OCD, no, not that one!

Many of you have asked about my knee and the challenges I have faced.  After completing 6 marathons over the past four years and running more than 3,700 miles, I hit a major snag.  I was on a short run in October 2013 and I stopped to tie my shoe on a bench, when I put my foot down to start running again, I had a huge amount of pain in my knee.  It was so intense, I almost couldn't make it back home.  After begging three doctors for help, they finally agreed to an MRI.   Here is what they found (below).  The black area highlighted in the picture by the yellow arrow is the end of my femur bone.  The femur bone is the inside bone that comes down to your knee. It is critical because this is where most of the weight of your body is centered at the knee.  The sports doctor now understood why I was in so much pain.

The MRI revealed what is called OCD, not the one you are thinking.  This one refers to Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD).  Here is a pretty good website about what it is:  http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/89718-overview.  In summary, this is a rare condition in which blood flow to the bone is disrupted for some reason usually resulting in part of the bone and underlying cartilage dying.

Over the summer, I tried the easiest of surgical solutions, which is called "micro-drilling".  In this procedure, the surgeon uses a needle to poke holes in the damaged part of the bone with the goal of getting blood flowing and hoping that it forms a harder shell over the bone area.  The procedure is much more successful in younger patients where their bones are still growing and shaping.  In older patients, like me, there is only about a 40% chance of it being successful.  However, since it is the easiest of solutions, it is the first step.  The biggest problem with this procedure is that you can't put any weight on the leg for 4-6 weeks.   So, needless to say, it has been a long, difficult summer trying to move around on crutches and hopping around.

Now, the bad news.  I have been told by three doctors already that even if this procedure works, all it will do is lessen the pain; however, it will never give me the strength I need to run again.  The other surgical options were much more invasive involving either trying to put in part of a bone from a cadaver in the gap to actually cutting my shin bone and adding screws so that the weight of my leg would be displaced to my other bone away from the femur.  However, neither of these will actually allow me to run again.

If you read this and have heard of any miracle doctors, please send them my way.  I will be able to  bike and swim soon, but it is not the same.  I want to run again!