I had my second follow-up visit with Dr. Behr today. I’m not sure if I should be excited, or just glad that it wasn’t too exciting. I am progressing nicely, but I have a long way to go still.
The best part of the visit was hearing I have less than a week left on crutches. He said that my knee looks good, I have a decent quad set (quadriceps muscles in upper thigh) and that I have good range of motion. All in all, he likes what he sees. He thinks that since I am an active and relatively fit person, I should have a good recovery.
My questions for the next phase are focused around the transition off crutches and building muscle. Dr. Behr does think one of my challenges will to not do too much too soon. I know that if I try to walk too much or exercise too much, I will set myself up for other problems.
As for walking, he thinks I will move off of the crutches fairly quickly. There will be a transition period where I need to use the crutches a little, but I should be walking normally before too long. I think my physical therapist, Rusty (Tassinary Physical Therapy), is a little more conservative for the transition period. We will see. All I know is that I am looking forward to the transition period and getting off of the crutches.
I also found out a little more about what I can start doing in terms of physical therapy. I am going to follow Rusty’s lead on that. The good news is Dr. Behr pretty much said all of the same things Rusty predicted.
One thing we talked about a little was the internet. Dr. Behr doesn’t claim to be very computer savvy, but he does seem to know a little about what is out there. I mentioned that some of the discussion boards seem to just have horror stories and I think that the main customers on them have had problems. he tended to agree with that. He does a lot of microfractures every year and has a high success rate. He also said that his successful athletes don’t get too much press, but the small percentage with complications get a lot. So, for those of you worrying about the procedure, take what you read on the internet with a serious grain of salt. Meaning: it isn’t all true and it is probably the worst case scenario. You have a lot of emotions which may make you miss some of what your doctor has told you. Ask again if you are unsure. Unfortunately, the bulk of the success stories don’t go told. I hope my story will be one that is told. This is a success story that I liked – Microfracture woohoo!.
So, I am pretty happy today. I see my road to recovery, and it looks like something I can handle.