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.