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I got my cast off this morning, after seven weeks. This is what the most recent X-rays show:

The patella (upper right) still clearly has a fracture running through it, but has begun to stitch itself back together. The doctor estimates it’s about 3/4 of the way to being as strong as it was before my crash. While there’s no longer any risk of my kneecap spontaneously tearing itself to bits, the doctor recommended I don’t crash my bike again for at least six weeks. Sure thing.

While my skeleton seems to be making progress, my muscles, tendons, and even my blood vessels are going to need some work. My leg has been locked in full extension for nearly two months and all of the normally exercised flesh has atrophied, stiffened, and constricted in neglect.

Currently, I’ve got about 45° of motion in my knee, at which point it starts to feel pretty sketchy. I’m learning to tell the difference between the kind of pain that tells me my muscles and tendons are unhappy stretching, and the much more severe pain that tells me by kneecap is unhappy.

Today alone though, in a few bouts of directed stretching, after a warm bath, and after walking around town for about an hour, I’ve already gained perhaps 5° or 10° of motion. I know that recovery of full mobility is going to take a long time, and that I shouldn’t rush the process, but today was encouraging.

So happy birthday to my new leg, may it heal and strengthen as as well as nurtured flesh can.