. I've got a full bottle of vicodin standing by for when the pain comes. I have a feeling it will tonight.



The contraption above is an "ice machine" that pumps icy cold water and air pressure into a sleeve wrapped around my leg. I'm supposed to use it as much as humanly possible, except when I got to bed. I have to say that it's pretty awesome. A lot more effective than my old friend "bag o' peas." I'll be using him at work though. I don't want to lug the ice beast to work, especially not while confined to the crutches that I must stay on for the next 6 weeks. Those are TONS of fun!

Nervous As Heck

Tomorrow is the big day. Well potentially one of the big days depending on the MRI results. I'm extremely nervous and eager to hear the results. Needless to day, a lot hinges on this (no pun intended). These are the times when I ask God or "The Fates" or The Universe or who or whatever might be listening to please hook me up with a win. Kind of hippocritical considering I'm not currently a member of any religious club. What can I say, it never hurts to try.

So sending up, or out, or around lots of positive vibies and if you're reading this, please do the same. Thanks.

MRI'D

So I finally got an MRI last week. After all these months (almost a year actually) of trial and pretty much all error, hopefully I'll actually be able to literally get a picture of what's going on with my knee.

The visit with Dr.. Mandelbaum went much as expected. A mountain of paperwork, waiting followed by a quick series of questions from his assistant, followed by an extremely quick round of questions and examination by the doc himself. I didn't anticipate anything more than that. As the doc said, It's kind of pointless to speculate until we get an MRI.

Luckily I was able to come back the same evening for the MRI. They told me I could bring an iPod and they could play it through the speakers while get scanned. So I went home and made an MRI playlist with some classical / country / post-rock favorites. I sat there for about a half hour while the machine made a lot of weird clicking and whirring noises to go along with my self-made soundtrack.

I go back to see Dr. Mandelbaum on Tuesday and hopefully we'll have some results that will actually point me towards finally healing. This is going to be such a long week. Once again, I'm desperately wishing I had a Fast Forward button for life. If the MRI shows us nothing, I will be beyond dissapointed. That will mean that I'm in the exact same place I've always been. Guessing. More physical therapy. More mixed and inconclusive results. No thanks, I'll pass.