Knee Update (Another one)

On friday, I went to the doctor for my one week, follow up, post op appointment. He said the knee looks pretty healthy and that he cleaned up the meniscus. He said I could push the recovery hard, if any swelling develops--that means back off.

He said my marathon running days are probably over. Because there's been a change inside the knee, running will be different, and that doing 50-70 miles per week, could have consequences over the next 20 years (knee replacement? who knows). Hey, I was never running that much anyway, 30-40 was my typical week for IM training (obviously why my marathon sucked in my IMs). I wonder if I can get by in 70.3s with only 20-25/week? More quality? That could be worse. I don't know. I'm going to wait a couple of months and get my swimming/cycling back to where it was prior to the surgery on 6/19 (see separate post on pre surgery power #s).

So, I start some physical therapy next week. I can start riding once my knee motion is 105 degrees. The purpose of PT is to get my left heel back to my butt.

In terms of recovery, friday I walked slowly without crutches. Saturday and sunday, I was totally mobile. As I look at my recovery after one week, I can honestly say that once I was post op for 48 hours, I could feel/see marked improvements every 8-10 hours. So, I was only out of commission for about a week. I should be in the pool middle of the 2nd week and on the bike riding flats easy by the 2nd weekend. Not too bad. Not sure when I can run/jog again, but no rush--2009 season is totally blown!

Knee Update

Progression has been good this week. Monday was worst day. Had to hobble on both crutches. Tuesday was a little better. Wednesday and thursday only needed one crutch and by thursday afternoon, I could make it from my desk to the coffee room without any crutches. Made dinner and cleaned up the house on thursday and played with the pooch (all without crutches). Tomorrow, I have my follow up visit with doctor, and I'll hear what the future holds for future long distance running. Races missed due to knee injury this year:

HB Half Marathon in February
Oceanside 70.3
Breathless Agony
Auburn 70.3
Vineman Half


Can I send a doctors note in and get my race fees back?

Knee Surgery

Well, after 3+ months of not being able to run consistently, I went under the knife--actually the scope. Dr. A did the surgery, assisted by Dr. B, our triathlon team's trusty anesthesiologist. I think all went well, but I won't know for a week. I injured the knee somehow in February, stayed off it, got an MRI, saw a couple of doctors, then after no improvement decided to have the procedure. Between February and the surgery date, I ramped up my cycling and swimming and just stayed away from running. Every 5 weeks, I tried a couple of 3-4 mile easy runs, and the knee swelled back up again. Torn meniscus.

So, I got to the outpatient center at 9am on friday, where they prepped me with an IV. The surgery was scheduled for 10:30. Dr. B showed up at 10:30, said he would administer a pre-cursor to the anesthesia. As I was rolled to the OR, I was talking and then boom, nothing-- I was totally out till I started waking up 90 minutes later. Dr. A came by, told me what he did, but I have no recollection of what he said. Just that it was torn more than he saw on the MRI. For the rest of the day friday I was totally out of it.

Saturday rolled around, and I went to the kids' sporting events, cruising around on my crutches. I'm thinking this is no big deal. It doesn't even hurt. Then, I woke up on saturday night about 2:30am, and my knee was screaming. I hadn't taken any painkillers yet, so I took one and went off to la la land. I got up sunday morning and the leg was pretty sore, knee was tight and more or less felt like I was walking around with a cinderblock tied to my knee. Did some more kid stuff on sunday, and it was just uncomfortable to move around. Monday was probably the worst day, sitting in a chair at work, but today, tuesday, its starting to feel a little better.

I got to take off the dressing on sunday night, so here's the link to the video....

And here are some pictures a few days later. Swelling is still pretty major....

I'll find out friday what the physical therapy will be going forward and how much the future holds in terms of running again. Hopefully, I will be back to training for my next IM or Half IM soon.