Overwhelmed, in a good way!


Me, this morning, with Dr. Z and Lisa


Well, this was a pleasant surprise! 
I’m discharged from Dr. Z’s care!

I know, right?!
 
Hearing him say it didn’t feel real. 
Typing it doesn’t make it feel real. 
But it’s real!

This morning I went for my 9 month post-op appointment. I couldn’t wait to tell Dr. Z about the 100k bike race. I couldn’t wait to tell him that I can walk 7 miles at once. I couldn’t wait to tell him that most days when I get up in the morning, my knee is not the first thing I feel or notice or think about.

 Once he picked his jaw up off the ground, and hugged me, and congratulated me, and looked at the x-rays, and examined my knee, he told me that I’m doing better than he could’ve ever hoped and that there’s nothing else he needs to do for me. 


What??? 

“Are you sure? I thought we were going to be together for 18 months, at least...”

He’s sure. 
I’ve had no setbacks. 
I’ve had no complications. 
I’ve had consistent forward progress. 
I can do things pain free and swelling free that some people still can’t do at 18 months. 
My knee is stable, I have great mobility and flexibility. 

I am done!

No restrictions except for the things that increase my chances of injuring my grafted ACL or wearing down the transplanted meniscus (skiing, running, rollerblading, jumping)...but those will be restrictions forever, and I knew that. 

I’m going to stop in at 1 year (November) to just say hi and let him know how things are going. He wants me to do a little more at the gym (elliptical and some other machines) and see how I feel. If I run into any problems with pain or swelling I should go see Marty for an evaluation. I can certainly also see Dr. Z if anything crops up. I’m looking out for swelling that doesn’t go away and pain as my measures of when to get evaluated again. He’s hoping I’m good to go for 10+ years based on how successful my recovery was. 

I am so ridiculously and overwhelmingly delighted and I had to share! I gave them both novels cards that I wrote them, thanking them for their incredible skill and knowledge and care. I also gave them each one of the books I made with pictures of Philly. They are both runners and will love the meaning behind it I’m sure. I brought them not knowing it would be my last real visit, but I’m so glad I did!

Comments

  1. Rich LucasJuly 25, 2018 at 12:24 PM

    Nice!!! Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  2. badleftkneeJuly 30, 2018 at 7:55 PM

    Congrats! It doesn't look like any joint space narrowing on that X-ray! Did you have narrowing prior to the procedure? Are you swimming and pushing hard on the bike at this point (curious to see how the knee holds up to this- e..g do you still notice it at all)?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SaraSeptember 5, 2018 at 8:01 PM

      Hi! Yeah, no narrowing. I did have some prior to surgery. I’ve been swimming (some...still trying to convince myself to like it) but biking a lot. I did a 100k bike race last month with hills and crazy rain and had zero pain. I realized this month (10 months post op) that I barely notice my knee. I walk as fast as I can, bike, did the erg today, go up and down stairs, and don’t really give my knee much thought. It’s a pretty incredible difference.

      Delete

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