Blethering Blonde

2011 turned out to be not what I expected at all. Months of very slow rehab from the microfracture surgery had totally changed my everyday existence. I had to face the reality that my days on the ward floor were over and I was at the mercy of redeployment. I am thankful I am still in employment and even more thankful that I am fortunate to have been temporarily redeployed into the health improvement team, an area I have always wanted to work in. Every cloud and all that......  It's still unclear what the prognosis for the knee is as it takes about 18 months to know whether the microfracturing has fully worked or not. Next review is the end of February, who knows what will happen then. The advice given the last time was to keep trying to increase activity but not hammer it. Following doctors orders included the dreaded gym, lots of cycling and gentle re-introduction to the pointy things. The cycling has been great for introducing me to places I may well have never gon...

Was a very strange day yesterday. Bit reminiscent of Groundhog Day . I had my 6 month post op review by my orthopaedic consultant. Went pretty much the same as the 3 month one. See you again in 3 months. If only bodyparts were as easily replaced as worn out gear.

The weather has been dreich for yonks and I was starting to get a bit stir crazy so we grabbed that very narrow weather window of opportunity before we got engulfed by even more stonkingly dreich weather. The latest physio regime is to maintain my baseline to minimise any aggravation so it was time to bag another local HuMP with the perfect distance Goldenberry Hill. There is limited parking on the road at Ardneil Farm but we were fortunate as there was only one other car there. It was very blustery as we set off and knew it wasn't going to ease off. There is a good track practically all the way to the top which you can't miss due to the mobile mast station (allright for those on Orange) There is a gate to climb over but nothing too strenuous. Well it was entertaining trying to remain upright and that was only at 140m. Thank goodness we weren't any higher. There is actually quite a lot occupying the summit of this wee hill other than the mast station. To get to the tri...

The body really is quite a remarkable thing. Mine however has a tendency to surprise me and not always in a positive way. It's now 5 months since my op and unfortunately for me, my knee is still not playing the game the way it's meant to. All involved are trying to remain positive as after all it is still early days.  The annoying thing is that any activity more than what most of us active peeps would regards as a taster is still causing such acute inflammation in the joint that the ice pack is my permanent companion. Not really an ideal situation. The walking is totally frustrating as even a wander round the shops still seems like a major expedition.  Being able to go for a wee pootle on the bike so long as it's flat as a flat thing and I take my time is at least keeping me sane - ish. It really is quite fortunate that there is a few sections of nice flat National Cycle Network nearby and some glorious coastal views that are never the same to keep me from wearying. So ...

I've never been a very good patient (typical nurse) but had been quite proud of the fact that I had remained calm and followed the plan for the longer than initially anticipated recovery from them poking about with my knee, that is until now. Once I had got over the shock of being severely limited with all activities for 3 months, I figured that once that time was up I should be back on the hills a couple of months later. Best laid plans and all that........................ I saw the Consultant a couple of weeks before the end of the 3 month minimal load bearing D-date who gave the go ahead for  physio and for starting  some low impact stuff like an exercise bike and slowly to increase my walking. I was so excited. The physio and I had a long chat at that first assessment where I did admit to her I had a tendency to try and run before I could walk - if only!! It looked like my range of movement was still OK but what I needed to start working on was some muscle strengthening a...

Three months of limited load bearing said the doc. February 7th is the magic day for the end of that period. It's the start of the next phase and I've been getting ready for this. Using the exercise bike has been a bit of an eyeopener. So far trying to move off the entry level programmes for anything more than 5 minutes is not happening. I'm not going to stop, I just need to keep going with what I can manage and wait for the improvement to come. The carrot of the new bike sitting in the garage waiting to be taken out on the road for the first time is a not too shabby incentive. The other thing that I've been doing is making me look like an absolute numpty at the pool by using an Aquasprinter Belt. Hydro therapy is well known to be the best for rehab in non load bearing injuries but with the the knee the way it is, standard swimming is a no no. This is where the belt comes in. So long as I can get deep enough water, I can "jog" away until enough is enough. It...

As time is going on reality is eventually kicking in and I am now resigned to the fact that I wont be out in the hills proper this winter, bugger. It's the first winter since I got back into walking in 2005 that I'm not getting my winter fix. I have to be sensible coz if I mess up my rehab from the microfracture surgery it's a lot more serious that just not getting out to play in the snow for one winter. I have a daily reminder of that from my mother as her knee op wasn't so straightforward either. By the time she was 50 she had been "invalided out" of work and now at 67 has had both knee joints partially replaced. Oh the joys of osteoarthritis. Enough of this depressing stuff. So what to do? The main crux of the rehab is minimal load bearing  for 3 months so even doing the simple everyday things like getting up and down stairs or wandering round the supermarket have proved a challenge. Being able to determine whether my rate of recovery is on par with ...

My knee started giving me a bit of jip a while back, I ignored it but when an orthopaedic  consultant colleague of mine noted my limp I let him have a look at it. A scan showed a cartilage tear. It needed to be sorted so on the 8th of November I went in for my arthroscopy. Best laid plans an aw that............................ That simple cartilage tear was easily rectified but I also had an area the size of 10p that was devoid of any cartilage  - not good. My surgeon performed a process known as microfracturing to stimulate regrowth of the non existent cartilage. All being well it should prevent me from needing a knee joint replacement for a good while. In the meantime I've got to be careful with my recuperation. So here we are 4 weeks later with some of the most amazing snow and I canny go out to play, especially not with the way even the pavements are at the moment.. I haven't been totally stuck inside since the op. Steve, my carer ;-) took me for a wander along a snowy...