I had a strange accident recently. I was getting off
the boat that I work on and the wind was blowing really hard. As I opened
the back doors of the van in which I was going to travel home the wind caught
the door and blew it against my knee cap. It didn't seem too bad at the time
but later it started to ache a bit and then to swell up. Finally I had to
give in to the pain and go to the doctor for an opinion on the situation.
I ended up, following various x-rays etc. having surgery to remove the bursa,
which is the fluid filled bag around the knee, followed by various repair
work to the back surface of my knee cap.
The surgical team who carried out the operation were, every one, fantastic
and I felt not a single bit of pain throughout the entire process and have
felt none to this day. I still am not yet ready to return to work at the
time of writing but will do so as soon as I have re-gained some strength
in the leg.
Why is this going into my web page? Because I was given a set of the endoscopy
pictures which were taken during the operation. Many people have shown so
much interest in the pictures that I have decided to put them on 'public'
view.
The following links connect to the various pictures. If you should decide
that you wish to look at them please use your browsers 'Back' button to return
to the list.
| The amazing icewater filled presure dressing to stop swelling... | This thing is HEAVY! |
| After the surgery... | OK, I drew a face on there. They said 'Mark it so we don't do the wrong knee' - It's a mark isn't it? |
| Following the bursal removal they 'elevated' my knee cap and had a look underneath for damage. They found quite a lot of 'bits' to remove and a lot of cartilege damage. The remaining pics are from the endoscope and are internal views of what was found..... | |
| First view... | Shows the ruined cartilege. |
| Second view... | Using a tool to smooth the cartilege and remove other small fragments. |
| A heating tool... | This seals the ragged parts of cartilege that remain. |
| and again... | Another view of the same process. |
| After the job was done... | Still some roughness left there but MUCH better. |
| A quick check of the knee joint just in case... (1) | The pad between the knee bones. |
| A quick check of the knee joint just in case... (2) | The ligaments. |
| A quick check of the knee joint just in case... (3) | Another view of the pad (meniscus) between the femur and the tibia. |
