Knee Update: MRI Review, Surgery Scheduled

I saw my Orthopedic Surgeon today. Went over the MRI and X-ray results, and I was actually a little surprised to see that it wasn't as bad as I had expected.

However, the ACL will need to be repaired. I had no doubt about that. What was surprising was there was less damage to the other structures of the knee than I figured, so in that respect there was some good news. The lateral meniscus was difficult to assess on the MRI, but we'll take care of all of that stuff when we get in there. 

I'd rather not have to be going through all of this, but at least I have people I trust working for me on this. The guy who did my shoulder last summer is going to do my knee, and he's done loads of repairs like the one I'm going in for. My PT will most likely be the same one who helped me rehab the shoulder, so I know what to expect from post-op PT. 

Surgery is next Wednesday afternoon (April 8th). Next post will probably be after that, pumped full of painkillers. :)

Knee Update: I-Day Plus 6

MRI finally scheduled for Monday morning, and a visit to the Orthopedist 2 weeks later. In a holding pattern until then. I decided to go back and see the guy who repaired my shoulder, since I trust him.

I'm trying to take it easy and be patient, but the lack of full mobility drives me a little nuts. Plus, there's still so much ski season left. Why couldn't I have done this in May or something? Frak.

Knee Update: I-Day Plus 3

Well, the swelling in the left knee has diminished considerably, thanks to rest/ice/compression/elevation, and 1500mg/day of Salsalate. I'm not in constant pain like I was on Monday.

It will bear weight, but I'm trying not to push that envelope too much. I can't fully extend it, and can only flex it to about 70 or so degrees without pain. The motion I do have seems smooth and comfortable, so that's encouraging, but attempting to walk on it without the neoprene brace is uncomfortable at best.

It still feels laterally unstable, and also feels like I could hyperextend it rather easily. The kneecap isn't loose or anything, and I can't really detect any laxity in the limited tests I've tried on my own. We'll see what my ortho doc has to say about all that whenever I get the chance to go see him. I'm waiting for the insurance company to approve my MRI request before I schedule that, and I'm not sure if I want to schedule an appointment with my ortho doc without the MRI done.

Hopefully, I will hear back tomorrow about the MRI approval and get that scheduled ASAP.

Ski Day 12: Dammit Dammit Dammit

Well, the day started out well enough. My other coach and I got our 6 apprentices wrangled over to Ski Bowl, there was tons of fresh snow, and the sun was even threatening to make an appearance.

I sent all the apprentices off with regular patrollers to help with the opening assignments, and figured I'd just take whatever special project came up, or if there wasn't one, go find some freshies. The 'special assignment' du jour was shoveling the snow-steps down to the Rescue Center. The patroller who'd called it in to me was thinking I'd make some poor apprentice do it, but they were already assigned, and I wanted them on the hill learning the opening assignments - not shoveling snow.

I finished the steps, and decided to go out and check the east wall ("Scotty's Way"). I got a little Tree Patrol in on the way over, but ended up a little lower than I planned, so had to hike a little ways uphill to make the traverse entry to head out to Scotty's. The traverse has a lot of very bumpy sections, and as anyone who's skied it knows, you have to keep the knees loose and absorb it all, or try and hop the ones that are too close together.

I got to a spot where I felt like I needed to hop one that was too close, and...well, I didn't land it correctly. I was too far back on my tails, and my left knee made the sound of celery being twisted when I hit.

I laid in a heap briefly, in a good deal of pain, cursing that as well as the fact that I should have known better than to get back the way I did. I failed the first attempt to stand up, but succeeded at the second. Testing the knee, it felt horrilby unstable laterally. I knew I'd have to call for a sled, but I felt like I could kind of ski out of where I was as long as I kept the knee flexed and tight, then turn to my left and traverse on my good leg. So I "called in fire on my own position" and got hauled down the hill.

After filling out my own form and getting some ice, I called B to tell her I'd be home early, and why that was. After that, I pulled my lunch out of my backpack and ate, while figuring out how to get home. All my stuff - and the Sorento - was over on the other side of the area, so I ended up having a fellow patroller go over and get my stuff and drive the Sorento over, so I could pack it in and go home.

A buddy from my OEC class was up skiing, and he dropped by the aid room just in time to help me get my stuff to the Sorento. The drive home was pleasant, despite the knee pain - I'd never seen how the trees looked in mid-day sun with all the snow on them. It's always dark when I drive to/from the mountain on a patrol day.

Anyway, I got home, dumped all my stuff off, and had B take me to urgent care. The wait was only an hour 45 or so, and I left with a nice black neoprene immobilizer and a shiny new pair of crutches. I figure I'll push to get an MRI as soon as it's practical to do so. If this thing needs repair, I want it done sooner rather than later, and if I just have to take some time off and then ski with a brace for the rest of the season, I want to know that ASAP as well.

Ski Day 11: Coaching At Meadows

Our training sign, near the top of 3-D.

Yeah, yeah, so I'm finally getting around to this on a Tuesday night. I don't get paid for this; I'll write when I feel like it. :)

Anyway, Sunday was my first day on the mountain after the epic dumpage of snow the previous week. While I was glad to be up there, I really was disappointed in myself for not taking a day off last week for a little 'Me Patrol'. But, the snow was fantastic, and thankfully we didn't get rained on too much.

We got a slightly later start than I'd hoped, but we finally wrangled the apprentices together and rounded up the carpool to Meadows just after 7. It was cloudy and a little windy, and we were expecting snow. We got it, and so on goes the pack cover. There wasn't much for us to do to help the rest of the patrollers with opening, so we did what little we were asked to do, and started off towards Shooting Star for training.

Apprentices prepare for a training run.

We began with some free-skiing on the runs we'd be running sleds on, so the gang could get familiar with the slope, then started right in on running sleds. The team made some decent progress, but they still all want to let their inside/uphill shoulder wander uphill instead of keeping their shoulders square to the fall line. They're going to get tired of me telling them to work on that, but I don't care - they need to get it right.

Next week, we're back at Ski Bowl. I want to get the group working on some more fundamentals, so I'm going to line up some different drills to run them through. Hopefully, they'll get it and it will translate to their toboggan handling.