Recovery Update – 16 Months Since Tibial Osteotomy

Hi, everyone! This is NACG. This is a long overdue update on my recovery.

I am almost 100% recovered from tibial osteotomy I had in October, 2010 and February, 2011. I started running again on treadmill since the beginning of this year, usually walk/run for an hour (3~4 miles) couple times a week. I also go for a short hiking (~1 mile) few times a week. My legs feel strong and I don’t have any pain. Sometimes my legs feel stiff at night after running but it is more of discomfort, not pain. Some areas on knees still feel sensitive. When I rub my knees where the incision was, the sensation is kind of similar to when I touch a funny bone on my elbow – it’s tingly.

The other concern is the scar from the second surgery. For some reason, I am not sure what I did right or wrong but the scars from the first surgery seemed to have faded much faster than the ones from the second surgery. Here are the close-up photos of the scars from yesterday.

Both legs standing up

Close-up of left knee

Both legs sitting down

I am still mainly using cocoa butter and Mederma. Also the scars become more apparent at night or after drinking alcohol probably due to the blood flow. I will also do my best to avoid sun on the scars this summer since UV rays darken the scars on skin.

Also some readers asked me about wearing heels after tibial osteotomy. I usually don’t wear heels but there have been couple occasions I wore 3-inch-heels. The first time was 3 months after the second surgery. I was standing for about 2 hours with my stilettos on and my knees did feel tired. It almost felt as if the kneecaps were sore. The second time was about 10 months after the second surgery around christmas last year. I was cooking, standing, socializing, etc for 6 hours and didn’t feel much soreness or discomfort on my knees like the first time I wore heels. Since everyone has a different speed of growing new bone, I think it’s safest to wait until there is no pain. The third time I wore a pair of heels was just two days ago to make the video below. It’s not too different from the last video but wanted to show the walking with heels on.

16 Months After Tibial Osteotomy from NACG on Vimeo.

Hope you find this post useful and wish everyone a great summer!

11 Months Since the First Surgery!

I can’t believe next month is one year anniversary of my first tibial osteotomy! There were times when I wondered during the recovery if I was ever going to walk again without limping. Even though the initial recovery phase, from the surgery date to the day I walked without limping, was only 8 weeks, it felt much longer than it actually was. I can’t say I am 100% normal yet in terms of flexibility – I can’t touch the same side of the back of my hip with the heel of my foot even though I can touch the other side. It’s interesting that I can bend about same degrees with both legs.

The scar medicine I am finally sold on is “Mederma” from CVS. It dries fast, easy to use, no waste, and most importantly I can see the improvement little by little every week. It’s not cheap- about $30 for 1.76 oz and $20 for smaller-sized tube but I plan to stay with Mederma for now. Below is a slideshow of couple photos from today. After 11 months the scar finally looks minimal. Still there are redness and sensitive areas on the right knee.

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I wish I could post new videos of walking and running but as my multimedia director, (AKA, my husband ^_^) has been away for his new job for two months, it’s has been difficult to document the progress of the recovery; however when things are less hectic, I plan to post more content.

Good News

I have a great news to share! One of the readers of this blog had a tibial osteotomy surgery about a week ago to correct her bowed legs with Dr.K and the surgery was successful. Now she is recovering much faster than I did – she can already bend her knee close to 90 degrees which took me almost a month! I am truly excited for her speedy recovery. She has requested that she stays anonymous so I won’t post any photos of her legs but I wanted to share the good news with everyone!

Follow-up Appointment with Dr.K

It has been about 8 months since the first tibial osteotomy on my right leg and 4 months since the second tibial osteotomy on my left leg. Today I had my follow-up appointment with Dr.K (this is actually not the last appointment) and I was quite surprised how much the gaps in my knees have been filled in on the x-rays. Below is a slideshow of x-rays from today and a few more photos that were taken two days ago.

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For the scar treatment, I’ve been using CVS Scar Cream with SPF as UV rays tend to darken scars and using Mederma at night. It is supposed to take 3-6 months to see the full improvements and results. So far it’s hard to say which product I’ve used works the best. More expensive scar gel, Scarprin was rather disappointing because it was the most expensive scar treatment I’ve bought and it really didn’t meet my expectation – the gel doesn’t really dry and there is only 30 mL so it was gone in two weeks. Mederma takes a few minutes to dry as well but it does dry eventually and seals the scars.

Iris’ First Appointment with Dr.K

Iris flew 700 miles for her first appointment with Dr.Klimkiewicz last Wednesday night and she wrote me her experience of meeting with Dr.K so I could share her story with all the readers who visit this blog. I am so happy for her that she saw the hope to correct her legs and wish her the best of luck for the journey. I also thank her for sharing her story on this blog. Thank you so much, Iris!

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My battle with my bowed legs started on one hot spring afternoon when I was 11 years old.  My 6 grade teacher, Mrs. C, asked us to stand up and stand still for a physical examination.  When she approached to me, she pointed to my legs and said: “stand up still and put your knees together”.  I whispered softly to her: “Mrs. C., I am standing up still.”  The truth is despite my best effort I was not able to put my knees together like other kids.  I knew I was different then.

Over the years I’ve learned to accept a few nick names from my classmates such as frog-legged lady, O-legged girl, horse-riding girl and countless stares on my legs.  Laughed by others in the swimming pool, I also gave up my chance to be in senior swim team in high school.  My legs continue to be more bowed as I get older and I started developing pains on my knees and legs.  Eventually I gave up my love for running, biking, swimming, and hiking.

Determined to fix my legs, I’ve visited chiropractors, yoga instructors, and orthopedic surgeons and had purchased other devices that claimed it can fix my bowed legs. Needless to say, none of the devices and exercises doctors recommended worked and my legs are still bowed. Then one day while searching internet I found the “Not A Cow Girl” blog.  Seeing how NACG recovered from her surgery gave me a hope to correct my deformed legs.  I immediately called Georgetown University hospital to schedule an appointment with Dr. K.

I was very nervous about the upcoming appointment because of all the rejections that I received from other doctors in the past.  The night before the appointment I prayed to God for his help to guide me through the process and I sincerely hope Dr. K would consider my physical pain and would agree on doing the surgery for me.

My appointment with Dr. K was at 9:00 am but I arrived bright early at 7:15 am.  The orthopedic department wasn’t even open at that time so I just walked around the campus for a while until the office was open.  Since I was the first time patient, I was asked to fill out some paperwork.  Then the medical assistant asked me to take some X-rays on my knees.  Afterwards I sat and waited in the waiting room.   As I was sitting in the waiting room, someone called my name and asked me to change to surgical gown.  I changed and waited nervously in the room.  Dr. K came in to the room with a big, bright smile.  He listened carefully about my condition, asked me to lie down on the bed, and examined my knees and legs carefully.  He pressed at several locations to get an idea on where exactly my knees and legs were hurting and told me that I have several options: one is to schedule a 6 week physical therapy by doing some exercises and see if my condition would improve; two is to have the I-Balance HTO surgery.  As bowed as my legs are, the I-Balance HTO surgery would definitely align my body and help easing my knee pains and legs cramps.  We came to a conclusion that surgery would be my best option.  My next step is to come up with the date that I can do the surgery.  Dr. K said that since I am from out of town, he will help me to schedule a surgery date that works for me.  I am so thankful that he sees my problem and is willing to help me resolve the pains that I’ve carried on for so long.  I almost cried leaving the orthopedic office.

Since the initial appointment, I have talked to my boss and family members and came up with the range of dates that I am open for surgery.  I will have my surgery on the week of 7/11 with exact date still not finalized.  I am so looking forward to the surgery date.  At least I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I thank “Not A Cow Girl” for all your help from finding the right doctor.  Thank you so much, Not A Cow Girl.  I hope someday I can be a “Not A Cow Girl” too!

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Walking and Running

This is a video taken today, 7 months since the first tibial osteotomy on the right leg and 3 months since the second tibial osteotomy on the left leg to correct my bow legs.

I feel comfortable walking and gently running. I started walking my dogs and I have no problem walking two dogs (one big one little) for 45 minutes. Currently the pain level doesn’t exceed 1~1.5 (10 being the highest) and I am almost off the percocet and taking a non-narcotic pain medicine, Tramadol.

I also stopped physical therapy and doing stretching and exercising – stationary bike on my own time.

Walking and Running 3 Months after the Second Surgery

I thank my husband for taking this video. ^_^

On Knee Pains

I found a useful website about knee pains: http://www.rheumatologychannel.com/knee-pain/index.shtml

Toward the end of the article, it says that abnormal alignment of knees can cause knee pains. During my research prior to the surgeries, I read similar articles on internet. So it is very ironic to me how some orthopedic doctors believe there is no relation between bowlegs and knee pains…

If you have pain on your knees, visit the link below to read on knee pain treatment.
http://www.rheumatologychannel.com/knee-pain/treatment.shtml

X-Ray taken last week on April 26, 2011

Time flies. It also mends scars and grows new bones. It has been 6 months and 2 weeks since the first surgery and 2 months and 3 weeks since the second surgery to correct my bowed legs. I always felt self-conscious about the shape of my legs since I was a teenager so it was a great news that the surgery would make my bowed legs straight, fix the knee pains, and prevent arthritis in the future as well. The level of pain I had on my legs before the surgery was not too serious. I experienced dull pains on the outside of my legs below the knees only after long walks, jogging, and snowboarding for hours and I was concerned that the pain was getting more noticeable as I get older. As I mentioned in my previous posts, both my grandma and mom suffered from severe arthritis on their legs. My grandma had knee-replacement surgery and my mom had arthroscopic surgery.

Dr. Klimkiewicz (Dr. K) who operated tibial osteotomy using ibalance system is a wonderful surgeon who puts his patients’ needs on priority. For me he was the perfect surgeon because he didn’t judge the need for the surgery with the existing conditions but saw the benefits I would have in the future from the surgery.

Last week, I had my second follow-up appointment with Dr. K and he was excited to see the progress on my legs. He told me I should be able to start running by early July and encouraged me to be more aggressive with exercises (stationary bike and elliptical) to strengthen the legs. Below is a x-ray of my legs taken during the appointment. The gap on my right leg looks cloudy which means new bone is filling in. The screws look faint but they are there – you can click on the picture to enlarge it.

X-ray taken on April 26, 2011

Meeting with Jen

I am happy to let everyone know that Jen had a meeting with Dr. K last week and scheduled her surgery this summer. Fortunately she will do her pre-operation test on the day of her surgery since she’s out of town. For other details about her appointment with Dr.K, I asked her if she could write me a few paragraphs herself as it’s her privacy. I plan to post her experience of visiting Dr.K when she sends me the details along with her permission to post them on my blog.

When she and I met at a coffee shop nearby my house, I felt like I’ve known her for a long time because I could share her feelings. I am excited for her that her meeting with Dr.K went smoothly and also I felt good that I played a part in connecting her to the right surgeon.

Below is a picture of us taken by a photo fairy.

Jen was beautiful

Safety First!

Some of my readers asked me about the brace a few times. From the pictures, it might look like a cast but it’s actually a quite soft, flexible and removable brace – made with fabric and Velcro (hook-and-loop fastener).

It’s not absolutely necessary to wear the brace all the time after the surgery. After the first surgery I had the brace on at home for a few days then only when I went to work for extra protection for four weeks. After the second surgery, I didn’t wear it at all at home and wore it to work for a few days.

My physical therapist didn’t want me to abruptly bend the knee accidentally so she advised me to wear it whenever I am outside for at least four weeks after the first surgery. After the second surgery, the recovery was much faster so it wasn’t necessary to wear it for that long.

Having a brace on also send an alert signal to people to be careful around me as well as for my protection. The brace was somewhat intimidating to other people and I could see how it was working as a guard.

Safety First – Putting a Brace On. from NACG on Vimeo.

I thank my husband for taking this video…