Blog to the Stones
March 14, 2019 / Nev Davies (FRCS) – Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
What a start to the New Year, after signing up to do this crazy @racetothestones 100km ultramarathon in November last year my left knee started to have other ideas ! After a few grumbling, warning signs during the summer and autumn, on the 30th December whist crouching down to tidy a corner in my son’s bedroom it locked up fully bent. I was in agony and couldn’t straighten it past 90 degrees without a searing inside pain.
I knew that the degenerate tear in my medial (inside) shock absorbing meniscal cartilage had extended and almost certainly flipped out of place. It was now stuck and mechanically blocking my knee bend. I had to finally accept I needed to get it sorted and realised I wouldn’t be able to do my operating list the following day. After a hard decision to postpone those patients and a few phone calls later, I found myself booked on my own list to have a knee arthroscopy (keyhole procedure) and to remove the flipped fragment. I attended the day surgery unit the following morning and it felt extremely strange being on the other side of the fence!
The staff, from start to finish, were superb and even though the rest of that day was a bit of a blur, I got a few decent photos. (see pictures below) I can honestly say I had no pain in my knee after the operation, and I am massively grateful to my surgeon, anaesthetist, and the surgical team and all the staff that looked after me so well. @RBNHSFT is a truly awesome place to work. That night was actually the first time for some while I hadn’t woken up with pain whilst turning over.
The timing was good, as I had booked a week of annual leave off for the start of January so I felt incredibly positive heading into 2019 and desperate to get back running.
I used the Compex machine a lot to try and keep my quads recruited and worked as hard as I could on my S&C program to improve my gluteal strength.
Slowly but surely I have built up my distance from 1-2 km jogs in the snow, to a decent 20 km trial over a volcano in Lanzarote during February half term. I now have some new bed time reading and will report back just before Reading Half…
So the challenge is well and truly on… – Teaming up with @RBHCharity – I’m aiming to raise as much money as possible to go towards the COAT fund and a new Children’s Surgical Outpatients Department at The Royal Berkshire Hospital. In Trauma & Orthopaedics last year we saw just over 12,000 children through our clinics, and unfortunately the environment we see these patients in is just not as good as it could be.
Please help us make a difference to our local children…
