Week 6

I am pain free!  I am jogging, walking and hiking.  Jogging has been awkward, I haven't done it in so long that I feel as if I surely look like Phoebe on friends when she jogs in Central Park with Rachel.  If you don't know what I am talking about click on the link to see that clip on YouTube  Phoebe's Stupid Run  I am still taking the vitamins not sure if they are helping the knee any, once I run out I will stop using them and see if I notice a difference, except for the Omega 3 that one does help my skin and hair.  My legs are week and I am really out of shape but so glad that I can do something about it.  In addition to jogging I am using a recumbent bike to build back my leg muscles.  This used to be my only form of exercise and I hated it's boring limitations (I like to be outside) but now I set the tension to as high as I can stand and just peddle away for 30 minutes and when I get bored I just look down at my thighs and say bye bye fat cells hello skinny thighs.  My legs do feel better and my knees do too.  I am still happy as a clam with the results of the shots.

Week 5

I received my last injections yesterday.  I am a little sore at the injection site, feels bruised.  I am excited to try to jog, swim and hike this summer.  So far this has been a great experience and if it only lasts 6 months I will do it again.  I have a follow up appointment with my doctor in 2 months to see how things are going.  I can't wait to get my weight back down to my normal size and I am sure that will also help my knees.  I am still taking the vitamins MGM, Glucosamine and Omega 3  the only difference I have seen with that is my hair and skin are noticeably better.  Hair is soft and shiny and my skin texture isn't as dry, isn't oil either.  I will continue to blog my results.

Week 4 of Spurtz Gel Injections

This has been my best week yet!!  I actually jogged last night.  I was wearing my brace and wanted to test it out and I was able to jog 3/4 of the last leg of my walk.  I wasn't prepared to jog and I think next time I will be able to jog longer without any problems.  I don't remember exactly when the last time I jogged, I am guessing around August of 2010.  Since my surgery in December of 2010 I haven't been able to run, jog, hike, elliptical, or lap swim.  I cannot express how happy I am.  I wish I would have done the gel injections instead of the micro-fracture surgery.  I have one more round of injections next week and then I should be free and clear to exercise.  For the last two weeks I have been walking and using my recumbent bike to try and strengthen my quad (thigh) muscle. I have gained 30lbs since I first injured my knee in 2007 and I am slowly getting the weight off and I can't wait to get back out there to increase my success at shedding these extra pounds.   

Week 3, Gel Injections

Week 3, I normally received my gel injections on Monday's but this week I will be getting them on Thursday.  I explained to the medical technician that my first injection made my knee's feel wobbly but that I was completely pain free for two days. He thought that being pain free was a good sign and stated again that most people do not get those results until the third injection.  He did put less of the gel in my knee last week and there was no ultrasound machine to help him guide the gel into my knee.  I have had knee pain all week but again in comparison to what the pain was like before the gel injections it is VERY minimal.  I am anticipating my third round of injections on Thursday.  I am curious to find out if running or other activity causes the gel to leave the knee at a faster rate.  You can only receive the gel injections once every 6 months and I want it to last as long as possible.  

Week 2, Second round of Gel Injections

I will be getting my second round of gel injections this after noon.  Last week I received my injections on Monday, I was pain free Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday night the pain started to come back just a little, Friday I was a little soar and that continues through the weekend.  I am not in as much pain as I was before the gel injections but I would say my knees are the same as they were before the first injections with the pain intensity less. So in other words everything hurts in the same place but instead of an 8 pain rating I am a 4.  I am able to get up and down off of a stool pain free, sit down and stand up pain free, I even found myself running in the rain yesterday :).  My quality of life is increasing and I pray to God these shots continue to work.  I am trying not to get my hopes up but the more I find I am able to do the more I realize how limited I was in just the simple day to day activity and keeping my hopes at bay is becoming increasingly difficult.  I find myself day dreaming about personal trainers and getting back into shape.  I need to simmer down and take it one week at a time.

March 14,2012 Vitamins & Gel Shots

I have ditched the liquid oil, I couldn't stand the taste or the slimy texture.  I exchanged it for a pill form, they make me burp if I don't take it with food.  I did notice less pain after taking all three pills on a regular basis. Downside to starting them all at the same time is I don't know which one is helping and which one is not. 

I received my first gel injection on Monday, March 12 at the Core Institute.  They iodine the area of injection, spray a numbing liquid to the area, inject the knee with a needle to insert a numbing medicine (this was a little uncomfortable) then the twist off the syringe leaving the needle inserted in the knee and attach a syringe with the gel.  Then they used a ultrasound machine to guide them while they inserted the gel into the knee.  They performed this on both my right and left knee.  I would say the procedure was rather painless, I hardly felt anything on the right knee and a little pain in the left.

After the procedure I felt normal, as the day progressed my knees started feeling swollen and I contribute that to the numbing medication wearing off allowing me to feel the difference with the gel in my knees.  I felt a little wobbly and weird walking Monday.  Tuesday I am happy to report I woke up for the first time with no pain when I stood up to get out of bed.  I also noticed when I was bracing for pain every time I stood up or sat down and no pain was experienced.  Funny thing is, I didn't even realized I braced for pain every time I stood up until yesterday.  I also noticed it doesn't hurt to step up onto a curb.  I am anxious to try stairs but I haven't come across any yet.

The downside is that my back is soar, I contribute this pain to walking different.  I am sure not being in pain is allowing me walk normal and the muscles in my back that are soar haven't been used in a while.  I am sure this will go away soon and if the knee pain stays away I will gladly take the temporary back discomfort.  Also the area around my knee that was injected is soar like a bruise although there is no visible signs of bruising.  I wonder if they inject the same area every week or if they move it around.  I am hoping they move it around.  

Knee Post Operation-Microfracture Surgery

I am just past a year out of my surgery and sadly to say I am worse that what I was before the surgery.  December 2010 I had Micro-fracture surgery on my right knee I was on crutches for 8 weeks with no weight bearing.  I attended physical therapy twice a week for 3 months.  I went for a follow-up in May and my then Doctor, Andrew Marcus at the Core Institute told me that he didn't think my surgery was successful and I needed to have a second surgery called O.A.T.S. that would require another 8 weeks no weight bearing on crutches.  I was not willing to do that again, it was mentally and physically exhausting the first time and the memory was too fresh.  Dr. Marcus informed me that I could do a second option which was Gel Injections I agreed to try the shots.  He stated that they would check with my insurance to get it approved and his office would call me back to schedule.  I never got a call back so in November '11 I called the Core Institute and discovered Dr. Marcus is no longer practicing there. I had to start all over with a new doctor and the first appointment I could obtain was with Dr. Brown January 21st, 2012.  I went to see Dr. Brown and he ordered for me to have a MRI on both my right knee and left knee, the right knee was to have the die injection and the left knee was just a standard MRI.  The reason he ordered both knees is because I was having pain in my left knee as well.  After my surgery I started to have intense pain in the ball of my foot, so much that it would stop me from walking.  I adjusted how I walked and then started having pain in my right heel, the pain resembled bruise like feeling.  Again I adjusted how I walked and started to get pain in my left knee. 

I had the MRI's on February 13th, 2012 and went back to see Dr. Brown on February 21, 2012.  Dr. Brown informed me that I have level IV arthritis in my left knee and the Micro-fracture surgery was not successful on my right knee.  He talked to me for a few minutes about my options, a cadaver bone with attached cartilage, a steel plate or the gel injections. He recommended the gel injections and that I start taking Undenatured Type II Chicken Cartilage 40mg/day along with Super Red: Krill oil Omega 3.  I left his office feeling defeated.

I went to the health food store and $73.00 later I am now taking MSM for an anti-inflammatory and Glucosamine HCI to help stimulate cartilage growth (they didn't have and didn't know about the chicken cartilage). Now I tried Glucosamine before at Dr. Marcus's recommendation but I purchased the cheapest bottle I could find at Wal-Mart and it made me itch, I am allergic to Sulfa and that was one of the ingredients.  The sales person at the vitamin store told me that the one he is selling me does not have sulfa in it. He also sold me Omega Fatty Acid oil made by Udo's Oil 3-6-9 blend.  He threw in a free mango protein shake to try and told me to attempt putting the oil in the shake.  I talked to a few people who drink protein shakes and they said to mix them up with milk versus water because it gives it a better texture.  I did just that this morning and tried the mango shake, it tasted ok so I added the oil and although it wasn't gross it wasn't good either.  I chugged it down and it almost came right back up.  I am not giving up on it, I will try again tomorrow using apple sauce.  This oil is supposed to make you feel better all around, help with concentration, hair & skin, and weight loss.  I will keep you posted on my progress.