It's been a while, hasn't it? Having done a respectable job of recording all the events concerning my total knee replacement surgery, I have been remiss in giving any kind of updates. That, I suppose, is the bad news. The good news, however, is that things have gone so well, I hardly am ever conscious of having "fake" knee.
Today was my two-year check-up, with my excellent surgeon, Dr. M., so it seemed an opportune time to give a brief update. My fake knee is, in his words, remarkable. He didn't actually measure my range of motion, but he did tell me to bend my knee as far as possible and, I'm telling you, it's pretty far. It is, in fact, better than my right knee (the "real" knee), and Dr. M. told me that he had rarely seen anyone make such a complete and remarkable recovery. Needless to say, that was happy news and I felt quite proud of myself! We discussed, of course, the right knee which the x-ray showed had suffered a little more bone loss. Dr. M. said that there was no need in the coming year even to consider TKR for that knee, so we'll take it year by year and see how the right knee is doing next year.
Unfortunately, I had one other issue to discuss with him: my left foot. A few weeks ago, my mother who is now 88 years old, was visiting us. Even though we have installed a chair lift for her so that she can get to our basement which has been converted into a nice little apartment, there are still a few steps at the front of our house and at the back. In order to leave the house, these few steps must be negotiated which leads to the accident I suffered. In trying to help her down the stairs, she lost her balance and almost fell. I was able to get her stabilized so that she didn't fall, but in so doing, I lost my balance and fell backwards down the front steps, landing with full force on my left foot, then collapsing onto the concrete. In addition to extensive bruises, I could tell that my foot had been injured, but at the time I was so glad that it hadn't hurt my knee that I discounted the discomfort in my foot. To make a long story short, my foot slowly got a little better, but there was still a painful bulge on the side (at the arch) which Dr. M. says is either a pulled tendon or a torn tendon. I'm to get an MRI of my foot as soon as the insurance company gives pre-approval and then I'll confer again with Dr. M. as to whether a brace, a boot, or even surgery will be required. It's a pity because things had been going well before that incident, but oh, well.....you roll with the punches.
While the foot incident isn't exactly knee-related, I will post an update at some point just so we'll all remember to be careful. Wish me luck!
Note/Update: My left foot posterior tendon was, indeed, ruptured necessitating foot surgery (Posterior Tibialis Tendon Rupture) in October 2013. It was a difficult and painful experience which resulted in 6 weeks out of school and returning to school in a wheelchair for another couple of weeks. But that's another story, and let's end on the happy note that 8 years after my knee surgery, my left knee still feels great. My right knee, however.......
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