Posted by DarrenG
on November 30, 2010
My last blog entry was a few months back. At the time I was struggling with morphine withdrawal and the blog wasn’t high on the to-do list.
I’m glad to report that I did manage to get through it. Given I had thrown away the last of the morphine prescription and I wasn’t about to go out and try and get some illegal drugs it was a foregone conclusion I guess!
But it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do and gives you a whole new perspective on the life of a drug addict. Mine was prescribed and controlled and still I became addicted so it is easy to see how a drug abuser can become hooked all too quickly.
Life is pretty much back to normal now, I’m still on the road to full fitness, knee still quite a way of full mobility but 120º of bend now which is great and means I can now kneel, run and ride a bike.
I’m now a regular gym attendee and am glad I had my leg sorted. So the main issues of life are not the more usual ones, the business, making ends meet and trying not to put too much weight back on!
Posted by DarrenG
on May 02, 2010
It’s been a quite a while since I last blogged. Whilst I was in the midst of the ilizarov treatment I found committing my thoughts and progress to the blog was quite cathartic but now I’m on the mend it’s much harder to find the time.
My last leg update at the beginning of March concerned my knee bend, or lack of. That is still the over riding issue albeit I can now achieve almost 90 degrees range of movement at the knee.
It has been very slow progress with twice weekly hydrotherapy inter mixed with a weekly visit to a private physio. The cost has mounted up and as the operation to lengthen my leg was elective, my medical insurance won’t entertain covering the costs unsurprisingly.
The knee itself is much stronger now but it seems to have stuck at almost 90 degrees. It would seem I am unlikely to enjoy any great improvement past that mark without undergoing another operation to free the stuck tissue that, it is believed, is preventing further bend.
Continue reading…
Posted by DarrenG
on March 03, 2010
It’s already 5wks since the ilizarov frame was removed and in most respects I’ve recovered rapidly and life in a frame already seems a distant memory.
I say “almost” as there is still one issue that is holding recovery back; my knee. Although there was nothing wrong with it pre-op, the frame fitting required four pins to be inserted through my knee to stabilise the lower part which effectively locked my knee straight.
This has meant that my knee joint has partially seized. The tendons and ligaments have all become stiff and the muscle has stuck to surrounding tissue. This is expected after being immobile for so long but was a side effect I hadn’t truly prepared for.
I had foolishly expected that the knee would bend as soon as the frame came off but not so!
Continue reading…
Posted by DarrenG
on January 25, 2010
‘What a difference a day makes’ are lyrics from a well known song and never have they rung more true for me than over the last 24hrs.
Yesterday I blogged about my op and my rather optimistic hopes for my post op mobility. Last night I was sat on the settee quite relaxed and as bedtime approached I got up and, with the aid of crutches, made my way to the stairs.
The moment I got up my leg started to throb badly and as I left the lounge I felt a severe chill and started to shiver. This wasn’t just a slight chill, it was a full on, teeth chattering and body shaking uncontrollably type shiver.
Continue reading…
Posted by DarrenG
on January 24, 2010
Friday morning I had my op and the frame is now history. After a bit of faffing about I was wheeled into theatre at 9am and so keen were they to get it off that my consultant had begun unbolting the frame whilst I was still in the anaesthetic room being prepped!
I was lying there with an anaesthetist popping a cannula into my left hand, one theatre technician applying the heart monitor patches and another theatre technician spraying my leg with a liberal coating of disinfectant.
And whist this was going on, my consultant breezed in, shook my hand, said ‘now we’ll find out if it has well and truly set’ and then proceeded to wield the spanner.
Not the most encouraging of comments!! I can remember thinking, “I wish this bloody anaesthetic would hurry up’ and that was that.
Continue reading…
My last blog entry was a few months back. At the time I was struggling with morphine withdrawal and the blog wasn’t high on the to-do list.
