My Surgery

I did my surgery about five weeks post injury. In that five weeks i did therapy and got back the full range of motion and felt overall pretty strong with the leg. It was unstable, but i could do careful squats and seems to have regained near full power. I did the procedure at a local outpatient center; in at 7 AM and on my home by noon. I was pretty addled from all the medications; my wife tells me i kept asking the same questions. They repaired my ACL using a graft from my hamstring, they also repaired my MCL and cleaned up some torn bits in the joint. I got pictures of the ACL before and after, I'll try to post them some time. They are kind of gross. The first two days were pretty easy; medication levels were high.

Friday after surgery was my first therapy session, prior to that, I had been told rest, elevate, and ice. The first session was humbling. I could barely raise my leg. I had only about 82 degrees of bend. The therapist gave me The Big Lecture about doing the work and trying hard. I found that first session a bit depressing. I've been pretty active, I had thought I would bounce back pretty quick. I was naive. I stopped the pain meds Monday, I really hated to be on them for as long as I was, but hated the pain worse. It's manageable at this point. Well, at the second session I made it to 100 degrees. The therapist promised if I had not made 90, he would "help" me. That was spooky. today, I barely made 105 with some help.

The path back to just walking normally will be longer then I thought. I look forward to the swelling going down and the bruising to heal. The brace at night is very uncomfortable; I'm rather sleep deprived. I just can't get comfortable day or night. To top it all off, I feel like a big whiner. :-) This is not my normal nature. Maybe by the end of next week, I'll be feeling better and moving better.