Saturday, April 11, 2009

Fessing Up on a Rainy Day

Not Much Going On On a VERY Rainy Day

Mary Lou noted perhaps I could stretch my knees a bit to help with the soreness. I thought I'd fill you all in on that. My knees are a wreck. I do not have an ACL in either one of them. Since that's the ligament that stabilizes the joint, you might get a hint of what goes on.

I had surgery on both of them as well to trim the damaged cartilege but opted out of the surgery to reconstruct the ACL, mostly because of the extended recovery time and because my right knee had been servicable for years without the ACL already. I went through months of physical therapy to strengthen the leg muscles after surgery and it only helped a little. Then, blessing of blessings, I found Dr. Magaziner who does some "state of the art" treaments that help enough to keep me going.

First, he does prolotherapy, which actually is like an internal blister to cause the remaining ligaments to tighten to help hold the joint in place. And he does Platelet Rich Plasma and Stem Cell injections to help heal and regrow the damaged cartilege. I am featured in the video on his website at www.dremagaziner.com talking about how his treaments have helped me. That's me in the turquoise top on the opening page. (Not too flattering pics, but then again, that's me.)

As long as I can ride and do the basic stable work, I'll keep going this route. Otherwise, I suspect knee replacements are in my future. Again, I keep hoping the recovery time will drop as advances are made since I am the caretaker of my critters and finding someone else to take over for a while is not exactly easy.

So far, it's been raining all day. I did have to go back to the chiropractor this morning and my neck is still in its recovery phase, but the weather is not inviting enough to matter.

I debated about putting the Boy's sheets back on and left them off. Good fellows that they are, they seem to be hanging out under the various run in shed roofs available to them. But, when I just looked out now, Chance had been pushed out of the shed, so I went out and put sheets on everyone. It is a little chilly, and I'll have to monitor the temperatures for later tonight as well.

I also just gave everyone a nice little bucket of alfalfa hay cubes, an apple, and two flakes of hay to keep them satisfied until dinner in a few more hours. Times like this, as the rain keeps falling, having the Boys out the back door is a treasure. I know they are dry, well fed, and content.

5 comments:

  1. ah. that's the trouble with having animals.....you would not only need someone to care for them, of course, but also to care for you - and you'd probably have to do them one knee at a time... nightmare!

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  2. Anonymous3:36 PM

    Nice to have your boys so close at hand! Hope the knees last a long time in their current configuration.

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  3. It's such a treat to be able to take care of the horses yourself. I'm sure they love being close to you too.
    I had a total knee replacement in Sept. and it took a good three months to be really mobile. I could have taken care of the horses in two months but it would have been a chore. Thank goodness I have my daughter to take care of the horses and barn. There is a lot of physical therapy involved and it can be painful. But on the whole I'm glad I had it done, as now there is no more pain in the knee itself, just still getting the muscles and ligaments back in shape.
    Hope you don't need to do this for a long time.

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  4. Good point Claire. I am sure it would be one knee at a time. You just have to plan for it. Having been in the horse world for so long I am sure that you have lots of friends that would love to help. You might be able to teach in exchange for help - start the process before you need to have the surgery and your students/help will already know the ropes. And you could resume teaching long before you can do the barn chores. Hmm, I just thought that you probably would have to go to another barn to teach and you probably wouldn't be mobile, it seems, for three months. Ah, details.

    It's natural to put these things off, but there is a good case for doing it sooner rather than later. The younger you are the faster you will recover and the longer time you will have with fixed, hopefully pain free knees. Not that I follow my own advice.

    Can you wrap or use a supportive sleeve on your knees to help stabilize them?

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  5. Ouch those knees sound painfully!
    Frustrating when you body holds you back from doing the things you want to do never mind the constant discomfort you must be in.

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