HS DE - Jonnie R. ACL Surgery Tomorrow

by Jonathan Reed
(North Hollywood, CA)

So on September 1st, in our scrimmage game, i tore my ACL. Here's what happened. I lined up in my stand-up Defensive End position (linebacker playing D End)the ball gets snapped, i swim move around the tackle, plant my foot to cut back and get the sack and then BAM, the running back blocks me dirty and my left knee shot in as i heard a ripping sound in my knee. MRI's the next day, conclude that i have a torn ACL. After going through so many problems with doctors, who claim they "didn't work on my age group." (I'm 16) Which i believe is because of my insurance, which i wont mention. Anyways, i've done massive amounts of research online that range from, types of anesthesia and perfect surgeries, to nightmares. At this point, im extremely terrified, but i don't know why i'm getting the surgery done by a very credible doctor at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. I opted to do the hamstring graft. The surgeon even assured me that if my hamstring is too small, which they don't believe it is, that there will be a cadaver ACL waiting, if there is a complication of the sort. The biggest fear i have is, Anesthetic Awareness. If you don't know what this is, i'll explain. Anesthetic Awareness, is when you are undergoing surgery, under general anesthesia, which is where you are completely out, and you wake up, mid surgery. You may hear conversations going on between the surgery and the assistants around. You may also feel tugging, tension, or pain. In some cases, people have said that they've felt excruciating pain. Anyways, that's my biggest concern, so how can i be sure that this doesn't happen?