ACL SR (surgery report)

[Huckwheat]

Most everything has been said on these boards, thanks to Shoe's epic surgery post (that is a great gimp read). And now that 50k Leg posted his picts, mine are lame (frickin great picts....maybe I am sick, but that shite facinates me). Anyhow, here is my 2 cents (mostly cause I have a week on my couch and nothing better to do )

So, I had a clean ACL tear and opted for Allograft (cadaver Patellar Tendon to be exact. Dr.Orr (Tahoe Fracture Clinic in S.Lake) did the surgery. Then the last decision came yesterday morning, out cold or epidural (numb from the waste down). Being kind of facinated by all things medical, I opted for epidural.

First, I will say I am happy with that choice......but. It was a way more intense thing than I imagined. You literally lose all touch with your body, from the belly button down. My brain would try to send a signal to move or flex something......but NOTHING. It started to really trip me out at times, and I had to take some deep breaths and picture myself in a "happy place" (one that I used was just riding a chairlift....that is peaceful to me). The catch, is that you can bail at anytime, the anesthesiologist is standing right at your head. She later told me that about half the people who go epidural do bail. The surgery comes in two halfs (with a nice "intermission"), and by the second half I was more comfortable and got to enjoy some "reality TV".

They only let me watch the TV (which shows everything internal), but I couldnt really see what the doc was doing. The first half involves cutting into the knee, pulling the torn acl out, and drilling the new holes (plus alot of vacuuming). Then the intermission is when the doc prepares the new graft. At this point the TV goes off, the lights come back on, and you get a break (I took a good nap, since I had gotten up at 4am). Dr Orr told me that he cut the graft "over-sized", and that the large size made it challenging to fit in the drilled holes (I am 6'4", so I think this is a good thing). In the second half there is a lot of pushing and prodding to get the graft in.

One interesting part: near the end they put a little metal rod in, to bang the piece of bone that is attached to the graft into the hole. So, I can see this rod (on the TV, inside my knee), I can hear the hammer hitting it, and I can feel the table shaking.....but you feel nothing from this. WIERD.

So, then you get wheeled out and have to wait for the legs to come back....which is like coming out of novacaine from the dentist......only your whole lower half. I wouldnt describe it as fun. After a couple hours of recovery, this nurse insists that I should take 2 Percocet for my drive home (which is over an hour). I am reluctant but she insists.....from there I pretty much puked my way up the west shore.

So, I havent touched the Percocet again, and I am doing well. I took some Vicadin last night, but now I am just keeping the Iceman flowing (I highly recommend one of these....the electric cooler with an icepack).

Just a couple picts to add to the story:

It's not all fun and games....in recovery with lots of needles, ekgs, etc.


The unveiling of the knee today....working on my flexion.


The new knee....notice the ball, it has pain killer in it, and the tube goes into my knee.


The compare/contrast.

[FollowMe]

Huck man, great account. I just had my tib rodded about 4 weeks ago and I had the same choice, epidural or out cold. I opted for the latter. That's gutsy what you did. How long did the whole thing take? Mine was about 2 hours, but I didn't really come to 'til well after that, although I do remember shaking/shivering like hell once I did come to 'cuz the OR was cold as hell. Then the pain hit. It was really bad and they tell me I was cursing, etc. First morophine, then demerol, then something else (I think), then they brough out the big gun. A specialist came in w/ a briefcase and a horse needle that they shot into the muscle behind my knee and it made my entire leg numb. It worked really well 'til it wore off the next day. Good luck w/ the rehab...Brian

[Huckwheat]

DUDE.....that sounds gnarly.

My surgery took 2.5 hrs....doc said he had a hard time getting the graft into the hole and that made it take longer. I was pretty darn shaky in the recovery room too, with lots of pins and needles in my legs.....my head felt pretty good though (I think that would be the benefit of epidural).

Right now I am just taking Vicodin at night.....but I am hooked to the IceMan 24/7. That is the weird thing, I have this pad set to 40 degrees and it isnt even cold. My knee is burning up so bad without it, that the ice pad just nutralizes it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Huck, nice report mang (...er, maybe nice isn't the right word). Your swelling looks pretty good actually. You'll be back in no time.

[Kellie]

lovely TR for those of us who don't ski anymore!!!! Yeah, you're swelling looks pretty good - and I am sooo jealous of your iceman!!! I bet that makes a world of difference

[gorms]

The worst is over.....now you are getting better!

I had the drip into the knee and the Ice machine as well and really never felt any pain. I was also heavily self medicating with vicadin for the first few days as well though so that might have helped as well.

Heal fast and strong!

[Szyslak]

Just be careful with the iceman. I was warned of, and know of one person who left it on and suffered frostbite.

[truth]

Very cool and very dif from my patellar tendon graft experience.

[Mtn Man]

Yeah, you're swelling looks pretty good

It's never a bad thing when a ski gurl tells ya this

Nice TR! I should be on the slab soon, but I would opt for out cold. That stuff freaks me out. Where do you get this iceman thing? Do you ask the ortho for it? CVS, Wallgreens?

B)

[LAN]

(shameless) You don't need a personal nurse, you you? (/shameless)

That's cool that they used the On-Q pain bulb - those things hit the market not too long ago and so far, they've been doing really well! Has it been effective for you?

[0BernhardFranz]

please keep posting this is the first stuff that interests or does not revolt me here like the corny movies made by the nsdap of millions doing sports in vitalistic murder pose ...
my blessings on your leg, may it heal well !
My ma and sister are docs and I have some medical research involvement.
I wonder you choose allo, I would choose allo and I run into hoards of crack surgeons telling me alo is bad.I want to go allo, but have you heard of the double inward technique ? It makes the holes inside not through the whole bone.John Hopkins teached that.What allo did you get ? Achilles ? Did you hear about Dr. Stone pig ligament device ? He says he got 50 % less complications with that.