My family lives in Indiana (Bloomington/Evansville area). My dad, sister, and I went to visit them. While we were there we decided to go to McCormick’s Creek State Park. We went there every time we visited, in fact.

As the name implies, there is a creek that runs through the park. That summer we decided to walk in the creek for what seemed like miles. Of course, creek beds are not flat; there are stones, rocks, fallen tree branches, small water falls, big water falls, etc. With the uneven ground and constant pivoting of my feet on the assorted rocks, it caused a lateral meniscus tear on my right knee.

My knee didn’t feel right after that and I knew something wasn’t right. It hurt when I walked and there was some swelling.

When we got home to Florida my dad took me in to my orthopedic surgeon. I think I saw this doctor more than I did my family practice doctor by this point. He confirmed it was a lateral meniscus tear and would require arthroscopic surgery. Oh, joy.

Fortunately, I was young enough and the tear was in the “right place” for him to be able to repair it rather than have to remove it. 

Three operations down. Little did I know that three more awaited me – two to come in the very near future.

Have any of you tore a meniscus before? Were they able to repair it or did it have to be removed?

So if you read (LOL, or read) this blog you may have noticed that not much has happened in, oh, since January. I guess like many people who start blogs, they are motivated, post a lot, then the motivation diminishes and the posting slows down, or comes to a complete stop, such as in my case. 

Heck, my WordPress hosting was up for a renewal and I called my hosting company last week and actually cancelled it. I talked to my wife and she convinced me to keep it. She said I love to write and there are a lot of things I could share. She said don’t take it so seriously and just have fun.

That’s why I married her.

And that’s what I’m going to do. I’m just going to post whatever, whenever, and have fun.

My original goal when launching this blog was to grow it into a blog with massive readership, and eventually monetize it. Eh, still a goal I guess, but not one I’m pursuing heavily. If it happens, it happens.

So there you go.

If you remember where I left off (and if you can’t then just look at my last blog entry or two – it’s there somewhere), I told you I was having surgery on the 22nd to repair/remove a torn meniscus. I also mentioned that they actually had to do a “lateral release.” It’s a medical procedure for unfortunate schmucks like myself whose patella is tracking laterally. This causes bone deterioration and pain. 

I didn’t realize that was going to be part of the procedure, but I woke up and the “damage” had already been done. I wish I’d known because I’d probably have at least tried to seek out alternatives. I’ve read after the fact, of course, that a physical therapist who knows what they’re doing could have helped.

Yeah, so that’s what the Dr. did and 6 months later and I’m still recovering. It sucks. And it makes me an angry person. And that sucks, too. I just want to be back to normal. My knee is still weak and swollen and I can feel A LOT of scar tissue. I sometimes wonder if this is just the way it’s going to be from now on. And if that’s the case then that sucks.

Yeah, yeah, I should be happy I still have two legs that work, and you’re right, it could certainly be worse, but thinking that way isn’t easy. If I wasn’t a bodybuilder then sure, I’d be fucking thrilled that my legs just worked and I could walk. 

But when you’ve spent the last 20 years of your life being passionate about the sport of bodybuilding and achieving a big, strong, muscular, symmetrical body, then a big busted knee isn’t exciting.  

But I’m staying positive that eventually it’ll be back to looking the way it was. This whole knee thing is one reason that I hadn’t updated my blog in so long. I just wasn’t motivated to write about bodybuilding or being a bodybuilder when my outlook was a bit negative as to what the future held.

Nonetheless, I’m working every day to rehab this stupid knee. I even discovered using a foam roller. This damn thing is one of the greatest inventions ever. I plan to write a blog post soon about how unbelievably helpful the foam roller has been in rehabilitating my knee and making it feel indescribably better. I’ve used it everywhere else on my body and it’s truly been a blessing. Stay tuned. You’ll want to learn more about it.

Alright, so I’m back. I promise I’ll be updating regularly and I’m hopeful that all of you will find my blog helpful. Please leave a comment if you have a question or just want to tell me I’m a wuss and to suck it up. That’s cool, too. We’re all friends here.

My second knee operation occurred about a year after my first. It may not have been quite that long. 

This one was to remove the two pins they used to set my broken femur. How they got the pins out of my bone is a mystery to me. As you can see in the picture there was no head on the pins – at least not when they gave them to me. Maybe there was at one point and the Doctors just pried them out like you would a nail from wood.

So, surgery number two and another round of crutches and rehab. The fun is just beginning.

At this point in my life I hadn’t yet started bodybuilding. I was into skateboarding back then (had no choice but to stop playing soccer) and I was a skinny little runt.

Part 1: The Great Break 
Part 3: Coming Soon!
Part 4: Coming Soon!
Part 5: Coming Soon!
Part 6: Coming Soon!

These were the very pins used to set my broken femur (yes, I kept them).

 November I heard them again for the sixth time, for the same knee! 

On December 22nd, 2009 I had my sixth operation on my right knee. All but one has been a result of a broken femur playing soccer when I was 14. 

This will be a 6 part post detailing each of my six knee operations as best as I can remember them. Considering the fact that I’m still relatively young I expect this won’t be my last knee operation, unfortunately. We’ll just worry about these for now.

Surgery #1: The Great Break

I started playing soccer at the age of five. That was my sport. I loved it and I excelled at it. My soccer playing days ended on November 1st, 1986 a little after 11:00am. 

That morning I had a soccer game as I did every Saturday during the soccer season. During this fateful soccer game I collided with the goalie, which given how aggressive I was when I played soccer, was nothing unusual. However, this was not my lucky day.

After the collision I lied there on the grass feeling immense pain. I looked down at my legs and saw that the bone was nearly protruding though the skin of my outer thigh on my right leg. It wasn’t a compound fracture, but close to it. Instantly, I went into shock. Not knowing what I was doing I got up to walk towards the side lines but fell once I tried to put weight on that leg. I don’t recomend trying to walk on a fully broken femur, it just doesn’t work. In fact, I probably did more damage by doing that. So I fell back to the ground on my stomach and remember screaming for my dad, who happened to be the coach. He didn’t know the severity of the situation so he was on the side line yelling for me to get up and keep playing, which I would have done had it been a collision on any other day.

It didn’t take long before I had a crowd surrounding me. It took 45 agonizing minutes before I was carried off because the ambulance couldn’t figure out how to get the vehicle back to the soccer field.

I was taken to the hospital and was quickly taken back to the operating room where they used two “pins” (I’d call them nails with no head) to set my fractured femur.

The break occurred along the growth plate (physis). Since I was still growing at the tender age of 14 it would turn out to be the worst place it could have possibly fractured (why in Part 3) and the reason for four of my next five operations.

So I’d be interested in hearing your injury stories too. Please share!

Part 2: Coming Soon! 
Part 3: Coming Soon!
Part 4: Coming Soon!
Part 5: Coming Soon!
Part 6: Coming Soon!

Sucks.

I’ll be writing about it in a few days as soon as I get a few minutes.

Stay tuned.