As a young teenager, I was diagnosed with Osgood-Schaltter’s Disease. While this condition tends to go away on its own for most, for some unlucky few such as myself, it can cause a lifetime of discomfort.
My career as a chef doesn’t exactly allow me the time to be off my feet for extended periods of time but, with COVID-19 causing the majority of restaurants to shut down, I currently find myself not working so it’s time to fix myself.
I went to the Oregon Medical Group here in Eugene and met with Dr. Robb Larsen to discuss my options. Upon taking some X-Rays, Dr. Larsen saw that I had a fairly large ossicle (a loose, bony growth) underneath the tendon just below my kneecap.
Since prior physical therapy yielded little results, surgery was the best option, so on Thursday, June 4, I went under the knife for a fairly brief procedure to get it removed.
The surgery was a great success and I was out of the surgical center within a few hours. The first few days post-op were pretty painful but by day three I was able to limp around with a bit more ease and by day five I was walking pretty much normally. I am unable to squat yet but the doctor says I should be back to full functionality within 6-8 weeks.
Hopefully since I will no longer be dealing with the chronic pain I will be able to do a lot more strenuous activities outdoors and really focus on mountaineering once my knee is fully healed!
