You fracture me, your hands on me

[venta]

The story begins at Day 1. The short version: I ruptured knee ligaments skiing, and am currently mostly sitting on the sofa. Day 14 (Friday) is a trip to the doctor to hear the results of my MRI. Contains medical details, though not especially gory ones.

For the first time, I attempted my whole working day sitting at the table rather than sitting on the sofa with my laptop on my lap. There's a few advantages to the table: I can more easily plug in my trackball, instead of the not-terribly-effective trackpad that's built into my laptop; I can have a generally more ergonomic set up; I don't keep losing my pen between cushions. However, sitting up properly on a chair has been difficult, and I'm still only managing it with my feet propped up on a biscuit tin footstool. I need more practice before I head back to the office.

The day was also considerably enlivened by a drive-by visitation from ebee who arrived with a sack of exciting lunch products. We lunched, and she made my tea in a real mug with a handle (rather than the lidded flask I make tea in so I can carry it about). Drinking out of a proper mug during the day seems like a real treat.

All week, though, I'd been looking forward to Friday evening. Friday evening I get to go and see the specialist again. I get to hear what the MRI said. I get a timeline for when I can expect things to start mending. As I mentioned to Ebee, I was trying hard to not to pin my hopes on getting All The Answers. It was entirely possible the specialist was just going say "let's give it another ten days".

He didn't. He said, as I entered, "well, you've done the Full Monty, haven't you?" I guess that's one of those technical medical terms.

His "90% certain" diagnosis from our previous appointment proved correct: ruptured medial collateral ligament, completely snapped anterior cruciate ligament. Although the MCL rupture has been upgraded from grade 2 to grade 3 (so more ruptured-er). He scrolled through the MRI images on a screen, pointing at things. That fuzzy patch, that's where your ACL should be.

That white patch, that's fluid. Now, I never did any human biology at school. I don't know what a knee-joint is supposed to look like. That fluid's something that's meant to be there, right?

"No, that's where it bled."

Oh.

And he showed me the fracture in the top of my tibia, and the bruise on my fibula (you can bruise a bone? who knew?) And another fuzzy patch, which is damage to the previously-unmentioned lateral ligaments. On the plus side, the MRI did show that the meniscus of my knee isn't damaged, so no immediate corrective surgery required.

I mentioned that my other leg seemed to be struggling. OK, we'll get that one MRI'd as well just to be on the safe side. We discussed physio, and where would be convenient for me to be treated. He dictated a letter to them, and I need to get in touch next week to make an appointment. And I need to make an appointment for the new MRI, and I need to make an appointment to discuss the results. I need to call BUPA to get those appointments authorised. I need to get the sicknote stamped at the front desk on the way out. I began to wish I'd got my pen and paper out earlier; there is a lot of admin involved in being injured.

He offered me a print-out of my MRI report, and gave me a little chit to exchange at radiography reception. The receptionist complimented me on the number of pages in my MRI report; I'm unsure whether to be distressed or obscurely proud. Having read through the report, I think it's safe to say that I have a chronic case of extremely long words. Parts of the report amused me; no-one wants to be told that their popliteus tendon is unremarkable :)

Anyway, the overall prognosis hasn't really changed. In 4-6 weeks I should be walking again, although possibly only in straight lines. If I want to be able to go round corners as well, then we're probably looking at ACL reconstruction surgery. Which will, delightfully, put me back on crutches for 2-3 weeks and then require another bout of of rehab. physio. The long-range forecast for returning to "contact sports" after reconstruction surgery would be 9 months. I have decided that I am probably defining rapper as a contact sport, meaning I might be back dancing around a year after I fell over :(

Heroes of the day: Ebee, Mr Specialist, ChrisC.

Comments

[deborahw37.livejournal.com]

A year sounds about right sadly

But the good news is that it will all heal and that modern technology can fix the bits that need a helping hand

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, in the grand scheme of things it's not terrible news! And there are many ways in which it could be worse - I'm very lucky in the availability of medical treatment, and the current state of medical tech, and the presence of a very supportive partner, and lovely friends, and all kinds of things. I do need to keep remembering this :-)

[deborahw37.livejournal.com]

A year in recovery can seem fearfully tedious and long but you get one shot at healing properly and getting full function back so, in that respect, it's a year well spent.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

:-(

That's all a big shame. I guess you now know the worst and the timescales. I hope they can schedule the surgery soon.

[venta.livejournal.com]

The orthopaedic surgeon I'm seeing doesn't reckon to do ligament replacement until everything else has healed - apparently opinions on this vary. My consultant did say that if I'd stayed in Austria they'd have done it already, but he prefers to wait.

So, not soon. We'll discuss the whens and the whethers and the wherefores in 6 weeks.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Ouch still. Your dr sounds competent and supportive.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, I feel I'm very lucky in the chap I've been assigned. Most importantly, he appears to listen to what I say which is a great step in the right direction.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

he appears to listen to what I say

Me oh my, that's the most important thing isn't it? You're the expert on you.

If you choose to update friendly_crips I'll be glad. Doctors listening, or not, are a frequent theme there.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Oh dear - a whole year? That seems a very steep price to pay for one tumble. :-( In fact, don't people who break bones usually seem to be back to normal quicker than that?

Still, glad to hear you have some answers now, and at least some sense of how things will pan out from here.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm not very expert in these matters, but several people have said things along the lines of "pity it wasn't a nice clean break".

And yes, at least I feel like I know where I am (even if I don't especially like it)!

[emarkienna.livejournal.com]

I remember thinking that too - I think anything involving a joint is unfortunately more complicated. Also I wonder if I just assumed people get better sooner; once someone is walking again without aids it's easy to assume they're back to normal, even it might still be several months before they can run/do sports etc.

[dr-bob.livejournal.com]

Sympathy for the damage, Though since (according to cuthbertcross) the cruciate ligaments cross each other (hence the name) it would be pretty impressive to break one and not damage the other.

But in fact: trackball!! Hardly anyone seems to know what they are any more - I wondered which one you use and why you picked that one (I have a Kensington Slimblade , but it's nowhere near as nice to use/comfy as the Turbomouse trackball I used until the rollers wore out.)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think the posterior cruciate ligament is the one bit I haven't damaged. ("The posterior cruciate ligament is intact", notes the MRI report, dryly.) I like to be difficult!

My trackball is a Logitech Marble (http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/4786), initially chosen (many, many years ago) because it was the only trackball I could find that wasn't emphatically right handed. I use a mouse (and now a trackball) with my left hand, for preference. Obviously these things are a matter of personal taste, but I find this one absolutely brilliant.

I do have a spare Marble (from the days when they had two buttons, not four) if you wished to borrow one for evaluation purposes!

[dr-bob.livejournal.com]

Thank-you for that offer - i may yet take you up on it should our paths cross suitably. It looks a fair bit like my comfy old turbomouse, but smaller. And not having a scroll feature may be too annoying. But then it's a damn site cheaper than the Kensington ones. I should note that all the Kensington ones are ambidextrous, too.

[venta.livejournal.com]

The new four-button Marbles do have a scroll mode of sorts - press the two small buttons to toggle it on/off and then use the ball to scroll. I never use it though.

I haven't used a regular mouse in >15 years, and back then they mostly didn't have scroll wheels. So I'm always a bit bewildered by the idea of scroll features :)

[dr-bob.livejournal.com]

The slimblade has a neat solution for scrolling - hold the centre-top of the ball with one finger and then spin it around that axis. Really simple and natural, and not like switching modes. I use it all the time.
However, whenever my co-workers try to use my computer they seem to find the whole trackball idea really unnatural, and just can't get it, maybe because my allocation of button functions is oriented differently from a mouse.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Wow. I can't imagine how that can possibly feel natural, but I'll believe you!

No one can use my trackball, either. People often push it round the desk like a mouse. Plus I have left/right buttons swapped over, which is one of those things that most people find impossible to deal with, even though they understand the concept!

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Ouch. That is a long recovery.

"no-one wants to be told that their popliteus tendon is unremarkable :)"

True dat. I would greatly prefer for nobody to even consider reporting on the status of my popliteus tendon, and for it to continue to do its important job effectively and unobtrusively. :)

Your woes have at least left me newly appreciative of the valuable and largely uncomplaining service of my own ligaments and tendons.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I am reminded of a half-remembered character from an early Discworld novel. Maybe it's Pyramids? Someone is dead but still, um, animate and is having to keep his body running by sheer force of will. He rapidly realises that he has no idea what quite a lot of the internal bits are supposed to do, never mind how they do it...

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Ouch. That is a long recovery.

"no-one wants to be told that their popliteus tendon is unremarkable :)"

True dat. I would greatly prefer for nobody to even consider reporting on the status of my popliteus tendon, and for it to continue to do its important job effectively and unobtrusively. :)

Your woes have at least left me newly appreciative of the valuable and largely uncomplaining service of my own ligaments and tendons.

[uitlander]

Now that I've found this I can confidently say "snap" in every sense of the word. Nine months from accident to walking at an approximation of "normal" matches my experience. Plus lots of physio.

I ruptured my MCL the second time round, and that in some ways has been the more frustrating one longer term as it swells up and reminds me its there whenever I go for a long walk or bike ride. Anyway we can discuss the joys of ligaments when I visit. Much sympathy. I do know exactly what this is like. Have you got the initial set of physio exercises? They are very trivial but you should be good to start them after a month and they lay the foundations for everything else.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I have, in fact, just returned from the physio (second appointment). I've been given more exercises to do, and on the way home was just adding up all those "hold for ten seconds, two sets of ten on each leg" and working out that the whole lot (twice a day) is going to require significant investment of time. Which I am happy to make, since it seems pretty important, it just needs a bit more planning than I'd expected.

Nine months is a slightly depressing prediction, as it's way lower than that proffered by my surgeon. I think I shall choose to believe his, but tuck yours away in the back of my head for the purposes of warning/reality! Also the MCL ruptures (both legs, right worse than left) have always been dismissed as "will heal, with time and physio" so slightly disappointing to hear that you're still having longer-term issues from yours. Maybe I've been interpreting what I've been told over-optimistically.

Although I read your posts at the time, complete lack of comprehension of the structure of the knee meant I didn't really grasp the details or implications. I am now much more qualified to be a sympathetic audience!

Will email about meeting up, seems a bit more practical than LJ comments!

[uitlander]

It sounds like BUPA are doing their thing. In part I think things took as long as they did for me because I was changing jobs as my accident happened and so my BUPA cover vanished just at the point I needed it, then my new emplyoer's insurer (also BUPA) refused to take me on due to the injury. There were a lot of angry letters and special pleading about continuiuty of cover and them being the same insurer but it all fell on deaf ears. So I relied on the NHS who were good and did everything they said they would, but there were long periods involving waiting lists (for example I think it took much longer to get an MRI) which delayed everything.

Anyway, that left plenty of time for physio. Overall I think the exercise I enjoyed the most was being told to stand in front of a window sill and go up and down on tip toes for each leg (and use the window sill to steady myself if needed). This progressed to standing still for 10, then 20 and finally 30 seconds on one leg only, and then trying to do the same with my eyes closed. After that comes the wobble board, which is also rather fun (you get to become a weeble). But I suspect you are at the tip toes stage at the moment, so all this joy is to come.

If you are particularly bored my knee saga the first starts here and knee saga the second here.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've been fortunate with BUPA and I feel like it's made a big difference. I'm surprised they were so sucky about your transfer.

I am excited about the wobble board, no one had promised me one of those. I have not yet progressed to tippy toes, all my exercises are sitting or lying. I don't know if that's a difference in injury, a difference in the individual physio's approach, or whether my yoga teacher has been in touch to tell them I am absolutely shit at standing on one leg.

Also, gosh! Your first saga started in 2008. I hadn't realised it had been an ongoing thing for you for son long.

[uitlander]

Yup, lying down and clenching/flexing comes first. I would expect tip-toes (or something like it) and standing on one leg to come next. The wobble board is still some way away, but there are different (increasingly hard) wobble boards so there will be plenty of time for all that fun.

But yeah, I haven't been able to run since 2008 as any attempt to do so shows that the joint is wobbly and still a little unstable. Your injury may heal differently and the joint may end up more stable than mine. Fingers crossed!