Dab-KNEE? Gui-KNEE? Hi-KNEE? No, my knee. (Follow-up).

On June 24, 2009, I had surgery on my left knee to:

- re-re-do the ACL in my left knee. It had been surgically repaired in May 2000, and at some point(s) since then had been rendered torn, stretched and useless.
- clean up meniscal tearing which had developed at some point.
- try to deal with some of the arthritis that had been developing in the knee.

This photo was taken Monday, July 13, almost 3 weeks after the surgery.





As you can see, it is still swollen - but is getting better every day. It was much more swollen until recently, and unfortunately, I did not chronicle the progress with a series of photographs. I wish I had done so, as watching the knee and leg change every couple of days has been interesting. I have been wearing the brace you see under my leg until about now (today is Sunday, July 19, about 3.5 weeks after surgery). The brace was kept locked and my knee was forced to be straight until recently, as my quads have been growing strong enough to support regular walking. It is amazing how quickly muscles atrophy when you don't use them regularly!

I have been doing physical therapy in Teaneck, which has been a very encouraging process. Each time I have gone these past two weeks, I find my leg more flexible and stronger. Four weeks post-surgery, which is Wednesday, July 22, the physical therapy will take an aggressive turn and I will incorporating much more to get myself back to normalcy in terms of walking around and general physical activities. Another month after that, eight weeks post-op, the therapy will become more aggressive still, as my goals are to be able to run and exercise normally. If I was older and willing to not run and exercise, they could tone down what I'll be doing in the months to come.

Eventually, I will be able to play my beloved game of basketball, but truth be told, it will always be slightly risky for me to do so - even though I will be technically medically cleared to do it. I will be setting more short-term physical goals as these next few months unfold, and take things one day at a time.

Dab-KNEE? Gui-KNEE? Hi-KNEE? No, my knee. (Part II)

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, I command you to go and read the first part of my knee saga - the prelude to what's going on with my knee..

Go ahead, I'll wait for you.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

Ok, ready?

So when we left off not too long ago, I was saying that I am going to require surgery in two and a half weeks on the same ACL that was torn that fateful spring of 2000. Here's what happened.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I was shooting around at the gym on a Saturday. I was jogging between shots to get the ball, make layups, etc... but no running around. After I was done, I put the ball down and walked down the hall to go upstairs to lift. After a few steps, my knee suddenly felt very strange. It hurt, and with every step I felt a clicking. It may seem incorrect to say that one "felt" a "clicking", but that's the best way I could describe it. With every step my knee kind of did a slip-and-stick thing.

I gave it a few minutes, walked up the stairs, and tried to do things. My knee certainly did not feel right. I went home and relaxed for a while. Let me give this some time, I thought, and see how it feels. A couple of days later, the knee was visibly swollen and still clicking. Shit. It felt similar to when the ACL was torn initially.

A couple of doctor's visits later (and a couple of weeks later - the good ones are always so busy!), I found a good one down here in South Jersey. He examined me physically and ordered an MRI. After several questions about the history of my knee,
he asked, "Was there a time since your original surgery that you remember feeling any kind of pain down there... maybe where you hurt it but then it went away after a couple of days..."

My memory drifts... flashback: Wow, yes, there was. Flashback about 5 years (I was about 27). I was playing at the courts at Teaneck's Votee Park in the summer in a pickup game. I was guarding either Giovanni or Christian Hernandez - apologies, Hernandez Brothers, but I can't remember which - but I remember because they are both more athletic than me and resemble each other. Anyway, in trying to keep up with Mr. Hernandez, I remember tweaking my "bad" knee and having to stop playing and limping around for a couple of days with crutches. But quickly, I was able to walk around normally again, and I declared myself better and commenced with normal activity for the next 5 years.

So I related this story to my doctor. We looked at each other in a long gaze. Never has somebody known me so well without me even saying a word. Comforted that somebody finally understood me, I smiled and sobbed at the same time. "Doctor, you make me feel good. To be honest, it's been so long that a man has made feel this good," I said. He smiled knowingly, with the patience and wisdom that an older man can only possess. Dimming the lights, he said, "Yes, Walt, I know. It's ok, you're safe now." He caressed my shoulder gently....

... just kidding! Daffy, put your pants back on! He is a professional, for God's sake!

But seriously, yes, I did relate this story to him. He said (and I paraphrase), "I thought so. What happened is when you did that, you tweaked and stretched your ACL. It's still intact, but it's been stretched. And since it's not connected to a steady blood supply, think of it as a rubber band that still attached but is stretched to the point where, for activities like tennis or basketball, it's not effectively tight enough and it never will be."

Fuck. I kind of knew it. We waited for the MRI. After a week, we examined it together...

"... yeah, your ACL is only loosely attached, but what's giving you this pain is the fact that your meniscus is torn and arthritis is developing in your bone where the meniscus is torn. So I definitely need to go on and fix up the meniscus and the piece of bone that is developing arthritis..."

"... and? Tell me Doc, what about the ACL? What's your recommendation?"

"... Well, given your age and the fact that I assume you don't want to give up on activities like basketball, you should probably get the ACL redone."

"Was it not done properly the first time? Or do you think I reinjured it?"

"... well, you stretched it out. It wasn't done 'improperly' the first time per se, but it's been 10 years and since then advances have been made with ACL reconstructions. We do them a little bit differently now..."

... and boring details commence. But yes, so here I am. Not wanting to alter my level of activity for the next 50 or 60 years, I've decided to get my left-knee-ACL re-reconstructed (and hopefully for good this time!)

Dab-KNEE? Gui-KNEE? Hi-KNEE? No, my knee. (Part I)

That pesky ACL...


It was the spring of 2000. I was 23, had graduated from Rutgers College in May 1999, and was living (in sin) near New Brunswick, sharing an apartment with my then-girlfriend, now-wife Lisa. She was finishing her fifth year of the five-year program to get her Masters in English Education. Being a pansy, I backed out of the math version of this program, and was selling software on the phone for $25K/year while she was finishing and I was getting my act together.

Due to a glitch in the system, my ID card still worked at the Rutgers College gymnasiums, despite the fact that I graduated a year earlier. So, I'd often still go to the gym on weekends or in the evenings to play pickup basketball.

It was a Saturday, and I was playing at Sonny Werblin. There was a healthy, but not overwhelming crowd there. (A solid three-game wait for hours, I'd say). The team I was on won for a few games straight until we finally lost a game. I was in a pumped up state and knowing we'd had to wait a while, I ran over to the weight room despite being exhausted. I pounded out a few sets of what I could muster up the energy for, which at the time was mainly leg stuff (quads, hamstrings, etc...). I ran back to play again.

Our team started playing. It was early on in the game, and I got the ball on a semi-fast break with one guy running even with me on defense. I made it look like I was going to try to go up strong for a lay-up and he got ready to block the shot. Instead, I stopped and just up-faked and he went flying by. I then was open for an easy lay-up. However, while this was happening, I felt a sickening feeling in my knee. The best description is a sudden pop or give in my knee. I crumpled to the ground (though somehow I made the layup - to this day I don't remember how). Quickly realizing I hurt myself, I called for a sub from the guys who were waiting - as it protocol when one injures their ankle, knee, whatever, and cannot continue at a pick-up game. I slid myself off to the side of the court and rested against the bleachers, legs extended. Guys asked if they should get somebody for ice ("Somebody get me some FUCKING ICE!" - A.B.) and I declined, not realizing the severity of my injury and the abbreviation "ACL" having not yet entered my vocabulary.

I sat for a minute, watching the game annoyed that I could not compete. But quickly my head started to turn. The thought process was something like this: "Oh shit, I'm not supposed to be here. What if an attendant does come? I'm 23 and finally on my own health insurance. What if I'm somehow liable for this? What if, because I'm not legally allowed to be here, I get sent to the E.R. and have to pay for it?" (At the time, I didn't fully understand how medical coverage worked.) This whirlwind of thought built up until I was like, "I better get the fuck out of here."

I stood up and realized in about 1 second how bad my knee was. It gave when I put weight on it. Somehow, I limped to the car like a wounded soldier in a war movie and drove the 3.2 miles or so back to my apartment.


View Larger Map

Ok, you really didn't need a map showing what the drive was like from the gym to my apartment in 2000. But, for those more distractable readers, I wanted to give you another picture to look at.

Anyway, I hobbled up the stairs and laid down. Lisa came home shortly thereafter from a job fair in Edison (she was interviewing for her first teaching position for the following September) and I told her I hurt my knee at the gym. Somehow, we came to the conclusion that I should go up to Teaneck and stay with my family (maybe she was visiting her parents the next day? We both don't remember.) Anyway, so I drove the 45 minutes up to Teaneck and stayed at my father's house that night. We unfolded the sofa in the living room, as going up stairs seemed too daunting.

That night was the most physically painful night of my life. I'd broken my hand and both wrists before, and had back pain that hindered me from playing sports as a kid and made me see a chiropractor three times a week while I was growing (age 14 and 15), and nothing compared to the feeling in my knee when it started to swell that night. I called my wife, crying / whining / complaining, and as all of my family does, she thought I was being dramatic and gently soothed me while thinking in her head, "Stop being such a baby."

As the next few days unfolded, I realized the severity of the injury, got checked out by a couple of inept doctors before I found a decent one in Paramus who informed me that I had torn my ACL. I found out what this was all about, had the reconstructive surgery in May of 2000, and went through the physical therapy and assorted rehabiliation that summer. By the following autumn, I was a strapping young man of 24, I started my teaching career, and was playing pickup basketball again both outside and inside various gyms.

"But, Walt, why are you bothering to tell us about an injury you sustained 9 years ago? I mean, great story and all, but..."

I'm glad you asked. Now I'm 32, a few pounds heavier yet much more life-experienced, and I am going to get the ACL surgery again in the same knee. The surgery is scheduled for June 24, 2009, the day after the high-school year ends.

"But why? Did the initial one fail? Did you re-tear it?"

Ahh... faithful reader... that will have to wait until tomorrow, for Part II of this post. Stay tuned.