Surgery #2

As we all know I was in a serious accident 7 months ago (wow I can't believe it's been that long!) that left me with a femur and hip made from titanium. Hence the name The Titanium Eventer. 

I was in a ton of pain for months. Like, an indescribable amount of pain. Apparently the femur is the most painful bone to break or something, which I firmly believe at this point. As the months went on I healed. My scars got darker and are now getting lighter. I relearned how to walk correctly. My physical therapist turned into more of a fitness coach. I started riding and jumping again. The top of my femur/hip feels pretty good at this point which is where most of my hardware is. I'm around 75% I think which is an incredible feeling after literally not being able to move my leg a half an inch off the bed 5 months ago. 

My knee, however, wasn't getting any better. I didn't understand why my knee hurt so much worse than the rest of my healing leg. I didn't even injure my leg down there?? That's when I had another surgeon look at my X-Rays who was basically like "oh wow that top screw in your knee is way too long!" Great. 

You can tell in the picture above that the screw in the bottom fits while the top one sticks out quite a bit. Now, this doesn't look like much but imagine trying to bend your knee with that sticking into your flesh. Then add the weight of your body. Then thinking about that happening while walking or going up or down stairs or riding a horse. It was very painful. 

Sometimes the screw would grab onto the flesh just right and I wouldn't be able to get out of bed. It would feel like every time I moved my knee someone would stab me in the leg. I had to call into work a few times and that was a rough one to explain. 

"Sorry can't come to work because I can't bend my knee today!"

My leg would also do this fun thing where after a few hours my knee would blow up like a balloon. I kept having to send my physical therapist photos of my knee because I would panic about how big it was or my lack of motion all of a sudden. I ended up using a piece of tendon grip sock (for horses) because it was compressing enough on my knee that it would keep the swelling down so I could still work. (It's still in my car just in case because paranoid)

At my 6 month check I finally asked when was the soonest I could get the screw taken out. The answer was pretty surprising! My surgeon said he could do it that day! I made the appointment for a few weeks out because I had work and a horse show and such that I didn't want to miss. I consulted with my other surgeon who is in Colorado and he said absolutely not. He said he would kill me if I let anyone touch my leg. My CO surgeon was worried that by taking out the one screw it would cause shifting in the hardware higher up and re-break my leg or something. 

Commence hours and hours of panicked deliberation and anxiety.

I ride multiple horses and walk no less that 10 miles a day at work, not to mention all the heavy stuff I carry around. Horses are my life - I love working all day at a barn and going home to ride more horses. I couldn't imagine another (at least) 6 months with this pain. It was causing problems with how I was walking and riding. I started noticing myself not wanting to put my right leg on because when I pressed it against the saddle I would get stabbed. This gave me a fun frog like position with my knee sticking out which I wasn't about at all. Unfortunately, the more I focused on this problem and tried to fix it the more pain I was in. 

I went back and forth with my parents, my colleges, my sister, my coach - anyone I trusted. I needed them to understand how great the risks were and how expensive it would be (another $16,000) VS. how much pain I was really in (I hate to toot my own horn but I really do have a pretty high pain tolerance and I hate showing weakness). I was difficult because my parents knew how much pain I was in and were all about getting it taken out, my sister (who is the CO surgeons M.A...) knew in gruesome detail the risks of the surgery (since my leg is still technically broken, I'm not union yet), and my colleges and coach (I feel) didn't know how much the pain was effecting my life/riding/work. I felt like the only person who understood all aspects of the situation was my physical therapist/fitness coach, Shelley. 

(check out her program, it's amazing. Seriously the only reason I'm walking - not to mention riding!)

I'm doing this exercise wrong in this picture... shhh. 

My original PT and surgeon treated me like an 89 year old man. Shelly knows where I am physically and how my body heals. She also knows how physically demanding my day to day life is and what my riding goals are. I brought her my entire medical record and we went over it and discussed all the options. We finally decided that it was worth the risk if it worked. 

March 27th I went in for surgery. 

I handled it all really well, actually. Usually with this kinda stuff I have to panic about it but I was cool as a cucumber. I was more than ready to get that sucker out of my knee. 

My operation went well - no complications. I felt great after. Even made this fun little video while in recovery. (which went much better than the video after my wisdom teeth surgery...) 

   I did almost throw up in the car though. Not sure if it was because of the anesthesia or my moms driving HA (love you mom thanks for being there with me for surgery!!). But for real, I definitely went downhill quickly after leaving the hospital. I even declined Dutch - thats when you know its bad. 

I am now back to work and riding and let me tell you, the difference is night and day. It is unbelievable, the relief. I didn't have to take any of the narcotics because my knee actually felt so much better, even with the staples in. I've also made it past a week and I'm still feeling so good so my anxieties aren't as high about causing problems with the rest of my leg. I definitely feel like I made the right choice getting it removed. 

Today I finally got the staples out. The poor girl was all "have you gotten staples out before? It does hurt a little" and I was like LOL I had like 60 taken out at one time I'll be fine. 

It was pretty cute. 

(still had to pretend that the first one she took out hurt super bad to scare her because I'm a jerk)

Anyways, thats all about my second surgery! Thanks everyone for all the support and understanding through this whole thing. It was a very difficult decision to make and I'm sure everyone was quite annoyed with me going back and forth every two seconds.