tpelle

Last year I took a nasty fall and ripped all of the skin off of my left knee. It ended up filling with fluid, I had to go to the ER and have it drained, took antibiotics for 10 days, etc., etc. Finally got better.

So, that brings us to today, which was my niece's high school graduation, AND her 18th birthday as well!

(Here's a pic of her in her Prom dress holding my granddaughter. Are these a couple of good lookin' young ladies, or what?):



Anyway, as I was invited to her party, as as she only lives two or three miles away, and as I figured parking for cars would be at a premium, I decided to ride over on a bike. I had just ridden my Trek 820 mountain bike yesterday, so I figured I was good to go and would just hop on that and go.

So, the Trek has those danged ratcheting shifters, of course, which NEVER seem to be in adjustment. Yesterday I fiddled with the front derailleur cable adjuster as I was riding, and had it pretty well dialed in, or so I thought. Today I jump on the bike and start out, and after just a few hundred feet I have to grind up a fairly short, steep hill. I start out on the middle ring, and as I encounter the hill and my cadence starts to drop I click down to '1' for the grind. The danged FD shifts the chain off on the inside! I stop, put the chain back on, and start out again, but on the hill I am going so slow that I lose my balance and go down ON THE SAME KNEE!

I am really p!$$ed off now, as I know, when I get to the party, my wife, as well as my daughter (who just graduated from nursing school 4 days ago!) will make a fuss in front of all of the other relatives and guests!

So, I turn around, ride the Trek home, wash the knee off (which is just superficially scraped, although bleeding a little), and switch to the Surly Long Haul Trucker. (Those bar-end shifters will NEVER let you down, let me tell you.)

Anyway, I get to the party no problem now with the LHT, which said party is being held out on the patio behind their house. After putting up with all of the fuss from wife, daughter, sister-in-law, niece, etc., it's finally time to eat. I walk up to the corner of the patio to take my place in the buffet line, and the next thing I know I'm pitching forward, nearly spilling my beer! I had stepped on a bunch of dry leaves that had collected at the corner of the patio, not knowing that there had recently been a deceased shrub occupying what was now a hole about 18 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 8 inches deep, which was cleverly camouflaged by the leaves. I swear, the Viet Cong couldn't have done a better job. Now the knee really does hurt! The knee itself is stiff, but it's the muscle on the front of the leg that's really sore.

Good thing I'm going out of town for work for a couple of weeks! Maybe I'll be healed by the time I get back.

Louis

Yup, those really are two good lookin' young ladies.

Hope your knee heals okay.

Oh, and I'm glad you didn't spill your beer.

tpelle

Man, this knee is really hurting! I can barely put any weight on it, and it's pretty swollen just above the knee. I can see another ER trip in my future.

I'm supposed to drive to New Jersey on Tuesday, and work up there for three weeks. I'm thinking my trip may be in jeopardy, which will be ugly, because I'm doing some prep work for some techs that are flying in from France.

tpelle

OK, went to the ER on Monday AM. The verdict is that I have a cracked patella! The good new is that the crack is vertical. If it were horizontal, then they would normally have to oopen up the knee and wrap the patella in wire to stabilize it. Basically what I understand that they do for a vertical crack is just immobilize the knee, and I have to use ice on it to help reduce the swelling. Also I'm on crutches, and have to pretty much stay off of it for four days or so.

I'm going to try to get into an orthopedic specialist tomorrow. Can't do anything today due to the holiday.

cranky old dude

Whoa! You break your knee without spilling a drop! Talk about a man who can hold his beer!

All kidding aside, it sucks that you got injured. Your family must feel terrible about it too. I'm hoping you heal quickly and completely.

That front DR sounds like it just needs a limit screw adjustment, after your feeling better of course.

tpelle

Went to the orthopedic doctor yesterday afternoon. The word is that I have a "Comminuted fracture of the patella". From Medicinenet.com:

"Comminuted fracture: A fracture in which bone is broken, splintered or crushed into a number of pieces."

According to the ortho doc, my left kneecap has two fractures - one from the front and one from the side - that are like cutting a quarter out of an apple. So far the broken-off chunk has not separated from the main piece, and as long as I don't bend the knee or put any weight on it, and as long as it stays attached, it should heal OK. He fit me with a new brace (almost $800.00!) that looks like it came from parting-out Robocop! It has some adjustable aluminum struts with a couple of rotary joints all marked out in degrees, where they can set the basic angle of flex, plus the amount of bending I can do. All in uber-cool tactical black, too! Right now I'm set to 0/0.

I have to leave this brace on 24-7, put no weight on it, etc. for at least a week. Also no driving (Obviously - I couldn't fit into the driver's seat of a car if I had to!), travelling, or any long trips for several weeks. I am allowed to go into the office, though, although he would prefer that I stay off of the knee as much as possible.

I did go in for a few hours today to turn my New Jersey project over to another of our engineers, but I told them I was taking the rest of the week off. I can actually work from home, and since my wife has to chauffeur me right now, I'll probably be doing a lot of that until this brace can come off. I also have about 30 "comp days" right now, and the new policy is that you can only carry 5 days over, so I'll burn some of them.

I have another appointment with the doctor on Monday, and if it looks like the knee is doing OK he'll stay with the brace. If he thinks I'm cheating or abusing it, or if the fracture starts to seperate, I go into plaster! That would suck swampwater!

CrankyFranky

Hey- the appliance sounds pretty expensive- but if for only a week or five then you have gotten off lightly. It sure is a bummer for this to happen just when nice weather has come to stay for a while.
I commiserate - I had a foot op on April 24 and am still stuck in a cam-walker compression boot for another two weeks... but they've stopped shooting us horses, at least for a while. Keep smiling!

tpelle

Update: Made a follow-up visit to the orthopaedic doctor today. New x-rays, etc. The doctor is pleased with how things look. There is no separation of the broken-off wedge of kneecap from the rest, but it's too early to detect the formation of any new bone. But so far so good.

I asked more questions regarding how long I would be in this brace, and was told 8 to 12 more weeks! Then therapy to get movement and strength back.

I stopped in at my LBS this week inquiring if they had any suggestions regarding knee protection for when I am able to resume riding. They have a kind of combination knee/shin guard, made of a hard plastic, made for mountain bike riders. It's also available in a knee-only version.

At the orthopaedic doctor, I asked how many and what sort of bicyclist injuries they saw. "Knees and elbows" I was told. They said that bikes keep their doors open - and expensive doors they are, mind you.

Here I am with my new "steed":

unixpro

While I'm sorry for your accident, you could be looking at this as an opportunity! An opportunity to N+1!! Check out a hand-crank recumbent!

The Greenspeed GTH Hand-Powered Trike here: https://www.rcutah.com/RecumbentTrikes.html

Heck, maybe you can get the insurance company to pay for it!

HIPCHIP

The knee is a complicated structure. There's basically the outside of the knee and the inside. So many things that can go wrong, and can also be multiple. Go get the knee checked by a good ortho. It's worth it. If you tore one of the ligaments, or messed up the meniscus, then you need to get it repaired before it gets worse. You may even need to get a brace.

Don't take a chance on a major joint like the knee. Get it checked right the first time.

tpelle

OK, it's been about 7 weeks now. Three weeks ago the doctor gave me 60-degrees of movement in the knee brace, and last week he took it off entirely. I've been going to a physical therapist for the past three weeks, and Monday he told me that I didn't need to come back (unless the doctor insisted). At this point I have 135-degrees of flex in my right (uninjured) knee, and 134-degrees in the broken knee, and the therapist said that he couldn't do anything for me that climbing stairs and riding my bike wouldn't do.

Monday I go back to see the orthopedic doctor, and I expect he'll release me. Hopefully next week I can start with some short bike rides and start building my strength up.

I am concerned about falling on that knee, however, so I stopped in my LBS and had them order a pair of these for me:

https://elitecycling.com/page.cfm?Pag...ils&sku=PG6906

(This is just an illustration of the product - not my LBS.)

We'll see how things go.

leob1

Maybe a set of these would be better.
https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product..._200280_200411
(sorry just couln't resist, I've paid those dues)

stapfam

Those falls on the bike-----

Reckon I have had more than my fair share of falls- but most of them were on the mountain bike.

There is the odd occasion when it just happens- but I have learnt from experience. If I am going over- I keep the hands on the bars and feet on the pedals. If I have time- I might be able to stick a cheek out to save the pelvis but Hands and feet stay on the bike till I stop moving. The other things I do are tuck the neck and the knees in.

Sounds as though you need practice at falling- or rather landing- but just hope that you don't get the chance to improve your falling technique in the near fiture.

tpelle

Actually my physical therapist had the same suggestion!

tpelle

I did a stupid thing to cause me to fall (I've had six weeks to think about what I did wrong!). I stopped on a hill with the bike facing across the hill, and put my left foot down, as is my custom. The problem was that the left foot was the downhill foot, and being on a mountain bike with a higher seat and standover, I overbalanced and tipped. Funny, though, that I didn't hit very hard - just sort of rolled off - but I guess I hit the kneecap and the pavement just right.