recovery update

Not too much has been going on over the passed week or so. I am still walking around in crutches not being able to put any significant weight on my leg. What I am able to do is touch weight bearing. What this means is that I can use my foot for balance when using the crutches, but that is about it. The Doc showed my how to use my crutches in a way so it mimics walking. I guess that is supposed to be better than me just swinging my bad leg around and not have it touch the ground.

I am also still using the leg immobilizer whenever I am out of bed. This is going to continue on for another 2 weeks, then I should be able to get around with out it on. Of course, when that 2 weeks is up, I won't be able to put any weight on my leg, but at least I won't need the immobilizer.

Since my last update, I have removed the dressing off of my knee (incision area looked pretty cool with those staples in there) and have increased my flexion in my CPM machine to the max value of 120. At 120, when I first start the machine and my leg reaches about 105, my knee starts to get extremely tight and it does get quite painful. But after the first iteration things feel pretty good, and there is really no pain.

Speaking of pain, I have been off of pain medication since late last week. When I went in to see the doc on Friday, he asked how the pain was and if I needed any additional prescriptions for it. I told him the amount of pain I have (virtually none really) and he mentioned that over all of the patients he has had, I am only around the 20th that didn't require much pain meds to get through the day this early after the surgery. Also, during my last visit to the doc, my staples were removed and I can finally take a proper shower (I am sure my wife is quite happy about that one) :)

I will be pretty much doing the same thing every day for the next 3 weeks until my next appt, when I should be able to do some weight bearing on my leg. That will be nice when that time actually arrives.

layed up

Well, I am back at home after the surgery. I wish I could say it was everything I expected it to be, but unfortunately it wasn't. My initial expectations was to go in, have the surgery and be able to be weight bearing on my leg a few days after the operation. There were some complications.

It turns out that my patellar tendon is quite long. It was something like 15 mm longer than what the Dr. expected, so he was not able to screw in the 'bone to bone' portion of the tendon into my femur. He said something about using the sutures to pull the tendon through the femur, and using some kind of washer and wrapping it around to secure, or something like that.
The advantage of having bone to bone contact is the fact that the tendon is better set in place, allowing for a somewhat faster recovery. Being that only half of my tendon is screwed in as expected, I am not allowed any weight bearing on my leg for 4 weeks! So I basically am going to be layed up in bed at home for the next few weeks as the graft adheres into place. Good thing I am able to work from home, or I would be SOL. Right now I am in my CPM machine, which is bending my leg from 0 to 40 degrees of flexion. I am able to add 5 - 10 more degrees each day, until I max out. I have to do this about 5 hours every day! There is no way I could perform these exercises and go into work. Also, the fact that I am required to be immobilized whenever I am moving around, pretty much limits what I can do effectively. On top of that, I also have to do my physical therapy exercises, which are supposed to help keep my leg atrophe at a minimum while I can't actually use my leg.

At least I have my Percocet!! Boy, that is some good stuff :)

My incision from where they harvested the tendon is stapled shut right now, and I can't get it wet until I get them removed, which won't be until next Friday. You know what that means! Sponge baths!

Surgery is tomorrow

I'm finally going in for my ACL reconstruction surgery tomorrow. They are going to keep me in the hospital overnight and discharge me on Thursday. I know everything that they are going to do, from harvesting the replacement tendon from my patella tendon to screwing it into my knee. The only thing that I am weary about is the recovery process and the inevitable pain that I am going to go through.

Well, at least I get some downtime for the next few days. I will take advantage of this time by reading "Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince" again to prepare for the upcoming release of the 7th and final book of the series. I just finished "Order of the Phoenix" the other day so prep for the release of the movie.



I may even catch up on some movies :)