One Year Later

So one year ago on this date, I had surgery on my right knee to attempt to remove the synovial chondromatosis disease.  Well over the year it seemed to have gotten better and then gotten worse.  Right now, I am unsure if the disease has grown, or it is because of the cold, or if I hurt my knee a different way because it has been really sore, stiff, and just hurting.  It has been really swollen up as of late and I can't extend it the whole way and bend it back as far as I could before.  I go back to the doctors in a few days and will put an update up once it is done and let everyone know what the case is.  I am hoping that it did not grow because I am not ready to have surgery again.

9 Months Later

So it has been a while since I have updated this, and it has now been about 9 months since I had surgery and most of this disease removed.

So I was at the doctors in Pittsburgh on Friday (9/20/13) and got some x-rays done.  Nothing major has changed, I could tell, as well as Dr. Weiss, that it has changed, but nothing that it bothers me.  It is still up to me if and when I want to have surgery.  I am just going to play it as not until it starts bothering me, like he said, it could be tomorrow or many years down the road.  Nothing new in the front of my knee, still as empty as it was since after my surgery.  My next appointment is in December, and then we will go to meeting every 6 months, then every year after a while.  No new pictures of my scars, they are generally the same as there were 3 months ago.

I bought an exercise bike and ever since I started using it my knee has gotten 10x better.  It is still sore on some days, especially with this time of year and the temperature varying like 30-40 degrees from morning to afternoon.

So other than that, I got married to Kayla on July 6th, we went on our honeymoon to Aruba, and I am one happy man cause I got me a wonderful woman!!  She is now all moved in with me in York.

Also, we got another puppy!! Here name is Hannah, so now we have Ellie Belle and Hannah Banana.  Ellie is on the right, and Hannah is on the left, she is half Black Lab and half Boarder Collie and she has a white glove, fingertips,

I also have another blog going on if you want to check it out:
http://inspirationald.blogspot.com/

It is updated almost daily.

Here is the Facebook page (that you should like!) and the Twitter feed (that you should follow and you will get a follow back!):
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/InspirationalD
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Inspirational_D

6 Months Later

Well, it is now over 6 months since I have had surgery on my right knee.  This will be pretty short, the knee is feeling good, still gets sore on days when I am on it a lot and all that.

I was at the doctors on the 21st, we took x-rays, nothing has changed and the disease is still there.  He said that it is up to me if and when I want to have surgery.  Since it is my call, I will be waiting until it starts bugging me, if it doesn't bother me, there is no need really to have surgery.  That was about it with the appointment.

I am also getting married on Saturday!!  After the wedding we are off to Aruba!!

That is about it for this one.

5 months later

So it has been 5 months since I had my surgery on my right knee.  It is 45 days until I get married, we had our bridal shower over this past weekend and got lots of gifts, I have been at my current job for over a year now.  Boy, time has been flying!!

I did have this all typed up and my firefox decided to crash and I lost it all...  Now I am just trying to remember all that I said.

I feel that I got most of my range of motion back in my knee.  I have been walking a lot lately, going to this one park that is near my work.  Lots of trails there to walk, they are all paved.  Besides getting blisters behind my big toe on both feet, it is all going good with that and I am feeling better.  I bought new shoes for walking, Brooks.  Also bought some Band-Aid anti-friction stuff to put on my feet to help from getting blisters, it seems to be working so far.

I am using an app on my iPhone called MapMyRun, if anyone would like to add me my username is bmy61.

I go back to the doctor on Friday June 21st, around then will probably be my next post/update.  I will be doing these monthly and/or when I remember to do one.

I should be closing on my house in the next few days, so I will be moving into there.  Going to bring my mountain bike down from my parents house after that, so hopefully I can get back to doing that.

Other than that, below is some pictures of what my knee looks like as of today.

4 Months Later

So it has been roughly 4 months since I had surgery on my right knee.  The past few weeks have been up and down for my knee, it has been sore and then like today, it feels great!!  I am still doing my knee exercises and doing the Nike+ Fitness program.

Last week, I was up in Canada for a few days for work.  We left on Monday, flew out of the Harrisburg airport to Toronto, then to Montreal.  The same on the way back home.  The flight there was a good one, the flight home is a different story.  Had turbulence the whole way home, the worst part was from Toronto to Harrisburg because I was on a 18 passenger plane.  It felt like an hour long roller coaster, I still have a headache today from the plane ride.

So I am hoping to get out on my mountain bike soon, not sure if I am ready to hit up trails yet, but at least to ride and get my knee back into it and to get me back into shape a little bite and to lose some weight that I picked up from this surgery.

In 82 days I will be marrying my best friend Kayla!!

Well that is about it, my balloons are dead and lasted about 16 weeks, which is actually pretty good.  Also there is a picture below of my knee, little bit of swelling still there, but still icing and the back of my leg is still hurting the worst.  The bottom picture of my leg from behind is up-side-down.

14 Weeks Later

So this week marks 14 weeks since I have my right knee operated on.  Everything has been getting better day by day. It is hurting less each day.  I started to heat my knee before I work out all the time and it seems to be helping it, it hurts less during the day, and if it is hurting and I heat it before I work out, it feels a lot better during and after working out.  I am still icing it each night after working out.

Mountain bike season is coming up so I am getting pretty excited for that!!

Monday was my Ellie Belle's (my dog) 1st Birthday!!  Also, on Thursday, March 28th, is the day that it will be 100 days until me and Kayla get married!!

Not too much else to really talk about with my knee.  Pictures below of my knee, my dog, and the balloons which are almost done, surprised the one lasted this long.

The seriousness of synovial chondromatosis

Just wanted to share this, yesterday a lady from the UK has messaged me on Twitter, she was just telling me good luck with my recovery and that she has synovial chondromatosis as well. So I just said to her back asking when she had surgery for hers, she told me that she had surgery 7 times and had a knee replacement and it still came back. As we messaged more, she told me that no doctors around her will operate anymore and that the only doctors that will is in the USA.

To me this is crazy, I really didn't think this was that bad seeing that, from I read, that this has only a 25% chance of returning. I am thinking that it could be more because some of the medical websites say that the it is common to come back. As in it is still there in the back of my leg, I do expect to have surgery for it again in the coming years, and if it would come back in the other places that it looks to have been removed, then it comes back.

This just shows how serious that this disease that is generally unknown is. I wish that someone could figure out why this happens and that because no one literally does no know. I just pray that the lady that messaged me can get hers figured out because overall, this disease is just crazy. I know that I'm not the only one out there that hopes for a cure and that someone can figure out why this and PVNS happens, since they are sorta similar and no one knows why either happens or a cure for them besides surgery which doesn't work all the time.

12 weeks later

So this past Friday, I drove to Pittsburgh to see the doctor. He said everything looks good, he would just like me to get more bend in it by my next appointment, which is on June 21st, 6 months after surgery. I will be having more X-rays done then as well.

I asked him if there is a known cause for this disease and he said none that he knows of. I asked if my knee giving out prior to surgery, and before my knee swelled up, would have been a thing that could have been this disease and he said that it most likely was it. My knee has been giving out since high school, so he said if they would have gave me X-rays and MRIs then on my knee that they would have most likely found something.

So I'm still working out, doing the Nike+ Fitness stuff and still doing my knee exercises, and icing my knee front and back. It's getting nice out so it is getting closer to mountain bike season!! My knee bugs me every once in a while, or sometimes all day. It seems to bug me as the weather changes, mostly when it's warmer out and it gets cold from when it's been warm or when it is going to or is raining/snowing.

Me and my fiancé have been looking for houses online, this past weekend we went an looked into some houses. We found one that was hard to beat that day, and overall that is within our price range. So we made an offer, they countered, and we accepted it. So we should be closing on the house by mid May. We are both excited!! Then we are getting married on July 6th, going on our honeymoon, then Kayla will officially move out here and we can start our life together with our puppy, Ellie.

Well that's about it, the balloons are still the same as before, 1 afloat the other not, and here is some pictures of my knee from today. I also added a picture of my dog being funny and playing with her squeaker squirrel and showing her belly!

10 Weeks Later

So I missed the update for the 9 weeks later, but nothing has really changed that much from 8 weeks until now.  I have my 12 week after surgery appointment in Pittsburgh, PA on Friday March 8th, next week.

For the most part, the soreness is less and less each day, I am getting more movement in it each day, I am still doing the Nike+ Fitness Kinect Game, (which works my butt pretty well!!), and the physical therapy exercies.  My knee is getting stronger, I attempted to run over the weekend, nothing far just like 20 yards and I am still a little slow and need to get my knee better for that.

The two baloons I got are still the same, one has floated down and the other is still a float.

Below is pictures of my knee, still swelled up a bit, I need to remember to ice my knee more often...  Still no feeling on my incisions, both front and back, and on the right side of my knee in the front and parts of the back of my leg.

My fiance made me the equation in the bottom picture. Isn't she amazing? :-)

8 Weeks later

So 8 weeks ago today I was under the knife.

This blog post will be short and sweet.

My knee is continuing to gain strength.  Through the Nike+ Fitness stuff, I am noticing that I can hop around more and longer on my right leg.  So everything is going good with it.  It has been normally sore, and every once in a while is hurting, but I can normally just take some sort of pain reliever and the pain goes away.

Here is my Nike+ account if anyone wants to add me: http://nikeplus.nike.com/plus/profile/BMY777/

The balloons I have been posting are still the same, the smilie face one is still afloat the other one is not.

Below is some pictures of my knee from today.  The front is still looking about the same, as well as the back.  Last night a scab came off of my back incision, and it was pretty big.  As you can see in the picture, there is a hole right now at the top of the incision where the scab was at.  I felt it pulling for a while now when wearing pants, today it was better from that so I guess that is good.

Anyway hope everyone has a good week!!

7 Weeks Later

So this past Monday (yesterday), marks 7 weeks since I had surgery on my right knee.

Since my last doctors visit, I have been working out a little bit since I have been cleared to do anything I want to do.  I have been doing some physical therapy stuff (same stuff as before but with weights), doing an exercise video, and doing some resistance band workouts.

With physical therapy, I am using an ankle weight.  It can go up to 20 pounds, but I am only using 4 pounds right now.  My knee is starting to get better with it so I am going to try to bump it up to 8 pounds either tomorrow or Thursday when I do it again.

The exercise video I have been doing is the Nike+ Fitness Game on the Xbox 360 with the Kinect.  It seems to be pretty good, works all aspects of your body.  There is some things in the game that I still can't, or not do that well.  There is stuff to do on my knees, and since I don't got complete feeling in my right knee yet, it is kinda hard to balance on it, but I am getting better and more used to it.  There is also some 1 legged things to do, I can do a few of them then I kinda have to cheat and use both legs.  I can do the balance on my right leg fine, it is the hopping around on one leg that kinda gets to my knee and starts hurting.  I am also doing some squats among other things that are working good for my knee.

The band workout I do is mostly for my upper body, I am trying to get my muscle tone back up there.  I am doing these when the Nike+ Training is not on the strength parts.  I am going to add in some leg workouts next time I do the bands.  I figure I can add in squats, calf raises, dead lifts, among other things.

Overall, my knee has been sore this past week and a half.  Just from being back at work and exercising.  I guess that is good because it shows that I am working it more than I was doing and hopefully I can be back to normal in no time.  Every once in a while I need to take some sort of pain reliever because of the pain.  The back of my leg incisions hurt every once in a while, just feels like they are pulling.  But as you can see in the picture below, there is a scab at the top of the incisions so I think that is what is grabbing onto my pants and bothering me.  My knee is still swollen a little bit, I am trying to ice it every night after I am done working out to try and help the swelling to reduce.

Well another week down, and another week closer to being fully healed.  Also, another week closer until I get married to the greatest lady ever (besides my mom haha).  My next appointment is on March 8th, which I am sure that I will be in and out of there for the most part.

Below is pictures of my knee from about an hour ago.  I took pictures of the sides of my knee as well, not sure if you can see the swelling.  I also took pictures of my baloons, just because one is still afloat.

6 Weeks Later

So I went to the doctors on Friday, he said that everything looks good, I am walking good and everything.  I am allowed to do anything I want on with my knee, as long as it is not bugging me.  I can now go swimming and all that as well.  I am putting lotion on it to help with the dryness.

I started work again today, I am glad because I would rather be going to work than just staying at home and doing nothing.

My physical therapy is over, but I am going to be doing it on my own in my apartment.  I am allowed to start using weights so I am going to be doing the same exercises as before just with weights. I am just adding in squats and one leg stands.

I did get some news that did upset me a little, I got there, me and my Mom got to go in early because everyone was canceling because of the weather, I went and got X-rays on my knee.  When I got back to my room and the doctor pulled up my X-rays, he noticed that he missed a piece behind my knee.  He said that it could bother me in 5 years, or never.  He said that if the disease would come back in the front of my leg and would need removed, he would just remove the stuff in the back as well while he is at it.

I have another visit in 6 weeks, then I will have to have another visit 6 months from my surgery, which is in June.  Then another a year after my surgery.  I will have to visit him every year for the rest of my life to make sure that the disease does not come back or get worse.

I was hoping to go to the doctors right after my honeymoon is done in July, but he only has office hours on Wednesdays and Fridays, so I guess I got to do what I got to do.

So that is about it, below I have pictures of what my incisions look like 6 weeks later and some pictures of baloons that my grandma got 6 weeks ago and they are still afloat.  I will try to take pictures every week for a little bit to see the progress of my incisions.  The pictures are side ways for some reason...

5 Weeks Later

So five weeks ago I was a in Pittsburgh waiting for morning to have surgery and now it is 5 weeks later.  Time kinda flew by and I am ready to work, just because being at home all day gets boring after a while.

I go to the doctors this Friday (25th), I will know then if I am able to drive and go back to work or not.  I am walking pretty normally and doing well at therapy.  At the beginning of each workout I have an electric current, or something like that, tape onto my quad to help me get it moving before I start my workout for about 10 minutes.  I am doing just some typical movement exercises: Stiff leg lifts (front, side, back), kicking my leg out (while dropped down over a ledge and with a coffee can sized thing underneath my knee), and doing leg curls while on my stomach.  I am also riding a bike two times at 5 minutes for a total of 10 minutes of riding a bike, I find it humorous that I am on a bike because when I noticed the disease I was riding my bike and I wrecked it.  I am also doing some calf raises to strength back up my right calf and then doing calf stretching.  Then they put a sleeve over my knee and some maching pumps in cold water starting at around 51 degrees Fahrenheit and it goes down to about 41 degrees over 10-15 minutes and I am done.

I will update this again on the weekend when I find out what I am allowed to do in the future and when and all that.  Some questions I am going to ask is these: When do you think I can have my knee submerged in water (for swimming and such), running, strengthing (like lifting weights), stretching, when I might get the feeling back in the right side of my knee, and anything else I can think of like those.

So I got all the taped strips off of my leg, below is the final pictures of what they look like, pictures were taken on January 17th.  The mark above my incision on the front of my leg was where they drainage hole was at, I believe it is filled in and almost healed for the most part.  I also still don't have feeling on the right side of my knee.

Started outpatient Physical Therapy

So this past Tuesday, 1/8, I started outpatient physical therapy at Western PA Sports Medicine & Rehab Clinic in Johnstown, PA.  Today was my 2nd time going.  My knee actually feels a lot better after doing all that.  Today I did everything from Tuesday plus some.

I started out today's workout with some electrodes, or something like that, being injected into my quad muscle and loosening it up and I had to flex the quad muscle when it was tightening it up.  I then did some typical motions exercises, then I got to get on a bike to do some more motion exercises.  At first the bike was bothersome to my knee, but once I got going it felt good, I just had to keep on pulling up my shorts because they kept on rubbing the incision on the back of my leg.  I then did some calf stretches, then some more motion exercises, then back on the bike for the second time.  After that, I iced my knee and then I was done and came home.

I am able to start walking without crutches fairly well, starting to get up and down steps without my crutches, but I keep my crutches on hand just encase I would need them.  I can't walk down steps yet normally, I can only go one step at a time with both feet on both steps, but I can go up steps with one foot on each step.

The people up at Western PA want me to get pictures of my surgery so they can see what it looks like, because I am one of the first cases up there with synovial chondromatosis, and now there have been a few more people with cases like mine in different joints, but no where near as severe as mine was.

Below is some pictures of my incisions with most of the strips off of my leg.  I also might have said in the last blog post that I am taking Advil, I am taking Aleeve instead because I miss heard what the doctor said, and they said that all the strips coming off already is good.

On Saturday, January 12th, will be 175 days that I get to marry my best friend Kayla. :-)

Here is a picture of me and my Fiance's dog Ellie, she is 3/4 Black Lab and 1/4 German Shepard.  She lives with my fiance currently, but once we get married she will then be living with me as well.  Just thought that I would share because I don't think I showed any pictures of her yet.

Stitches are out!!

So I just got back from Pittsburgh and my stitches are out.  I now got some of those strips on the back of my leg, that I have on the front of my leg, that will come off as time goes by.  The doctor said that it all looks good and I should be on schedule for healing.  I am not allowed to drive yet, I got to wait until my next appointment which is 3 weeks from today on Friday 1/25 and hopefully returning to work on the 28th.

I asked him about how often my disease occurs, he said it is about 1 in a million, but when he took mine out, it was literally as big as a hockey puck and came out in one piece, he said that's the first time he has ever experienced that.

He wants me to try to walk around my house without crutches but still use crutches when I am out and about, especially with it snowing out and being icy.  I am hoping now that my stitches are out, and I don't have to wear any wrapping around my knee anymore, that I can wear something other than sweatpants, and I know my fiance will be happy if I can look more decent when we go out, haha.

Well, here is my post stitches leg with the strips on the back of my leg.

Doctor Check-up tomorrow

Well tomorrow morning, I will be traveling to Pittsburgh for a check-up and all that.  I just wanted to post some pictures of my knee before I go back to the doctors.

Today I am able to walk around without crutches, and am starting to be able to walk down steps without having to slide on my butt.

I think I have roughly 25 stitches in the back of my leg.

That's about it for today, will update over the weekend after I visit the doctor.