.

On July 31st, I tore my patella (quadricep muscle) off the bone & my minuses muscle because I didn’t stop walking when trying to adjust my eyeglasses & mask. How you wonder??? By walking off the curb & hyperextending my leg when it hit hard 6 inches lower then where I was expecting the concrete to be.

I felt the pop & pain in my leg before falling hard face first. I knew I was messed up & started dialing 911 before reaching down to feel my leg. Paramedics arrived in just 12 minutes from when I made the call. I also bruised my right side ribs & shoulder when I landed. The paramedic said my knee appeared to be dislocated but the ER doc said it wasn’t or it went back into place during the torturous ambulance ride to the ER.

11 days in the hospital
20 days in recovery center
4 months of PT to do

I’ve been wearing a full leg immobilizer (ankle to top thigh) since ER, on Sept 1 PT will dial in 5% range of motion to my leg brace. Every 7 to 10 days, I get another 5% added on if I’m keeping up. My goal is to be out of this brace by Christmas/New Year’s.

All of this was easily avoided had I just stopped walking to adjust my mask & glasses.


.

that's horrible
( sounds like something I might do )

Yikes! I hope your recovery goes well!

I wish you a full recovery !!

great remember to take care with even simple / mundane tasks

my wife had a bad wrist injury during a routine bike ride awhile back -- was a wake up call for us definitely

-----------------------------------

.

I get discharged tomorrow, because of Covid lockdown I’ve only seen the people who work at the hospital or at the recovery center.

Today, they offered me use of an iPad. I was stunned because I asked upon arrival at the recovery center for one & they said they didn’t have any. The person who offered to me said the staff keep them because they are responsible if they get lost or stolen. I’ve been going mentally nuts having daytime TV as my only distraction.

Are there any “must read” SigForum threads from the last 4 weeks?

.

Get well soon , may I ask ?
About your age ?

What a bummer. I’m sorry to hear you hurt yourself. Best wishes to a speedy, and full recovery.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Get well soon , may I ask ?
About your age ?

That was my first thought. Such an oopsie happens all the time in the younger years with nothing more than a bandaid.

But in later years . . . .

The other factors are weight and preexisting conditions. Nevertheless this sort of thing can happen to us no matter what age we are.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Get well soon , may I ask ?
About your age ?

I’m 48 and some of you know that I broke my neck in a car accident when I was 17. Most of my long term problems are related to soft tissue damage in my back, neck, spine, & shoulders.

.

Sorry for your pain. I did a similar thing 10 years ago when I walked off a sidewalk where the surrounding ground had sluffed off. I fell on my Nikon camera and ruined a $500 lens. Only financial healing on that one.

Best Wishes and Prayers for a quick recovery!

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

I've been exactly where you are. PT sucks. Wearing the immobilizer sucks. But listen to your doctors and therapists. It will speed up your recovery.

I dislocated my knee while at a golf driving range. Fortunately I was with my brother. He helped me into the car and off to urgent care.

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:




The paramedic said my knee appeared to be dislocated but the ER doc said it wasn’t or it went back into place during the torturous ambulance ride to the ER.

A special design feature of our cots and the ambulance suspension helps cuts down on the frequent flyers. Hope the medic introduced you to the bliss of Fentanyl

Best of luck with the recovery.

Yikes. I hope its starting to feel better now and please listen to your therapist. I've found if you follow their instructions you will be better off for the long term.

quote:

11 days in the hospital
20 days in recovery center
4 months of PT to do

Jeez that’s a long hospital stay; almost unheard of for someone not in critical care (and I guess you could have been given the extent of your injuries)! I don’t know what a “recovery center” is either, except in the context of drug and alcohol recovery. What sort of place is this?

I recently had major surgery, and I think the charges I’m seeing are extraordinary; yours must look like the federal budget

.

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement!

After four weeks in a leg immobilizer, I started PT in the beginning of September. I now have 60 degrees of motion back in my injured leg. I'm moving from in-home PT to a PT Center that has equipment to help me regain my full range of motion.

I've decided that PT does not stand for Physical Therapy and there is no such thing as a Physical Therapist. In reality, PT stands for Physical Terror and the people who work there are Physical Terrorists!!!

The length of the hospital stay was unexpected. My Sunday surgery was bumped twice (delayed 3 days) because of emergency cases and my move to
a recovery center was delayed over a weekend because pre-approval request by the West Coast hospital wasn't completed before my East Coast insurance company hit their quitting time. Had it all gone as planned, the hospital stay would have only been 4 or 5 days.

A recovery center is a skilled nursing facility that specializes in caring for post-surgery patients vs. drug or alcohol recovery.

.

Yep stepping flat footed to a lower spot without expecting it is hands down the thing that jars my whole body and hurts my back the absolute most instantly. It sucks bigtime.

Dern, that's tough... just shows what one wrong step can do... I did the same thing last November only thing was I was 20 feet up in the air and some how only fractured two vertebrae ... 4 weeks just hobbling around in pain.