two hundred fifty five

TOTAL RIGHT KNEE REPLACEMENT

October 19, 2020

I was young and dumb with a brand new 1971 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. I was headed home from my girl friends house when a full sized Dodge Coronet turned directly into my lane. I hit once then went airborne end over end then impacting an embankment, so there were two impacts.

I did not lose consciousness so I remember the small fire and the jaws of life. I remembered the ambulance ride and the emergency room. I have no idea how fast I was traveling but I never went anywhere slowly. 

Concussion, internal bleeding, broken jaw, neck, ribs and a compound fracture of my right femur. I spent two weeks in the Intensive Care Unit and another month in the hospital. I was not expected to survive but my doctor used the fact that I was 19 years old to save me. He said he is 19 if we don't  tell him he could die he won't because at 19 he doesn't think he can. 

He was absolutely right I was much more concerned for my car and the strange experience of being 19 and not able to get an erection. At 19 that is as vital as a heart beat.

In surgery they wired my jaw and inserted (with a sterile hammer) a 17 inch long stainless steel pin inside of my femur bone. It was in there for eleven months then removed. I was back to work in six months. There was no rehab in those days I just went back to carrying quarters of beef, and unloading trucks. Old school apprenticeships were heartless so I pulled my weight or else.

I had a guy call me a cripple that made me so mad I voued to never ever ever ever limp. I made a point of walking smoothly and took up running 10k races in the 80's. I continued on like nothing had happened but I knew my knee was paying a price.

After several years of commuting on my Surly Crosscheck and a few bicycle tours I finally bought a Felt F4 Carbon Fiber bicycle. I had a friend do a proper fit. He was training someone so he did the left leg with all of the bike fit tools then told the trainee to do the right leg. After several attempts the numbers were different. After some investigation we discovered my right Femur was one full inch shorter than my left. 

This was a big surprise but it explained many of the problems I had had over the past 33 years. We moved shoe clips and added shims to my shoes to compensate. A few rides later I went back to the way it was.

I never slowed down I just lived with the pain. My knee has had severe loss of cartilage for the past 25 years. At 69 I finally had enough it was going bad rather quickly. 

The picture is week four, the swelling is gone now and the scar is minimal. The bruising was extensive the first week my leg and groin area were dark purple. The first five weeks were miserable and the rehab is pretty intense but sleeping was my biggest issue. Now twelve full weeks later I'm so happy I did it. I take long hikes now my knee is perfect but the rest of my body aches. I guess that is just being my age. I am on my way to getting in shape, I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Erin Finter MD was my doctor there is a post about her post number two hundred forty four.