R.I.C.E. The recipe for recovery success

After struggling with knee pain for the last year or so I couldn't take it any longer and had knee surgery on Feb. 23. I started training for a half marathon about this time last year. When I first started running I felt great! No pain in my knee for the first time in a long time. Then I went to a running clinic to improve my form and instead of improving it seemed to cause more problems than good. I started to have pain in my foot which I have never had before and then my knee pain started. I continued to train as the pain was only prevalent when I was running. But as the mileage increased and the pain lasted days after a long run, then progressed to pain all the time.

It was time to do something. I had x-rays done which showed nothing other than some arthritis was developing. I continued to finish my training as the half was fast approaching. The week before the half marathon I had so much pain in my knee I could hardly walk. The worst part of all of that was I was in San Francisco walking everywhere and supporting my dad in his swim from Alcatraz! At the finish of the swim, I ended up standing in the ocean to get the best pics and soaked my only pair of shoes. Not wanting to just wear flippity's (flip flops as they are called at my house) with no support with my knee pain as I walked back to the hotel I saw a shoe store and decided that I needed a new pair of shoes. I went in, saw a pink pair I thought looked nice, told them my size and attempted to try them on. I really didn't try them on long. Here's why, not wanting to make a nuisance of myself that my feet were soaked and I was leaving puddles just standing there, as I slipped off my soaked shoe I left a good portion of the beach there on the floor. Not wanting to add to much sand to the new shoes I slipped it on with my wet foot, noticed my toes didn't rub the end and said I'd take them. I bought a new pair of dry socks to go with them. Bam! Less than 10 minutes in and out with a new pair of shoes. My knee began to feel a little better with the new shoes.

I questioned whether or not I should even run the half the pain was so intense. But I had trained so hard and had traveled across the country! With the new shoes the pain lessened and I decided to do the half and did them in those pink shoes. Ever since the half I have had constant knee pain and I haven't run since the half. I came home had a MRI which showed I had tendinosis of the patella retinaculum and decided it was time to try physical therapy. The first time I went to PT it seemed to make my knee pain a lot worse and they gave up and threw in the towel.

My next step was to visit an orthopedic doctor. He palpated my knee and thought I might have a plica. He wanted me to give PT another go and see if it made any difference and follow up with him in a month. The second round of PT was much better than the first, I tried a different location but I still had a constant ache in my knee and was not able to exercise. At my follow-up appointment it was decided that arthroscopic surgery was the way to go and I scheduled it that day.

The surgery went well. They examined the integrity of all my ligaments and menisci were examined. There was no sign of arthritis, the plica which Doc said was huge and inflamed was removed. My PCL, the stability ligament in my knee is loose from an injury about 10 years ago when it was partially torn, but it is stable. No further surgery is required to repair it. Hooray! I came home with crutches but never used them.

Brooklyn was very concerned about crutches. She had told me that if I came home with crutches she would cry and run and hide. She also said she'd rather that I be in a wheelchair than to have crutches. Eric helped me in the house after surgery then went back out to the car to get the other things and brought in the crutches. As soon as Brooklyn saw them her heart sank and she clouded over and covered herself up with a blanket. I had the bright idea to let her decorate them with stickers. One crutch for each girl out came the stickers and I have the fanciest crutches ever.

Recovery has gone well with lots of rest. Thank goodness my mom could come to town and run the fort. The only hiccup was I had some calf pain that I thought was probably just muscular stiffness from walking funny and a couple extreme charlie horses, but decided it best with my family history of blood clots to get it checked out. After a trip to the ER and a Doppler ultrasound no blood clots were found. Now a week and a half post-op, stitches has been removed. I can now shower without wrapping my knee in saran-wrap to prevent infection in the knee joint. I'm almost walking normally. I still have some swelling and pain but overall it hasn't been near as bad as when I tore my PCL 10 years ago. Lots of rest, ice, and elevation for me. The doctor and I are confident that the plica is the culprit of my knee pain. Now we'll just have to give it some time to heal and test it out on the roads.

Talk of a 2 1/2 year old

Sadie dips her 5 fingers into some spilled flour on the counter and proudly comes over to show it to me. I could tell she was contemplating on licking her fingers. I told her flour doesn't taste good all by itself. But she says "I like flour!" and promptly sticks her finger in her mouth and licks it off, immediately followed by her spitting it out. To which she replies "maybe I don't like flour."

One word both girls have picked up is the word privacy. I laugh every time Sadie attempts to go potty, because if you are in there with her she will always tell you that she needs her privacy and that you need to go out. Knowing Sadie, giving her her requested privacy and leaving her alone in the bathroom is a bad idea. She still asks anyway.

Sadie and I were discussing why we use worms to fish with. She began talking that worms eat scrambled eggs, and then says, "no, worms don't eat scrambled eggs!" I asked her if they eat dirt and Sadie replies with "worms crawl in the dirt!" She's one smart little girl!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we headed home for the holidays. The girls are always so excited to go to Grandma's house! At last the day had come.

So I'm totally having technical difficulties and it's too late at night to even think about trying to fix them. You are just going to have to guess which picture goes with which caption because they are not even going to be close!

Here are the girls sitting on the plane by themselves across the aisle from mom. Thankfully it was a

short flight!

Sadie has been drawing happy ghosts. Here is one of her very first ones. Brooklyn also is showing off her ghost with the purple marker.

Sadie LOVES whip cream! I think that is all she had for Thanksgiving dinner!

Grandpa introduced the girls to "pumpkin rolling." He'd saved a couple pumpkins from Halloween that had been frozen and started to become a little mushy for the girls to roll down the driveway. Sadie would set it down and give it a big kick. Half of the fun was running down to find it in the bushes and to carry it back up and start all over again! The game evolved into "hide and seek" with the pumpkins being hidden by Grandpa, and then of course grandpa had to find the girls!

Brooklyn, Toby, and I took a hike up on the mountains behind my parents house. I've always loved it up in the hills. It was fun to take my little girl on the hikes that I always took as a little girl and share that with her. We made it up to the "cave" and an old indian burial ground. Toby had a great time too.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Have I mentioned we've been sick? It seems we just can't evade all the germs this year. I think I'm going to blame it on the Hogan curse of 2009. This year has not been the best year for the extended Hogan family. Let's see there's been the Horse slipping/rolling incident, the piano falling incident, the bicycle vs. car incident, not to mention various stitches incidents, I know of one cast that was placed. I'm really hoping 2010 will be kinder to the Hogan's.

As far as our little family is doing. I think we met with the Swine flu and hopefully conquered. Now if we can just stop all of the coughing, earaches, and runny noses we might have a brief chance at being healthy. Despite all the illness we've been quite busy in between waves.

Brooklyn turned 4! I can't believe it! She is growing so fast! She got a new bicycle for her birthday with a pink basket and bell to top it off. She loves it. Her first big bike ride was a good 2.4 mile ride. Eric and I were jogging to keep up with her the whole way. She only stopped once to give her head a break from her helmet. I can't wait for warmer weather so we can get out more and ride.

Eric turned the big 30 this year! Crazy! Who would have thought we's still be in school when Eric turned 30? I know he didn't! Rummaging through the cupboards we found a #2 candle and realized it would be several more years before we could use it! That's a scary thought! Medical school is going. Half way through the third year and fast approaching the time to start applying to residency. Now the big question for Eric what kind of doctor does he really want to be? It's about time to decide.

Sadie can't wait for her birthday and to get her new bike, so she says. It's hard to be the little sister sometimes! She's a good sport. Growing fast, talking nonstop, into mischief like you can't believe and yet is still a little angel, a rough one however. No one gives the roughest most affectionate hugs like Sadie does. She is an artist. She has lately discovered her talent of drawing ghosts. It is so fun to see her draw happy little ghosts all over everything.

I have become reacquainted with the pain of earaches the last few days. That is not something I have missed since childhood. It has definitely given me more sympathy for Brooklyn the last few weeks as she's battled some herself. I just can't wait to be healthy again! But it is a good reminder of how good it feels to be healthy! I also pulled a muscle in my back, nothing like a reminder of how nice it is to have a healthy back. Not to mention the lovely pain I am still fighting in my knee. Turns out I have a plica, like my younger sister which may be the culprit of all my running woes. With a potential knee surgery on the horizon, I am definitely looking forward to good health in the new year!

What would you pack?

There isn't a day that goes by where I don't hear at least once "Mom, can we go to Grandma's house, PLEASE?" Both girls love grandma's house. This last week our car has turned into our airplane. We make sure our seatbelts are fastened securely when the fasten seat belt sign is on, and are always preparing for take-off and landing. Tonight over dinner Brooklyn shared with Eric what she is planning and preparing to pack when we go to grandma's. Here is a small list of some of the things she said:

cookies, oreo cookies, chocolate chip cookies, cookies with M&M's, fruit snacks, goldfish, suitcases, suitcase skirt, skort dresses, dresses, church dresses, Tiger Lily, Tiger's bed, couches, mama horsies, daddy horsies, toys, milk, water...

Eric then asked her if she'd pack some cookies and she says "oh yea, and some cookies." Can you guess what a staple is in my snack packs on airplane rides? What do you expect when you travel as the only adult in the group. Obviously we can't wait for our next trip to Grandma's house.