Following my escapade on the stairs and the resulting torn quadriceps tendon, I had the surgery to fix it on the 21st November. I was called in at around 11:00am and went down to the operating theatre at about 4:30pm. Following the op, they woke me in recovery at about 7:30pm and I was back up to the ward by around 8:30.
If you’re not squeamish, there’s a video of surgery for a quadriceps repair here. Be warned!
Throughout the night they woke me every hour (not that I slept much) to check my vitals. The painkillers helped so I wasn’t too uncomfortable considering. The surgeon popped in early the next morning and said everything had gone well – he said my legs were in good condition because of all the cycling and that had made his job a lot easier. I now had a more solid leg brace and had to have the leg locked so stayed in bed for much of the day. The consultant, on his rounds said I could go home later that day. Before that I had to show I was mobile enough to go home, so went to the physio section on the ward to practice walking with crutches and getting up/down stairs. I coped ok, so they said there was no problem with me going home. I texted Karon and we decided that Cas’s car would be better suited so she picked up Karon first then headed for the hospital. In the meantime, once I had all the meds I needed, which took a while to get together, they wheeled me down to the main entrance and out to the car.
The journey home was a bit painful, especially getting in and out but it went without any problems. The leg brace has to stay on for 2 months. It has locks both sides that must be engaged – initially at all times, but after a few weeks I could unlock the leg when sitting, to allow me to bend the knee a little and start to work the rejoined tendon.
A return visit to the fracture clinic followed a couple of weeks after the op and a nurse removed the bandages and cleaned up the wound before applying a new dressing. A week later I removed the dressing. Another week passed and I went for my first physio appointment. Christmas came and went and early in January I went back to physio.
Around Christmas time I stopped wearing the brace at night, which made sleeping so much better. I am pretty sure it helped too, as my leg had time to recover from the constant pressure of the brace bindings. I saw an improvement in discomfort and mobility as a result.
Progress was good, the wound was healing nicely and I had almost 90° movement in the knee, though it felt very tight. I went for a few walks, initially with the leg still locked, but then I released the lock to the 30° limit. It allowed me to walk almost normally (as much as one can with a leg brace), bending my knee a little and removing the need to rotate my hips. The 30° lock ensured my leg would not fold completely if my knee did give out.
On 23rd of January, after 9 weeks of wearing the brace I was signed off by the surgeon and was told I could ditch the brace. The following day I had physio and tried a static bike – I could not quite get to the top of a pedal rotation, but I felt it wouldn’t be long before I could. Once home I set up my road bike on a supported roller and sat on. Top of the rotation was possible with the flat of my foot.
The next day it gave it a tentative first go…
Within a few days I was comfortably spending 15 minutes on the bike. Interestingly, my knee felt much better after a session on the bike – more supple and less uncomfortable.
Late in February Karon and I took the Pino out on a Tandem Club ride and lunch. I didn’t use the SPD clips, staying on the flat side of the double-sided flat/SPD pedals but had no issues. We had to work the motor a bit harder on the climbs to take pressure off my knee but by the end of the day we had cycled 30 miles with no ill effects.
A couple of days later, back in physio, my exercises were changed to help improve and strengthen the hamstring behind the knee. I have another physio late in March but think this may well be the last visit I need as the knee feels pretty much back to normal – apart from using the stairs where I still need a little support.