I guess I should have started this from the beginning instead of thread-jacking.
In September '05 I was sprinting down the sideline while playing soccer, stepped in a hole or something odd, hyper-extended and flipped over my knee. I heard a pop, but thought nothing of it. I dragged myself off the field, but having never really been injured before, iced it, and waited five weeks for the swelling went down.
After the swelling went down, I played soccer, and while trying to twist on the knee, fell over and it swelled up. I again waited 5 weeks, and then it was about time to hit the white stuff.
I skied mammoth through march without any issue, and while maybe I'm not as core as a lot of you, I was still hucking decent stuff, and hiking for powder in some places.
In march, I thought that since I'd done so well skiing that I could play soccer again, and hurt my knee in the first five minutes again. This time I called an orthopaedist to look at my knee.
I got an appointment 2 or 3 weeks later, and he lifted my lower leg and told me my ACL was torn. When he walked out I almost cried. He scheduled an MRI for the next week, and after that confirmed the complete disruption, he offered to operate. I asked if 2 weeks would be enough rehab time for an upcoming trip to Europe. He thought that three would be enough, but on my schedule I should wait until I came back. I was silly, and thought that I could just schedule when I got back, so I didn't before leaving.
I spent 10 weeks going through 15 European countries, climbing mountains, crossing major cities on foot, swimming in various seas, and didn't have one single issue. When I got back on sept 7, I called, and they said that the soonest I could get was October 2.
I went into surgery with a rough idea of what was going to happen, and they shaved my knee, laid me out, injected something to make me relax. Two hours later I woke up in recovery with a polarcare, donjoy and little bottle of local anaesthetic.
Day 1 was pretty easy, I didn't feel much of the pain.
Around 2 this afternoon the CPM machine was delivered - by the president of the company. The only incident I had was that I took an anti-nausea pill a little bit too late, and ended up taking another. I have percocet, and I've only taken two today. They also have a small line of Marcaine going directly into my knee, so that's probably why I don't have much pain.
I know it'll come, though. I'm looking forward to showering again.
Day 2: I went to class at 8am and was pretty okay with the whole thing.
I took one percocet around 8, and then felt fine for a long time, until everything started wearing off. Now.. it's fun. I've learned that one seven pound bag of ice is just the right amount to fill the PolarCare cooler. I went to back to the doc today because I had a pretty severe leak, or at least I thought it was severe. The bandage was red and wet from about mid thing to 6" below my knee, and the swatch was about 6" wide. He said not to worry about it, pointed out that it was following the catheter out my leg, and changed the dressing. He told me to take a aspirin every day starting yesterday, so that's the reason it leaked. I guess it's better to have a little leak than to have a blood clot, or to have to drain all the liquid from my lymph nodes. I've been sleeping with the polarcare and cpm running all night, and I think it's helping. I get maybe 15 hours/day with the cpm this way.
Day 3:
Went to therapy today. When I got there I could bend 0-65, despite the CPM doing 0-70. After 10 minutes massage and bending, she got me to 95, and was really impressed. It turns out that my PT assisted on the surgery, and said that the only issue they found was the torn ACL, and that there were no other injuries. I had her take the catheter out, and she said that it was good that it was leaking. More effusion means less fluid that has to be worked out via the lymph system. No real bruising yet, but I tend not to. Here's a picture from today, comparing swelling etc.
Day 5: I went to PT again today, and aside from the normal stretching and stuff, they did something called "Russian." A machine sent electricity through my quad, and I had to contract when it did. I'm not sure what the purpose is, other than to strengthen the muscle, but it's kinda neat to watch the muscle twitch. I have PT 3/wk for 4 weeks, and then I guess I'm good to go? I guess I'll find out in a month. Tonight I had the polarcare on a little too tight, but it looks like it squeezed some of the liquid out. It looks kinda cool, anyway.
Day 7: I've just been doing the exercises they gave me, along with the percocet for a little pain, though nothing too drastic. I felt a little of that detachment that I've heard is common for codones, and it was kinda fun, but not as much fun and drinking. I've been slowly upping the cpm range, and just pushed it to 0-105! This thing maxes out at 110, so in another few days maybe I'll be on a stationary bike. Here's hoping, anyway!
