Knee Surgery Take #2/Snowacololpse 2011

Here I am sitting on the couch....again after having another knee surgery. It's been a long day that started early at 3 AM when I woke up bright and early before my 4:30 AM alarm. I had to be at the hospital by 5:45 AM for a 7:00 AM surgery case. It was nice to be one of the first cases of the day because I was out before 10 AM and able to relax the rest of the day at home.

Now I am relaxing here at home and will be restarting physical therapy after I see my doctor on Tuesday. It has been a wild week starting on Monday with the start of the Blizzard of 2011 hitting the Chicagoland area with some muscle. We received 20.2 inches of snow over a 20 hour period and still attempting to dig out. It has made getting around after my surgery very tricky.

On the upside, I have started emailing race officials asking for opportunities to volunteer for this summer since I won't be able to run. I have so far received one reply and hope to hear from more.
Here's some picture from this past week including today....

Here we go again...

I completely feel like I am waking from a bad case of deja vu. After about a month of knee pain on the same leg and no response to physical therapy, it looks like I am going under the knife....again for a second time next Friday.

This time I have a different doctor and will be having a different type of arthroscopic surgery to be done. I will be having a procedure called a lateral release, which will be different than the last surgery where they just took out the affected synovial lining and waited for it to grow back. The last surgery was doing great unless the tissue grew back.The goal will be to get my patella on the right track instead of being slightly tilted.

Another difference compared to the last surgery is that I will not be able to quickly bounce back as fast as I want to. My running season is DONE for the most of 2011. I will not be able to kick it up a bit until the beginning of 2012. The rehab alone will be at least 4 months or longer. I am completely fine with it. My goal for this year will be get back on the bike without pain. I will be doing a lot of swimming and pool walking in the summer after I am cleared to get back in the water. I also plan to do a lot of volunteering this year instead of participating this year. It will be a great way to get some experience on my resume and use it for when I apply for PhD programs in the fall. I also look forward to cheering Josh on with his own race season, which is still in the works.

I will appreciate running more after all of this is done. I definitely don't take it for granted anymore.

On the flip side: Life after Knee Surgery

Well, it's been a few days since my knee surgery. Here's some of the pictures taken from the last few days.

Here I am getting ready for surgery.
Here I am resting up after coming home from surgery on Thursday night.
Here's a picture of Sadie and my bandaged knee.
This is what my knee looked like when I removed the bandages from on top of it.

Now I plan to relax and rest up so I be rested for PT starting on Wednesday. The stitches come out on Monday morning and looking forward to it. I also looking forward to running by the end of the year.