A Good Pop!

I was tremedously thrilled to be "walking" and I immediately set up my bike trainer in my bedroom to start logging miles. I had my first couple of rides on the gym exercise bikes because it was easier to get on and off. For a week, I simply spun with little or no resistance going from 15 minutes up to 30. I started to add resistance as my flexation increased, and the ability to fire my leg muscles came back. However, about day three of "walking" I started to get a searing pain radiating down the front of my knee around to the outside of my ankle. As my I began to bend my knee more, the pain got worse and more consistent. I figured it was "one of those recovery pains" and ignored it for a fee more days. About week middle of week 6, I ditched the crutches entirely. I kept my brace on when walking until exactly 6 weeks. At that point, my knee felt stable enough to walk without out it and I didn't look back.

However, the nerve pain continued, and even got worse. Now every time I bent my knee past 70 degrees the nerve pain would trigger when I straightend the knee out. There were times when the pain was 10 of 10, and I decided I had better email the doc. I emailed Dr. Stone, and he had me come down that day. I didn't mind the drive, I needed relief.

Dr. Stone saw me and told me it was a suture that was rubbing on the nerve. He told me we could go in for a short procedure in the OR to remove the suture (you need a sterile environment), or that the suture would dissolve. I wasn't in a hurry to get back into the ER, so I told him I would just wait until it dissovled. I went next door for an appointment with Trish. It would be the hardest PT appointment of the entire recovery.

The plan was to break through the scar tissue that was rubbing the nerve. The operative words are "break" and "through." Trish warmed up the knee, and then began cranking on it. It was all I could do not to cry. I've been through some injuries, played through pain, but this was repetitive and severe pain. We spent about a half hour cranking the knee, and it left me literally shaking. I couldn't wait to ice it.

I drove home disappointed, and wondering what I had done to myself opting for this surgery. My knee had hurt before, all the time, but I was used to it and the pain wasn't this severe. After two more days at home, I was sitting on the couch watching TV, and got up to go ride my bike on the trainer. As I got up the nerve fired, and I was done. I could not deal with this severe pain every time I got up. I decided at that momment, I would call Dr. Stone on Monday, and schedule an appointment for the surgery. I limped upstairs and to go do my rehab and ride. I started my rehab and pulled my ankle back towards my butt to flex the knee (I was well past 90 at this point). Just then there was an audible pop! It was loud, and I thought I must have really done something bad. but there was no pain. I got up, and the nerve didn't fire. I rode the bike hard for 40 minutes and got off (normally the nerve pain would be severe when I got off), and no pain. I didn't have another nerve "episode" again after that day. My knee was still numb, but the excuruciating pain was gone. If I hadn't been dedicated to my rehab (as Dr. Stone requires) I would have had another surgery, and who knows. My rehab would accelerate from this day forward...and the worst of it was over.