Went to the doctor yesterday to find out how I was doing in Week Six after the leg surgery. The news was very good. It was also very annoying, and for the same physiological reason.
Long-time readers and associates of mine know that I’m pretty good at recovering from traumatic injury. Maybe it’s because I’ve had plenty of practice. Yesterday’s X-ray showed that the fracture appeared to be completely healed. It was a nontrivial break in a bad place, I’d used the leg quite a bit after the break, and I waited six days for surgery because of travel, so it would have been reasonable for the healing to take much longer than it did.
“Some patients,” my ortho said, “respond to this kind of trauma by displaying, ah, exuberant bone growth.”
“Nobody’s ever accused me of exuberant bone growth before,” was my answer. Exuberant bone usage, maybe.
“Well, there’s more to it than that,” he replied. “You’re actually growing additional bone on the outside of your knee. We have to wait for it to stop growing, then wait six months, and at that point we could remove it, if it’s troublesome.” Huh. Did that ever happen to Wolverine? Did he ever get thrown off a train or something and find out afterwards that he was growing additional bone, or adamantium-covered bone, depending on when in the timeline you’re considering?
So as of yesterday, I’m walking with a cane. Luckily, I still have my Palatnik Skull Cane from the January 2014 crash. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t need it again; I just didn’t expect to need it so soon.
I’ve also ridden the CB1100 a bit. Might try the VFR today.
The problems are these: First, my knee is still so swollen that I can’t bend or extend it very well or very far. Secondly, my knee still hurts like hell. Most of the pain from my leg started to dissipate last week, leading me to think that I was more or less healed (and, to be truthful, to start walking around on it a bit). But my knee started to really hurt around the same time. Some of that is increased usage, but I think the sharp pain is from that new bone growth. I hope it stops soon.
I’d like to think of myself as Wolverine: bearded, handsome, equally comfortable with seducing Jean Grey and tearing bad guys apart with my pop-out claws. The reality is that I’m an ill-tempered, quick-witted misanthrope who leans on a cane, has a genuine affection for prescription medication, rides a Honda sportbike, and plays a Flying V from time to time. In other words, I’m this guy:
That’s apt. Hope you continue to heal and have a happy Thanksgiving.
The P.T. will be painful Jack ~
After all these breaks and surgeries I still have no idea how to tell when I’m pushing too hard .
Take care and have a great Thanksgiving , hopefully with John .
-Nate
Pet peeve from ‘that guy’: why does a guy with razor sharp claws never dismember, decapitate, or disembowel anyone?
Does House get much tail?
House hires plenty of ‘professional’ ladies
Pizza with double cheese causes exemplary healing and bone growth…Dr. Robie
With the full personal life you seem to have, Jack, I find it hard to believe that no one has ever told you that you displayed exuberant bone growth. 😉
Seriously, though, while the extra bone growth may require some corrective surgery later on, it is also usually associated with extra strength bone re-growth at the site of the fracture. Which sure beats being at the opposite end of the spectrum.
A few decades ago, the livein BF of a fellow grad student had a broken lower leg that just kept on refusing to knit properly. He was in his third year of recovery, and wearing an electrical stimulation pack to try to encourage bone growth, 24×7.
I’d be curious to know if you ever got around to using that five thousand year old liniment formula I told you about, or not, and if so, what your opinion of it is. I would rather hear your honest evaluation, rather than a polite one. I know you appreciate my trying to help you, but I also want to know whether other people have any response to it, and if so, what type.
If you haven’t tried it yet, you might give it a try now. Those secondary aches and pains and swelling are one of the things it seems to help.
Best wishes for a full recovery.
I’m absolutely going to get it now for the knee — it had just dropped down my list of things to do.
Jack… I love you, I really do. But this post was complain-braggy as hell.
Ah, but is there any other way to write a piece about EXUBERANT BONE GROWTH?
Willpower is an extraordinary thing, and Betty awaits her chance at domination.
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