Shifting Pins

The problem with this knee injury is that when one problem starts to get better, another one raises its head! Over the past few weeks, I've been plodding on with the exercises, working on the ROM and quad strength simultaneously. Having finally got the quads to fire up again and the ROM past 90 degrees it now appears that the pins have shifted again and are causing a range of stabbing pains at various points around my knee cap.

Initially, when I get a "new" pain I tend to wonder "what's causing that one now?!" ... and then I check the Xray (see previous post) and realise that the pain is actually happening in or around an area where a pin or wire either goes into, comes out of or curves around a piece of bone! Its seems that as the swelling and scar tissues are healing, the hardware is becoming more prominent and alllowed to move around more easily. The latest thing this week is the appearance of a "bruise" where the pins are poking into the skin - I haven't knocked or bumped it so can only assume I'm bruising from the inside out?!

View of the bruise below right of my knee cap

Bruising from the inside out ?!

The protruding pins that are causing the bruises

Hence, as I'm working through my regime I'm getting new pains and twinges on a daily basis. Its like a guessing game, which bit will dig in today?

I have to admit its very frustrating! I still want to work on the ROM and the strengthening exercises, but each day there is something new to hold me back. A few weeks ago, a shifting pin at the top of the knee cap dug into the tendon so bad that I was unable to exercise the quads properly for a while and they began to fade away again. I don't want this to happen again, so I am dealing with it by only doing the exercises each day that don't give me pin stabs. If today the wire under my knee cap catches when I try to push the ROM, I will just concentrate on the quads. If tomorrow the pins at the top or side of my knee are digging into a tendon, I will just work on the ROM instead. Luckily, I haven't had a day when ALL of it hurts together yet!!

I can't have the hardware removed yet because the skin over and around my knee is still shiny and mottled. This apparently indicated some minor nerve damage that is still not healed and until that calms down the surgeon won't cut through the tissue again. Not sure how long it will be, a few months perhaps, but it will have to come out eventually and I can already imagine how much better it will feel when its done.

3 Months Post-Op Update

After I got the walking frame, more physio cancellations held me up for a while, but eventually I was seen by a senior therapist. She tweaked my exercises and booked me in for the “rolling programme”.

Here’s a round up of achievements for the last weeks.

Week 9

• Walking more confidently with support brace unlocked and frame for support
• Out and about more
• ROM at 40 degrees

Week 10

• Stood up and walked without brace (using frame) at physio
• ROM at 48 degrees after therapy

My Scar 10 Weeks Post Op

Week 11

• Started rolling programme
• ROM from 53-55 degrees during therapy
• Walked using just one hand for support on parallel bars
• Increased strengthening exercises
• Ditched brace completely

From Cast to Splint and Staple Removal

14 December 2011

"Having staples removed is always fun" was a quote posted on my Facebook page! Well, I guess I was about to find out. After having the cast cut away with that macabre looking saw tool, I lay on the bed for the nurse to "whip out" my 24 staples. For anyone who has never had the pleasure of this experience, I would say, really don't worry, its not as bad as it sounds. A few tiny stings at the worst and most of them I didn't feel at all. Just don't make my mistake and Google it first, as pictures of the little blighters will make their extraction appear excruciating, if not impossible!

This is my scar 2 weeks after the staples had been removed

The deed done, I was taken to Xray to find out how things were doing 16 days after surgery. Ouch! Why do Radiographers always require broken bones to be placed into the most inconvenient positions for their snapshots?! I think my words were, "this really isn't feeling good right now" before he moved it into a slightly more bearable position. Very polite I thought, given the circumstances.

I didn't get to see the consultant back at the clinic, but he apparently surveyed my Xrays and his registrar came to deliver the news. Not the exact words, but it went something like this .....

"Yes, it was a very bad fracture, but the surgeon has done his best to repair it. Expect to experience early onset of osteo-arthritis though as the underneath of the bone is not quite smooth enough"

Didn't exactly fill me with glee to be honest, but I was relieved to know that my, by now, throbbing joint was going to put into a splint and left alone for the next four weeks ... well, apart from a little "gentle" PT (Physio Therapy) that is.