home

The surgery on my left knee has been completed successfully. I am now the proud owner of a metal plate and 12 little screws that will live in my left leg for the foreseeable future. The way it was explained to me is that the screws thread in to the metal plate, then in to the bone which makes the whole assembly very strong. Cool! My orthopedic was so happy with how well the surgery went that he ordered my leg to be placed in a Kinetic CPM as soon as possible, following the surgery. I woke up in recovery confused and in quite a bit of pain to my leg being forcefully attached to this thing:



I spent the next 24 hours with my leg in the CPM, 2 hours on, 2 hours off. My doctor decided I was ok to be released at around noon time on Sunday and the nurses got my paper work together just under 3 hours later. When my doctor gave me the ok to go home I felt great, by the time they actually let me leave I felt like my leg weighed 100 lbs. I was in quite a bit of pain for the remainder of the night. When I woke up this morning I couldn't get out of bed. My first thought was that I should not have left the hospital when I did. Slowly I was able to get up and get moving. I have been resting as much as possible and feeling a little better as more time passes. Regardless, it is good to be home.

broken

As you may or may not know I have broken my left leg and severely bruised my left shoulder during the running of the Masters class main event on day 2 of the Music City National in Nashville Tennessee. The leg injury is a Tibial Plateau Fracture which is really more like a broken knee. The doctors have not evaluated my shoulder at this point due to the severity of my leg injury but I do know that no bones in my shoulder have been broken. After getting a second opinion it has been decided that the injury to my leg is far too serious to chance letting it heal without surgery.

I have been scheduled for surgery at St. Charles hospital on Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 8 AM. The surgery will include the addition of a metal plate and some screws that will hold the broken section of the bone in place (an internal cast) so that there is no guessing at how the bone will heal. There are also some floating bone fragments that will need to be removed. The surgery will be followed by 8 weeks in a brace with 0 weight being applied to my left leg, followed by physical therapy.

I was also informed that there is a good chance that I will lose some range of motion in my left knee. I was told that I would not even be able to think about riding BMX for at least 6 months and that it is possible that I will not return to the level that I was at when I got injured.

They tell me I will be in the hospital through Sunday, possibly Monday and that I will be in excruciating pain.
I will try to post updates as frequently as possible.

Thanks to everyone for being positive and being there for me!