Posted by Today is the third monthiversary of my surgery–a little over 90 days. Things have sure come a long way since day one. Three months ago right now my leg was in the immobilizer, an IV in my arm, and me in the bed–in fact I wasn’t even allowed out of bed at that point. Looking back on the last few months makes me realize that walking around on one crutch today is a victory for sure.
It’s been a little difficult to see the progress lately in fact the last couple of weeks have been tough. I have recently had some increased pain in and around my knee that I haven’t had before. I think it can be attributed to increased weight bearing as I am now on one crutch most of the time, but we will know for sure soon as I am going back to see the surgeon and to get a full set of images (MRI & multiple x-rays) later this week.
There are multiple reasons for this visit. Yes, we are going to look inside the bone to get a status on the healing process, but we are also taking a look inside to make sure that my body continues to be tumor free. While the type of tumor I had–a giant cell tumor–was benign, it is an aggressive tumor which reoccurs in about a fifth of all cases and when it reoccurs it will most likely do so in the first two years following removal. Thus, the many follow up visits with imaging.
The original plan was for me to get the okay to walk without crutches at this visit and my hope is that we are still on track for that. When will I be able to get back to the rest of the things that I used to do…well, we will have to see what the doctor says and what my body will let me do. Everyone who I have talked to who has had something similar (because I have yet to meet another person with a giant cell tumor) whether it be knee surgery or a broken femur has said to make sure to “take my recovery seriously.” So I am heeding their advice and taking it seriously and if that means taking things slower than I would like then that’s what we do.
call me koko 