Making Progress

Starting my third week post op. I can now go up the stairs like a normal person one foot in front of the other. I can do it going down too, but sort of sideways. I am going to go for a walk around the lake today. Hopefully that won't be too much of a problem. It will be my longest walk since injuring my knee in the first place.

My knee tends to get sort of stuck when I bend it. It is also making really nasty grinding sounds. I am sure it is something that will work itself out, but it is sort of annoying.

Fantastic day today. I went to the doctor for my post-op visit. He told me that out of all the hundreds of patients he's seen in the past 10 years, I have the best range of motion at this stage by far of anyone he's operated on. My range 11 days post op is 0-130 degrees. My graft is really strong and I'm well on my way. He gave me the okay to open my brace so I can bend my knee to walk and I can lose the crutches whenever I am ready.

Here are the pictures from the arthroscopy:



All this lovely cotton candy is what's left of my ACL after shredding it to pieces.




Here is the hole left from where my ACL was removed.




This is the doctor drilling the hole to attach the graft.




My new ACL taken from my patellar tendon.




This is the damage to my cartilage. The rough area is supposed to be smooth like the rest of the cartilage. Luckily, it is over on the medial side of my knee and is not in the center where it would be much more affected by rubbing. I may be able to escape osteoarthritis in my future.

So Pretty

I am doing my physical therapy exercises twice a day. Right now, they are consisting of leg lifts in all four directions and calf raises. These exercises are done with the brace on. The remaining exercises which include quad sets, ankle circles and pumps, glut squeezes, etc are done without the brace. I will be going to PT twice a week for a few weeks then we will start spreading it out since I am only allowed 30 visits/calendar year.

Meds

Sunday night was the worst night. My friend Karen came over Sunday afternoon with some food for me and the family. About an hour into her visit, I started feeling nauseous. That was it for me. I got sick soon after she left. I tried to get a little light food into me (cheerios, crackers, etc), but I couldn't keep anything in. I threw up four times between 4:00 and around 8:00pm. The problem was that I kept throwing up the pain meds, too. I was in so much pain from my knee and so much pain from my stomach that I was simply a wreck. I used as much ice on my knee that I could tolerate and tried to sleep. I woke up feeling a bit less nauseous at around 1:00 and finally got some food in my stomach. I waited about an hour and then took the percocet and I was okay after that.

RULE: NEVER take pain meds on an empty stomach! EVER!

Rough Night

Wow, last night was hard. Percocet every 4-6 hours became Percocet every 2-3 hours. The pain was so unbelievable I almost threw up. I was afraid to fall asleep worried that if I didn't take the meds frequently enough, I would wake up in even more pain. On top of the pain, I have found out that Percocet releases histamines and I'm itching all over.

The good news is that I am feeling better this morning. I am still hurting a lot, but I am starting my PT today. The doctor wants me to start moving it and I am not one to back off.

Here goes!

Looking Pretty Now

I thought I'd share how pretty my knee looks today, one day after surgery.

Surgery

Yesterday was my surgery and it went very well. I got to the hospital and they brought me back right away and started the IV. It was the easiest one I've ever had. Instead of the hand, she put it in my forearm and it was much more comfortable there. Took all my vitals and then sent me back to meet with the anesthesiologist. I thought I was going to be put under before the femoral block, but that turned out not to be the case. They like for patients to be awake for the block to make sure it works properly. Being nervous about this, he gave me this wonderful sedative. It took about 15 seconds to work and felt like I just drank a couple glasses of wine.

The injection didn't hurt any more than getting the IV did even though the needle went into a pretty sensitive area - just at the groin. After the injection, my leg started to spasm. My leg went numb almost instantly from the groin to just below the knee. I would up waiting there for a while, I think about 45 minutes. I didn't mind at all. I think I was feeling really good from the sedative and I remember playing with my fingers. The nurse came by and rolled me into OR5 for surgery. I was out for the count a few minutes later and woke up with my new knee. Upon waking up I was violently trembling from the anesthesia. They gave me something to stop that and it worked immediately. I was feeling alert within 15 minutes or so. The only pain I had was in my ankle. The nurse said that the pain was radiating down my leg but I couldn't feel it in my knee because of the block. It wasn't great pain, more of a pressure. It went away on its own in about 45 minutes.

After eating some crackers and drinking water, I met with the doctor. The reconstruction went perfectly. However, there was some bad news. I did some damage to my cartilage. It's called articular cartilage damage and it can happen with an injury like mine, or over time. The cartilage is supposed to be smooth like a lightbulb. Mine was more like a head of broccoli. The doctor smoothed it out the best he can, but it will most likely lead to osteoarthritis in the future.



I am about 16 hours out from my surgery now. I have no pain whatsoever. Of course, the block is still in place. I took two or three percocet to make sure I stayed on top of any pain, but as of now I haven't really felt any. It will probably be a different story in a few hours.

The doctor wrapped my leg in a huge bandage and my knee is very well protected. I have my brace on set at full lock. Everything will stay like this until tomorrow when I will take the brace and bandage off and start bending my knee and take a shower. I haven't seen my knee yet. The doctor said all the stitches are under the skin and there are steri-strips on the outside. He used some sort of plastic screws that will fully dissolve in around 18 months.

My first PT appointment is on Tuesday.

All for now.

Ivy

Pre-Surgical Testing

I had my pre-surgical testing yesterday. I have to say, I really haven't been nervous about the surgery until then. I was nervous going in for my interview and tests. Turns out I had no reason to at all. We talked about allergies (none). They took my blood pressure (98/65) and then they sent me home. I didn't need an EKG, chest xray, blood work, nada!

A week from today and I will wake up at home with a new knee and probably lots of pain, but I'm ready.

I have a surgery date!

My surgery date is set for July 16th, just over 8 weeks since my injury. The doctor told me the most important thing now is to build up my quads. I have had a lot of muscle atrophy in my quad and my calf. It is striking how much my right calf muscle has shrunk. Compared to my left, it looks like somebody deflated me with a pin!

I have decided to go with a patellar graft after much research. The thing that has been really scaring me is the notion that I would have pain in my knee while kneeling for the rest of my life. My doctor told me that regardless of the type of graft I have, there is the possibility of kneeling pain because there will be a scar there. That being the case, I decided to go with the "gold standard" graft.

I was going to use this "down time" to work on strengthening my upper body and my core, but there really hasn't been any "down time" at all. I am spending so much time exercising and stretching my knee/quads that I just don't have any more time to work on anything else.

I miss tumbling terribly, but I have continued to do handstands and some light bar work. I am coaching and just being in the gym is helping me mentally. I will work until the surgery date, then I will take off until the fall session starts up again in September.

WOO HOO! Lookie what I can do!



One week of physical therapy and I've gone from barely being able to lift my foot off the floor to closing in on my butt! I am really happy. I also took my bike off the stationary stand and started riding around the neighborhood. I am sick of staring at the wall in my garage.

Huge strides

I went back today for PT session number 2. In just two days, my range of motion increased by 50 degrees! As soon as I got it moving again, the swelling started coming down and I can move so much more freely. I'm even going down the stairs normally. I was initially really afraid of the physical therapy. Now I know that it is the only way to really get better.

Started Physical Therapy

I went to my first PT session yesterday. A lot of time was taken taking measurements of how far I can move my knee and leg in different directions vs the other knee/leg. Once we got down to business, I was given two sheets of exercises to do to strengthen my muscles and stretch. I was shocked when my therapist pointed out to me how much muscle tone I have already lost in my right quad. After the exercises, I spent five minutes on the bike. The first few pedals were hard, but it got much easier.

The good news is that I seem to be making progress considering where I was only three weeks ago. I am hoping to have surgery in another 3-4 weeks, so I have a ways still to go.

In these pictures, you can see that I have made some real strides in my range of motion just in a few days.

Back to the doctor

I went back to the doctor the other day so he can see how it's going. The doctor won't do surgery until I have pretty much full function in my knee. That was discouraging for me. I was really hoping I could have the surgery just after July 4th weekend. It can still happen, but my knee really needs to do some healing between now and then.

I am in a cool new knee brace that makes me look sort of bionic. I like this one. I hated not being able to bend my knee. Driving is easier now too that I have some support. I was previously driving with no brace at all.

I start physical therapy (pre-hab) on Tuesday. I will do that for the next three weeks to try and get my knee moving again. I'll update the blog after my first session.

Ivy

A little less swelling, a little more color

The title says it all. My knee is still the size of a softball, but perhaps a little smaller than the usual official ones. Maybe one that kids learn to play with. However, it's starting to show lots of pretty blue and purple. The green and yellow I can do without.

I took the brace off and gingerly got behind the wheel today to see what it might feel like to drive, since I will have to do so on Thursday. I think it will be okay. It didn't hurt to have my knee in driving position, just a little weird. If I put my knee much closer to 90 degrees, it sort of feels like my entire knee might explode under the pressure.

I've been doing a lot of reading (probably too much) about allografts vs. autografts, physical therapy, the surgery itself (made the mistake of looking at video and nearly started hyperventilating). My greatest concern right now is whether I have the right surgeon. He seemed great when I met with him and he called me within two hours of my MRI to go over the results. I live in a mid-sized town 90 minutes north of New York City. Do I go with a local surgeon here from a respected Orthopedic group who performs these surgeries all the time, or do I find a doctor in the City? The main issue for me is the travel time. It's an outpatient procedure. Do I really want to spend up to two hours in the car after just having surgery? I'm thinking not really when I can be home in 20 minutes. I need more info.

What was that horrendous crunching sound?

Tuesday was an amazing day for me until IT happened. Those dreaded three letters no athlete wants to ever hear. ACL.

I was a competitive gymnast in high school many moons ago. I stopped being involved in the sport after high school. I still did a little coaching and some judging, but I didn't really do gymnastics anymore. I still followed it closely on TV and watched all the major meets, but I didn't really do the sport other than handstands and cartwheels.

After the 2008 Olympics, I really got bit by the bug. I wanted it again and I wanted it badly. I found a gym near me, but I was having shoulder issues at the time and put off going to the gym. This past August, I started tumbling again at age 41. First I was doing gymnastics, next I was also coaching and having the best time of my life. I got my front tucks back, my back tucks, layouts, aerials. I was doing all the tricks I did in high school and then some. There was one trick, however, that still eluded me. The layout full twist. I have often said that I don't want to die without ever having done one. Perhaps I should have never said that. The day I got my finally got my full twist (forward and backward, mind you) was the day I tore my ACL. I landed a grand total of three. The last one I did was followed by the worst sound I ever heard. My knee absolutely crunched under the strain of twisting on a landed foot. I understand that it was heard across the gym. The screaming that followed was probably heard down the block.

Here is my full before the accident. I was taping it hoping to be able to post it on my Facebook page. Luckily I did because I don't think I will ever do it again.

U

It's been five days since the injury and I have had my ups and downs. Well really, I've had my downs. The ups haven't happened yet. I have been drowning in a sea of tears. Not only have I had my sport taken away from me, but my job too. I love coaching and I already miss my girls. I am hoping to get into the gym in a week or two to start coaching again, although I won't be doing any spotting for a while. As for gymnastics, I will hopefully work bars and maybe do light tumbling again, but that won't happen for a very long time.

My doctor said I am looking at surgery in six weeks when the swelling goes down and then 6 months of physical therapy. I'll keep this blog going to let you know my progress.

Here is what my knee looks like now. It's been five days. Wow, has it really already been five days?