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...