gally99

while outside having a cigarette and looking longingly at the pile of bikes inside the door, i decided to see if i could get around on my little stingray for the next week... bring it downstairs, hop on, and as soon as started the downstroke on the right side i fell over in pain... i hopped on one foot and dragged the bike back to the bottom of the stairs... then i had to sit there for ten minutes, with my drink and smokes at the top, until my knee mellowed out enough to let me get back up the stairs...
first attempt to ride a bike in almost two months...
i have surgery on my knee in a week, and hopefully the recovery won't be this long...
but when i get my new forks from mikkelsen i am definitely making sure they're drilled for a brake...

fixedfiend

Give that knee proper time to heal or else another surgery and a few more months without a bike is a hard lesson to learn.

pitboss

gally99
drop the squares dude. I did last August. After 20 years off and on. Never felt better.

and the knee comes back in time. and do it slow or else back to the butcher you go. I wear a neoprene knee support when i ride sometime. depends how the knee feels. my surgery was back in 95

VeganRider

You SMOKE? no way! oh come on Dude, you gotta be kidding; I'm sure your smarter than that! Hey Bud, several years ago I did too and now can say just how bad cigarettes suck. They suck to the MAX! Dont you want to be a bad ass rider? Well, not going to tell you what to do, but I'd be glad to take you on any day of the week after you heal up. Oh well, good luck! Your gonna need it! ewww,, what stinks?

gally99

this was the first time i even tried sitting on a bike since the accident... until my recent appointments with surgeons i didn't realize how much i'd mangled my knee... i had the MRIs explained to me, and i could see that my ACL is completely gone, and i've destroyed the cartiledge (both surgeons say i'm probably looking at a knee replacement in 10 years or so)
but i figured an easy gear on stingray with a coaster brake might be doable...
nope...
luckily my insurance is getting extended so i'll be able to go to physical therapy...

165 *edit- and vegan*: i plan on quitting as soon as all this is over and i'm back at school... at the moment all i really do is sit at home so i get bored and drink and smoke a lot...
supposedly quitting smoking will also help with recovery from the surgery...
it's definitely on the agenda...

pitboss

indeed it will help. think "oxygen transport"

did the doc give you the run down on the events that will take place? And you got friends/family to help you out?

gally99

as long as i can still make it down the hall from my front door to the door to the building i'm still smoking... the day of surgery will probably be my last day...

first surgeon wanted to do a bone-patellar-bone, new surgeon is doing a donor transplant... got the full lowdown, except for the cartiledge stuff because he can't know how extensive the damage is until he's actually in there...
but yeah, got the full deal- even after care exercises and everything...

and while i've never had surgery before, my mom has had a lot so she's been hounding me to make sure i have people coming over regularly all that...

hella

Get better so that you can post some pics of your new/future Mikkelsen gear.

pitboss

keep us posted in here too. there are a few people in here that have had knee probs/surgery. if there are questions, just ask us. esp when it comes to rehab - the surgery is important, but the rehab is the MOST. do this right, if it is boring or lame or sucks of hurts. you just gotta do it. get the knee back to happyland, revive your quad (i lost 30-40% of my muscle according to my PT) then it's streettrack time!
try and NOT use pain meds too if possible - other wise, you cloud you natural ability to gauge pain levels. which if you are in excruciating pain, it is good. but just taking the pills is only going to delay proper healing.
okay - sorry to preach, but you gots to get back riding.

fixedfiend

They're pretty agressive about therapy these days with ACL reconstruc. They want you mobilizing that leg a day or two after surgery. As painful as it will be, try and put as much weight on that leg as soon as possible. I'm not saying go and ride or even run, but walk and stretch as soon as the doctor tells you to. They wanted me walking up and down stairs 2 days after my surgery and wouldn't let me leave until I showed them I could. Seems to work, here I am 13 years later riding 48x16 brakeless everyday. Good luck and godspeed recovery.