The Road to Somewhere

xc62701

Well-Known Member
It's been one week since my injury and it's getting better - little by little. Sleep has been a bit challenging. Pressure from the brace and just some discomfort in general has me going a little batty. Some night's I can't have anything on my knee, no brace, no ace bandage, nothing and then I'll tweak my knee in my sleep. I keep forgetting I'm hurt and shift around, then once the pain subsides, I'll try to get to sleep again. Outside of that the swelling is coming down nicely and all the pretty colors are starting to pop up. The worst part seems to be the lateral(outside) of the joint where the bone bruising is. I think with the reduced swelling, the bruising is more sensitive and causing me some pain.

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I've been walking on it every day to try and keep it moving and at some point I'm going to need to get back to my normal life. Tomorrow I'm going back to work, so I'll see how that goes. I'm going to try to stay off my feet when I can but I know that won't be possible all day. I'm going to teach from my desk as much as I can this week and see how that works.

I'm also going to try to get on my trainer and just see how the motion is. My doc says I can use the trainer to help the range of motion, but I'm not trying to win the Tour. Good, he gets me. I got 10 pedal strokes Wednesday just to see how uncomfortable it is and over the top is REALLY tight. I'm sure it'll get better, but I'll see how much better it is tomorrow. I'm also going to call and schedule surgery tomorrow. I'm away for spring break the second week of April so the Monday following is my goal. I'll need to arrange math coverage for my 3-4 weeks off it seems too. Thankfully I think I have someone at work that can fill in for me.

On the flip side I’ve been wanting to make a bird feeder. Version 1 came out pretty well!

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xc62701

Well-Known Member
I got 5 minutes of pedaling in tonight!!! As the knee gets more mobility it’s feeling better, but I’m still nervous about its instability. The doc said I need to work on range of motion before surgery so I figured I’d see how it felt tonight. The first couple of pedal strokes felt super tight, but then it relaxes a little bit and I got some semi normal pedal strokes out of it. Right now, that’s a win for me.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Yesterday the pedals were turning!

I called up @Sven Migot and asked if he would babysit me on a ride in Bedminster and he said let’s go. We hit the gravel and had a good time chatting and getting my mind off of the knee. I babied it a bit on climbs and put some power down here or there to test it, but it felt ok. Still very tentative to not injure it more(as I should), but I was happy with the ride. The big test was going to be the consequences today. To my surprise, I felt ok. Actually my whole body was a bit sore from almost 2 weeks of no workouts but it felt good to get riding again!

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Frank

Sasquatch
Yesterday the pedals were turning!

I called up @Sven Migot and asked if he would babysit me on a ride in Bedminster and he said let’s go. We hit the gravel and had a good time chatting and getting my mind off of the knee. I babied it a bit on climbs and put some power down here or there to test it, but it felt ok. Still very tentative to not injure it more(as I should), but I was happy with the ride. The big test was going to be the consequences today. To my surprise, I felt ok. Actually my whole body was a bit sore from almost 2 weeks of no workouts but it felt good to get riding again!

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Holy crap!! You are amazing!!
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
I hit the road again yesterday on my flat pedal adapted bike and did a nice hour. I tried to baby the knee a bit less this time and see what happens. Actually on a few hills I just shut my brain off and tried to put some good power down. I remember from the last time I did this that the knee feels pretty decent after the initial swelling, so I can try to get some fitness and muscle back before the surgery happens. That means I've got the remainder of this week and then two more weeks before surgery. Today the knee was a little sore getting up, but I'm hoping it was more muscle soreness from the workout and not from the injury.

The crazy part is that since I took 10 days off since I was hurt, the two little rides I've done has made my entire body creaky. God I'm getting old lol. I'd much rather stay active and keep my fitness for sure. The struggle will be having to sit on my a$$ and let the body heal for that week after surgery and then try to get back to movement and life as soon as I can. It has been a struggle to mentally have to change my day to day routine, but I can see the light in the distance. Each day/week is getting progressively better so I just have to try and not be TOO stupid.

On the work side of thing, I have 51 days remaining. Of that I will probably have to stay home for 17 days. That's kinda crazy that once I get back the school year will be almost over. I'm preparing my classes for this as well. We will have a math teacher cover my classes so the students will still be learning, but just not from me. Things have been stressful at work so a break would be nice, but I didn't want it to happen like this.

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Ejd

Well-Known Member
It's been one week since my injury and it's getting better - little by little. Sleep has been a bit challenging. Pressure from the brace and just some discomfort in general has me going a little batty. Some night's I can't have anything on my knee, no brace, no ace bandage, nothing and then I'll tweak my knee in my sleep. I keep forgetting I'm hurt and shift around, then once the pain subsides, I'll try to get to sleep again. Outside of that the swelling is coming down nicely and all the pretty colors are starting to pop up. The worst part seems to be the lateral(outside) of the joint where the bone bruising is. I think with the reduced swelling, the bruising is more sensitive and causing me some pain.

View attachment 209781I've been walking on it every day to try and keep it moving and at some point I'm going to need to get back to my normal life. Tomorrow I'm going back to work, so I'll see how that goes. I'm going to try to stay off my feet when I can but I know that won't be possible all day. I'm going to teach from my desk as much as I can this week and see how that works.

I'm also going to try to get on my trainer and just see how the motion is. My doc says I can use the trainer to help the range of motion, but I'm not trying to win the Tour. Good, he gets me. I got 10 pedal strokes Wednesday just to see how uncomfortable it is and over the top is REALLY tight. I'm sure it'll get better, but I'll see how much better it is tomorrow. I'm also going to call and schedule surgery tomorrow. I'm away for spring break the second week of April so the Monday following is my goal. I'll need to arrange math coverage for my 3-4 weeks off it seems too. Thankfully I think I have someone at work that can fill in for me.

On the flip side I’ve been wanting to make a bird feeder. Version 1 came out pretty well!

View attachment 209780
When I was waiting to have my hip surgery I had trouble sleeping too. Try sleeping in the recliner. You cant roll over. That helped a lot
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
When I was waiting to have my hip surgery I had trouble sleeping too. Try sleeping in the recliner. You cant roll over. That helped a lot
Good news is that the pain at night stopped shortly after that episode. I don’t have a recliner, but the couch was the best position to get my knee up high and make it more comfortable. I’m now back in bed and the knee is more stable so it’s getting easier to be comfortable at night.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Yesterday was another test of the gimpy knee. It's been getting more stable and less swollen, so I met up with @Sven Migot and Phil and aimed for 90 minutes of rolling in Gravelland. We rolled out right after 2 so we weren't sure how sloppy conditions would be, but it was sunny, warm, and amazing! We rolled through a couple of soft spots here and there but overall it was great. We got in a bit over 2 hours and no complaints from the knee. It definitely feels awkward trying to stand up on it, but I'm sure there's still a bit of swelling that is preventing the knee from full range of motion. Call it a win though. I was putting some power down and it felt very good from the trauma it's had. I'm gonna try to keep it building until surgery in 2+ weeks.

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xc62701

Well-Known Member
Another little easy spin today. Knee is responding positively to efforts and just feels a little off when I'm riding and standing out of the saddle. So I just try to not do that too much. I'm aiming to have a decent week of rides before I go away for spring break next week. I plan to hit the spin bike while I'm away and try to walk as much as I can to keep the muscle I have before surgery. 17 days...
 
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xc62701

Well-Known Member
9 days before surgery.

Knee is still getting stronger and more stable. I’ve been riding over 2 hours and it doesn’t bother me. No brace any more as I want to get as much range of motion as I can before surgery. It just sucks knowing that I’ve been getting back to normal life for the most part and it’s all gonna start over again after surgery. I’m anticipating a full week of full on suck. Then a couple of weeks of progressive sucking, then a few more of regaining strength to get to where I’m at now. But at least I’ll be repaired.

Last time I did this I was racing 2 months after. Not well but I was out there. That’s kinda the plan again. I did wreck myself a little worse this time though. So who knows. Wilderness 101 is still a goal I have in my mind for July but that’s half because I’m an idiot, half really stubborn, and half motivated to get fitness again.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
D-day came! 10:30 this morning I went under the knife. The doc was able to do a new ACL graft from my patellar tendon, and replace the old hardware from the last ACL surgery. The new addition, while the doctor was doing the first repair, was that the lateral meniscus needed to be repaired. He took care of that as well and sent me on my way. (I wore my aero socks to surgery for good luck 🍀)

Good news is that all of the surfaces and structure looked good, and the knee should heal as good as new afterwards. Bad news is that since the meniscus had to be repaired, I need to be non-weight bearing on that leg for 4 weeks. 🥺 That’s not what I was hoping for.

I’ve had thoughts of getting back in the game ASAP of course and this just sets things back a bit - professionally and cycling wise. I know it could be worse and it’s only 4 weeks, so I’ll do what I can in the meantime to heal and recover while trying to keep my mind in a good spot. I’ll be doing whatever I can to stay mobile - with one leg - and take care of anything I can from the couch. At least I was super active leading up to this to get my able bodied chores done with so that’s not hanging over my head.

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UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
good luck with the recovery dude....sorry to hear about the non weight bearing status, shower chairs suck ass. If you need any non weight bearing tips, im now an expert :)
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
good luck with the recovery dude....sorry to hear about the non weight bearing status, shower chairs suck ass. If you need any non weight bearing tips, im now an expert :)
I didn’t even think of the shower chair part yet… Saturday I’m allowed to bathe so I’ll get that figured out.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
The shower part was definitely a workout. Glad I waited until today to attempt. As @UtahJoe stated, a good shower chair will help. That should be delivered tomorrow. I had to fit my ass on one of the kids wooden art chairs and that was just too small and low to be anywhere near comfortable. I'll try again for a shower on Monday and hopefully the incision is a little less tender. The knee feels pretty good, the incision however is very sensitive and when moving the leg, it hits the cryocuff under the brace and is pretty painful. I'm getting really sick of the f'n couch but I know it means that I'm resting and recovering. I'm cutting myself off the opiod painkillers and will try to use Tylenol if it gets more sore. I'm trying to do the good things now as when I have more mobility I know I"m going to push it a bit. When I unwrapped it for the shower, the knee looked pretty good with very little swelling. That's a win so far for me.

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