Knife .v. Knee Round 3 - 10th Feb. 2013

Operation Number 3

After discovering I had a cyclops lesion within my knee, I also discovered this would require another operation in order to remove the problem.  As a result of that I was told the return of full movement in my leg would not be possible, although I still refuse to give up on this, especially regarding my previous surpassing of expectations in terms of recovery and progress over the last 12 months or so.

Before finding out I had the cyclops lesion, I had my final targets in sight, it just felt as if it was taking a bit longer than expected at this stage to progress and my January return was well out of sight now.  I was told around mid January 2012 that I would require another operation, this was booked in for March 9th 2012 meaning my new target would be around August for any return, obviously depending how successful the operation was, but going off the 2 previous ones, I remained positive for once!

Until then I was again told to keep working in the gym, again maximising the strength of my right leg in order to increase the likelihood of a successful operation.  I'd become used to my stretching and exercise routine by now, as you might gather after over 12 months of it, I was walking, albeit still with a slight limp, hence my worry and return to physio.  It was coming up to around 16 months since I had actually ruptured my ACL and I had become more than frustrated with the restrictions on my body.  I had been able to run but still only on a treadmill, I did try on grass but my hamstring and other related muscles became quickly fatigued and it was very uncomfortable due to the obscure angle my knee was operating at.

Would Have Been A Suitable Sign To Carry Around.......

March came around and the operation was successful, well, the lesion was successfully removed and it was a much quicker recovery than operation number 2 for obvious reasons.  I actually got to see the lesion as they had kept hold of it, unfortunately I wasn't able to bring it home as it wasn't allowed to leave the hospital due to bacterial reasons etc. but I did leave the hospital that day with another large bandage wrapped around my leg, but the encouraging thing was that I had no crutches this time and I was openly encouraged to get it moving.

So, with no time to lose, I went into town with my Mum, Grandma & Grandad, walking a couple of miles to get things going straight away, it did ache but this was expected and wasn't as painful as previous post-op's.  I was still a bit gutted I didn't get to bring the scar tissue home but the reason was understandable of course.

The Lesion Removed From My Knee

I was allowed to run within 3-4 weeks which was great news for me, I'd become more determined to get up and running (literally) as soon as possible as I was frustrated with the lack of exercise I was able to do.  Always being an active person but then having it taken away was depressing.  You can imagine the same effects on an alcoholic or drug addict, you do something so much, on a daily basis because you love it and enjoy it and then to have it taken away with no choice or option was a horrible feeling and this did play on my mind over my recovery period.

My new aims were to build up some fitness of some sort, hopefully get myself kicking a ball again within 8-10 weeks and also to reduce further the angle of my knee and also attempt to reduce/halt my inevitable weight gain from the injury period.