So Now What?
August 4, 2020How Did I Get Here?
The first thing anyone usually asks you is “So how did you manage that?” Even now when someone asks I sometimes have a mini flashback and wave a nausea thinking about how it happened. Usually I just tell them, very quickly, “oh, just a little accident rock climbing accident.” Clearly bouldering is not going to be my thing. Luckily I already have a solid career in marketing and have other recreational sports to participate in.
I come from a pretty tight-knit, very outdoorsy family. I say outdoorsy and not athletic because I’m the only one that stuck with recreational sports past elementary school. Outside is our favorite place to be. Like most families, the older we all get the fewer opportunities we have to enjoy each other’s company. One of my brothers is in college out of state, the other is working full-time while finishing his degree, and I had just finished grad school and was applying to jobs all over the country. So, when my brothers and I wanted one last sibling hurrah before Thanksgiving while also avoiding the scorching Texas heat bouldering and rock climbing was an easy decision. We’d all been before at various times so why not?
Monday August 12, 2019
The afternoon it happened I remember being nervous about chipping my manicure before a big interview later that week. It’s funny now that I was worried about something only I would have ever noticed. Going into the rock climbing gym I had a few vague concerns about my knee. A few years earlier I had noticed some instability in my left knee while playing flag football but I thought I was just getting older, I had recently passed the 30 mark after all.
I took precautions, I didn’t drop from the very top of the bouldering rig like my younger brothers, that wasn’t something I wanted to tempt fate with, and followed the safety guidelines. But five feet, now that I could totally do. I’d completed four Tough Mudders for crying out loud! In each Tough Mudder I’d dropped from a ten-foot wall without ever skipping a beat. If I could do that I could certainly do this. My first few climbs were just fine. Nothing crazy. I was confident that a little drop from slightly higher would be nothing. I was feeling fine. Or so I thought.
An hour into our adventure we decided to level up a bit. I scaled the wall and completed a 90-degree pivot between walls-nothing crazy advanced. I climbed halfway down. I dropped. Everything in my left knee buckled. I went numb and tried not to pass out or throw up. Honestly, I just didn’t want to throw up. (Note: The dudes I CrossFit with actually asked me if I threw up so at least I got points for not losing my lunch?) I know choice words were most likely uttered as I hit the ground. My brothers rushed in and helped pick me up. Apparently the bouldering mats had shifted and I was the lucky person to find the hole between two mats. How do I know this? One of my brothers climbed in it after hauling me off the mat to show me.
Honestly, at this point I was embarrassed and didn’t want to be the reason we cut our climbing day short. I was trying to not be the lame older sister. I was sure that I had just hyper extended my knee and aggravated an old patellar tendon attachment injury from flag football year’s prior. It couldn’t be that big of a deal. After all, I still walked out of the climbing gym on my own accord. Sure, it hurt but I was still walking around and could get up stairs okay. Nothing a little ice, foam rolling, and chiropractic care couldn’t fix, right? WRONG!
Luckily my chiropractor is a family friend and saw me ASAP. I went in overly assured that this was going to be a two-week setback, tops. She was not convinced. I remember her saying the words “trifecta”, meaning she thought I had damage to my ACL, MCL, and meniscus, and still not believing her because I believed I was totally resilient and able to heal from it quickly. Some call this the Unhappy Triad. Fortunately, as she is medically trained and scheduled my MRI for the end of the week. Until then she recommended I elevate and ice my knee as much as possible.
Friday, August 16, 2019
By the time Friday finally rolled around I was in a bit of pain but honestly was starting to feel a tiny bit better. Sure, I was hobbling around but I could manage for a few weeks while it healed, no sweat! One of my coworkers even brought a cane for met to use at the office-which I honestly only did because 1 it had a freaking wolf head on it (awesome – especially for someone who enjoyed Game of Thrones) and 2 it also had a sword in it (badass spy gear? Yes, please!)
Going to the MRI I was hopeful if I had done anything it was just a serious sprain that needed some time and ice, something to keep me on the sidelines for a few weeks but not on the bench all fall – I had CrossFit to do, football games to go to, and pickup games with friends to play after all.
If you’ve never had an MRI before it’s a weird experience. First, because the trauma was relegated to my left leg I didn’t have to go in the MRI tube fully. Score! This was great news because I am slightly claustrophobic. Fair warning, the room is probably going to feel freezing. The entire process took about forty-five minutes but it felt like forever. Since you’ll be waiting a while, unable to move, don’t forget to ask if you can have them play a particular radio station or podcast for you. Once the MRI is over, the images are a sent over for analysis, which can take a few hours.
MRI Results
When my Chiro called that evening with the MRI results and told me to sit down I knew I was about to get sucker punched. The MRI revealed the following:
- Full-thickness tear involving the proximal one third of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
- Grade 2 sprain of the medical collateral ligament (MCL)
- Low grade 1 sprain of the proximal lateral collateral ligament
- Complex medial meniscal tear – vertical tear involving posterior horn extending to the superior and inferior articular surface. Horizontal tear intersects the vertical tear extending into the meniscal body into the interior articular surface near the peripheral meniscocapsular margin.
- Lateral meniscal tear; vertical tear involving the posterior horn of the lateral meniscus extending to the superior and inferior articular surfaces.
- High-grade 2, low grade 3 sprain involving the medial patellar retinaculum. Lateral subluxation of the patella, 9.3 mm. There is no evidence of marrow edema to suggest transient patellar dislocation.
- Tricompartmental joint effusion and suprapatellar bursal effusion.
- Grade 2 strain of the proximal soleus muscle bundle. Grade 1 strain of the plantaris and lateral head of the gastrocnemius. Low-grade sprain of the tibiofibular interosseous membrane and ligaments.
- Acute bone contusions involving the medial and lateral femoral condyles postcrolatcral tibial plateau, posterior central through posterior medial tibial plateau.
Translation in Plain English:
- Complete ACL tear.
- Grade 2 sprain of MCL = partial tear that will likely heal on its own with time, four to eight weeks, and rest.
- Mild sprain of the ligament that connects the femur to the fibula.
- Very serious tearing to my medial, towards the inside of the body, meniscus, which most likely would require a full tack down to heal properly.
- Serious tear to the lateral meniscus, outside of knee, which would most likely require clean up.
- Serious sprain to a tendon that stretches on the medial side of the patella. Also, my patella out of place by 9.33mm but not dislocated, just moved in a direction it probably shouldn’t be in.
- Abnormal amount of fluid on the knee aka swelling
- Sprains to the muscles that make what most of us just call our calf.
- Medical speak for bone bruises
Prognosis: The Non-Clinical Version
I did a number on my knee. Not quiet the full trifecta that my Chiro feared, but I had come pretty dang close. Surgery would be REQUIRED to repair damages. There was no escaping it this time. My MCL would need to have an estimated 4-8 weeks to heal before surgery to avoid risking further complicating post-surgery rehab. My medial meniscus damage most likely needed to have a full tack down, which meant for eight weeks post surgery I would not only be stuck in a lock-out leg brace but I would also not be able to put any weight on it during the initial, critical, healing process. The road ahead would be long and require a lot of patience-something I am decidedly NOT the best at.
Estimated recovery time: 9-12 months post surgery with an estimated 18 months before “fully normal” aka lifting as heavy at the gym as I was pre-injury.
Yes, you read that right, 9-12 months to full recovery and an estimated 18 months until “normal”. I know…. I was hoping it would be something much, much shorter, like 3-6 months.
Reality Check
In the very beginning I still believed I was relatively invincible. I was used to rebounding from injuries or illnesses faster than doctors predicted. This would be different. This would require me to take the time to heal properly because I am still a relatively young athletically inclined adult.
This injury brought me to my knees, literally. I was heartbroken. Didn’t my knee know we had things to do? I had job interviews, UT Longhorn football games to attend, charity events to volunteer at, vacations to take, etc. The plans I had for the rest of the year were shattered. Everything would have to be changed.
In retrospect, I can look back and see a few times over the years where I over trained and started chipping away at the structural integrity of my left knee. I was running about 100 miles a month, doing CrossFit four to five times a week, and generally not taking any time to slow down and let my foam roller and yoga mat collect layers of dust. I handled the stress and anxieties we all face by pushing my body beyond its limits and not giving it ample time to recover. In the end, sometimes the body tells you when it has had enough of you not listening and it forces you to stop.
So there you have it, in full detail how is chapter in my life started. But hey at least I didn’t throw up when I hurt myself, right? As if I get some points for not losing my lunch? No? Dang it!
Be kind to yourselves, be brave, and hang in there!
Metzy
P.S. I do apologize if any kids learned any new curse words that day – y’all probably didn’t because kids learn things earlier and earlier these days. I’m actively trying not to curse as much anymore after this, because I’m a freaking lady. I also attribute this as to why this blog will be curse word free, well at least free from the more serious ones.
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