The Story of my Floating Knees - A New Year Update

As I mentioned in my last post, this year is going to be a turning point for my dislocating knees. It's going to be a long journey but hopefully one that will help me walk normally and be free from the discomfort in my legs and of course the dislocating!

My legs have been increasingly uncomfortable lately to the point where I can't walk about or stand for very long periods and I often feel like they are going to give way if I don't sit down.

Thankfully my appointment for the specialist in Glasgow arrived and I went to see him at the beginning of December. I was quite apprehensive about it since I'd been told by another specialist at my previous appointment that I'd never have normal legs again. You can read more about that and my knee story here.

I didn't need to be apprehensive though as the specialist in Glasgow was fantastic!  He finally explained exactly why my knees have been dislocating and explained how they are going to treat it. Firstly, he said that even if I had the strongest ligaments in the world, my knee caps could not be held on.  The sockets are far too shallow so they will need to be deepened to keep my knee caps on.  This won't solve the problem completely though.  Another factor to my knees dislocating is that my leg bones are all facing in different directions.  This means that the bones in my lower leg are at an angle where they are often coming into contact with my knee caps and therefore knocking them off.
To stop this happening, they will need to break my legs at the top and the bottom and twist the bones to straighten them.

He also explained that the reason my legs feel so tired is due to having to walk with them bent all the time. Try standing for a minute with your legs bent and you'll feel how much your muscles begin to work. Therefore spending the day with bent legs exhausts them, so no wonder they feel like they're going to collapse all the time. If I physically straightened my legs and tried to walk like that, my knee caps would just slide off. Bending them is what's keeping them on. He also said that my knees have eroded over time with dislocating and my ligaments have become so stretched they do nothing, so this will add to the discomfort.

So, after years and years of going to numerous doctors, I've finally found out the reason my knees dislocate and have been given a solution. It was quite a shock to find out exactly what they'll have to do, and I have been told that it will be painful and I'll need to find a lot of strength to get through it all but I know that it'll be worth it.

If I can eventually walk again with straight legs and no discomfort then it is entirely worth it.  If I can go on walks in the countryside, ride a bike, finally be able to learn to drive, and spend my time without the constant fear of falling I will be putting 100% into this.

My next step is another CT scan and an MRI scan which should be happening in the next month or so. After that I'll be on the waiting list for the operations. They'll be working on one leg at a time and from the scans they'll be able to calculate more accurately how long my legs will take to recover.

So this really is the year for my floating knees!

Again, if you'd like to follow the story from the beginning, head over here.

Goodbye 2016, hello 2017!

Hello 2017, you've come around rather quickly! As a year, 2016 for me was quite a turning point for a number of reasons.  The first was that I had the chance to see what is needed to produce and sell my own art work, something that I've been wanting to do for many years.  This insight has given me the confidence and the knowledge to do just that so in the coming months I'll be starting to produce work with the view to turn it into sellable products.

My other turning point was discovering the main reason why my knees have dislocated all my life. I haven't had the chance to pop up an update about my knees (flu + Christmas), but I'll get one up soon to explain all that fully. The solution to the problem comes in the form of operations which will take up a large amount of time this year but I'm so relieved to have been given a solution to a problem that affects me on a daily basis.



I've also decided that I'm going to join the planner community this year! I didn't even realise such a community existed up until a few weeks ago.  Although we all have so many fancy apps on our phones that can sort out our diaries and to do lists, I've always preferred paper options for that sort of thing. I decided to invest in a Filofax and on looking them up online, I discovered there's a lot of love for planners out there at the moment, especially bullet journalling. There are blogs, YouTube videos, Pinterest boards and Instagram accounts full of peoples planner setups. My love of stationary and making lists took over and I got hooked quite quickly looking at these, so I have decided to officially join the community! It's also a fantastic way to start the year and will help to keep me organised. I'll be posting about my own planner setup soon as well as the new stationary I bought to start the year.

I'm also looking forward to doing a lot more crafty things this year including felting, embroidery and cross stitch. I got another fantastic cross stitch kit for Christmas, as well as felting and embroidery supplies so I'm keen to create some more pieces this year.  I often post the stages of my work on my Instagram account so if you fancy following what I do, you can find me at instagram.com/sannadyker.

I'll also be continuing to add to my old photograph collection which I'll update on here and I'll be popping up the odd book review too.  Hopefully my new organiser will help remind me to do blog posts more often!

I hope you all had a fantastic festive break whatever you were doing and I wish you all a very happy new year!

SaveSaveSaveSave

The Story of the Floating Knees

My blog has a bit of an odd name.  I've been asked a few times now why it has this name. Why 'floating knees'? I guess I should start at the beginning. For those of you that don't fancy a story I have drawn up a simple to follow explanation above.

So, every kid falls, usually due to clumsiness or running too fast.  I did that all the time and had permanently skinned knees. Then something weird started happening.  I did normal falling and then not so normal falling. The not so normal falling would be something like walking along and just dropping for no reason or feeling myself crumple while running.  I could sense it was something to do with my knee because I could hear a loud thud coming from it and an incredibly unsettling sensation.  It felt like my leg was falling apart.

As I grew older and it kept happening I became more and more aware of it and the conclusion that was reached was that I had dislocating knees like some of my relatives had.  They tended to grow out of their problems and that's what many doctors said.  "She'll grow out of it".
So on I went, falling over quite often and each time my knee dislocated I'd hit the ground, my knee cap thankfully having popped back into place by the time I landed.  But things then changed.  I'd hit the ground and my knee would stay around the side of my leg.  I learnt how to pull it back around safely myself so then on went the falling and pulling my knee caps back on, usually to the horror of many random strangers I'd fall in front of on the streets.

One day I experienced both knees falling out at the same time. I've sat here for a while thinking how to describe that feeling but it's too difficult. My body goes into shock and all I can think of is getting my knees back in place.  It's the worst pain.  It's also terrifying.
It was time to go back to the doctors so as a teen I went and had X-rays done.  They concluded that my knees dislocated which was obviously already known. It was know all too well.  But nothing according to the doctors, could be done.

Years went on of bad falls and increased pain each time.  My knee caps got more temperamental and I now even struggle to get them back in place. I also can't walk with straight legs as my knee caps are so loose when I straighten up.  If you imagine cracking an egg into a bowl and the yolk slides about, that's what they feel like to me. When you bend your knee you can feel everything tighten slightly so I use that tightening to keep my knee caps on.  I'm basically using the mush in my leg, all the gooey parts to keep them on.  Nice.

I went through physiotherapy, wearing knee supports, then being told not to wear knee supports, and even had my knee caps strapped down with strong tape in the opposite direction to how they fall off. That made them feel like they were on fire. Nothing worked and it just got worse.
Thankfully in the last year I was sent to have more X-rays done.  The results turned out to be a lot more than just knee troubles. My hips are twisted in the way, I have no bone surrounding my knee caps, hence why I call them 'floating knees', I have hypermobility in my joints, my knee caps are too high and my leg bones are all facing different directions.  I said to the doctor "so I'm guessing this isn't normal?", his reply, "this is very abnormal...". Can't argue with that really.  My legs are pretty darn strange.

So I guess this is another reason I'm writing this post.  I have multiple operations ahead on both my bones and ligaments so to get me through it, I'll probably post updates on here.  This is all a good thing though.  Operations sound serious and scary but when your knees fall off all the time getting them fixed is the more favourable option.  It's also a light at the end of a very long tunnel for me after going backwards and forwards to doctors since I was wee and getting nowhere.  I can't wait to walk normally and be free from the fear of falling all the time. I shall keep you all posted.

EDIT: The Story of the Floating Knees - The Update... Click here.


SaveSave