My surgery - photos, both from inside and outside (one is quite graphic, you have been warned)

So, as I’m sure the majority of you will know, two weeks and one day ago I underwent surgery to replace the ligament on the inside of my kneecap, to hopefully prevent future dislocation! :)

I met with the surgeon today, who’s happy that I’m healing well, happy that the surgery has worked, and happy that in a week or two I should be able to drive, and I should be able to return to climbing within a few months! Good times :)

But, I hear you ask, what went on during the surgery? And what, Joshua, does the inside of a knee look like?

Well, everyone, it looks a bit like this :) Just incase, by some minor miracle, you didn’t read the title of this blog post; one of these pictures is particularly graphic, so if you’re easily upset (is upset the right word? I was going to say ‘offended’, but that isn’t it..) by surgery, it’s best not to look :)

If you’re curious about what knee surgery looks like.. Well, carry on scrollin'. I double dare you. (The first two photos aren’t that bad, I promise)

This first photo shows the damage to my knee after the dislocations that I’ve had - it’s not uncommon, after a dislocation, for some of the bone to chip away entirely, and to be left floating in the knee joint, where it can cause some damage, so I got away with pretty minor injuries here :) Nothing for the surgeon to worry about

This is what a dislocation looks like! Basically, on the right hand side of the image, at the top of the bone you can see a tiiiiiiny little dip, and this is where the kneecap was meant to sit. Mine didn’t. A full dislocation is what’s pictured above - where the kneecap comes entirely out of this little groove, and sits to the side. While, day to day, mine wasn’t quite like this (he dislocated it purposefully to show me what was going on), it was never quite fully sat in the grove either. Technically, I was climbing V7 with a dislocated knee. Beat that, Sharma.

This is by far the most graphic image! I’m pretty sure you can figure out on your own what this is of. The thing that’s dangling out of my knee like something out of an Alien film is a tendon from my thigh, and was used as a replacement ligament to attach my kneecap properly to the rest of my leg, and put it back in it’s groove (Bloody hell, ‘back in it’s groove’.. It’s not Austin Powers)

Finally, THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

As you can see, as opposed to before, the kneecap is now sitting perfectly in the groove to the left of the image. Result :)

And if you’ve managed to read this entire post, and not throw up a little bit, congratulations - you’re almost as sick as me, the guy who asked to watch it all live!

Love you all, and take care of those joints!

Josh :)
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