CAMMIE'S KNEE SURGERY - (Keep scrolling down, down, down)

The date of the Accident: NOVEMBER 16th, 2006

Here is the lovely mountain in Breckenridge, CO where I had the most un-cool, sloppy recovery of all times on skis. I sure wish that I had this bad ass story of flying off the side of mountain, an avalanche chasing behind me at 45 mph and me dodging the “demons” just to survive, but NO…. totally just me buckling my knees when I stopped. That is it!

Anyway, notice the woman in this map wearing BLUE and oddly looking out of control… that is just about the spot the accident occurred.

I did fall back when I felt the severe “nausea” come on…. Of course, my head ended up facing up-hill, not the right position if one was going to vomit (rolls down hill). Thank goodness I was chewing gum because I have never chewed Dentine soooo hard.

Derek was with me and ran up hill to take off my skis to help me. He was the one who went for help. Of course, from what I heard, someone saw me from the lift and had thought that someone had died. I must have looked “a mess”.

Anyway, they took me straight to the ER, did 3 hours of tests and then told me to go see a specialist – the prognosis was not good! They sent me home with braces on both knees and with a set of crutches.

NOT a good way to start ski season!!!!

Time for Surgery…. Friday, December 1st, 2006 at 7:00AM

Just follow the sign which leads you to the hospital. Ooooohhhhh!!!!

Here is the actual Hospital in Vail, CO. You can actually see Bethany who has been there to greet me for every one of my visits (4 so far).

DECEMBER 1st - The Day of Surgery

This is the 3rd Floor and the “ENTRY” to the Steadman Hawkins Clinic. It is like going down that long hall in The Wizard of Oz just to see the all powerful Oz. Well, walking down this long hall, crippled on crutches mind you, you notice the hundreds of PRO athletes that they have “repaired”. Framed, signed jerseys, gloves and posters to entertain the long, long, long, walk. I mean seriously folks - we are injured, isn't there a door a little closer????

Yeppers, even Rod Stewart the rock star plays "Football" in the UK. His knee was worked on November 24th, 2005.... a little over a year ago!

I would have posted others but sadly I do not know anything or anyone in sports. Hehee.

RUN FOREST RUN!!!

Oh yeah, these things are oh, so lovely. Notice those thigh-high TEDS anti-embolism hose that I have to wear. They are SEXY!!! The best part is where the toes are, there is this giant hole – to check for circulation. You and I both know when a hole is in the toe, they have got to go! That drives you crazy!!!!

Oh, you can see my bandages underneath those hose.

Those are way larger than the actual incisions and scars.

The Actual KNEE STUFF

Here is my GENIUS surgeon, Dr. Peter Millett of the Steadman Hawkins Clinic. If you are having any knee, shoulder, hip, back, ankle, elbow, etc. problems, you need to look him up! http://www.drmillett.com/preOpPostOp.asp



Here is a medical model of the knee and its bones and ligaments;

this particular model represents The Right Knee.

This one has the Patella Ligament in place, which is located over your knee cap.

We have flapped the Patella down towards the shin. (You can see the knee cap attached to the Patella). With this pulled down you can see the bone and ligaments which you use for lateral (side to side) movement. Most injuries to these ligaments, such as the ACL and PCL occur in sports like Basketball, Football, and Soccer.

Here is a close up! In my Left Knee the ACL was completely replaced. The PCL was sprained, I had a tear in my MCL and my Meniscus was repaired.

My Right Knee my Meniscus was repaired and I showed 2nd degree tears in my ACL and MCL, but during surgery, Dr. Millett thought the tears would heal just fine on their own – protected, in braces, over the next 8-10 weeks.

To learn more about the Knee visit http://www.kneeguru.com/

Now, this is not the best photo of my Left Knee.... it is still about the size of a grapefruit and you can see the "weave patterns" from the lovely TEDS anti-embolism stockings. The top of the leg you see here in this photo is what should look like a knee cap and it will in about 2-3 more weeks of physical therapy.

Just below the knee cap are two small “slits” about the size of a felt pen when it hits paper.

Just below them is the actual “entry” incision which is only about ¾” in length.

Dr. Millett was VERY proud of that size; most doctors, even with the technology today still leave you with close to 2”. He made it clear that he had done a great job and I AGREE!!!!


It will be a FULL 6 months of recovery; 4 months of it spent in physical therapy. I WILL be skiing next season and plan to be back on the road cycling by July 2007.