Surgery Update

 I wanted to get out an update on my knee surgery today. But first I need to back up to my pre-op on Monday. 

When I met with the surgeon on Monday he likes to go back through the images and make sure we are on the Same page going into surgery. The plan we originally had was to “just do a cartilage clean up” because it was the least invasive and had the quickest recovery. We were hopeful that that would eliminate my daily pain, but we knew it wouldn’t really fix the problem. As Dr. Hurt looked at the images he pointed out that there are sections where I have no cartilage and am literally bone on bone to the point that you could see bone bruising in the images. So we started talking through all options again. You can’t ‘regrow” cartilage, bu the only way to help was to try and fix the tracking of the knee in hopes of stopping further damage. He was amazing at understanding my concerns because of our family situation. We decided that I would talk to Bruce and Mimi and let him know a decision this morning.

After talking to the family and some of my closest friends. We all agreed there wasn’t much choice. If I don’t deal with this now, it will lead to bigger issues in a short period and more surgery would be needed.I did not sleep great last night and  I spent a lot of the night praying. Besides asking for peace for me and the kids, my main prayer was that it would be very clear to Dr. Hurt what needed to be done. When I saw Dr. Hurt in pre-op, he was actually hesitant to do the bigger surgery, because of our circumstances. I told him I trusted him to make the nest decision once he could get in there and see more clearly.

I was very calm all morning and did great with anesthesia. Dr. Hurt did do the lateral release, but I did not see him after surgery as I was still asleep. (Still no visitors so I was alone) At my follow up next week I will get a chance to ask him. Unfortunately, this entails a MUCH harder recovery. I am non-weight baring until I see him. I have to keep my knee elevated and iced around the clock for a minimum of 48 hours. Them I need to us pain and swelling as a guide. Both of which are expected to be more intense. I do not know when I will be able to drive which remains my biggest concern.

I have had a pretty good day, however the novocaine is starting to wear off and my pain has increased some over the past few hours. MY knee is already REALLY swollen. I know it will get worse over the next few days.

Some of the jagged cartilage that needed to be cleaned up

Get Well card from Maddy

my swollen knee

Cuddles

The start of bruising

 

Thank you to everyone who reached out and prayed. And a HUGE thank you to Mimi and PopPop for keeping Maddy last night and getting her to and from school today. Bruce and Alex have been handling Alex’s medical needs and helping me change out ice packs. 

Please pray for the recovery to go well and for this to make a difference and for me to get back to living pain free!

Ali