Postoperative consultation

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I saw my surgeon this week, Tuesday the 9th of March. I was honestly really nervous and I was sure that my bone that I got chiseled off my shin and reattached, hadn’t fused like it should have. Everything looked fine on the X-rays that I had – although you can’t see my Mpfl reconstruction (two anchors and a screw), which is very strange! But you can see my TTO surgery and the bone has fused, thankfully! Below you can see the two X-ray images.

My surgeon told me that the swelling I’m experiencing is unfortunately very normal, it will take a while to go back to normal, which sucks.. The pain in my knee isn’t normal though, it’s mainly in my arthroscopy incision that I’m experiencing a stabbing / burning sensation and he said to give it time, that I’m still healing and it could be the healing that’s making it so painful, or scar tissue. It can also be nerve damage, he wouldn’t rule that out, but only time will tell.

I won’t need my knee drained from fluids, I was really worried about that, because it was / is extremely swollen! (Picture below shows just how swollen!) No matter how much I elevate, ice and rest it my right knee / leg is just crazy swollen, it’s frustrating and painful. The swelling prevents me from bending my knee correctly and also walking normally. I don’t walk, I limp, and it’s honestly starting to really hurt my hip.

My surgeon told me that it’s important to tape my scars up, that way my skin won’t pull my incisions and they won’t get wider, but stay thin and small. So I’m taping them up like crazy, hoping it will make a difference!

I’ve been in a lot of pain this past week. My surgeon prodded my leg and knee to death and it’s just really sore right now, even more than usual, – which is a lot. I’ve been resting a lot, trying not to walk much and honestly it’s been really boring and mind numbing. My surgeon told me not to take any ibuprofen, because it slows down the healing process, so I’m only on paracetamol – which really doesn’t take any of the pain. But hopefully it’ll get better, most important thing is, that my tibia is fully fused and repaired. I’ll be gentle with my leg this following week and hope for the best.

Stay safe out there guys, and thank you for following my journey! 🤍

Hospital appointment

Life is messy, right now it feels messier than it normally is. Tuesday the 17th of Nov (yesterday), I had an appointment at Aleris Hamlet in Søborg. It’s a private hospital located in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The orthopedic surgeon I had an appointment with, had to examine my knee that I dislocated a little over a month ago. Denmark got this 30 day rule, to make sure the patients are seen to and helped in the health system before the 30th day. If that cannot be done, you are as a danish citizen in your right to go to a private hospital, on the country’s dime so to say. I really like that we get this sort of treatment, it’s important to have that kind of safety net to rely on. I’m very fortunate and I know that.

The appointment went as I had feared really, I got told that my kneecap is very loose, it’s so loose that I can dislocate it up to a 40 degree angle, which means that I need surgery. I honestly knew that I would need surgery deep down, but it still got to me and it still messed up all my plans for the future, which we will have to postpone until I have had my surgery and have recovered.

I don’t know which type of knee surgery I need yet, there’s a few to choose from, and they need me to get an MRI-scan / Magnetic Resonance Imaging, I got warned that there’s a waiting list, the max amount of time is two weeks though, so I’ll manage I hope..

The orthopedic surgeon told me, that it was highly possible that I would need a bone realignment – also called a Fulkerson Procedure. I’ve read up on the procedure and there’s several different types. But this procedure is by far the most complicated and the one with the longest rehabilitation period, which really scares me shitless to be honest. It’s a messy procedure and the bone needs a long time to heal. The knee can get very stiff and the tendons surrounding the knee could also tighten due to no movement in a long period of time, which will requires a lot of physiotherapy.

I know if I won’t get it fixed, it will lead to early onset arthritis, due to being dislocated again and again. It’s my second time to dislocate my kneecap, because it’s the second time, I need an operation to stabilize my kneecap in the future, but the MRI-scan will show which type I will need.

Walking out of the surgeons office, I felt like crying. I’m anxious to be honest, knees are so fragile and I don’t want to even think about the complications such a surgery have, if something were to go badly.

I’m in a lot of pain right now, I’m currently lying in bed, trying to get some rest, but I can’t seem to. At the hospital, the surgeon needed to move my kneecap whilst I had it bent, so he could determine how loose it was and in which angle it could possibly dislocate and that hurt… It still hurts. I know It’s stupid to get so worked up about an operation, but in all honesty, I’ve never had an operation before and I hate that I need one now. Especially on my knee, I can hardly stand my fiancé even trying to touch my knees due to having my right kneecap dislocate twice.. So the thought of an operation isn’t fun, to put it mildly.

The pain from dislocating the kneecap alone is.. Indescribable! The first time it happened, I ended up going into myself, in a type of shock. The only thing I really remember is being in so much pain that my lips felt numb. After that you start feeling fragile in a whole new type of way! It’s crazy..

So the news I got yesterday weren’t nice, it was what I had expected, but it still made me upset. I hope that I won’t need to wait for several months for the surgery, that would really mess me up, the anguish of waiting a long time.. But I’ll take it one day at a time, now I need the MRI and then the orthopedic surgeon will decide which type of surgery is needed.

I hope you guys are staying safe during this COVID19 pandemic and are healthy and keeping your spirits up. It gets stressful during times like these, one bad thing rarely happens without several other bad things following suit.. It’s said it always comes in threes, but I have personally long surpassed three, I’m on my second hand, and I’m still counting.. The year isn’t over yet! Yep, 2020 haven’t been the amazing year that I had hoped for, there’s been so much pain, loss and worry, but behind every cloud, there’s the sun. Hopefully we all get to feel some sunshine and happiness soon.

I’ll see you online, take care x