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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Lookin' Good!

I had x-rays and a knee exam at the University of Minnesota today. The waiting room was full of people in various stages of decrepitude. My condition put me somewhere in the middle: quite mobile, healthy-looking, not too old and making an effort to be livelier than I felt.

The knee actually felt somewhat better this morning. The x-rays were fascinating to look at, with all the neatly fitting pieces of plastic and metal. All perfectly aligned and healing beautifully. I thought Dr. Arendt and the resident, Dr. Annemarie Geissler (sp?) were going to clap their hands admiringly as they studied the pictures. The knee exam involved a lot of manipulation and some pain, especially when Dr. G. touched the sensitive area on the inside of the knee where the "klunk" seemed to derail my recovery.

The injury that I had feared is non-existent. The "klunk" was probably a movement of the kneecap, a little painful as it repositioned itself. It is normal for the inside of the knee to be sore -- the muscle under the skin is the site of the internal incision and it will be awhile before it heals and is painfree. It's also possible that the MCL (medial collateral ligament -- which I had thought was long gone as a result of injury) was strained, causing pain.

This was our opportunity to get the ligament issue straight: the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is always sacrificed in a knee replacement (mine was long gone). The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) may or may not remain, depending on the surgeon's judgement. Mine is still intact, as I had though I heard right after the surgery. The lateral collateral ligament, on the outside of the knee, remains intact.

Verdict: great mobility and healing after only 19 days. Prognosis: full recovery. Next appointment is not until April 21. Bob reminded me that the Corvette will be home by then. I wonder if I'll be able to get into it? I hope so! My goal is to be back on my bike sometime in April, after the snow melts ...

No more coumadin. Glad that I can now use naproxen and ibuprofen, as well as acetominophen. I have pramipexole at bedtime for muscle spasms, which tend to bother me in the evening. Looking forward to good night's sleep tonight.

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