Return From Vicodinland

Here is another update on the knee. As I said before, here and here, I made a concerted attempt o add new dimensions of movement to my left knee. It is fair to say that this particular joint was never designed, nor intended, to do anything but move front to back. HAH! I guess I fooled the creator. A little bit of creative, reckless driving and I fixed that. I turned my knee into a swivel all by myself. If it was not for that meddling doctor, I would still have all that neat extra range of motion.

All kidding aside, the doc did an excellent job. A little over two and a half months post-surgery and I have very little in the way of pain. I do still have foot-drop and the attendant step-gait, so I walk oddly, but that is going away little by little, and hopefully will be completely gone in time. I do still have numbness on the knee itself, between the incision locations, but that was expected and has lessened, and the medicos say might be upwards of a year or more to go go away, if ever. I do have normal, I think, feeling in the shin and most of my toes. The big toe, and top of my foot are still numb, but that is lessening as well. I still have trouble moving my foot and toes, from the swelling (still!), but as with my other issues, that is on the decline.

All-in-all I am recovering well. I use very little in the way of pain medication now, I can walk relatively normal, up stairs, but not down. I still find ramps and inclines a challenge, but I am no longer forced to use walking aides beyond a brace to help me not trip while walking. Again I thank all of my friends and readers who have wished me a full, and speedy, recovery. I have big news that I hope to get to after tomorrow's "Global Warming Wednesday" post, so make sure you stop by.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND DEATH TO HER ENEMIES

More Emanations from Vicodinland

Surgery today. I am excited and more than a little nervous. Wish me luck. Be sure to vote or you are no better than dirty lib. This might very well be our last chance to take our country back without violence.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND DEATH TO HER ENEMIES

Emanations from Vicodin Land

I have received several emails from you guys asking about my health in response to the post I published informing everyone that I had committed an act of unprecedented, for me anyway, bone-headedness that had severely injured my knee. I suppose I will give in, just this once, to peer pressure popular demand and publish an update. Since my original post, I have made the more than two-hundred mile trip to OHSU for a consultation with, supposedly, the best sports-medicine doc in all of Oregon. According to him, I really messed up this time, and there will be far reaching, probably permanent, consequences. It is likely that I will be crippled in that knee to some greater or lesser extent that remains to be seen, and arthritis is a foregone conclusion. Who knew that go-cart racing was so dangerous? First let me say that for the time being, I am off the crutches and I am now using a cane. (Check out the link, flames make you go faster, proven fact, look it up!) The doctor also released me from the Hell that was the straight-jacket-like brace the emergency room originally inflicted on me and put me into a much more comfortable, articulated brace that can lock for walking or bend for sitting.

Here is the damage I have done to the knee: I have torn the ACL and PCL. This is not new, the other orthopedic doctor told me that. What is new however, is the fact that it is too damaged to be fixed, so it will have to be replaced, so that means a tissue transplant........from a cadaver. (Ominous music here.) In all honesty it does not bother me in the least, but many, especially my female friends, give me comments such as, "eewwww!", "That's gross!" and Blue Wolfess came up with the moniker "Zombie Knee." (BRAAAAAAAAINNNSSSSS!) I tore the MCL off of one side, apparently the recovery for that type of injury is longer but more complete then if I had torn the ligament itself. He thinks that the LCL has a grade 1 tear (ten percent or less), and he thinks that it will heal on it's own, but that he will take a gander while he is in there and take any steps if necessary. Beyond that I have an extruded (herniated) medial meniscus that is torn (probably) that will need to be sewn up and shoved back in. Lastly there is a fracture of the Tibia that no one seems to give a damn about, but has probably healed by now, so that is to the good.

The prognosis is that I will walk again without crutches or a cane, someday, and that I will probably be able to take stairs without a limp, maybe, but that I will likely never regain full range-of-motion. For example, I will never be able to squat on my haunches, sit "Indian Style," and probably not run more than a few hundred feet at a time. Some of this impacts my life more than others, obviously, as I don't sit "Indian Style" very often at my time of life. Others will have great impact. I would like to be able to teach my youngest how to ride her first big-girl bike for example, something that requires running, but that is a few years off yet, so we will see.

The doctor's office and the insurance company had a snafu in their communication, so the office manager told the scheduler to remove me from the surgical schedule until it was cleared up. This would have been at least acceptable, if they had bothered to tell me. Fortunately I had to call for some information and that when I found this part out, which is nice because I would have been awfully put out if I had showed up to an OR of blank stares and comments of, "Well your not on the schedule for today." Regardless I will be having some strong words with the doc's office manager. I am awfully vexed with the her, to say the least.

Other than that, there are good days, and bad. The other day the pressure dropped ahead of a rain storm and I tell you, I thought I was gonna die from the pain. It just throbbed like a angry ball of agony. Other days, nothing unless the brace slips. All in all things are good, my pain is well managed and both the family and myself are well. I was even released back to work about three weeks ago and most days are alright. Even though my surgery has been pushed back, my date is still not too far away, early November, and I am looking forward to the repair job, if not the 2 year recovery time. I will say that I am more than ready to be done with this whole thing, and would give good money to do so, and I am hopeful that I will have a good recovery and regain much of my range-of-motion. I will try to remember to keep you all updated from time to time so that my mailbox does not fill up with, "What is going on with your knee?" emails.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND DEATH TO HER ENEMIES!

On Location In Vicodin Land

I am writing from the soft, fuzzy, pink land of Vicodin. Last Tuesday I was in a freak industrial accident at work involving a go-cart, a wall, and a poorly placed leg. As a result, I have completely destroyed my left knee. Today is the first day that I have felt up to writing, and not had insurance companies, MRI's, doctors visits, etc. to deal with. For those that care, or wish to gloat in the case of the lefties, I tore the Anterior Cruciate, Posterior Cruciate, Lateral Collateral and Medial Collateral ligaments. For anyone that is curious, that is four of the six tendons in the knee torn to various degrees, mostly completely. Additionally I tore the Medial Meniscus, messed up the knee-cap somehow (I can not read the medical mumbo-jumbo), joint effusion (blood in the joint), Marrow Edema (deep bone bruise) and as the cherry on top, a tibia fracture with road rash like you would not believe. Let us not forget the myriad of parti-colored bruises that run from my hip to the sole of my foot. So now my knee functions more like a swivel rather than a hinge, pretty cool huh? I bet you are all jealous. Fortunately the the doctors are pretty good at repairing this sort of injury, and hopefully one surgery will be all that is necessary. Hopefully it will not be too long before I am out of the body shop. Anywho, I will be resuming my writing tomorrow, and most likely it will be prolific as I now have nothing but time. Be well and I will write again tomorrow.

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND DEATH TO HER ENEMIES!