New ACL

**k2skier112** · 05-03-2019, 06:04 PM

I shredded my ACL at Meadows on 2-13. Just had surgery today. Dr got a nice 7.5mm hamstring tendon to replace it. There was an odd looking area in my meniscus in the MRI, it was fine no work on the meniscus needed. I should be back to the mountain in Dec/Jan.

**wyeaster** · 05-03-2019, 06:53 PM

rehab hard, good sir!

**GSinister** · 05-03-2019, 08:01 PM

Back in 2010, I broke both bones in my lower right leg. An errant piece of a lawnmower blade hit me. It took about a year for a full recovery. But I had a bad bone infection and Splat hadn't invented his cream yet.
I hope your rehab goes well also!

**smooth operator** · 05-04-2019, 09:37 AM

Good luck! I am 7 weeks out of ACL repair and had my first (cautious) moves on the climbing wall this week. Physio is the key, even more with reconstruction than with repair. Hit the PT hard, but not too hard, and be prepared for a long journey.

**wyeaster** · 05-04-2019, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by GSinister

Back in 2010, I broke both bones in my lower right leg. An errant piece of a lawnmower blade hit me. It took about a year for a full recovery. But I had a bad bone infection and Splat hadn't invented his cream yet.
I hope your rehab goes well also!

jesus fuck that sucks!

**wyeaster** · 05-04-2019, 09:39 AM

hey k2 if you need help with anything let me know. i'm free after noon most days.

**Djongo Unchained** · 05-04-2019, 10:39 AM

Yo K2, I had surgery on my acl 8 days ago. Took a piece of my quadricep tendon, my doctor's preference, as a replacement graft.

Blew it on the summit of Big sky on 4/4, had surgery in JH on 4/26, started PT on 4/30.

Starting to put some weight on it but easy to start...

Plan on buying my 19-20 ski pass by 5/31!!

**mcski** · 05-04-2019, 10:51 AM

I haven't heard of anyone opting for their own tendon for quite awhile. How's the second surgery site? What was your docs sales pitch for new is better than used?

**Mofro261** · 05-04-2019, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Yo K2, I had surgery on my acl 8 days ago. Took a piece of my quadricep tendon, my doctor's preference, as a replacement graft.

Blew it on the summit of Big sky on 4/4, had surgery in JH on 4/26, started PT on 4/30.

Starting to put some weight on it but easy to start...

Plan on buying my 19-20 ski pass by 5/31!!

Im going the same route 5/17. ACL had to have been partially torn most of the season, but i finished it off day1 in yurp. Put a bandaid on it and rallied for 20 more days and it was no prob in soft snow, but i have to be guarded while walking the dog.

Almost 30 yrs to the day since I tore it the first time.

**Djongo Unchained** · 05-04-2019, 11:06 AM

Bear with me on the details here:

My local guy has a long stellar history here, so there's that. Most all are excellent here of course.

I think he said that most surgeons take it from the hamstring, and he felt that was more painful for recovery. And maybe slower to heal.

The incision point is tiny, under a bandage and not particularly painful at the moment.

I go in for a post-op visit on Monday and will ask for a better explanation.

I'm just glad to get a hurdle or two behind me.

edit: Dang, the ACL class of 2019 is really rounding out well.

**t-the-east** · 05-04-2019, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Blew it on the summit of Big sky on 4/4

Lone peak just eats knees for breakfast. Mine was a TPF on 3/8 on the summit.

**mcski** · 05-04-2019, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Bear with me on the details here:

My local guy has a long stellar history here, so there's that. Most all are excellent here of course.

I think he said that most surgeons take it from the hamstring, and he felt that was more painful for recovery. And maybe slower to heal.

The incision point is tiny, under a bandage and not particularly painful at the moment.

I go in for a post-op visit on Monday and will ask for a better explanation.

I'm just glad to get a hurdle or two behind me.

edit: Dang, the ACL class of 2019 is really rounding out well.

Thanks. Almost all the people I know have gone the cadaver route so interesting to hear about this method

**k2skier112** · 05-04-2019, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Bear with me on the details here:

My local guy has a long stellar history here, so there's that. Most all are excellent here of course.

I think he said that most surgeons take it from the hamstring, and he felt that was more painful for recovery. And maybe slower to heal.

The incision point is tiny, under a bandage and not particularly painful at the moment.

I go in for a post-op visit on Monday and will ask for a better explanation.

I'm just glad to get a hurdle or two behind me.

edit: Dang, the ACL class of 2019 is really rounding out well.

My Dr used hamstring. Yes the hammy is killing me today. I may have moved it a little too much on the first day, but I was told to walk with crutches and start bending it right away. I think the nerv numbing may have given me a false sense of the pain. Plus I hate Oxy, makes me feel weird if I have more than 5mg

**k2skier112** · 05-04-2019, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by GSinister

Back in 2010, I broke both bones in my lower right leg. An errant piece of a lawnmower blade hit me. It took about a year for a full recovery. But I had a bad bone infection and Splat hadn't invented his cream yet.
I hope your rehab goes well also!

Originally Posted by wyeaster

hey k2 if you need help with anything let me know. i'm free after noon most days.

Thanks! will do

**k2skier112** · 05-04-2019, 01:00 PM

Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Yo K2, I had surgery on my acl 8 days ago. Took a piece of my quadricep tendon, my doctor's preference, as a replacement graft.

Blew it on the summit of Big sky on 4/4, had surgery in JH on 4/26, started PT on 4/30.

Starting to put some weight on it but easy to start...

Plan on buying my 19-20 ski pass by 5/31!!

I skied BBI19 with 1 ACL. Thankfully the Volkls bindings didn't work or I prolly woulda tried to ski them...yes I'm that dumb.

I may pull the trigger on the Meadows Gold pass if there's any left, after my post op check up on the 20th

**k2skier112** · 05-05-2019, 10:10 AM

Gold passes all gone
Day 2 was some of the worst pain I've ever had. Day 3 is practically nothing

**TBS** · 05-06-2019, 08:06 AM

Yup, the second day after surgery seems to be the worst pain

Just noticed - You injured your knee on my B-day

**Djongo Unchained** · 05-06-2019, 09:00 AM

So my anesthetist asks me before the surg, do I want a 1 day or 3 day pain block?
WTF is that exactly?
He says it numbs the whole leg with a needle insertion right at top of thigh at nerve. Unless PT starts asap, then 3 day is good.
I say PT will be a few days/week out to start so he gives me the 3day.

Combined with the hydrocodone every 4 hrs, I had very minor pain.

ANTI-JINX...

All the advice here was to stay ahead of it and I am surprised it wasn't any worse. I wish your surgeries were as low pain as mine. So far...

Mcski - Got an 11 am meetup with main doctor and will look into graft preference rationale...

10 days after surg, my muscles are struggling to come back. Had almost 3 weeks to atrophy. Each day is noticeably better but not as stable as I kinda hoped. Otoh, it's been a relatively easy week to regroup my faculties so that helps.

Positive vibes to you guys...

**k2skier112** · 05-06-2019, 01:53 PM

What kind of rehab are you dong at 4 days? My recommendation was flexing knee and ankle with some leg raises

**Djongo Unchained** · 05-06-2019, 02:58 PM

Ok ,here's my unload of info:

My timeline for PT was like this...surg on fri. morn; In at 7 and home by 1pm.

hydrocodone every 4 hours without fail for fear of getting behind the pain.
In the full leg brace 24/7 until Monday noon, first visit to Dr. He says looks good, use the brace mostly in event of a catastrophic fall.
I'm not going far/moving much so I stop wearing it that day. too bulky and heavy.
Feels much better. Still on meds.

Go in for first PT meetup on Tuesday afternoon; have been trying to twist ankle in circles, fore/aft, just anything that will move on its own. Wiggling toes feels gooood.

My thigh, knee and calf/shin were not moving without assistance. Not at all...the muscles went from skiing every day for2-6 hrs to fucking nada for almost 3 weeks before the operation; torn on 4/4 and fixed on 4/26.

That downtime was good for me and the surgery overall, but bad for the leg muscles. And I think I might have damaged the muscles a bit as well but only just now putting it all together in my head.

The 3 day pain block may have lasted into the fourth, Monday. At the Tuesday session she told me how the program would go and we jumped into a coupla exercises, then she took a measure of straight and bent angles.
The next two sessions include some muscle massage to wake it up and then stretching and a final measure.
I'm 11 days from the Operation and am gonna put the brace on and see how much I can weight it later. Not overload, but I've only been weighting it a little with crutches or a walker as a support/backup.

I definitely feel that the muscles have recognized that it's time to stop sitting and start moving, they respond with a little pain and that good feeling one gets from stretching after a big day before.

Mcski - I asked about the graft options; Doc says cadaver stuff is no longer preferred. It was popular for a while because of less work to harvest one from the patient, than just have it sitting there, ready. Less intrusion and anesthesia time. Then their durability became an issue, maybe a 30% fail rate, roughly.

On which to use, My Doc prefers the quad over the Hammy because it's the bigger of the two and you lose some function of the HS when you deduct about a 1/3 of it's connection point. Less loss of muscle attachment means more return of functional mass.
He says osteo docs are getting away from the patellar tendon cuz it has more pain from kneeling potential as well as if it has a future rupture on the PT, it can be a real bad problem.
He pointed out that in general, the science is so strong and the numbers are refined enough that none have an outstanding edge on each other. The best Docs are all gonna have a preferred method based on their experiences. Mine somewhat helped developed the Quad approach and has had top tier status here in JH for quite a while now. He designed the special tools for the graft harvest and application technique. He's really pleasant and cool. The other top tier guy around here was a notorious douchebag to clients.

I am far from being a doc and can rarely remember too much, so bear with that info if something don't jibe for yas.

**mcski** · 05-06-2019, 03:16 PM

Good info. Thanks for the deets

**k2skier112** · 05-06-2019, 03:45 PM

I had 10 weeks to heal up and strengthen from injury to surgery. I averaged 4, nine hole rounds of golf a week to strength up the knee and leg before surgery.
My first post-op is in 2 weeks
Sounds like you may have done more damage than I did.
Heal up good my friend

**Djongo Unchained** · 05-06-2019, 07:09 PM

Thanks to ya as well. Been motoring around with my new kinda friend, the Leg Brace. It was almost straight but the adjuster worked nicely and it's pretty cush now.

Interesting that you got back to healthy enough before surgery. I wonder how that might have worked for me. Or against.
I had a full tear of the Acl. not sure of where on the ligament. The meniscus had flopped from the outside in, towards the center of the knee, creating the 'Bucket handle' scenario. I was concerned about messing the cartilage up in there more so we went with sooner over later on the surgery docket.
Right after the Doc got back from a Caribe' vacation. He was very relaxed.

Mcski - Sorry,missed a coupla yer Q's. : the second site was tiny, really maybe an inch w/2 stitches. Super minor though I didn't stare at it. Some fresh tape after a cleanover wipe then a waterproof bandage and away I went. Then main Incision across the knee looked smooth, clean and healthy. Maybe 4 inches in a straight (ish) line...
The intrusion into the top of the Tib(?) to place the bone screw thangy is a tense point but trying not to antagonize it.
I have a partial tear on the Mcl, and haven't discussed it beyond that it heals itself as a blood flowing ligament. I gotta believe that's a part of the inner lower part of the knee pain areas.
There was no sales pitch and no pressure. Man, he was going to the Turks in the AM so he coulda cared less if I wanted him to do in that regard. In a 50 mile radius, you know there's quite a few great osteos and some have more mileage than others. I picked the older,and most active and highly regarded one I could find. He is likely considered the Ace in the Hole.

The other knee guys would have him do their knee.

I bailed on the offer for a re-up on the meds today. Might reverse course on that. Not that I'm digging them so much, never really been a pill guy, but now that I'm working the leg and joints a little bit, I can see pushing into a little pain, frequently. Not hurting, but not clucking around either. Ready to go, ya know.

I went from 4th gear to first in a heartbeat. My whole world just went over the handlebars.