Road To Recovery: Mile 2 or "This Wasn't In The Brochure"

Week two has been...interesting. So I was right about the pain coming two days post microfracture surgery. On Wednesday, after the hardcore local anesthetic they gave me for the surgery wore off, ol' mr. painy started a' creepin ' in. I'm supposed to do some exercises 4 times a day. Leg lifts, quad stretches and my personal favorite KNEE BENDS!!! Because nothing feels better after knee surgery than trying to bend it as far as you can ten times in a row! So yeah, that hurts. Not to mention the fact that because I started my current job a mere 2 1/2 months ago, I don't get sick days. So it was back to work on Wednesday as well!

After doing a lot of digging on the web, it sounds like it's relatively normal to have this amount of pain and stiffness only a week out of surgery. Especially since the legion was on the medial femoral condoyle. In other words, on a weight bearing area. My gripe is that my doctor didn't really mentally prepare me for the struggle I have ahead of me. He made it sound like a pretty routine procedure. In, out and back to work. No problem! It has definitely not been that easy, and I know this is only the first mile on the road to recovery. But I suppose that regardless of what he told me, I would have chosen to do this anyway, and the result would be the same. And ultimately, all I really care about is whether or not the surgery is a success or not. Dr. Mandelbaum has a stellar reputation as a preeminent orthopedist, and is the team doctor for the U.S. Soccer Team and Pepperdine as well. I think that might explain why there's a sign in his waiting room that says wait times may be 1 1/2 to 2 hours, and everyone (including me) is willing to put up with that anyway!

My best friend this past week has been the Game Ready "Control Unit" ice machine I mentioned in my last post. It's so much easier than trading out ice packs and trying to compress with straps and bands and such. It really provided a lot of soothing icy comfort when the knee was at it's worst. Unfortunately, it costs $30 a day to rent! And insurance covers $0 of that! So alas, Mr. Icey had to go back home yesterday, and my other friend Mr. Peas will take over from here.

Needless to say, working in my current state has sucked pretty royally. I work in a shared space, so it's hard to keep my leg elevated and iced. Luckily my girlfriend got me a little plastic stool so I can at least elevate it somewhat, and use the ol' peas to ice. So at least it's somewhat workable so far. She has been amazing throughout his process. I really can't imagine going through this without her. My mom has been a great help as well. Having that support is priceless.

Another part of my rehab is to ride a stationary bike for 10 minutes a day, and gradually increase my time. I didn't have a stationary bike or a trainer, but luckily I was able to get one for really cheap from a fellow PAA member. It's an old Lemond wind indoor trainer, and so far it works just fine, especially since I'm not putting any resistance on the rear wheel at all.

So with a deep sense of irony, I've been climbing on to my road bike and groaning and sweating through 10 minutes of hell for the last few days. I must say that it has been getting a little better each time. But it still always hurts in the beginning. Oh well, at least I'm back on my bike (sort of)!