Monday, May 24, 2010

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.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

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.

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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?