Hello everyone, My name is Danny, thank you for sharing your stories. This blog has helped me to keep my eye on the prize for the last few months because, as you all know - there is little to no information about PCL Recovery on the internet.
I am, however dealing with some setbacks. Until 6 months ago I worked as an arborist in Seattle, and an old (3+ yr) injury kept giving me trouble while working. I felt like I couldn't trust my leg (And I often use a chainsaw in trees). Sometimes while out on a precarious limb walk, a client would ask me "have you ever fallen?" To which I would reply "only once, when my ladder failed while I was on the fourth step". I hate ladders. This fall resulted in a misdiagnosed ACL injury and finally diagnosed to PCL.
I had reconstructive surgery (PCL-achilles allograft and PLC hamstring allograft) in March of 2020 in Seattle. After the first hellish weeks, what with the numb, purple lower leg (I kept wiggling my toes and doing ankle pumps bc I thought I'd lose my leg, still have hemosiderin stains on my shin from all the internal bleeding), my recovery was going great. I graduated to cycling, and was walking without a limp! My surgeon advised me to wear my brace "as much as possible". I wore it all the time, but especially during PT, and cycling, where we were beginning to do some jumping and running in place. That's when my knee started to feel really bad. Crunching, pain with weighted flexion, just not capable of doing that kind of stuff.
After a visit with my surgeon he noted 2+ laxity. He also realized that I was wearing the wrong knee brace (Ossur CTi with PCL kit, not the Ossur Rebound PCL).He told me he'd be getting me the correct brace, but I still don't have it, or any way to stop the trend in my knee.
It's devastating for me to have the last six months down the toilet because my team messed up something as critical as the brace. I'm just trying to find out what others' experience was like.
Did you ever run into laxity problems that somehow resolved with time?
What model of brace did you use and for how long did you use it for?
Anyone out there have a revision reconstruction?
I don't think I've ever had a mistake in my life produce so much nausea whenever I think about it. I really regret having this surgery at all, because my laxity problems are the same, if not worse than before, plus I'm almost positive my meniscus is going to shreds. I know that my care could have been better, but is it too late for my knee?
I'm hopeful that at the very least, getting the correct brace will allow me to cycle, so that I can remain fit even if I have to hang up the spurs. Also I'm not giving up having a functional left leg. It's too important to me to let slide. I had hoped to be up in the cascades munching huckleberries with my daughter by now. Have to settle for blackberries down the road. 🤤
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