1 Year Later

So it has been a year since I had my last surgery on September 22, 2014.  So far it is still gone for the most part, there is still a piece lingering on the outer part of my leg, as shown in an X-Ray in May and a CAT scan I had earlier in September.  So I have to go back to the doctors once again in December and get another CAT scan to make sure that it is not getting any bigger.  Overall, I feel great, I did not even notice that there was something in my leg, and in my opinion, as long as it is not bother me, I would rather try to avoid having surgery again.  I just need this tendentious to go away, but I have been working out with a trainer and I have been feeling the best I have in over 3 years. I also believe that my leg may never get straight again, but between that and tendentious, it is way better than having surgery constantly.

Here is the results from the most recent CAT scan:

CT LWR EXTR WITHOUT CONTRAST RIGHT - Details

Narrative

CLINICAL HISTORY:
26-year-old male with osteochondral bodies seen on previous CR
imaging at lateral joint line and 04/15/2015.

TECHNIQUE:
Axial CT images of the patient's knee were obtained at 2.5 mm
intervals from the distal third of the femur through the proximal
tibia and fibula, examined on soft tissue and bone algorithm and used
as a basis for coronal and sagittal reformat images.

Comparison:
Previous CR imaging from 04/15/2015.

FINDINGS:
Multiple punctate areas of ossification are seen at the posterior
lateral aspect of the patient's knee joint prior CR imaging was
thought to represent multiple osteochondral bodies. There does not
appear to be an appreciable increase in the bodies compared to the CR
imaging from April of this year.

In addition, there is patchy osteopenia of the distal femur and tibia
which may be due to disuse or hyperemia.

There is mild narrowing of the medial compartment of the knee with
minimal osteophyte formation, and a similar degree of mild narrowing
and osteophyte formation of the lateral compartment and
patellofemoral compartment.

A small knee effusion is present. Extensor mechanism appears
unremarkable.

The coronal and sagittal reformatted images confirm the relationship
of the multiple osteochondral bodies at the posterior lateral aspect
of the knee with respect to the femur and tibia.

Impression

IMPRESSION:
No significant increase in multiple osteochondral bodies compared to
serial imaging from 05/15/2015.

So overall, it seems to be good news to me!

It is still gone

Thought that I would give an update since it has been a while.

Went to the doctors in April and it is still clear, no disease.  I go back again in Septemeber, and if it is still clear, I will start making yearly check-ups.  Before I go back again, I have to get another MRI just to make sure it has no grown back.

Still really no stiffness, I have been going to physical therapy again to try and get rid of the tendonitis that I had in my knee, also to get rid of the tightness, which is a knot, in the back of my leg.

I am hoping to try and get some mountain biking in this year at some point.

Since my Kickstarter was successful, I now have a website for the business if you want to check it out!
www.bmyshomemade.com

Until next time,
Brian

And it is gone!!

Well today I drove to Pittsburgh for a check up, got X-Rays done, the doctor checked it came in and said well I wish your mom and wife were here to hear good news for once! According to the X-Rays, there is nothing left!!  Praise God that it is gone!!  So I go back in for another check up in 3 months to get it looked at again, assuming it stays away I will be good to go I think!

Now it is on to working out again like normal, I started up doing Shawn T's T25 and it is kicking my butt!!  Then hopefully doing some mountain biking here in the spring!

I also have started up a Kickstarter to try and take my salsa making into a business! So if you wouldn't mind backing I would appreciate it, if you don't want to back, at least give my page a like!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bmy/b-mys-homemade-salsa-100-all-natural-organic-salsa

https://www.facebook.com/BMYsHomemade

It has been a while since the last update...

So since it has been almost 2 months since my last update, I have been doing great!! All I can say is that this is the best my knee has felt in 2 years!! Got the stitches out a few months ago, finished physical therapy before Thanksgiving, and started a new job this past Monday.  I can actually squat now without much pain, still doing stretching on my own.  I go back to the doctors here soon, which I am changing until early next year because of the new job.  I still have some spots where I do not have feeling in my right knee.  I will actually be surprised if it has grown back because it does not hurt at all, the tendonitis has seemed to have gone away for the most part and the stitches look great!

No need for pictures because there is nothing to see except for a scar.  I can't wait until it is not winter anymore so I can get back to mountain biking.

Hopefully I won't wait for 2 months to update again.

2 Weeks after surgery

So it will be 2 weeks since my latest surgery on Monday.  Just a quick update, I am still sore, I can feel the stitches pulling pretty good so I am sure they are ready to come out, which I will be getting that done on Wednesday.  Some of them are already falling out on their own.

I am able to walk without crutches, I am still using an immobilizer when I walk up and down stairs and when I am outside.  Mostly hurting in the front incision.  In Physical Therapy they are moving the scar tissue around in my knee, I can tell that because when they are rubbing it, it is burning, they said that it is normal when the scar tissue is breaking up.

So here is a few pictures of the stitches of my knee from right after surgery.

Days after the 3rd surgery

So it has been 3 days since I have surgery on my right knee to try and remove the disease once again.  Same old thing goes on before surgery, they prep you, mine was around 8 and surgery was at 10, then take you into the surgical room, ask you 20 questions, and knock you out then you wake up in the recovery room.  As I woke up, I noticed some pain but not too much, was in recovery for a few hours until I got to go to my room at around 4:00pm.  I spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital from Monday to Wednesday, I was taking some strong pain killers but mostly 500mg Acetaminophen (Tylenol) which I am still taking now.

So in the end, the doctors thinks that he has gotten it all out again.  He opened me up in the front in a small spot, and all the way in the back.  In the front, he said that he took out just a marble sized piece and that was about it there.  In the back, he said that he took a piece out that was about a half of a pint.










There is a picture of how much a half a pint is, to get a reference of what was behind my leg.  After I woke up, I could feel a major difference in my leg, it can almost fully extend straight right away.  I am sure the physical therapy has helped to keep me stretched out as well.  I said that I was gonna ask about getting a piece to take home, well I asked and he kinda laughed and said I am not legally allowed to give you a piece to take home.

Most of the pain is from soreness, I can sorta feel parts that they must have scraped to get the pieces off of, I know part of it was directly on my meniscus so I can feel that pretty good.  But some Tylenol helps to keep the soreness away.

When he came in Tuesday to see me, he came in with a bunch of doctors and his boss, which did his surgery many years ago for his cancer, and he was just asking me questions about my family history to see if anyone else has had anything similar to this disease, which no one has not so he said that he is even still puzzled about it and he has been doing surgeries on it for almost 40 years.

Tomorrow I start physical therapy again, gonna try to get back to work here soon.  I am walking around now without my crutches, still using them to get up and down steps just to make sure I don't fall.  Here is some pitures of before the surgery and after the surgery.

Dr. Weiss's drawings on my legs before the surgery.

 Front of my leg post surgery, didn't take a picture of it yet without the stuff over it.

  Back of my leg post surgery, didn't take a picture of it yet without the stuff over it.

So they decided to give me this kind of stuff to put on my legs, not a wrap, but just tape and a gauze thing, and when it comes off it hurts like heck, just because it rips off all the hairs they didn't shave off before the surgery.  So my next appointment for post-op is Wednesday October 8th, so I will know then anything else to post on here.

Third Times a Charm, I hope

So after visiting the Doctor this past Wednesday (9/10), I will be having surgery for the 3rd time on Monday 9/22.  I just wanted to get it done ASAP because it is hurting pretty bad, even with taking 500 mg of ibuprofen, and it is constantly stiff.  To get to the point, I will be having it removed in the back of my leg like my 2nd surgery, and he will have to cut open part of my leg in the front because a little piece grew back there.  I just told him to do what he has to do.

He and the other doctors in his office are just puzzled at this because they have never seen it grow back this aggressively before, it has literally grown back the same size, if not bigger, than my last surgery back in March and that is only 6 months ago.

This is just crazy that this just keeps coming back.  I asked about my other options that I have, in reality the only other option besides surgery to remove it is a knee replacement.  He won't do that to me because I am way too young for that, I am only 25, and I would rather not have that done right now.  He said another option is to just fire him and go to a different doctor, but in my opinion, I do not really see what another doctor could do besides what he has given to me as options.  I asked about radiation, like treating it sorta like cancer and having radiation done on it.  He said that he, and almost any other doctor won't even consider that because it isn't really cancer and it could actually cause more damage than good to my body.  Like giving me the possibility of having cancer, weak bones, etc.

One thing I do have to agree with him on, is the fact that just be happy it isn't cancer, mine was the "good" news of the day because he has talked to others and bunches of people have cartilage cancer and I am thankful that is not what I have.

When I do have surgery, which I am not too worried about since I have been through it twice already, I am gonna ask if he can give me a piece of it in a jar to take home because I think that would be awesome!!  I am just hoping that when I wake up I am not in much pain because I figure that I will be better off afterwards than I am now.  I am still doing physical therapy right now because it is keeping my leg loosened up and stretched so it doesn't stiffen up on my like last time.  But I will be doing some PT after the surgery as well because I need to get my leg back to normal.

I will update as I go, not sure if it will be before surgery or afterwards.