9-2-13 – Labor Day – I certainly enjoyed the holiday and I went out and enjoyed a wonderful non-stop 2 hour trail ride in the beautiful mountains only a few miles away with my sweet horse, “Jewels”. It had been my first trail ride since before my SI surgery. What a relief as I had no pain whatsoever in my lateral left knee. Words cannot describe how good it is to have eliminated another pain generator out of my body that was there for at least several years or more. 100% surgical success to stabilize my left Proximal Tibiofibular Joint
From my last blog update #3, I progressed very well in my physical therapy. As of Sept. 3rd, 2013 I was well on my way to having a lot of strength in my left leg. All the exercises I had tried to do a year earlier were now coming together in rehabilitating my body since the Proximal Tibiofibular Surgery on 5-14-13 and my SI Joint Fixation Surgery on 1-17-13. My physical therapist, Mark Bengtson, was so proud of all the gains I have made from my hips on down my legs. I really do like the Postural Restoration Institute’s style of exercises of which my therapist is well trained in. See my other blog for video examples of the exercises. I can only say that with both the surgeries this past year I have a new found strength, correctness and sense of balance and neutrality of my lower extremities that did not exist for well over 10 years. I still only have a very slight transient surface skin sensory deficit(numbness) below the surgical incision on my leg. This is to be expected and time will continue to heal nerve related issues from a surgical intervention. But compared to the joint pain and swelling and its concurrent muscle spasms before the surgery, a little sensory issue is nothing at all. I really do like what I feel behind my lateral left knee as compared to my right knee in the same area. There is more strength now and I don’t hyper-extend anymore. My left IT band is also now so much better. My left knee with the Arthrex Stabilization feels better walking up a hill than my hyper-extending right knee. Sorry to all my chiropractors, your services are no longer needed for the left tib-fib joint nor my SI joints. That sums it up!
In addition to my own rehab, I am thankful for the internet in reaching another sweet lady with my www.fibularpain.com published surgical information. When this younger sweet lady had the same problem in her Proximal Tibiofibular Joint as myself but with more severe symptoms, she found my stories on her search for a surgical solution. As I write this update, she herself is now 5 weeks post-op of the same surgery with my surgeon, Dr. Main. Her story to be published also in near future on my website. Even though I certainly do not wish this type of instability on anyone nor the post-op pain of surgery, it did bring me great joy over these past few weeks to help mentor,encourage and hold a long distance hand out to a fellow patient in sharing our very similar situation. Hats off to Dr. Main and his wonderful staff at Midwest Bone and Joint, Macon, MO for taking such good care of this lady when she also could not find help elsewhere in her part of the southeast USA for the Arthrex TightRope Dynamic Stabilization of the Proximal Tibiofibular Joint.
My attention from this point forward will be turned over to writing about my left ankle pathology that has hindered the complete restoration of my walking of my left leg. I am 2 third’s of the way there and more to come with my new category of Subtalar Joint Instability blogs. As of 9/28/13, I see the light at the end of the medical journey tunnel when just a year ago I was still completely in the dark. Stay tuned!
Link to Subtalar Joint Instability blogs.
