Alan's ACL Story
by Alan
(Summit, NJ)
Right knee, 2 days post surgery.
Back in March of 2005, I went skiing in Vermont with my best friend. I was never much of a skiier to begin with, but had enjoyed it the few times I had gone.
We were on our second run down the "bunny" slope at Smuggler's Notch when I went down hard and rolled a ways. My right ski did not release from it's bindings and at some point, my ACL tore. I never heard the pop, but when I tried to stand, I found I could not put weight on it.
I was able to get home with my leg in an immobilizer and my ortho at the time told me that as long as I didn't do anything strenuously athletic and kept the muscles around my knee strong, I would be fine without surgery.
Fast forward to my wedding in March 2009. I'm doing a line dance with my college friends. I step to the right and my knee gives out. I get back up and am able to put weight on it, so I think I slipped. I continue dancing when it goes again. This time, I know it's my knee and not me slipping on the dance floor.
Long story short, I had my ACL replacement surgery this past Friday June 5th, and I'm writing this while doing one of 3 daily sessions in the CPM machine.
It was a very smooth procedure (I used cadaver tissue for my graft) and my doctor explained everything to me at every step of the way. The morning of surgery, he showed me exactly where they were going to cut and what it would look like afterwards.
After the anesthesiologist applied the nerve block, I was given a sedative, wheeled into the OR, I hopped onto the table, and that's the last thing I remember before waking up in the recovery room.
Stitches come out in 2 weeks and my leg is turning all sorts of gnarly colors and there is no real pain right now, just some mild discomfort, tightness, and numbness, but that is to be expected.
Thankfully in the 4 years between the tear and the aggravation, I initially did PT, and then went to the gym regularly and kept my legs strong by cycling and various weight machines so my recovery should be par for the course.
My PT guys predict I'll be off the crutches by the end of the week. If anyone has any questions, feel free to comment and I'll be glad to pipe in.
