**WARNING!!! YOU ARE ABOUT TO EMBARK ON A JOURNEY THAT IS NOT ONLY GROSS TO READ BUT HAS GRAPHIC PICTURES TO BOOT. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**
I guess I should start out with a Facebook Message Patrick posted on my wall. It read:
"For those who don't know, Rachael is having surgery to make her less sexy. Her sexiness level was getting too high and all the hoots and hollers were getting annoying. Frankly, it just wasn't fair to you other women out there either, knowing that no matter how good you looked, Rachael looked better."
It is true...I had surgery, but unfortunately it wasn't to become less sexy, but to fix a problem I've been battling since I was a teenager. 20 years to be exact. A very common problem in teenaged girls with Patella Dislocation. Because the outer side of the quad muscle develops more rapidly than the inside part of the quad, it can pull your knee cap out of place with any slight abnormal movement. My parents took me to the doctor for this condition, but for whatever reason, it was never fully taken care of. Because it wasn't really painful (just made me panic), I lived with it...I lived with it, until it stopped popping back into place on its own.
I knew that I was going to need surgery. How else would they fix a 20 year old problem. After a MRI and X-Rays (which both showed a partial dislocation), the doctor sure enough told me that surgery was my best option at this point. He basically said that the physical therapy and knee brace ship had sailed long ago. Basically your knee cap sits in a groove of connected bones. This groove allows for the knee cap to move up and down with your tendons as you bend your knee. The doctor told me that I have an abnormally shallow groove, which could possibly be part of the reason my knee cap dislocated so frequently. I guess after the surgery was over, he told Patrick that I really don't have a groove at all. It's basically flat and unfortunately that is something that cannot be fixed because it's where all the cartilage is and if you mess with that, then you will for sure develop arthritis...
Unfortunately shortly after knee surgery was scheduled, I started to experience some crazy pain in my other knee. This knee actually hurt and I was really concerned about healing from the surgery on it. So I headed back to the doctor who got to hear the disgusting crinkling sound that my knee made every time I bent it. She was concerned that I had torn a tendon so she sent me off to get another MRI and sure enough, I had some tearing of my tendon. Normally they would put a knee immobilizer on, but since I was having surgery, that was not an option. We let the surgeon make the final call on whether or not to continue with the surgery, and his words were "You're going to need one good knee to heal on, so you better fix one so you can heal the other." And so, surgery was back on.
On Wednesday, Oct 20th, I got up and got the kids ready for school, kissed them good-bye and Patrick and I headed over to Sutter Surgery Center (while my mom watched Carly). The check in was fast and everything seemed to progress rather quickly.
I wasn't really nervous at all. In fact, I really enjoyed reading my book while waiting my turn to go under the knife:
I was all smiles and remembered that it was going to be awhile before I could bend my knee the way it was in this picture:
All of sudden, the anesthesiologist, and nurse, were there asking me questions and it was time to head to the surgery room. The anesthesiologist gave me 30 milligrams of something (can't remember exactly) but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked up and said "Did you guys give me something because I feel really weird." The doctor was quite shocked that whatever he gave me affected me the way it did and made a comment to the nurse that he would need to watch that during surgery. I started to feel better and then we walked to the room (making a pit stop on the way)...I haven't walked since...
It was rather interesting...I remember the table being so small and thinking that I could totally fall off of it and then a lady who was dressed from head to toe in scrubs...where I could only see her eyes, said to me "You look really familiar. Do your kids go to Pershing?" I said yes and that I wish I could say that she looked familiar too, but all I could see was her eyes. Sure enough her son and Malia are in the same class at school and her older daughter was in the same class as Raya last year...small world.
The last thing I remember after I climbed up on the table was one of the doctors asking me if they could rock out to Lady Gaga...I think I laughed...I don't remember for sure because I was gone...
I woke up looking like this:
(thank goodness Patrick was able to capture these moments right? I think there is video too...better hunt that down and destroy it...hehe)
Yes, I was crying...I remember saying that I didn't know why I was crying because I wasn't a cryer...and Patrick thought that I was just in sooo much pain that I couldn't help myself. I guess it's an effect of the anesthesia. I actually remember crying uncontrollably when Ethan was born and didn't understand, so this made sense. I don't think I opened my eyes once the whole time I was in recovery. I remember a nurse coming into the room and telling me to breath. I guess I was holding my breath. I remember getting into the car (that was a nightmare) and I remember trying to use crutches to get into the house (another nightmare). Then, the next four days are really a blur. The pain medication they gave me literally knocked me out and if I was awake, it was because I had to use the restroom (which I held for as long as I could). The medication made me super dizzy. I wanted to get off those meds ASAP! And I did. About a week later, I was solely on regular Tylenol and Ibuprofen. The only view I had for that first week was basically this:
I had an appointment with the nurse to change my bandages 1 week post surgery. I was getting really claustrophobic (I mean, who wouldn't? Look at that wrapping job!). It was the first time I got to see what my knee looked like. It was rather gross:
(The doctors initials are still on my leg...he signs his work...like every artist, I guess ;)
I was so hoping I would get waterproof bandages so that I could at least take a "real" shower, but I had no such luck. Thank goodness for awesome neighbors who would not only wash and dry my hair for me, but pick me up and help me into her car even though she probably saw my butt crack and feed me icecream when we were done:
Honestly, this past week (almost 2 weeks post surgery), I've been getting rather ancy. I really just want to walk. Crutches are lame for more than one reason. First of all, they hurt! They hurt my underarms, they hurt my forearms, and they stink like rubber... They also prevent me from doing anything with my hands while I'm walking. I actually braved washing my sheets and putting them on my bed...it took me over 30 minutes just to put the fitted sheet on. I've decided that I won't do that again, until I can actually walk. If I want to eat and no one is around, I have to eat standing up, because I cannot carry anything while I'm walking...most of the time I just don't eat, or I wait until Patrick gets home from work. And the last lame thing is, I can't drive...that doesn't have too much to do with crutches, but I cannot bend my knee enough to get myself into the car. It's kind of sucking...I'm really ready to be done.
So my ace bandage has been rather itchy these days. I've taken it off a few times to air it out or show my battle wounds to those who have strong stomachs. I decided to take a side by side picture tonight after showing my knee to my little brother. Here it is:
and a closeup of the 8 staples in my leg (I actually have 15 staples, this is just the larger of the wounds):
I've been worried about the swelling. I didn't expect it to go down over night, but you would think after 2 weeks, swelling would be minimal. Guess not, my knee is the size of a cantaloupe, but I have noticed that the swelling has come down a bit, so I'm hopeful! I had to get fitted for a knee brace the other day. The guy fitted it on my right knee and then went up a size due to the swelling...I think it's going to hurt when I have to put that on.
My next appointment is in 3 days. I will be getting staples removed and hopefully I will be told that I can actually shower normally, and I'm hoping that my knee will bend enough for me to be able to drive and the biggest thing I am hoping for, is that I will be able to walk without the aid or minimal aid of crutches...Please pray for my sanity...for it is almost gone. Thank you...
I guess I should start out with a Facebook Message Patrick posted on my wall. It read:
"For those who don't know, Rachael is having surgery to make her less sexy. Her sexiness level was getting too high and all the hoots and hollers were getting annoying. Frankly, it just wasn't fair to you other women out there either, knowing that no matter how good you looked, Rachael looked better."
It is true...I had surgery, but unfortunately it wasn't to become less sexy, but to fix a problem I've been battling since I was a teenager. 20 years to be exact. A very common problem in teenaged girls with Patella Dislocation. Because the outer side of the quad muscle develops more rapidly than the inside part of the quad, it can pull your knee cap out of place with any slight abnormal movement. My parents took me to the doctor for this condition, but for whatever reason, it was never fully taken care of. Because it wasn't really painful (just made me panic), I lived with it...I lived with it, until it stopped popping back into place on its own.
I knew that I was going to need surgery. How else would they fix a 20 year old problem. After a MRI and X-Rays (which both showed a partial dislocation), the doctor sure enough told me that surgery was my best option at this point. He basically said that the physical therapy and knee brace ship had sailed long ago. Basically your knee cap sits in a groove of connected bones. This groove allows for the knee cap to move up and down with your tendons as you bend your knee. The doctor told me that I have an abnormally shallow groove, which could possibly be part of the reason my knee cap dislocated so frequently. I guess after the surgery was over, he told Patrick that I really don't have a groove at all. It's basically flat and unfortunately that is something that cannot be fixed because it's where all the cartilage is and if you mess with that, then you will for sure develop arthritis...
Unfortunately shortly after knee surgery was scheduled, I started to experience some crazy pain in my other knee. This knee actually hurt and I was really concerned about healing from the surgery on it. So I headed back to the doctor who got to hear the disgusting crinkling sound that my knee made every time I bent it. She was concerned that I had torn a tendon so she sent me off to get another MRI and sure enough, I had some tearing of my tendon. Normally they would put a knee immobilizer on, but since I was having surgery, that was not an option. We let the surgeon make the final call on whether or not to continue with the surgery, and his words were "You're going to need one good knee to heal on, so you better fix one so you can heal the other." And so, surgery was back on.
On Wednesday, Oct 20th, I got up and got the kids ready for school, kissed them good-bye and Patrick and I headed over to Sutter Surgery Center (while my mom watched Carly). The check in was fast and everything seemed to progress rather quickly.
I wasn't really nervous at all. In fact, I really enjoyed reading my book while waiting my turn to go under the knife:
I was all smiles and remembered that it was going to be awhile before I could bend my knee the way it was in this picture:
All of sudden, the anesthesiologist, and nurse, were there asking me questions and it was time to head to the surgery room. The anesthesiologist gave me 30 milligrams of something (can't remember exactly) but it hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked up and said "Did you guys give me something because I feel really weird." The doctor was quite shocked that whatever he gave me affected me the way it did and made a comment to the nurse that he would need to watch that during surgery. I started to feel better and then we walked to the room (making a pit stop on the way)...I haven't walked since...
It was rather interesting...I remember the table being so small and thinking that I could totally fall off of it and then a lady who was dressed from head to toe in scrubs...where I could only see her eyes, said to me "You look really familiar. Do your kids go to Pershing?" I said yes and that I wish I could say that she looked familiar too, but all I could see was her eyes. Sure enough her son and Malia are in the same class at school and her older daughter was in the same class as Raya last year...small world.
The last thing I remember after I climbed up on the table was one of the doctors asking me if they could rock out to Lady Gaga...I think I laughed...I don't remember for sure because I was gone...
I woke up looking like this:
(thank goodness Patrick was able to capture these moments right? I think there is video too...better hunt that down and destroy it...hehe)
Yes, I was crying...I remember saying that I didn't know why I was crying because I wasn't a cryer...and Patrick thought that I was just in sooo much pain that I couldn't help myself. I guess it's an effect of the anesthesia. I actually remember crying uncontrollably when Ethan was born and didn't understand, so this made sense. I don't think I opened my eyes once the whole time I was in recovery. I remember a nurse coming into the room and telling me to breath. I guess I was holding my breath. I remember getting into the car (that was a nightmare) and I remember trying to use crutches to get into the house (another nightmare). Then, the next four days are really a blur. The pain medication they gave me literally knocked me out and if I was awake, it was because I had to use the restroom (which I held for as long as I could). The medication made me super dizzy. I wanted to get off those meds ASAP! And I did. About a week later, I was solely on regular Tylenol and Ibuprofen. The only view I had for that first week was basically this:
I had an appointment with the nurse to change my bandages 1 week post surgery. I was getting really claustrophobic (I mean, who wouldn't? Look at that wrapping job!). It was the first time I got to see what my knee looked like. It was rather gross:
(The doctors initials are still on my leg...he signs his work...like every artist, I guess ;)
I was so hoping I would get waterproof bandages so that I could at least take a "real" shower, but I had no such luck. Thank goodness for awesome neighbors who would not only wash and dry my hair for me, but pick me up and help me into her car even though she probably saw my butt crack and feed me icecream when we were done:
Honestly, this past week (almost 2 weeks post surgery), I've been getting rather ancy. I really just want to walk. Crutches are lame for more than one reason. First of all, they hurt! They hurt my underarms, they hurt my forearms, and they stink like rubber... They also prevent me from doing anything with my hands while I'm walking. I actually braved washing my sheets and putting them on my bed...it took me over 30 minutes just to put the fitted sheet on. I've decided that I won't do that again, until I can actually walk. If I want to eat and no one is around, I have to eat standing up, because I cannot carry anything while I'm walking...most of the time I just don't eat, or I wait until Patrick gets home from work. And the last lame thing is, I can't drive...that doesn't have too much to do with crutches, but I cannot bend my knee enough to get myself into the car. It's kind of sucking...I'm really ready to be done.
So my ace bandage has been rather itchy these days. I've taken it off a few times to air it out or show my battle wounds to those who have strong stomachs. I decided to take a side by side picture tonight after showing my knee to my little brother. Here it is:
and a closeup of the 8 staples in my leg (I actually have 15 staples, this is just the larger of the wounds):
I've been worried about the swelling. I didn't expect it to go down over night, but you would think after 2 weeks, swelling would be minimal. Guess not, my knee is the size of a cantaloupe, but I have noticed that the swelling has come down a bit, so I'm hopeful! I had to get fitted for a knee brace the other day. The guy fitted it on my right knee and then went up a size due to the swelling...I think it's going to hurt when I have to put that on.
My next appointment is in 3 days. I will be getting staples removed and hopefully I will be told that I can actually shower normally, and I'm hoping that my knee will bend enough for me to be able to drive and the biggest thing I am hoping for, is that I will be able to walk without the aid or minimal aid of crutches...Please pray for my sanity...for it is almost gone. Thank you...
I'm sorry, and I am definitely praying for you! I know that you are going crazy, but hang in there a little longer. Hopefully that knee will start bending just a little more each day and before you know it you'll be able to walk sans crutches!
ReplyDeleteJust curious-- did your doctor ask permission to put his initials on your leg? That incision may be his work, but its your body, and I think it was really inappropriate for him to do that unless you told him it was okay first.