On Friday evening June 28, 2024 I returned from a trip to NYC where I attended a board meeting. I had a direct flight (extremely rare) from LaGuardia (LGA) to Omaha (OMA) that was on time and things were going very well. I grabbed my bag from the carousel and began to head to the pick up area about 7:40 pm. The Omaha airport is under a lot of construction so there is a different route to get from the terminal to the pickup area in the garage, but it really is not an issue.
I was trying to call my bride about where to pick me up and was walking along the curb trying to dial my phone not really paying attention to where I was walking. All of a sudden I was on the concrete roadway having miss stepped off the curb accidentally and I fell hard into a heap landing on my left knee. After realizing what had happened and trying to get up, I was unable. I could not move my left leg and could see that there was something wrong visually along with the intense pain I experienced.
There is no question that God protected me during the fall. I was completely caught off guard, and miraculously not more damage was done. And most importantly, I didn’t hit my head on the concrete which certainly could have been a devastating outcome. Evidently He is not done with me quite yet. God was gracious and kept me from experiencing many other things that could have happened.
So there I was, lying on the middle of the inside lane of traffic unable to get up or even move without excruciating pain. After a couple minutes someone came along and saw me laying there and asked if I needed help. I answered yes, and she proceeded to return inside the terminal and notify the authorities. Fortunately no shuttles came which would have been a problem since I was lying in the middle of the traffic lane.
An airport worker showed up with a wheel chair, which I was unable to get into, but I did manage to slide myself out of the traffic lane by scooting on my rear end managing to slide up onto the sidewalk. A police officer showed up next and let me know the airport fire department was on their way and they arrived about 5 minutes after the fall.
All this time I was trying to get the phone out of my pocket so I could call my bride. I know I accidentally dialed a few of you as my brain was focused on the pain rather than hitting the right buttons. I managed to reach her and tell her what happened. She came from the cell phone lot and headed into the construction zone and was quickly told she couldn’t drive to where I was. She parked and had a few tense conversations with officers before they saw two fire trucks with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
By this time the Omaha Fire unit had also arrived. They took my vitals after getting me up off the pavement into the wheel chair. My leg and thigh were throbbing and causing much pain. My blood pressure was off the charts, which I guess is normal for someone in trauma. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived and they got me onto a stretcher and into the back of the truck for a very bumpy ride to Nebraska Medical Center’s ER about 15 minutes away.
One of the firefighters just picked me up and got me situated which isn’t an easy job for a big guy like me. They were efficient and well trained and gathered all the needed information before we arrived at the hospital. Once there, they got me into a wheel chair and wheeled me to the admittance area for the ER. I was processed quickly into x-ray where they took a few very painful pictures. Anytime I moved my leg there was massive pain, but they got three good pictures.
Then it was back to the waiting room until a doctor became available to look at the x-rays and determine the next course of action. I arrived at the ER a little after 8 pm or thirty minutes after the fall. It was around 9:30 pm when I was assigned an exam room. They had to call the orthopedic doctor on site to come take a look, which happened about 10:30 pm. She ordered a knee immobilization brace and told me I’d need to get an MRI and see the orthopedic clinic next week. The brace helped immensely and while I still couldn’t lift my left leg on my own, I was able to stand and get around a bit with the help of some crutches.
Around 11:00 pm I was discharged and sent home, which was an hour drive from the city to the farm. We had to figure out how to get my braced and immobile leg into the car, but my bride figured it out and we were able to fall into bed around 12:30 am. This was definitely not in my plans.
On Saturday we decided to work with Ortho Nebraska since they were the team that had been helping grandson Micah with his knee issues. He’s almost back to normal after a long journey of surgery and physical therapy. They also had done our daughter-in-law Megan’s shoulder surgery a few years ago.
We called to get on the schedule and I expected to be told that Dr. Scott Reynolds, who had done both of their surgeries and guided their recovery, would be booked for months to come. That was the initial response, but after pleading my case, the scheduler came back and said she was able to move an appointment and got us on the schedule for 11 AM on Tuesday July 2 which was a miracle by itself. That was only four days from the injury.
We arrived and got checked in that morning and Dr. Reynolds came in and talked about the accident. He concurred with the diagnosis from the orthopedic doctor in the ER, that there was a rupture of the quadriceps tendon. He wanted to be aggressive with getting surgery scheduled as time is not going to improve things, but to be certain, they would need an MRI to validate the diagnosis and determine the path for treatment which likely would involve surgery.
Getting an MRI is no easy task, but Dr. Reynolds was able to get us on the schedule later the same day so my bride and I took a leisurely lunch and waited for our 3 pm appointment. I’ve had MRIs in the past, and I’m not a fan on being put into a tube where I barely fit to lie there for a long period of time. Fortunately I was scheduled to use the large machine and only was inserted up to my chest which was a much more enjoyable experience. The MRI validated the diagnosis and set things up for surgery as soon as the schedule allowed.
I have to admit that a quad tendon was a medical term I wasn’t familiar with. The quadriceps tendon is a strong rope-like fibrous tissue located at the top of the kneecap that connects the quadriceps muscles to the kneecap. It works together with the quadriceps muscles to allow us to straighten our leg. The quadriceps muscles are the muscles located at the front of the thigh. I was unable to lift or straighten my leg, so I was pretty sure they got it right.
Dr. Reynolds’ schedule was full but they were able to work me in for surgery on July 9. I went in mid-morning for pre-op and surgery began at 12:30. As they ran through the 100’s (at least it seemed like that many) questions and got all my vitals captured in the computer, I also got to talk with the PT folks about how I was going to get around without use of my left leg.
After one look
at the old guy in the bed, she suggested a walker as my primary means to move along with a wheel chair for distance runs. Crutches and me just didn’t get along all that well. I had been using a single crutch to help with balance to this point, but when we talked about how I was to get around, the walker was the best option and made my day. It is so much simpler than crutches.
They hit my IV with some anesthesia and I was out before I even got to the operating room. About 90 minutes later, they had cut open my knee and stitched things back together. That involved drilling three holes through my kneecap to run sutures to connect the tendon and muscle.
I came out of surgery to the first level of recovery where I stayed about an hour with absolutely no recollection of my time there. I guess the doc came in and talked with my bride and daughter, but that was all second hand information to me. I was completely out.
I finally came around in the second level recovery room and began to get my senses back. Still definitely not wide awake and I don’t really recall much of the instruction set they sent me home with, but we had a sandwich and a glass of cranberry juice and were able to head home. The nurse wheeled me out and we loaded up and took off to the farm.
We had done a lot of preparation to try and be ready for the next weeks of recovery. Our split level house is not exactly what the doctor ordered for ease of care, so we opted to rent a hospital bed and put it on the ground level floor so I would have no steps to deal with. That was a great move as it allowed use of the wheel chair and walker to be pretty seamless.
We bought a shower transfer bench which seemed like a great idea but I didn’t read the specifications closely enough as it wasn’t high enough to fit over the Jacuzzi hot tub. So son Pete build a beautiful bench that worked perfectly allowing me to sit outside the tub and slide my way into the tub while keeping my left leg elevated and outside of the tub. With a shower wand it worked like magic.
We had discontinued our Dish Network subscription for the summer and were going to try streaming as the source of our entertainment. I have to admit, that experiment hasn’t gone so well. Being an old guy that is used to just pressing a button and getting what I want is far better than having to deal with apps and connectivity issues and what seems like a never ending challenge to find what I want to watch when I want to watch it. First world problems but it shows just how spoiled I have become.
It was a two week wait from surgery to the first doctor visit post operation. That happened on July 23 and things looked good. They ordered physical therapy at that point and we began the long journey to rebuild things. Given my age, they decided to take it slow, which is just another patience builder. There are some pains related to the fall and surgery, but overall PT has been tolerable. It’s the timeline that keeps me grateful for the little steps of progress.
We were able to get the knee bent to 60 degrees that first week of PT (week three of recovery), which wasn’t all that much but certainly felt like a lot on the pain meter. I got a half dozen exercises to do three times a day, and as we moved through week three they added a few more so there were 10 things I was doing at least three times a day, increasing the number of repetitions as we went.
Week four started with moving the knee bend to 75% which felt like a victory. The one area that was a struggle was moving the kneecap which is an important part of being able to walk well. That little piece of the knee needs to be loose and move with motion so we spent time massaging and moving it every visit and at home.
I also got a yellow light to begin doing stairs with caution and a crutch. The saying ‘the good go to heaven, the bad go to hell’ was the reminder that going up the stairs you lead with your good leg, but going down you lead with your bad leg. Doing stairs with a crutch isn’t as easy as it seems it might be, but with practice and paying attention I managed to make the transition which allowed me to return to sleeping in my own bed and eating meals on our main floor.
The PT journey continued to progress bit by bit. After transitioning to a single crutch, I was able to go to full body weight on my left leg when my brace was on. And I was able to adjust the brace to 50 degree bends with the brace on (a very cool designed system) which enabled me to do mini squats and continue to strengthen the tendon. Slow but steady will win in the end.
The next step of the journey was to get rid of the crutch and begin to move about with my locked brace. That was a freeing day and made getting around a bit easier. It’s amazing how hard it is to keep track of a crutch. PT continued to push my leg to 80 degrees and beyond, which came with some pain, but is a necessary part of getting to a normal walking routine.
Week seven allowed for some mobility with the brace unlocked. That is a huge step in the right direction as the peg legged approach to walking is a bit cumbersome and slow. An immobile leg is far better than hopping around or using a walker or crutch. But getting to allow the knee to bend as I move about is a big step toward recovery.
That has allowed me to drive for the first time in 8 weeks. But like riding a bicycle, the ability comes back quickly and I enjoyed getting behind the wheel and making a trip to the DQ for a treat with my bride. I also was given the green light to sleep without the brace which is a vast improvement to my nights.
Weeks 9 and beyond are an increase in the difficulty of the PT exercises. There is some pain, but things are going well and I’m getting more mobile week by week. I achieved 125 degrees in week 12 and have ten more to go to achieve the final goal. There is still a long way to go, but God has blessed the recovery process and I am confident we’ll get there with time.
Recovery can take 9-12 months post-surgery. I’ve asked God a lot why this happened. It was definitely my fault, but He’s kept me out of plenty of other situations that could have gone bad. I know there is a purpose for this detour in my plans. I’ve been working to slow down, albeit at a snail’s pace. This is making sure that happens.
As much as I’ve not really enjoyed this experience, there is no question that God has had a plan all along. It has given me time to slow down, reflect and seek what God has in store for me going forward. It is not to return to the hamster wheel I was running on. I haven’t got it all figured out, but the injury has been a blessing in disguise and I want to make the most of it!