It has been exactly a month since my surgery, and I am finally seeing the beginning of the end!

Week 1 was definitely the roughest week (obviously), and weeks 2 and 3 were still slow improvement. My appetite gradually improved and I was back to eating a normal diet by the end of week 2. I was also showering twice a week and I did not need anyone to lift me to go up the stairs. I just had to climb the stairs one by one.

Week 2

School: On Day 10, I went back to school. Surprisingly I didn’t miss any school days because I got my surgery over Spring Break. I was not used to so many kids running around. I was also hit with a ton of schoolwork, combined with all the stuff I needed to make up (I thought I was going to make up most of my work over Spring Break but I had no energy to).

I had to elevate my leg in every class, which was annoying because that position really aggravated my back. It was also hard to concentrate during classes due to the pain that I still felt and the awkward seated position I was in. Also, my school is pretty large walk for an able-bodied person, but it feels 10x bigger for a person hobbling around on crutches. Even though I left five minutes early to go to my next class, sometimes I left my previous class a little too late. Kids really don’t pay attention at all–they run right into you, they flat tire you, they don’t hold doors for you. Going to school with an injury sucks! At least my friends helped me carry my backpack to each class.

Physical Therapy: Day 10 was also the first day of physical therapy. Or should I say first day back, because I had already done a ton of PT sessions before. Here is the list of things I had to do:

1. Quad sets: I had a sensor taped to my quad with a monitor. I had to contract my quad and press down on the towel that was beneath my knee to make the monitor beep. (20x)
2. Hamstring sets: I had to hook my foot on the edge of the table, bend my knee slightly and contract my hamstring (if that even makes sense) (20x)
3. Heel slides: Sliding my leg up with the help of a leash and bending it to whatever degree was comfortable. (10x)
4. Leg raises (with brace): These were the ABSOLUTE WORST. At first when I tried I couldn’t do it–my muscle memory was gone. Then after a few tries with lots of concentration I finally did it. There was a sharp pain in the inside of my knee as I lifted it up and brought it down. What seemed like such a simple task was actually took a lot of mental and physical focus. My leg was shaking the whole time. (10x)
5. Icing and electric stimulation: This electric stimulation was not used to get my quads to contract. It was just used to ease the stiffness and pain.

My first PT session was definitely the hardest. I do these exercises once every day at home and go to PT twice a week. By the second week of PT I did not have to use the leash for the heel slides. I was also doing leg raises without a brace.

(Quad set bio feedback machine)^

Pain at Orchestra: On Day 12 I went back to orchestra. Orchestra rehearsals are once a week for three hours, so you can imagine how that went. I could not really elevate my leg so I was stuck in a bent position for the majority of the three hours. That night I felt the aftermath–I experienced the worst pain since Week 1, the same achy, sharp feeling where the MPFL was replaced. I pushed myself too hard and I realized I still had to elevate and ice my knee as much as I could.

Meds?? From reading lots of experiences online I noticed that people still took a lot of drugs even after week 1. Like I said in the previous post, I was off of Percocet by Day 2 and down to Tylenol as needed. By Week 2 I was completely drug-free except for that one orchestra incident. After that I never took anything else for pain medication.

CPM Machine: I absolutely hated the CPM machine. It’s super boring, it is very difficult to do homework while using it, and it makes my butt go numb. But it helped a lot with my bending. I was at a comfortable 70-75 degrees on Week 2. I started to slack off but after what happened at orchestra I began to use it as much as I could again. Between school, after school activities, and a bunch of other things, I found it hard to squeeze in time for the CPM. But don’t slack off on it–it does its job quite well!

Weeks 3 and 4

Week 3 was sort of an in-between stage from Weeks 2 and 4. Week 4 is when my progress started to kick off.

Towards the end of Week 3 and during Week 4 I began to get my independence back. I started to brush my teeth myself, go to the bathroom myself, get out of bed myself, and comfortably climb stairs myself. Never have I felt so accomplished!

I also started elevating less. Don’t get me wrong, though–I still elevated whenever I needed to, and I still iced once every three hours. It was just a lot more comfortable when I was sitting like a normal person.

ITCHING: During this time, my scars started to develop the scarring tissue and the area around my incisions started to itch. A lot. There would be times when I would be subconsciously itching my knee and without realizing it, I would scratch right through my Ace bandage. Tiny bumps began to form around my incisions. Also, my incisions started to drain a lot more. In the beginning of Week 4, the gauze on my knee would be dotted with yellow. By the middle of the week there were streaks of yellow. My parents and I were alarmed by this–with the itchiness and the drainage, we thought my incisions were infected.

Turns out the incisions weren’t infected, though! I was just sensitive to the medical glue my surgeon had used to close the incisions as well as the adhesives and the gauze. The drainage was just normal bodily fluid. I guess I just drain more than normal people do because when I posted my symptoms on the MPFL Facebook Page, people told me they did not experience this. Even though forums like the MPFL Facebook Page are helpful in terms of communicating with people that understand your situation, keep in mind that your recovery will still be different from everyone elses.

I think here is a good place to show my scar progression:

 

I also traded my big fat post operative brace for a smaller and spiffier brace that resembled a spider web. Dr. Strauss likes to call it the “Spiderman Brace”! Also, I by this time I weight bearing completely and I did not need my crutches anymore–I just use one crutch for school.

Also, I graduated from my CPM Machine at the end of Week 4! Yippee!

That is basically a summary of my first month after surgery. Hopefully things get even better from here. To everyone that is or will be going through this–in my experience, the first half of month 1 is slow but takes off in the latter half.

I will be back with some non-surgery content in the near future.

~~Katie