It's been nearly a year since my last post here, and to allay some concerns of a few, I am still around and hoping to get back to climbing soon. So why have I been so elusive for the last year, you might wonder? Well, I had the unfortunate experience of having to have surgery on a knee problem that has persisted for many years and finally came apart last winter. I was hoping that some physical therapy would solve the problem, but as it turned out, the problem was much more severe than both my doctor and I had assumed. Originally the diagnoses was Patellofemoral Chondromalacia, which is basically a biomechanical problem that can easily be fixed with Physical Therapy. Finally, after going through PT for three months and having little to no success, I had an MRI done which found the root of the problem. Little did I know how long it would take to heal.

Once the MRI came back, it was obvious I had more serious problems going on. When I was about 12 years old living in Louisiana, we would play football in a private lot next to my friend Roger's house. One day while playing, I tackled Roger and hit my shin just below my knee directly on the back of his heal. This caused severe pain at the time and some moderate swelling in the days and weeks following that particular game. I never went to the doctor afterwards because to me it seemed no more that a bruise or a bump, nothing to worry about. Little did I know, that I had created a hairline fracture just below were my patellar tendon connected to my tibia bone.

Fast forward 18 years later, and while hiking up a steep hill with a large backpack full of route setting ear, my knee finally decided to give up the ghost. I had torn the last part of my patellar tendon that was attached to the solid part of my tibia that was not affected by the hairline fracture. The only thing preventing my tendon from coming completely off of my bone was now attached to the flexing piece that had broken off 18 years before. With just a sliver of bone connecting the tendon to my knee, every step was painful and particularly when I was going down an incline. Surgery was now looking like the only option for relief.

So it was. At the end of July of last year I went under the knife to have the bone screwed down and my tendon sutured. Since then, it has been a battle to try and get the full use of my knee back with an ever longer recovery time becoming evident with each doctor visit.

At this point, seven months after surgery, the progress is moving slowly. My last few X-rays have shown that the bone below the screw has been healing as expected, but the bone above the screw has not. I began using a bone growth stimulation device in December, but after one doctor's visit since beginning that regime it has yet to show any improvement in the growth above the screw. I'm not certain that the pain that I still have is a result of this, but I have another X-ray today which will tell us if further measures are going to be needed. At some point, I am going to just ask them to cut the thing off at mid-thigh so I can get one of those prosthetics with chisel feet so I can dog up City Park in Index.