Courtney's Story

by Courtney
(Washington, DC )

March 28, 2010 I jumped off a fence and landed incorrectly on my left leg. I heard the horrible "POP" noise so often described with ACL tears. I went to stand and my leg immediately gave out. Took an ambulance to the Emergency room where I was diagnosed with a Sprain and given a leg immobilizer. Follow up with an Orthopedic dr. Turns out I had torn my Mcl, ACL and damaged some meniscus (found out at surgery). Surgery was 2 weeks ago today. It went a lot better than I had imagined. Day 1 I was able to bear weight (along with lots of pain pills!) with crutches. By the 2nd day I was walking with the immobilizer, no crutches. Per doc on the CPM (continuous Passive Motion) Machin a minimum of 3 x, 2 hours per session. I feel like it helped a lot. I went for the 2 week follow up visit yesterday where the stitches were removed (incisions look great and the bruising went down a lot) and I was taken off the brace. now I am limping around and on sked for PT 2x week for 4 weeks. I have been steady with the pain pills though (per the doctor), as much as i hate taking them. They really do help a lot and it gives me more confidence to move correctly when I walk since I don't feel the pain. The doctor says I am doing great with recovery, and going in to it I though for sure I'd be a lot worse off at this point then I am.