Robert's ACL Surgery

by Robert G
(Chicago, IL)

Well where do I begin, this is the second time I’m having surgery for a torn ACL. What’s really ironic is that the first time I tore my ACL it was my left leg (playing basketball) during Nov. Exactly 2 years from tearing my left ACL I tore my right ACL (playing football). I might want to add that I’m only 20 years old which isn’t too good.
For my first surgery I ended up using a cadaver ACL which worked very well. While performing surgery the doc also noticed I tore some of my meniscus which made the recovery time a little longer. I was in a brace (straight leg) for 6 weeks due to tearing my ACL and part of my meniscus. The surgery went well and I was able to get back to sports 6 months later. From what I can recall I had the most pain the night after the surgery trying to sleep, once the nerve block wore off I was in so much pain it made me cry at night. Day by day my leg would get better and better till I was around 6 weeks when I was able to actually bend my leg and sleep without a brace.
So here we are two years later, I tore my ACL playing football in the park with some friends when I got blindsided and instantly fell on the ground in tremendous amount of pain. I ended up having surgery later (Dec. 17, 2009) which is almost 2 years since I got my last surgery (Dec. 24, 2007). Surgery went well and this time I only had a torn ACL which the doc said I should recover quicker than last time because I had a meniscus tear also. Pain coming out of surgery was not too bad; I was able to sleep throughout the night because the nerve block was still active. Although the block wore off now, I take prescribed pain killers every 4-6 hours if I feel pain. I have been icing and elevating my leg whenever I get a chance to. So far everything seems to be progressing well but only time will tell.
With going through 2 surgeries on both ACL’s I think it’s time to retire from sports. Sure I’ll shoot hoops here and there but I don’t think I will be playing full contact sports anymore. Also I’m a frequent snowboarder and I would like to go back but what do you guys think? Should I retire myself from that as well? Does it place a lot of stress on the ACL snowboarding?