Diary of an ACL

[jenscats5]

Guess I'll start my own thread on this, seeing as my surgery is this upcoming Tuesday, April 4th......at 7:30am, tho I have to be in by 5:30am....

Skiing at the end of the day on 2/1/06 with a friend - we went down Wildfire....took my time thru the bumps and picked my way through.....got below them to the smooth part of the trail & did *something* causing me to fall....right ski did not release, I fell, leg twisted, felt (not heard) a pop, then PAIN.....got sledded down, blah blah blah.....

Got the usual MRI once I got home, saw an Ortho who put me through Pre-op PT through the Univ. of DE as part of a study group......they are doing a study there to see how strengthening the quad muscle via PT pre-surgery affects PT results after surgery......Need to do a Motion Analysis test, a strength test (hop, jump, stim/burst test), 10 PT sessions, then another strength test and another Motion Analysis test......they also determined I am a "non-coper" which is someone who cannot cope without the ACL.....

Got my brace - a Donjoy Defiance....interesting contraption.

As of today I'm done all the pre-surgery stuff..........since going thru the pre-surgery regime - they found my quad strength increased by 20% since the beginning of it, however my left quad has decreased.....still going into surgery stronger than when I originally was injured...

Will be having the allograft procedure done.....for several reasons: Dr. prefers it due to my age and says they have found it to be 25% stonger than the other options, also due to my other sports I can't afford the compromise in my hamstring physically or visually. They get the tissue from Utah and gave me the names of the tissue banks - which are both accredited....

Will make sure I post up how the surgery goes as well as post-op....

[beaterdit]

Good luck!
Been there, and I'm going in for another one later in the month. You'll do great, keep us posted.

[Skibumtress]

Well Jen, D-Day is tomorrow. Best of luck. Positive vibes sent your way.

[jenscats5]

FINALLY got home around 3:30pm!! They weren't going to let me leave!! Jeez!! They wanted me there until 6-8pm for some reason....I finally told them - Look I want to leave.....oh and they wouldn't let me eat...how am I supposed to take my meds with no food in my stomach??

Got there at 5:30am - sat around for a very short bit, then they prepped me pretty quickly (BP, temp, etc) took me up around 6:45am, hooked up my IV, asked me the same ? they had asked me 3x downstairs & gave me my Jaeger bomb via IV... OH and I got a Femoral nerve block in my right leg....right next to the femoral artery I now have a nice puncture wound & bruising....

Got wheeled into the OR, Dr. Axe walked in & asked how I was - I said more importantly "How are YOU??" Then *all of a sudden* I was OUT.....Woke up in recovery shivering with supreme cotton mouth, hung out there, got into my room upstairs where I just hung out till I asked to leave...never saw Axe again...my throat hurts & is scratchy from the tube in my mouth while I was under - and I have tape residue ALL over me....

I'm in an immobilizer with a drain and the electric cooler thingy - ice/water pack wrapped around my leg & it plugs in to circulate the ice water.....have a drain tube coming out my knee into a balloon-collection thing, which is pretty gross...

OH and I have 5 (yes FIVE) scrips.....3 pain + 1 antibiotic + 1 anti-inflammatory....

Leg block is just beginning to wear off.... Took 2 pain meds.... Whoooo!!!

[StokeSmack]

Mine is coming up next Thursday, and they changed it from 1030 to 700. I decided to quit bitchin' when I saw you had to get there at 5:30 AM (I didn't even KNOW there was a 5:30 AM.) Glad to hear about the blackout; what kind of pain meds did they give you? I worry about that some because (1) Vicodins don't work for me ; and (2) Lortabs make me puke. (Then again, I'm sure if I ever took 'em without chasing them down w/ Tequila....)

[jenscats5]

Mine is coming up next Thursday, and they changed it from 1030 to 700. I decided to quit bitchin' when I saw you had to get there at 5:30 AM (I didn't even KNOW there was a 5:30 AM.) Glad to hear about the blackout; what kind of pain meds did they give you? I worry about that some because (1) Vicodins don't work for me ; and (2) Lortabs make me puke. (Then again, I'm sure if I ever took 'em without chasing them down w/ Tequila....)

The pain meds I got are: Percoset, Dilaudid & Oxycontin.....

As of today (Friday) I've only taken the Oxycontin (this morning at 8:30am) - which I'm supposed to take every 12 hours, and have been taking Tylenol otherwise....

[jenscats5]

Here's a pic of the ice cooler thing:



The end of the hose connects to this thing, which wraps around my leg:

[jenscats5]

Fun fun!!



The drain thing got removed yesterday - had to do that myself....the dressings got changed yesterday also....not a lot of pain really, except for the largest incision - that "pulls" when I stand up....





I thought I'd be a lot more bruised......

[Kempes]

I had my ACL done at 8pm CET on Apr 4. What do you need hamstring for? I just lost mine beliving it will not be missed much.
I use a different cooling system, which does compression too.
How is your rehab going? I would watch your progress. Good luck.

[jenscats5]

I had my ACL done at 8pm CET on Apr 4. What do you need hamstring for? I just lost mine beliving it will not be missed much.
I use a different cooling system, which does compression too.
How is your rehab going? I would watch your progress. Good luck.

Thanks!!

I havent' started physical therapy yet - that starts on Monday....

I compete in another sport ....someone I talked to who had an autograft with their hammy said you could see where it was removed under the skin....

[Kempes]

I know you could see part of hammy missing, especially when the leg is bend. I was told that the remaining part of my hamstring plus other musels are going to substitute my missing parts for all practical purposes.
So far your leg looks better then mine.
How long do you plan to use this brace? Any crutches?

[jenscats5]

I know you could see part of hammy missing, especially when the leg is bend. I was told that the remaining part of my hamstring plus other musels are going to substitute my missing parts for all practical purposes.
So far your leg looks better then mine.
How long do you plan to use this brace? Any crutches?

I'm on crutches now....I'll use them till I see the Dr. Wed....I'll find out Wed. when I see the Dr. again as far as how long I'm supposed to be in the immobilizer....

[jenscats5]

Tonite's pic.....pretty swollen....

[truth]

Get that thing elavated well above your heart mang. Good luck.

[altagirl]

I've never had a drain. Looks kindof... gross. But seems like a good idea.

Glad you're doing well! What sport are you competing in?

[jenscats5]

Get that thing elavated well above your heart mang. Good luck.

Non-elevation was purely for photographic purposes, broham....

[Kempes]

If your system enables compresion while cooling go for it. At this stage I was recommended RICE. I feel that compression reduces my swelling a lot.

[StokeSmack]

The pain meds I got are: Percoset, Dilaudid & Oxycontin.....

As of today (Friday) I've only taken the Oxycontin (this morning at 8:30am) - which I'm supposed to take every 12 hours, and have been taking Tylenol otherwise....

Yeah, I'd save up the percs and dilaudids too, it's no fun takin those when you're in pain.

[jenscats5]

Yeah, I'd save up the percs and dilaudids too, it's no fun takin those when you're in pain.

Honestly I haven't really been in a lot of pain.....kind of surprising as I thought I would....I've been "uncomfortable" mostly & achy here & there - but that's it......The most annoying is that I've had wicked headaches since Wednesday - which the meds don't help with that but the Tylenol does....

Start PT tomorrow morning - so I'll definitely "med up" beforehand...

[jenscats5]

Page 1 of the photos the Dr. took during the surgery:

[jenscats5]

Page 2

[jenscats5]

Page 3:

[beaterdit]

Glad to hear you're doing well so far. I'm still three weeks away from my surgery. Can't wait.

[jenscats5]

Had my first post-surgery PT session today.....

Well, we unwrapped my leg completely and he manipulated my kneecap up & down as well as left & right.....I found I cannot do a leg lift type of movement as my quad simply won't "engage" - the signal from my brain to my quad must be turned off cuz I simply cannot lift my leg up nor can I fully squeeze my quad muscle.....he did some measuring on my leg & I was able to bend it to 90 degrees by doing wall slides....he had assistance from another PT to measure the hyperextension - she yanked on my leg to hyperextend it caused me to curse/yell LOUDLY --- and then I started crying.... When they raised the table so my leg was elevated to ice afterwards - the movement & pressure also caused me to cry.....So they made me cry twice today.....

I'm beat now and in pain..... Nurse!! Med me!!

[altagirl]

I think the longer you wait to start with straight leg raises, the worse it gets. Luckily, with my first surgery my doc wouldn't even let me out of the hospital until I could do a few. It was insanely painful an hour after my hamstring graft, but you get those muscles to fire before they "forget" how. He told me I had to bend it to 90 then too. I remember thinking he was out of his freaking mind asking me to do that stuff.

But after that one, I've gotten my post op instructions that involve "go home and rest and ice and take painkillers, and we'll start PT in a few days.. a week, whatever." And I ask if I can start PT earlier to begin with, and if not, if I can do SLR's, calf pumps, gentle stretching, etc. and then I go and do lots of that until I get to formal PT. No idea why more surgeons don't insist on people starting those things right away.

But you'll get it back. It's just a pain - literally. And mentally, honestly - to see how hard it is to get a big muscle like that to just WORK DAMMIT. Keep doing little quad sets at home all the time. You don't want to overdo SLR's or other real exercises, but my PT's have told me that if you're just sitting there and contracting the quad enough to make it move a little bit - you can do that all day long. Plus that and calf pumps help promote blood flow.

I'm assuming they have you using the little e-stim machine while doing bigger quad sets at PT - that's designed to get your quad (VMO in particular) to fire correctly.