The Dark Side of the Knee

Tyson has always had problems with his knees. A few years ago he hurt his right one pretty bad playing on our DSU Intramural futsal team. The doctor said there might be a possible tear in one of his ligaments, but ruled that out as just being extra stretched. 

Then in February he was playing in the annual HHS boys alumni soccer game and went to cross the ball when his knee twisted funny and he went down. When I saw him on the ground I immediately knew it was bad. He was a champ and stayed for this picture (below) and you can tell he was in so much pain just by looking at his smile. 

After an MRI and meeting with his surgeon, Dr. Larsen, we found out that he had a "bucket handle" tear in his meniscus, a complete rupture to his ACL, a high grade tear to his LCL, and a torn popliteus tendon. The LCL and popliteus tendon make up the posterolateral corner (PCL) or otherwise known as "The dark side of the knee" because of the relatively small amount that is known about that region (https://thesportsphysio.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/the-postero-lateral-corner-the-dark-side-of-the-knee-a-guest-article-by-richard-norris/) His surgery was then scheduled for a month later so the swelling could go down and so that he could regain his range of motion,

His surgery was scheduled in the wee hours of the morning, naturally, so we got to wake up nice and early to get there on time. 

He was trying to act brave before the surgery, but I could tell he was a little nervous, so I of course distracted him by making him pose for a bunch of pictures. What are wife's for, right?

To repair all of this damage they took a bone-patellar tendon-bone graft from around his knee cap to replace the ACL and a allograft (cadaver tendon) for the LCL and popliteus tendon. Luckily, the meniscus was still in tact enough to be reattached.

After the surgery he was super groggy, but luckily he was drugged up pretty good so he wasn't in too much pain yet. The nurse then went through the discharge instructions and informed us that he needed to be off his leg COMPLETELY for 6 weeks! That meant crutches were off limits for the first few weeks, so we rented a wheelchair, which ended up being a total life saver! 

For the first week or so he was in so much pain. It was so hard to watch him suffer. Luckily he was able to sleep quite a bit when he took his pain pills. He will kill me for posting this picture, but how cute is that? ;)

**** WARNING***** 

Below are some before and after pictures. So if you can't handle seeing a little blood, bruising and stitches stop scrolling. If you think it's cool, like me, (you know who you are) scroll away :)

BEFORE

AFTER

                        

               

    

We are now about 7 1/2 weeks out and Tyson is a CHAMP! He's doing physical therapy twice a week and rocking it. In fact a couple of days ago he came to me and said , "watch this babe", then he continued to lift his crutches off the ground and walked a few steps without them. :) He is working so hard to get back on his feet as soon as possible. It's killing him to not be able to just go out and work on projects around the house, but he'll be back at it before we know it. 

I also just have to brag a little about how great he did in school this semester, all while going through such a big surgery. He missed probably 3+ weeks of school total, but still managed to get straight A's. He had such wonderful teachers who were very understanding of his circumstances, but he was strong and pushed through for the grades he deserved. I am one proud wife, yet again :)