Geek Habitat

No news is good news, right? So, I don’t have any news to report from today’s OS checkup or my KT2000 test to measure the tension/laxity of my new ACL. Nothing bad, nothing stellar — just trucking along in my little spot on the bell curve of post-op ACL reconstruction patients.

My test was administered at a different The Orthopedic Store location than I went to during my 3x/week physical therapy, so I didn’t even get the bonus of reconnecting with my ol’ PTs — Renee, Bob & Kara. Being at a PT clinic again felt weird, awkard even. Seeing all the familiar equipment ( Total Gym, stationary bike, steps, trampoline) made me flashback to when I still kept track of how far post-op I was, and exactly what I did during each session, so I could track my progress. It was a tremendous morale boost. And while it took awhile to get used to being out of PT, and away from the infectiously positive (and demanding! ;)) therapists, I’ve definitely graduated to not thinking of myself as a “knee rehabber”.

Anyway, I asked the PT to go over the test results with me and — not having worked with me before — he kind of stutter-spoke until I completed his sentence. Basically, my new ACL is on the “low side of the low end” of what they’d expect for a 6 month post-op knee. That sounds worse than I think it is, given my knee feels absolutely solid, does not hurt (except when I wipe out on the mountain bike and bruise my knee cap!), and even the cartilage damage has stopped hollering in pain all the time. I still get soreness, but I’ve never had any episodes like prior to surgery, where the knee “gives out” or “fishes around”. So, I look at the test as my OS did — an impartial, clinical guide to how my ACL is doing, which is taken in conjunction with what the OS sees and feels when he examines my knee, what I feel and report as the owner of said knee, and what the latest x-rays show (which I still need to get copies of — you all have to see the size of the screws that are embedded in my femur and tibia!)

As further proof my knee is not raising any alarm bells, my OS and I shook hands, I thanked him for all his help and good work, and agreed to see him again in January 2006 — I’ll be 11 months post-op by then, and likely get a formal discharge at that point. That’s merely a formality, really, since I don’t play competitive sports and have long been cleared to resume all the activities I know and love (walking, hiking, biking, lugging camera gear, etc.)

So, that’s all there is — no news is good news!