Nathan's tale

by Nathan
(Michigan)

I tore my acl playing basketball on the junior varsity team at my school. I actually have no idea how or when i did it. Upon walking home one night after practice, i noticed a little bit of stiffness in my left knee and it felt like going forward a little bit. Of course i had no idea what an acl injury was like or anything of the sort.

My knee's had always been very stable and i had never once thought that they would go on me. I am very athletic and i was one of the, if not the fastest, kids in our school, but now it's all a different story. I went into surgery on 3/26/08 and was very nervous the day before. I couldn't fall asleep until around 2 in the morning, and i had to leave at 6. By some weird chance of coincidence, when i was waiting in the waiting room, there was a story on the news about some young woman who had died from an allergic reaction to anesthesia... that made me even more nervous. They shaved my leg, and sent me down into a pre-op room. In the room, they shot me up with some drugs and i was off to la la land in about a minute and i do not remember anything of the anesthesialogist putting the mask on me or even being carted from out of the pre-op room.

I woke up in a post-op room and was greeted by a nurse telling me to take two robin egg looking pills. I was jacked up on so many drugs, i could barely lift my head off of the pillow. I drank the pills, and then fell back asleep for about two hours and then awoke in yet another room, where my mother was sitting. My post-op was quite good for me. I urinated right away, and was really hungry (i forgot to mention that they asked me if i got sick from the anesthesia, and since i had already had hernia surgery, i said yes, and they told me i was to be given meds for it, and i wasn't sick at all. YOU SHOULD ASK ABOUT IT BECAUSE IF YOU DO GET SICK, YOU CAN BE PUKING FOR QUITE A WHILE). The pain wasn't all that bad for me, but i have a high tolerance to pain.

They sent me home within 5 hours after lying there and doing all they asked me to do. I was sent home with an ice machine, vikodin (which i didn't need at all, i just took ibuprofun), and words of wisdom. I elevated my leg and all that good stuff for about a week and then the fun began at physical therapy.

The people at physical therapy focus mainly on exercises to reduce the swelling within the first week or two. After that it's all trying to strengthen, and to get full rotation back into the knee. Some of the exercises are painful, but it is VERY much worth it because your knee will feel as good as the other one within 4 or 5 months.

P.S.- I'm a year and 2 months post op, and i'm having quite a large amount of pain around my knee. It's all muscular though. Its usually triggered by running. I'm running track and sprinting hurts my knee like hell. I went to see my surgeon, and he said it's the muscles surrounding my knee that are week and i'm going back to therapy to fix my problems, which i'm actually pretty excited about because i want my knee to feel like it did when i was in therapy.

The pain is on the top, anterior side of my calf, anterior side of my thigh, and sometimes on the interior of my knee. I have no idea where this pain is coming from. I'm getting my knee adjusted by a very good chiropractor every week. Does anybody have any ideas on what this problem may be, and if i should stop running? Please e-mail me at quats0@gmail.com with any answers, it would be very much appreciated.