Surgery Day and Day 1 Post-Op

So much has happened in the last day! First I need to thank EVERYBODY for their messages and support - I appreciate each and every one!!

Yesterday started out REEEEALLY early.  After a long night of not really sleeping (something to do with having surgery looming, sharing a bed with my mom, and my dog upset that he was not also sharing the bed), Mom and I were up at 4:40am to get showered and ready for the hospital.  We showed up right on time - 6am!

The packed waiting room at 6am

I got all checked in and headed back to my room.  I got a couple great warm blankets and they started me on some fluids.  That way, once all the paperwork was in place, they could easily dump in the antibiotics and send in the good stuff.

Waiting for the good stuff

I got to talk to a prep nurse, anesthesiologist, nurse anesthetist, orthopedic resident and finally, the surgeon, and I'm pretty sure every single one of them asked me my birth date and which knee they were going to be working on (better safe than sorry!).  I also got to mark a big 'S' on my left knee for 'surgery knee' and when Dr. Schorfhaar came in, he marked his initials on my left knee too.  There was to be no mistaking which knee was to be operated on!
I could tell my mom was pretty nervous (as was I).  But, I had the luxury of having met my surgeon several times previously, whereas my mom had no idea who was going to walk through the curtain and who would actually be cutting open her little girl in just a matter of minutes.  Luckily, when Dr. Schorfhaar popped into the room, I could tell my mom liked him.  He signed his initials like I mentioned and gave the go ahead to drop the good stuff in the lines.  I had to give up my glasses and with a hug and a kiss for my mom, I was whisked to the OR.  Soon, a mask was covering my face and I was breathing deep - it was on like Donkey Kong.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up and the nurses were asking how the pain was.  They changed around some drug levels and I was feeling pretty comfortable, so I got wheeled into the recovery room where I was treated to more warm blankets, apple juice and graham crackers!

I love me some post-surgery apple juice

I was still feeling a little loopy, but soon enough I got loaded up in the car and made the ever important trip to the pharmacy to pick up my painkillers.  The night of surgery day was pretty low key.  I kept up with my pain meds and my mom made sure my ice box stayed full.

This was my spot for most of the night.

Mom and I both got more sleep the night after surgery.  I think Lambeau (my puppy) was a little more understanding about not getting a spot on the bed :)

Today, first day post-op, was much like yesterday.  Lots of lying around, keeping ice on my knee and painkillers in my system.  I did have a doc appointment today where I saw Dr. Schorfhaar briefly - he said things were looking good, I could do some straight leg lifts and quad fires and was told to keep doing those in the next week or so before moving on to other rehab.  I was also told crutches for at least a week (which I can definitely handle).  Here's a (graphic) pic of my knee from when I got my bandages changed today.

Some lovely bruising and stitches.

I'll leave you with one final picture.  My roommate Randy got home from the vet clinic with something for me after my surgery.  I love my roommates :)

Time for more meds!

Twas the night before surgery...

After a little extreme wind/thunderstorms/tornado warning weather this morning, my mom arrived safely from Wisconsin.  For a little while I wasn't sure if she was going to make it and I was wondering if I should make plans to have someone else drive me to and from surgery tomorrow (at 6am!).  My mom's flight from Green Bay to Milwaukee was delayed to the point where she was going to miss her connecting flight from Milwaukee to Flint where I was going to pick her up, but after some phone calls and rearranging, the airport hired a taxi to drive my mom to Milwaukee with a father and daughter who also had a connecting flight.  She lucked out and the weather in Michigan cleared up long enough for her to make her flight to Flint!

Once we got back to Lansing, we had to swap cars with my friend.  I love my little VW Cabrio, but it's a little 2 door convertible with a less than luxurious back seat.  I was told by the nurse that I'd have to have my leg out and straight on the ride home, so my lovely friend Erica said we could swap cars for a couple days.  Now I've got a lovely Vibe with a nice, roomy back seat :)

Finally, Mom and I also made our way to the grocery store.  She was nice enough to bring some of my favorite recipes with her, so we stocked up on the supplies we needed for her to do some serious cooking (I think my roommates are happy about it too) :)

So - surgery check-in is at 6am tomorrow with surgery staring at 8am.  I'm nervous, and getting more nervous by the minute.  I seem to think this whole thing 'won't be so bad', but I'm pretty sure I remember it sucking *a lot* last time.  I'm pretty happy my Mom was able to take some time off work to come and help me out - I owe her bunches!

I'll see about getting a blog post up tomorrow once I get settled at home.

Good night!

ACL surgery day and recovery recap!

After 2 months of waiting, it was finally early January - Surgery Day! I remember being pretty nervous beforehand since I'd never really had major surgery before my ACL reconstruction.  My doctor and I decided to go with my patellar tendon as the graft to be used for my surgery (the hamstring tendon or a cadaver ligament were other potential options).  I had to be at the surgery center reeeeally early, was asked several times to make sure they were cutting my *left* knee, then wheeled into surgery.  I woke up several hours later in the recovery room and was told everything went well.

Me, post surgery.  I don't think the anesthesia has worn off yet...

I met with a PT back home for 1 or 2 visits, then got transfered to my PT in Madison when I moved back down there for my last semester of undergrad.  I wish I'd documented more of my PT progress from this surgery, but I do remember that it sucked.  It was so slow-going.  I also remember that Valentine's Day (February 14th, approx 1 month post surgery) was the first day I walked to class without my crutches.  That was a good day.  By the end of May, I was able to play slow pitch softball, sand volleyball and golf.  I was happy to be 'back in action' for the summer.  

So, I've got a torn ACL...now what?

After Halloween weekend 2005 I had to take some time to absorb my torn ACL diagnosis.  Questions like 'what comes next?' and worries about surgery and rehab were swirling in my head.  I was 21 years old and knew I had a long road to recovery in front of me.  Since I was so young and active, the question of to get surgery or not wasn't really a question.  More difficult was to decide when and where the surgery would happen.  I was in my last year of undergrad and living in Madison while my parents were 2 hours away, near Green Bay.  After some deliberation I decided to get the surgery done at home over winter break.  So, with that decision at the beginning of November 2005, I had 2 months before the surgery date (early January 2006).  Since my knee injury was pretty traumatic (meaning it involved the ACL as well as both menisci), I had quite a bit of swelling and limited range of motion (ROM).  This delayed surgery date seemed to actually be a blessing in disguise, I now had 2 months time for some PT to maintain strength and get some ROM back before going into surgery. 

Five years to the day.

Today is 5 years to the day since my original ACL injury.  It's crazy how so many things can change because of such a seemingly small incident.  Let's do a little time-traveling back to October 2005:

October 15, 2005:

Today is the birthday of my good friend, Jessica.  She and I have been friends since preschool and went to school together all the way through college! I'm excited about today for another reason too, my boyfriend won a FREE round for TWO at University Ridge, the home course for the Wisconsin Badger golf team.  

*goes golfing*

Wow! That was the best golf course I've ever played IN MY LIFE! Ridiculous rough, meticulously maintained fairways and tough greens.  I didn't shoot terribly well, but this was one of those golf outings where that didn't really matter because it was so beautiful :) I wish I'd played out there more often, they actually have sweet deals for students.  Since the golf season is pretty much over for the year, I plan to take advantage during next spring, my last semester of undergrad.   

October 16, 2005:

Last regular season intramural volleyball game today! My team is doing pretty well, we should make it a couple rounds into the tournament for sure! 

*plays volleyball*

Oh man, my knee KILLS! I jacked it up in the volleyball game tonight.  I was up at the net and the ball was sitting up on top and both I and the guy on the other side of the net jumped up to tip the ball, he landed first and my left foot landed on his.  I thought I was going to roll my ankle, but my knee wrenched out sideways instead! 

Diagnosis follow up: 

I went to University Health Services (UHS) the next day and a general practitioner took a look at my knee.  He said he thought I had a patellar sublexation (dislocated kneecap), that it had slid to the side and slid back during the injury, so he referred me to a physical therapist.  In the next day or two I met with my PT, Karl.  I showed up and he was assessing my knee injury when he asked if the referring doctor had done a drawer test.  I said I didn't think so, but I didn't know what that was.  Karl replied, "This" and he grabbed my lower leg and pulled it forward from under my knee, and it moved significantly.  Karl said, "I hate to tell you this, but your ACL is probably torn, you'll need an MRI to be sure."

Long story short, I got an MRI and found out on Halloween that my ACL was obliterated.  It was torn and looked like 2 mop heads inside my knee.  My medial and lateral menisci were also damaged, medial worse than lateral.  

Here I am, Halloween 2005, with a nice peg leg.

I'll continue the dramatic saga at a later date...