A week ago I underwent surgery to repair the torn quadriceps tendon in my left leg. That was, as you might imagine, not one of the more enjoyable experiences of my life.
At this point, I’m doing better than I expected. While I do have some trouble sleeping (you would not believe the nightmares I had for a while-most involving my knee cap popping out of my leg) and my leg is immobilized, my outlook is still positive and I have not (as of yet) had any psychotic episodes. Since I’m a running fanatic and haven’t been able to run in a couple weeks, I am worried that it is just a matter of time.
Today was the day I was finally allowed to change the dressing on the wound. Fortunately, one of my close friends, Ron, is married to a nurse and she agreed to help out. As she peeled away the various layers of bandages, I vaguely wondered what horrors I would see. Fortunately, the bleeding had been very minimal and the incisions were already healing nicely. Of course, it was just a bit creepy to see shiny metal staples sticking in my flesh. Naturally Ron took a picture of the knee-he is a sensitive sort of guy.
Seeing that things were healing up nicely helped keep my morale up and being able to reduce the amount of gauze stuffed under the immobilizer has been great. This coming Thursday I am supposed to get the staples removed (I wonder if I can keep them…) and a hinged knee brace. Since I plan on using a stationary bike (thanks Dave!) to keep my cardio health up, it will be nice to have something that will handle sweat better. The immobilizer handles sweat by absorbing it and then getting stinky. Hardly an optimal solution.
I am supposed to be able to go back to work the week after next-I’m looking forward to that. Grinding through student emails, downloading student papers, and setting up two weeks worth of classes online has made me work way too much for someone out with an injury. On the plus, side, it has kept me busy and given me a continued sense of purpose.
I ruptured my quad tendon 1/30/09. I was walking down my frost covered driveway to get the morning paper when my right leg shot out from under me. My left leg for some reason stayed firmly planted to the driveway surface. My 300lbs came crashing down on my left leg (one leged squat, with lots of momentum). I could not stand up as my left leg could not hold me. I had to crawl back into the house, changed out of my bathrobe. I grabed my keys, cell phone and wallet. I had to call 911 and be taken to the ER.
I was put in a leg brace and given crutches. Six days later I had surgery.
Today is 5/21/09 and I am still not able to go back to work.
I could not put any weight on my left leg for 12 weeks. I had to hop around with the aid of a walker.
Two days after surgery I had to go to a short term care facility to learn how to care for myself (my wife left me prior to the injury). I was there for about a week and caught some kind of bug resulting in the worst case of cronic diaria I have ever expierenced. This lasted a few days resulting in dehydration leading to chronic renal faliure (kiddneys shut down). I was rushed to the ER and was in ICU for 5 days. Doc said I was hours from death when I arrived.
I went back to a different facility for 6 days. I had to learn how to walk with a walker, how to transfer myself from the walker to a shower bench. I had people who came over to help me for the first month or so.
Around Easter I was able to begin walking on both legs with the aid of the walker and gruaduated to a single crutch. I began using an exercise bike over a week ago. I went from 15 min per day to 15 min twice a day. I am bumping it up to two twenty minute sessions, morning and afternoon.
At the end of this month (May, 2009) it will be 4 months since the sugery. I should be back to work on light duty early June. Light duty for a month or so. I work for Verizon and have a fairly physical job (climbing utlitie poles, ladders etc).
This injury has really put me to the test physicaly,mentaly,emotionaly and spiritulay. I will be a better person because of it.
You had a hell of an ordeal-far tougher than mine. Fortunately, I did not get any secondary illnesses after my surgery. It did scare me a bit having to get daily shots to prevent blood clots and also being told to cough deeply from time to time to help avoid pneumonia. I’m glad that the second facility worked out for you.
You certainly showed great will in dealing with your situation. My injury was not as bad as yours (I was back to work after two weeks, but on crutches) but it certainly challenged me.
Good luck with getting back to work and getting back up there. It is certainly ironic that you spent all that time on utility poles and ladders and ended up being done in by an icy driveway!