Today is the one year anniversary...

[Tazicket]

of my knee surgery!!! It was fairly major (they had to move part of a bone and a tendon to a new place and put in a great big screw), and I spent 6 weeks with it immobilized. I was in therapy from September until January, worked part time at my job, and took 15 hours of classes at school.

I finished the semester with really good grades and was able to make a difference at my school. They did not have any programs in place to help people who were temporarily disabled (all of the funding for the disability resource center has to be used for permanently disabled people), so all they could have done was send someone to class to take notes for me. Never mind the fact that I could not get to class by myself because I was carrying a huge load of books and was in a wheelchair on our hilly campus. So, I wrote some letters and met with the VP of student services and he organized a volunteer program to help students like me. They even wrote about in the school paper! So...thanks to him and the fabulous volunteers that helped me, I'll be graduating a week from today instead of a year from today.

Just wanted to share.

 

[Mermaid02]

YEA!

 

[Tazicket]

Oh! I forgot to mention- now my knee bends most of the way and I can walk on the beach! Which is where DH and I are going tonight to celebrate the anniversary....I'm sure the dinner will be better than last year, too. Hospital food and half of a McDonald's hamburger my family snuck in to me.

 

[Pop Daddy]

hey

 

[phorsenuf]

of my knee surgery!!! It was fairly major (they had to move part of a bone and a tendon to a new place and put in a great big screw), and I spent 6 weeks with it immobilized. I was in therapy from September until January, worked part time at my job, and took 15 hours of classes at school.

Do you mind if I ask you why you had this surgery? It sounds like the one my sons Dr. told us about if this last surgery doesn't work. on my. He just had a lateral release done to align the kneecap. There is a 60% chance it will work.
If it doesn't and it still bothers him then there is some major operation they can do. It sounded like what you had done.

 

[Tazicket]

What I had done is called a patellar reallignment. Basically, the bone "bum" (tibial tuberosity) that my patellar tendon attatches to was too far to the side. Add to that the fact that I dislocated that kneecap in high school and then proceeded to march a half time show on it with the band, and it was pretty screwed up. It got "better" (read: didn't hurt anymore) until a couple of years ago when I started exercising and taking the stairs everywhere to lose weight. Then it started cracking and popping and giving out.

Did Disney in a wheelchair and exercises in hopes it would improve, but it kept getting worse. Doc said it was b/c the quad muscle was attatched in the wrong place, so it wasn't getting worked properly. He did the surgery on it and slid the tibial tuberosity over about half an inch and stuck in said screw. I don't do well with pain anyway, but it was awful. Pain meds are a good thing!!

What kinds of problems has your son been having?

 

[slo]

Congrats on your 1 year anniversary!!!

 

[phorsenuf]

What I had done is called a patellar reallignment. Basically, the bone "bum" (tibial tuberosity) that my patellar tendon attatches to was too far to the side. Add to that the fact that I dislocated that kneecap in high school and then proceeded to march a half time show on it with the band, and it was pretty screwed up. It got "better" (read: didn't hurt anymore) until a couple of years ago when I started exercising and taking the stairs everywhere to lose weight. Then it started cracking and popping and giving out.

Did Disney in a wheelchair and exercises in hopes it would improve, but it kept getting worse. Doc said it was b/c the quad muscle was attatched in the wrong place, so it wasn't getting worked properly. He did the surgery on it and slid the tibial tuberosity over about half an inch and stuck in said screw. I don't do well with pain anyway, but it was awful. Pain meds are a good thing!!

What kinds of problems has your son been having?

Sounds like the same thing. Both his kneecaps are out of place. They are over to the side so they don't fit in that groove at the top of the tibia.
With the lateral release they went in and actually cut the tendon on the side of the kneecap that was pulling it out of place. They hope when it heals it will create a "long stitch" and then the kneecap will stay in place. If not then that tendon will just pull it back over out of place. That's when we would talk about the other surgery.

He's had this problem for years and they dismissed it as osgood schlotter but then after a couple of years of it getting worse (instead of better) we found out this other problem. It effects both knees.

He cannot kneel, way too painful. Got to the point where going up and down stairs were very painful as well as sitting with his knees bent. School was tough on him.

Regardless of the pain though he runs track (refuses to give it up no matter how much it hurts) and he's in the marching band too. He's the kind of kid that nothing gets in the way of what he wants to do. He just puts up with the pain as much as he can.

 

[Golf4food]

Woo hoo! Thank God!

Has it been a year already? Feels like 5 or 6! Hahah. I had to learn to cook and everything!

I'm very proud of you for perservering through all the hard times and frustrating moments.

Now... go get a high paying job so I can quit working and play golf and write music all day.

 

[Tazicket]

Sounds like the same thing. Both his kneecaps are out of place. They are over to the side so they don't fit in that groove at the top of the tibia...
He cannot kneel, way too painful. Got to the point where going up and down stairs were very painful as well as sitting with his knees bent. School was tough on him.

This sounds so familiar! I still have a little trouble kneeling, but I am MUCH better than I was. I have just recently gotten to the point where I can walk up stairs again. Best wishes for your son in hopes that he won't have to have the reallignment.