Giant Cell Tumor – 4 Months Post Op
Today is 4 months to the day of my GCT surgery. No more official PT for me. I “graduated,” whatever that means. To continue my progress I joined a gym for the first time in years. There I do the various leg machines I had been doing in PT. I also walk on the treadmill on days where I haven’t been able to go for a walk outside. I still cannot jog or run, though I make an attempt about once a week. The muscles are willing – sort of – but the knee can’t yet handle the impact. This makes the treadmill boring and frustrating. I used to run at 6.5-7 miles an hour on a treadmill. Now it takes me half an hour to do 2 miles. I do pretty well on most of the leg machines, but the one where weight is lifted by the front of the ankle is my nemesis. 25 pounds is too much, and makes the knee hurt.
There are still good days and bad. Weather continues to effect it dramatically, as does night time. Some mornings (like this morning) it wakes me up with a persistent aching. It’s odd where it can hurt. Some places make sense, but sometimes pain will come from well below the incision. Perhaps that’s a result of the hardware and screws. I’m also having trouble with what I’ll call restless leg syndrome. No matter how tired I am I find that I cannot sit still or find a comfortable position in bed. It’s frustrating.
Scar hypersensitivity persists, as does the large numb area on the outside of my leg. I can’t tell if they’re becoming less severe or if I’m simply getting used to them – I suspect the latter. The inside of the knee atop the bump that was the tumor still gets sore to the touch at the slightest provocation. I suspect it’s the hardware rubbing against things in there, and may be just another thing to learn to live with.
I mentioned in a previous post that I look at upcoming x-rays with trepidation due to the high incidence of re-occurence. This is now less the case than is actually looking forward to the next x-ray. I think that as long as it still hurts I’ll look forward to proof that it’s not returning. My next x-ray is scheduled for May. Tangential parallel – who’s excited for Trump’s new tax rules that up the allowable medical writeoffs to only those exceeding 10% of your adjusted income? Like I needed more reason to hate that guy.
I took the road bike off the trainer and prepped it for riding, and on queue the weather turned sour again. I’m hopeful to get on it sometime in the month upcoming.