What Happened To My Knee

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

I really screwed up my knee, and this is the story:

On January 28th 2010 I went to see my friends band play, Sleeping Giant, I was getting loose on the dance floor (not in the way your are probably thinking). I got knocked off balance and my knee bent sideways. When it happened I heard a very loud “POP” noise. I instantly fell to the ground. I got back up to my feet quickly, stood on my leg and in instantly buckled under my weight. I crawled a short distance, and then was carried by friends to a chair. I sat in the chair, writhing in the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. In time the pain subsided and I was able to walk, although with a slight limp. I wasn’t in any real pain, just discomfort. I was able to drive myself home from the show. I thought I had just sprained my knee. There wasn’t even that much swelling.

Over the course of the next week, my knee got stiffer and my range of motion became limited. I developed a very pronounced limp. I figured it was time to have a professional look at it, so I went to see an orthopedic doctor who specializes in sports medicine. He looked at my knee and instantly told me that me that if felt like my ACL was torn and my meniscus was ripped, but he wanted mt to get an MRI to see exactly what was going on inside my knee and what needed repaired.

From the time I got the MRI and saw the Dr for the reading, 2 weeks had passed. When he came into the room with me and cut straight to the point

“Your ACL is pretty much non-existent, your meniscus is torn, but most importantly, your femur has become necrotic and part of it had died. You need to stop walking on your leg and i need you in surgery ASAP”.

As he started to explain it all, I wanted to pass out. He told me that when my knee dislocated, that my femur and my tibia slammed together, and the femur took most of the impact. The soft tissue in my femur had swollen to the point that it cut off blood supply to one the condyles on my femur, and it started to die. AWESOME. The Doc went on to tell me the treatment options available based on what he saw inside my knee at the time of surgery.

  1. less then 1cm of dead bone, remove it and let it fill back in by itself
  2. more then 1cm, less then 2cm, remove the bad area and take a bone plug from my leg and fill in the bad area
  3. replace part of the femur with a cadaver bone

Needless to say I was freaked out about everything.

I did all the preOp stuff and 4 days later I was in surgery. I don’t do well with anesthesia or narcotics. The next 3 days are a blur with moments of clarity mixed in. I’m glad that my wife was there to care for me. I was tripping really hard on the drugs and there are some funny stories about that, but that’s a different post all together. At one point I am told that I was screaming “I AM A CYBORG” while posturing like King Kong with my arms over my head. I don’t remember any of it.

The doctor said the surgery went well. He got into my knee and saw that my femur did have some dead tissue, but rather then doing the bone grafts now,  he is going to wait and see if it starts to regenerate on it’s own. He is going to re-examine the issue when I get another MRI to see how the cadaver ACL graft is working. My new ACL used to belong to a young man who died. Yes, that’s right, I have part of a dead guy in my knee. Frankenstein style.

It’s been almost a month now. I wear a brace that keeps my leg locked in extension (no bend), and goes from my hip to my ankle. It makes it really hard to sit up in a chair for an extended period of time. I lay down for about 22 hours a day. I’m lucky that I have a nice laptop and my boss lets me work from home, but the situation is still very frustrating.

I do about 2 hours of physical therapy a day. With any luck I won’t need a second surgery, and the doctor will allow me to start trying to walk in about 3 more weeks. I wont be 100% until October, almost 9 months after my surgery.

So far it has been a long and trying road, and I still have miles to go. My advice to you, NEVER blow out your knee!

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Here is what the surgery I went through looks like

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8EpT3uCVWU[/youtube]

This is actual video from inside my torn up knee

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rie3aqc0xAM[/youtube]

141 Eyewear, a product with a purpose

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

Over the past few years, Tom’s shoes have become well known, hip and trendy. Everyone knows that if you buy a pair of their shoes, they donate a pair of shoes to children in need. I love the philosophy, but HATE their shoes. Personally, I think they look ugly and clunky, but to each their own. Don’t worry, I’m not a hater, my wife has several pairs.

A few weeks ago, I saw a tweet from Timothy Ferriss about products with a purpose, and I followed the link. I don’t remember the article that I was linked to, but I managed to end up on 141Eyewear.com.

141 Eyewear is a company that helps children in need, who have eye problems. When you buy a pair of frames, they give a pair of glasses (including the eye exam and corrective lenses) to children in need, one for one, as their name implies. As someone who wears depends on eye glasses, and know how important is is to have the proper prescription, plus, who doesn’t like helping out kids in need? It’s a win win situation.

I had been thinking about getting a new pair of glasses for the last few months, but I’m very picky about my frames. I was instantly excited when I saw the awesome frames that 141 Eyewear produces. I saw the “Davis” frames, and knew that I had to have a pair.

I combed through the 141 website but couldn’t find a place to purchase a pair, so I used their contact form to ask them where I could buy a pair. I also hit them up on their twitter accout. Kyle Yamaguchi, one of the founds of 141 Eyewear instantly got back to me and told me that their eye wear was only being sold in Portland Oregon until summer time 2010. I was bummed to hear this, but it just so happened that a week earlier I had bought plane tickets to visit Portland with my wife.

When we landed in Portland, I sent a tweet telling people I was in Portland, and asked advise on what to check out. To my surprise, Kyle Yamaguchi was one of the first people to give me some suggestions. He also gave me the address of a store that carries 141 Eyewear.

We wandered around Portland for a few days, and eventually made it to the Pearl District, and “The Eye Studio“, a hip looking shop that carried lots of designer frames.

We were instantly greeted by the friendly staff at The Eye Studio, and shown the 141 Eyewear collection. I was in luck, they had one pair of “Davis” frames in stock. I tried them on and was instantly pleased with them.  The photos online didn’t do it justice, the finish on the “noir” version of the Davis frames is matte black and sleek. I had to have them.

While my wife, Amy, was trying on some frames, Shu-Chu Wu, also a founder of 141 Eyewear, came out of the back room and greeted us. She was super nice and showed us some photos of an eye clinic that 141 had put on. The kids looked amped in their new glasses.

After a bit of hangout, I bought the frames, and we were on our way. I didn’t get my prescription filled, so the frames are still empty. I figured I’d wait until I got home to Southern California.

I don’t publicly endorse many products, but I fully back 141 Eyewear and I hope you do to. They made great products that look great, and are helping kids at the same time. After having contact with both of the founders of the company, and seeing the work they have already done, I can tell that their motives are good and their intentions pure.

I’ll be posting a pic of myself wearing my 141 Eyewear once I get the lenses put into the frames next week.