Now I could leap straight forward and kick the ball with a “front kick” - no problem. Pretty cool to say that but it’s true. The real test is whether I could do a flying side kick, photos of which I’ll post up here on the blog a little later. You run toward the ball, jump off one leg and twist your body around to do a side kick and fly through the air, then land on the ground. There is definite torque action happening and I can feel the stress on my knee when not done properly. Fortunately I’m now more consistent and getting good lift.

Our grand master (instructor) told us “last kick” after I had just come close to grazing the ball with a flying side kick so I decided to try it one more time. I would give it my all without being out of control. Incredibly, I was able to get significant lift and nail the ball dead on. I could hear the “oohs” and “aahs” behind me and it felt GREAT! Two years after reconstruction this is an amazing feeling and accomplishment.

I’ll say that much of the recovery is just getting your leg back into the same conditioning and strength as it was before you lost muscle mass. I don’t know if my knee will ever be the same. I still get far more “knee cracks” than I ever did before and occasionally I’ll have some pain/discomfort near the screw positionings, on the inner side of the lower leg and also in the kneecap area where I think they screw the tendon into your femur.

So that’s the report for today. I’m inspired and so should you be. Just go do it!

Thanks to my orthopedic surgeon—Dr. Michael A. Kelly of the ISK Institute aka Insall Scott Kelly—and especially my physical therapist—Jason Klein of Athalon Physical Therapy—as well as his assistant Courtney, I have returned to sport and athletic activity with aplomb. Dr. Kelly specializes in sports medicine and is the team doctor of the New Jersey Nets. I was fortunate to be referred to him through family, who have used him most successfully for knee and elbow injuries years earlier. He’s a nice person, enthusiastic, very attentive given his incredibly busy schedule and I have had a great experience with their office and with my physical therapist.

Take a look at some of the photos in the gallery and you’ll see my latest experiences with knee braces, the Breg Fusion and the Donjoy Defiance III custom knee brace. I am not very fond of Breg off the shelf braces although they will work well for off the shelf. They are far too expensive for their durability though and I will post a disturbing experience I had with a medical supply company and how I found out that unless you do your research, you may end up with inferior bracing that will be charged to your insurance at greater amounts than the brace should cost even at suggested retail value.

I would also like to thank all the gang at Bob’s Knee Board who helped me through this ordeal, most especially the indefatiguable Michael Frind who is one of the most knowledgeable and sharing people I have never met in person but have had the benefit of his extensive knowledge personally. Another special thanks goes to SueBW, a medical professional (doctor I believe) who is also incredibly giving and has donated the benefits of her knowledge tirelessly as well. I would also like to thank OLarryR, Ling, StepKnee and too many others who helped me get through this entire ordeal, both logistically and mentally. Thanks guys… success is in the air!

I walked down the hall and down the stairs and did a little cleaning since I was going to leave in the evening and get back to my place so that I could do some work before I left. I also needed to fly the coop because as my as I love my parents and vice versa, a little distance can sometimes be a wonderful thing.

It took a lot longer than I thought—you have no idea how much stuff (and garbage) you can accumulate in just a week’s time! I didn’t have much of a difficulty getting around as I have great mobility. My extension is a full 0 degrees and my flex is now up to at least 115 degrees, probably 120. Every day my leg feels looser, less swelling (looks like there is a minimum now) and a little bit of the sensation crawls back into my shin. What is also great is that despite the rain, I don’t feel any pain or indication that there is humidity in the air.

My stuff is all packed and it’s a lot—the CPM machine, heavy backpack, carrying bag and a black plastic bag with accessories. Mom and car service driver help me load it into the car and we begin the trek back into Manhattan. Had an interesting conversation with the driver who also injured his knee playing tennis although he was a soccer playing on a national team in Asia. He says that a lawyer gave him $200,000 to sue the university (since the ground was uneven) and they would split the proceeds 50-50 but he decided it wasn’t right. So even though he was forwarded the money by the attorney, he handed it back. Note several inconsistencies in his story—I’m not sure what to make of it. He then tells me that he owns a million dollar home in a great area in Queens that he bought for $460,000. Hey, maybe he does although some things don’t really add up. Whatever… welcome to New York.

All my stuff is dropped off on the ground floor of my apartment and the guy wouldn’t take my stuff upstairs for fear of getting a ticket. I ended up bringing everything up 4 flights, mostly by putting all my weight on my crutches, with a little help from a neighbor with the CPM machine. It was extremely challenging and I really sweated up a storm because it was so hot, but I made sure not to put much weight on my left leg and always leaned on the crutches to support myself.

Got into my apartment and was completely exhausted like you could not imagine. Needed relaxation time so I created my Knee Gallery after spending time figuring out how to configure various graphics packages on a Linux server. You cannot imagine what an incomprehensible mess this can be and what a challenge it can be to set up a simple gallery even in this blogging system. Well, it’s 4 AM already and time to pass out since I’m feeling that extra adrenaline in my system keeping me awake and that isn’t good. I strap myself into the CPM, set only for 115 degrees flex since I don’t want to overdo it, and will myself to sleep which took about 15 minutes until total absolute slumber…

It was a short day today as I woke up a little late and had some things to do for work, like getting out a package with information to the folks at headquarters. I ended up getting it done at around 4 and then walked/crutched (is that a verb?) two and a half blocks to the post office to send it out overnight express to arrive next business day. It felt good to have that baby leave my hands but even better to finally be outside, breathe the air, and take a more leisurely crutch (stroll) for a reasonable distance.

Got home and had Friday night dinner with Mom. She is a great cook and we had some fish and green salad for an appetizer, chicken with potato “kugel” (type of quiche) including an apple kugel that tastes like cake. Fabulous. Ended up going downstairs and doing a lot of reading and then a all my exercising per my instructions for physical therapy.

I tested my leg a bit and realize that the challenge walking is the lack of confidence I have that my calf muscles will fire up and support me completely. IN addition, the front of my shin is still very numb and at times I feel like I have some pressure/shin splints that are very slight. I want to make sure that I’m not putting too much pressure on my leg especially since I can’t feel the pain that might accompany abuse. I doubt this is the case since many are already walking on it and are bicycling—which I would be if it wasn’t for the holiday. I spend the rest of the night reading on the CPM until I pass out, which was much earlier than I thought. 

We ended up at our family friends virtually on time—what a shocker. I was still using the crutches and not quite sure if I had the confidence to walk the distance (about 50 feet) on my own or whether it was just guilt in not using the crutches! NOTE: My parents have been driving me nuts all week. Every time I have ridden a bus, got on the subway, or even moved anywhere outside a 30 foot radius of my bed they read me the riot act how if I fall, I can go call an ambulance but better not call them. It’s as though having surgery means constant immobility 24 hours a day until it makes sense to move. I wish they had seen the rigors of physical therapy that I went through for the past 3 days.

So our host had been in a car accident and he had to have some serious surgery to reconstruct ligaments in his hand, wiring his elbow and a whole lot more. Apparently some minimally insured foreigner who couldn’t read the street signs decided to make a left turn while he was going through the intersection. Our friend swerved and his car slammed right into a lampost and his hand, arm and shoulder slammed into the airbag and shattered. He had a long, painful surgery and a full arm cast for a while and then, just 2 days before my surgery, and work done to reconstruct ligaments in his thumb. While his daughter, eldest son and daughter-in-law were their with their kids as well as a nice female guest, we—the two injured people of the group—chatted about our experiences for a while and would for the rest of the night. I have suddenly joined a whole new club!

The food was incredible—these people are the best, let me tell you. Not only is the company good but there is never a meal without several fabulous courses, which is what makes Passover Seder a lot of fun. In addition to the turkey and pecan pie, there were spare ribs (superb!), succulent mashed potatoes, corn muffins, fantastic vegetable soup all topped off with this fantastic, fabulous chocolate mousse which had a nice firm touch of amaretto.

We ended up talking and chowing down on these awesome home made marble cookies until 10 PM. I realized that my knee injury and pain (or lack of it) didn’t even compare to his painful wiring and reconstruction, which requires quite a bit of percocet and elevation. When I got home I did some of my PT exercises, took a few swigs of apple juice, and then didn’t realize how quickly I passed out in the CPM machine with SportsCenter still on the tube…

It was pouring rain and I was glad I wore my Vikings hat and could peel off my outer layer once in the office. The security guards are incredibly nice there and all gave me a warm welcome and held the elevator doors for me. Everyone from my office was incredibly surprised to see me at work and rather shocked and amazed that I could pull it off. I had my foot up on my desk a good deal of the time to make sure the blood didn’t flow downwards into my knee. Even when I sat down regularly, I didn’t feel any pain and only some achiness and slight discomfort—incredible. I ended up getting a good deal of work done before I left for the day to go to my 2 PM physical therapy appointment. Since it was the day before Thanksgiving, there was no need to return to the office around 4 PM. Besides… I left my casi security card at home!!!

Physical Therapy Session 4: Wow… you have no idea what it’s like to trek 3 blocks and one and a half avenues in the pouring rain to physical therapy!!! Heck, I had a workout before I got there!!! This is going to be one of the most rainiest, nastiest Thanksgivings in recent memory! Today’s session was very short and Jason wanted to make sure that I didn’t become too sore before the weekend. The workout consisted of some leg raises, gravity pulls, leg hanging, bicycling (just motion back and forth to stretch the knee.) Ended up being a very long ice session and then the recap for the exercises I need to do over the long weekend by myself:

(1) Heel Pumps: Use a towel to put around the balls of your foot, lean back holding the ends and push forward with the balls of your foot to work your calf muscles.

(2) Leg Drops: On your back, a few inches from the wall, put the bad leg bent against the wall with the good foot hooked under the ankle and let the leg bend itself further by allowing gravity to pull your leg down. Push it up a little and keep stretching.

(3) Leg Hangs: On stomach on your bed, lie down with knees off the bed and leg gravity straighten out your hanging legs so you have a full extension.

(4) Book Hang: Sitting down on floor, straighten left leg and put heel on a book. Leg gravity straighten leg so you have full extension (can sometimes feel a little painful like a hyperextension so be careful although this isn’t a hyperextension just sensitivity.)

(5) Leg Raises: Lie back on floor and right leg bent, try to keep left leg perfectly straight and slowly raise leg until same height as knee and slowly lower leg.

(6) Push Down: Sit down on floor, put towel under knee and try to mash the towel down with your knee by flexing your quads.

(7) CPM Machine: Get in there and let it do its thing several hours a day (4-6) increasing the angle—I’m already at 110 degrees!!!

(8) Ice, ice baby! Do this around 20-30 minutes at a time.

I did a very good job at physical therapy—to repeat the theme yet again, I am noticeably stronger every day!!! While I felt I could walk, Jason at Athalon told me that he didn’t want me walking just yet and instructed me to use my crutches. He said he’d like to have me on the bike by Friday (week after surgery) and actually biking but the Holiday will break up that plan. Still, he said I was well ahead of the average pace and it is rather incredible that my swelling is down quite a bit, that I have no pain and that my strength and stretch is excellent given the timing!

After PT I ended up going to my old apartment to finish up some work on a project and collect a couple of things before I headed back to Queens. Started to trek back after getting a milkshake at around 8PM. I took a bus downtown and was able to get a seat on the express train home and listened to that new U2 song called “Vertigo” which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in the aggregate (perhaps it’s about the war in Iraq), especially since the starting countoff mangles the Spanish language…

Got home and really felt exhausted. This was a heck of a long day and I was proud of myself for getting out and going to work and being resilient. I thought I could stay up for a bit but ended up passing out very quickly around 11 PM.

So I packed my new laptop backpack to the gills (because I can) and I must have put on an extra 20 pounds on my back like the idiot warrior that I can be. Dad was leaving the country to visit my brother who just had his third boy. Fortunately the grandchildren divert my parents attention from the fact that their oldest child is still single (and let me tell you, they remind of it regularly.) Dad drops me off at the subway station and I decide to grab a quick milkshake before I go into the city to go to work and for physical therapy. You have no idea what kind of a challenge it is to handle a milkshake (which I “wrapped” in a plastic bag and hung from my wrist) so I had to be innovative. Had an easy ride to work…

I forgot that I was coming into the city and going in the wrong direction. As a result I had to reverse direction and “crutch” (a new verb) myself all the way across the platform to the back and then go up the escalator, followed by about 30 stairs. When I arrived at the office, my coworkers were shocked that I was already in the office. They couldn’t believe it. For that matter, neither can I! I ended up making a few client calls and even am getting interviewed for an article in a news journal in a large city tomorrow morning. Cool!! Before I know it, the hour arrives to get to physical therapy, which is several blocks away.

Physical Therapy Session 3: Man… crutching 7 city blocks is a LONG journey. My arms have already received a major workout and they will still need to get me down and up several dozen stairs. Today’s physical therapy session with Jason at Athalon Physical Therapy was much easier. We start with the rub down with the warm ointment to push out the swelling, followed by those awful straight leg raises. Normally I’d have a 5 pound ankle weight on, am told to lie down, right leg bent and try to straighten my left leg and pick it up and then control it on the way down. I do that with muscle stimulation for about 8 minutes. Jason then yanks my legs up and down performing some type of tension test and he tells me that my new ACL is pretty tight and feels good.

Next we do those painful ankle slides where you put yourself on your back, a few inches from the wall and then after hooking your good leg under your bent bad leg, you try to let gravity drag your leg down as far down as possible. Today I did better than 90 degrees! Next comes the bike, which I do forward and backward revolutions to stretch my bend in both directions—and I make the entire circulation, a major accomplishment! We conclude with getting onto my stomach and letting my legs hang off of the bench starting from my knees and letting gravity straighten out my legs. Had a 5 pound ankle weight on. Major ice down which was fantastic… feels great using the cryocuff. Done. Finito.

I get into the subway some time after seven and am feeling a bit exhausted. I’ll sleep well tonight. An uneventful ride home and realize that I will get to sleep earlier tonight. I’ve noticed that the yellow tint in my leg is disappearing and that is a good sign. OK… I’m feeling fatigue in my arms and am about to pass out. Tata for now and will get back to you in the morning… I need to be up at six to prepare for that phone interview in my office in the early AM…

Physical Therapy Session 2: I arrived just past 11:30 and hobbled a bit through the lobby and into the offices of Athalon Physical Therapy. I spoke briefly with Jennifer (a smile to melt ice on the coldest day) who takes care of the office. She told me I looked great for being just out of surgery. Courtney, the assistant PT greeted me and she helped me hang up my coat, which was filled with several pounds of electrical items (2 mobile phones, portable keyboard, headphones for each, external battery, adapters and connectors for later use… heck I’m listing them because I’m sure you were curious.)

Jason, my PT and main man, was busy with several patients so I had some time to wait and check out my injury. It still felt very sore, especially around the main patchwork. I hop up on my favorite table, number two in the right side of the room. Every one is staring at the NBA riots that occurred last night and are making the rounds yet again on Sports Center. Jason started me off with leg push downs to try to reach full extension (keeping your leg as straight as it goes and 0 degrees is where you want to be.) He hooked me up to a muscle stimulation machine and placed a rolled up towel under my knee joint (that center area and sweet spot) and told me to press down as hard as I could during the time I felt the stimulation, which lasts around 10 long seconds. When it goes away, for roughly a 20 second rest, relax. This was easy although apparently I didn’t have the flex I hoped for. But no worry… we haven’t even gotten started yet. This was to be a very long session…

Vanessa next to me was in serious pain. She’s a sweet, nice cutie just out of college who had some major cartilege reconstruction and was unfortunately in horrendous pain. They think it may be nerve damage and the last time the pain management treatment isolated the wrong spot on her leg… her foot instead of her knee! Her upbeat attitude inspired me today.

Next, Jason gives me the warm massage ointment rub down to move out the swelling. That went quickly because he soon had me swivel around so that I was lying down on my back but with my legs up in the air against the wall. I have myself positioned several inches from the wall and the goal is to lower my left leg (right leg looped underneath for support and to raise it) all the way down to an almost 90 degree angle. I ask Jason whether we should wager whether I can get there and he says emphatically “you will.” He’s a prophet. I never would have believed it as it was slow going at first but after several minutes of “feeling the stretch” for about 5-10 seconds, I get there!

Next up, I swivel around and get on my stomach, knees and legs hanging over the edge of the long table. The forces of gravity (and an extra light ankle weight on my left leg) dangle and are forced to extend themselves. This goes on for several minutes and Jason works my leg stiffness from the extension away and I’m feeling much more “looseness.”

Next up… the bicycle. But first I have to practice walking there and the goal is to first place the crutches forward, step forward with a straight leg and first put down heel and step forward through my toe… heel to toe. Finally get to the bike. I’m supposed to pedal forward first and then “squeeze” when my left leg stiffens and push slightly to get more flex for about 10 seconds. Reverse direction and do the same thing. I realize that I cannot nearly do full rotations but I am getting there.

Now we are back to try one more set of those leg/quad push-downs with the towel under the center of my knee. After working on this for 10 minutes Jason tells me that I’ve done extremely well and I do get full extension, woohoo! Afterwards we get some serious ice in the cryocuff and then I am out of there!

The crosstown bus is right outside and I hop it a few stops to get to CompUSA to pick up a new laptop backpack that I’ll be using more frequently. I take a few client phone calls and then hop another bus outside that drops me off near my old apartment… Going uptown for just a few blocks you cannot imagine how many people tripped over my leg, a well dressed high maintenance elderly woman was trying to rush by me when I was pulling out and putting away my metro card (incredible) and wasn’t fast enough for her. My stop comes and this 40+ year old woman just lets the back doors of the bus just slam in my face and a woman sitting on the side realized what happened and ran over to try to hold the doors open for me. I am thankful and both of us seem rather disgusted.

And now it’s time to climb 4 stories of rickety stairs with semi spirals on each side. Wow… this was a major challenge but made it up there. I had to meet someone who will rent my bargain apartment… Glen arrives and he sees my knee brace. He remembers his days of having ACL surgery too when he had a patella auto! Wow, it is amazing to find out how many people have had this surgery after not knowing what the ACL really did a few weeks ago. He says my leg and my stamina and demeanor are awesome. Cannot believe I’m up and around after 3 days. He’s got a nice scar from his surgery and remembers the pain… and wishes he had an allograft as well.

I stick around for a few more hours and then begin the big climb downstairs to head back to Queens to the parents. Climb up my step ladder several times to reach storage areas, walk around the apartment using the crutches and I’m ready to rock and roll at about… 7PM! I take the bus downtown to the 53rd St. stop and fortunately people aren’t as horribly rude. I have to make my way down roughly 60 stairs that turn and finally get to the platform to Queens.

The ride back is uneventful and Dad picks me up from the subway. I have time for a Bailey’s shake at Haagen Daz and get home in time for Monday Night Football. The knee is achy and I have to ice it down. I may have pushed things today and I need to calm down a bit tomorrow although I hope to go into work potentially. I see the rest of the game and figure that 6 hours sleep should do me well as I turn on the CPM machine and begin to sleep off my day…

Fortunately, I breathe a sigh of relief as the pain begins to dissipate after 5-10 minutes of agony. It seems that I may have been a little too ambitious but nothing that should have caused any damage. I’m anticipating getting to PT as soon as possible to ask whether anything I could have done might have been too much and caused permanent damage. I fall asleep to the vibrations of the CPM and hope to wake up well in time for kickoff.

I do wake up at around 9:30, the latest I’ll ever sleep. The folks already have bagels with everything on them and I get the royal treatment at around 10:30. I’m feeling good! No problems, no pain. I do some work on the Knee web site to keep it current and then start answering some questions at TheLaw.com, my legal web site. Before I know it… it’s kickoff time!

Cosmetics and Numb Area: Before we get to the games, on the third day I began to notice some serious discoloration (yellow) on my leg and you can see some in the photos. Additionally, a beautiful pattern of purple splotch appears below my knee and primarily on the soft inner portion almost underneath my knee. The numbness from the general anasthesia is gone but I still have significant numbness in the front, just to the left of where the sutures are and a circle emanating from the center of my shin. There is no feeling there at the moment in a space about two and a half inches in diameter or so, perhaps a tad larger, and it spreads across the front of my shin to the outer edge of my leg. OK, now that we have dealt with vanity… let’s deal with football!

I spend the entire afternoon with laptop on lap, leg in CPM, ice rotated every hour or so. I watch the Jets almost blow a must have game, watch the Cowboys get blown out (much to the extreme joy of all of New York) and then watch the Giants blow a game they should have won, the kicker is a bad call that changes the course of the game. Saw that last game with Dad and nice to spend some quality time. No real problems with the leg, just a little trace “aching” in the knee that I can’t really call pain but that dull ache that you used to get when your bones were growing. Perhaps its my new piece of titanium holding me together.

Nightime game comes and still no pain but exhaustion is starting to set in. I may go to work tomorrow, not sure, although it does seem rather quick. I have a PT appointment at 11:30. Game is pretty good but I fall asleep with Favre behind in the third quarter and the Pack really needing a win. Nuts… never fall asleep when Brett Favre is at the helm and the Packers are behind because you know that he is one of the best ever and most times he’ll make a game out of it.

I’m planning on getting up early and doing some work. I pass out with my laptop next to me, glasses (haven’t work contacts in a while) on my keyboard. I just can’t keep the eyes open and I’m snoozing, fortunately without pain in the incision area at this point…

Woke up for a brunch. Decided I should “shower” for the first time and that was a challenge. I decided to do an “almost shower” and washed my hair, stuck parts of my body into the shower and used the washcloth method for the rest. I did wrap a plastic bag around my leg where the sutures were and saran wrap seems to work pretty well. One of the most satisfying events in the past month was this soothing, hot shower. Mmmm..... felt so good to be so clean.

Still a bit achy although glad that the feeling in my leg has returned. Doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. Take a tylenol just for good measure. Get upstairs relatively easily although still a little shaky on the crutches and try to elevate my leg while eating. At this point I’m feeling the “blood rush” that goes to your leg when seated and it feels like your knee is falling down. The bulky knee brace doesn’t make this feel any better.

I do feel noticeably stronger and more mobile than yesterday. I can put some weight on my foot and walk like Jason mentioned. My CPM setting is up to 70 degrees, no problem. You are supposed to increase five degrees in the morning and an additional 5 degrees in the evening if you can (don’t do the entire 10 at once) and while I can probably do 75, I’m going conservative. In all candor I am feeling FAR better than I thought I would. Oddly enough I have only some aching but not so much pain, most of it goes away when I’m lying down and my leg in the CPM. You can feel the CPM providing short “vibrations” in your leg that are soothing. I thought I would be in horrible mind-wracking pain, virtually complete immobility and requiring significant ambulatory care. I could probably have taken care of myself Day One afterwards but staying at the folks was nice. Day Two is easy and a luxury, prefer the hospitality a great deal but still, not horrible. Let’s see how Day Three turns out. Still hungry every few hours and must watch my horrific diet of ice cream, pizza, steak, and candy platters from concerned and wonderful friends.

OK, place on calendar to call the ISK office to make a date to see Dr. Kelly to get my stitches/staples removed from my primary wound. Remember those crossed white strips I talked about? Those have to be removed roughly 10-15 days after surgery, another reason why you cannot and should not fly for at least 2 weeks after surgery. Note that if you see bleeding you should call the office. Incredibly, all my wounds look very tight. Had absolutely no bleeding after the initial packing with the gauze. It smells HORRIBLE and made my Dad get some new gauze and cotton wrap or else deal with the smell, LOL! I’ve decided to use the frozen blue Ace packages because they work so much better than the awkward DonJoy IceMan ice machine, which is tough to wrap and keep to your leg, especially when in the CPM.

I’m still somewhat afflicted with the “several hours of awake time before drowsiness sets in” syndrome. You’ll feel a bit sapped more than normal during days one and two after surgery. This time I try to nap a bit and it works. I awaken in the evening an hour and a half later and I’m feeling even better. I’m getting around a whole lot better… stay up late to watch some satellite TV, see the big NBA brawl started by the rambunctious, spoiled brat Ron Artest (sorry Ron, you are what you are right now), the big NCAA brawl in coach Lou Holtz’ last game, wonder whether I will be brawling (LOL) and then pass out shortly thereafter…