OS Follow-Up #2 -- The Letdown

Man, what a roller coaster day. This morning, I had another PT session. Therapy went well. I performed all of my exercises with minimal difficulty, and exhibited greater control of my quadriceps. Judy was pleased with my overall leg strength. My hamstrings remain tight, but that probably won’t ever change unless I spend one month at a yoga retreat. Critically, I improved my free-standing flexion to 92 degrees, a 12-degree improvement from Thursday. This satisfies my goal for the week, and keeps me slightly ahead of my ROM schedule. At the end of therapy, I discovered that I was placing about 110 pounds of pressure on my right leg, which was just shy of where I’m supposed to be. I then practiced walking with just one crutch on my left side. No issues there. All in all, a promising session filled with progress.

Christina and I celebrated my successful PT by grabbing lunch at the NorthPark Corner Bakery. We arrived about 30 minutes before what we thought would be the lunch crowd rush, yet the place was dead. Actually, the entire mall was dead. Not sure if that’s just a Monday thing. Lunch was uneventful. I was able to rest my leg on the railing next to my chair, and enjoyed a relaxing sandwich with my wife without the kids. The restaurant (and mall) was still empty when we left 45 minutes later. I hope that’s not a sign that the economy is about to take another nosedive.

My momentary high quickly disappeared after my afternoon visit with Turgeon. At this visit, I had hoped that Turgeon would allow me to open the brace 0-30 degrees, at least when sleeping. That’s what we discussed at our last visit. He took two x-rays of my osteotomy. Since I tweaked the osteotomy on Day 2, I haven’t had any pain in the shin. The x-rays revealed the tibia break and the 2 implanted crews are healing just fine. However, Turgeon wants to “see more of the bone” on the tibia before he allows me to open the brace. He acknowledged the lack of pain confirms the bone is healing satisfactory, but emphasized he wants to be overly cautious, again reminding me that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Turgeon reiterated we’re only 4 weeks into the recovery. The first 6-12 weeks are the most important period, and he doesn’t want to risk me shattering the osteotomy and thus ruining the surgery. He did, however, approve the use of one crutch, and told me I could go crutch-less if I felt comfortable.

Unfortunately, I will remain locked in my brace at 0 degrees until my next visit in 16 days, meaning I’ve got another 2 weeks of sleepless nights and dead legs. I’m not gonna lie. The visit was demoralizing. If this were a chick flick, this would be the scene where I grab a spoon and a carton of ice cream, and watch sappy movies under a blanket by myself. Ok, it’s not that bad. But I’m still bummed out. I don’t mind wearing the brace. In fact, I’ll probably wear it longer than necessary as much for the mental comfort as the physical support the brace provides. However, I just want to be able to bend my knee like a normal person again. That’s not asking a lot. Feel free to leave plenty of pick-me-ups in the comments section. I promise to put down the Haagen-Daz to read them.