Gimpy Dale

Many of you will remember that Dale injured his knee last summer playing kickball. He rounded second and was heading for third when he looked up and saw a player from the opposing team standing in the base path. Dale tried to cut to go around him and ended up on the ground with a knee the size of a cantaloupe. That was the end of his plans to run across a Colorado mountain last fall, but the swelling slowly went down and the limping went away eventually Dale was able to do normal things like walk and straighten his leg and even run (in a straight line).

He was feeling pretty good about his knee when the soccer season started in early March -- he went to a few practices, showed up early for his first game, and was excited to be playing again. That lasted about five minutes into the first game, when he tried to change direction while running and ended up collapsing. By the time he got home, his knee was swollen so badly that he couldn't wear jeans anymore -- they simply wouldn't fit over his knee.

It only took a little bit of prompting to get Dale in to a doctor, who manipulated Dale's knee for about 30 seconds before declaring that he had torn cartilage and would need surgery. A few days later, Dale got an MRI to see how bad the cartilage tear was, and when the doctor saw the MRI, he realized that Dale had not only torn cartilage, but also a completely ruptured ACL.

A normal knee ligament is nice and black and has well-defined edges:


Dale's ruptured ACL is grey and blotchy and looks like something exploded inside his knee:


Dale had his first appointment with his surgeon last week (the initial doctor was a surgeon and would have repaired the cartilage, but doesn't do ACL replacements, so Dale had to find another surgeon who would do the entire knee reconstruction). Since the reconstructive knee surgery will involve four weeks during which Dale won't be able to walk, bear weight on his right knee, or drive, we wanted to schedule the surgery as soon as possible so that Dale would be well on his way to recovery before the twins are born.

So, a week from Wednesday, Dale is going under the knife for the first time in his life. The doctor will remove the middle third of his patellar tendon and small plugs of bone on the kneecap and tibia, and use the patellar tendon to replace his ACL. He'll come out of the operating room with a four-inch incision below his knee and two or three small incisions around his knee. He'll be bedridden for several days, after which he will be able to get around on crutches for a month. Full recovery may take 6-9 months, but the doctor assures him that he will be able to run and play soccer eventually.

Please think of us next Wednesday and in the weeks following as Dale has surgery and begins his long recovery!

In the mean time, Dale still limps and can't straighten his leg, and it bothers him if he has to stand or walk on it for a long time. Fortunately, it hasn't kept him from playing with Adelaida! Adelaida enjoys her swing but needs an adult with her to push her and be available if she falls off. Today, Dale pulled a chair up to the swing set and positioned it so he could sit down and push Adelaida while she was swinging. She was perfectly happy and he was staying off his knee!

24 weeks and growing!

Today, we celebrated the twins' 24-weeks-gestation birthday. Yes, I've been pregnant for almost 5 1/2 months now, and have only 3 1/2 months (or maybe a little less) before our little girls arrive. The time seems to be passing by so quickly! It seems like just a few weeks ago that we learned we were having twins, and now people are coming up to me and asking me when I'm due!



As you can see from the picture, I'm now noticeably pregnant! Amazingly, the girls are only a little more than one pound each, so there are two pounds of baby in my belly right now. I'm trying to imagine how my belly is going to expand enough to hold an additional ten to twelve pounds of baby and just cannot imagine it! But I'm sure they will find the space they need, even if it is at the expense of my lungs and stomach and bladder.

We bought car seats today and now have everything we really need for the twins. Their nursery is not yet set up -- the crib is in pieces in the attic and their room is currently being used as a storage area for furniture and curtains and other random things from our tile project. But in the next few weeks we plan to put the downstairs furniture back downstairs and rearrange their room, creating a nice baby-friendly space for them. We'll install their car seats in the car soon and experiment with different arrangements of three car seats -- I'm really hoping we can find a configuration that will allow us to store a bit of cargo (groceries, diaper bag, stroller, etc) and still get all three girls in the car easily.