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| March 8, 2011 | | Back from New York! | | It has now been 44 weeks since Dr. Glashow and his assistant Chris Prezzano transplanted a De Novo NT Allograft into my left knee. It has been 20 weeks since my last arthroscopy. And it has been a year and ten weeks since I tore a pothole (1.5 cm X 2.1 cm) in the articular cartilage of the femoral condyle of my left knee.
It has been three weeks since my last blog. Sorry about the lack of updates but once again this time I did not get lazy - this time I got real busy! I am back to riding and swimming and I feel great! Thank you once again Endurance Rehab, Denovo, Dr. Glashow and Chris Prezzano!
A week ago my son and traveled to the Big Apple for another checkup! Even though it is a five hour flight, I absolutely love going there. This by far was my best visit to date! And the news continues to get better!
I have provided a brief pictorial to demonstrate the changes that have occurred since last March. As you know, in December 2009, I fractured the articular cartilage in my left knee.
In an effort to rehabilitate that knee I tore a gaping hole in the articular cartilage covering my medial femoral condyle. The bright white line illustrates the injury, This image is dated March 21, 2010.
Below is an image from this trip - roughly one year after the last tear! . I'd say there is a huge difference! The new cartilage may be a little thin but it looks darn good!
This image clearly illustrates that other than the focal defect, my knee is extremely healthy! My menisccus loioks good and so does the articular surfaces!
Hence, in no way was my injury a product of my pushing beyond appropriate limits. Simply stated - accidents happen and this was one of them! Nice!
Not all the images look as good as the one above. A slightly different cut from the study pictured below suggests that there may still be a very small fissure that remains!
We cannot be certain but if it is one it is less than 1mm. The bright line represents fluid within the knee. It does not go to the subchondral bone. Accordingly, if a tear remains it is very very small indeed.
In an effort to ensure a complete recovery, I am still augmenting my De Novo transplant procedure with stem cells. Below is a shot of the ports just before the cells were reintroduced. DeNovo has been a blessing - the addition of the stem cells is just icing on the cake!
One of the things that we noticed is that while my knee extends to 0 degrees extension that is not full extension for me. Full extension for me is likely -2 or so degrees. Accordingly, we have added prone hangs to help facilitate the hyper-extension! My little guy loves his new job holding me down!
My return to riding is hit and miss. Three weeks ago, I rode just over 165 miles. However, due to my trip back east and the additional injection of cells, I have been off the bike for a couple of weeks again. When I did ride a couple of weeks ago, I rode to the towers. I had not been there in a long long time! Great times.
It is amazing how quickly one abandons the notion that cold must be better than hot. Every summer us Phoenicians complain about the heat. We continually boast that a winter in the east must be easier than a summer in the desert. WRONG!!!!
As soon as we hopped off the plane, we realized that we did not have proper attire. We promptly addressed that problem. I love the North Face Store.
COLD COLD COLD! My little guy had never seen it snow. So, we spent a ton of time in Central Park! What a treat. I loved people watching. I even saw a middle aged man running barefoot through this stuff! Now that is hardcore!
New York New York! The big tall buildings are remarkable. And the views from the park at Sunset are just awesome!
Culture Culture Culture. When in Rome right? I took my son skating at the Rock! What a treat - he had an absolute blast! In fact, a day or so later he asked to go back!
Everyday was exciting and unique. The Metropolitan Museum of Art exceeded my high expectations. One could literally spend months inside its walls and still not see everything! Bellow is one of our favorite exhibits -Medieval Armour!
Seriously the place has everything. The Met has taken an Egyptian temple apart piece by piece and put it back together in New York! To say it was amazing is such a gross understatement. They even have one of the surviving Sphinx inside it!
Not all culture is just for observing. New York has plenty for tasting and touching. Ess-A-Bagel is widely considered the Best Bagel House in New York! We ventured there and we were definitely not disappointed!
PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA - There is no better! And I assure you this slice did not last long! Nor did it suffer!
Neighborhoods! One of the coolest things about New York is the uniqueness of the various Neighborhoods. One day we ventured to Astoria just to walk the streets where we happened upon a very cool Greek neighborhood! Accordingly, it was GYRO time!
Thanks for checking in! I will try to get back to weekly blogging. Never give up folks. You can and will destroy your limitations!
Clearly the numbers below represent three weeks worth of efforts. I have not blogged in a little while and I wanted my numbers to remain accurate. | |
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