Friday, May 30, 2008

Recovering from ACL Surgery: The Long Road to the Surgery table



I normally enjoy a wide range of activities. Ball Hockey is my favorite but i also enjoy soccer, mountain biking and jogging. Since my ACL surgery on my left knee in 1999 i've given up a lot of other activities such as basketball, squash, tennis and baseball.

Approximately 18 month ago I had hurt my knee playing ball hockey. I was running at top speed and all of a sudden i went down. Well, after getting two opinions, i was told that i hadnt done any real damage and that to re-hab it for a few months before going back to sports.

So i rehabbed and waited until April 2007 where i went to a soccer practice which lasted about 20 minutes for me as my knee gave out again.

My doctor immediately set me up to get MRI. Since I'm in Canada and dealing with the Canadian Health Care System, immediately ment i had to wait 5 months to get the test.
So in September 2007 I had the MRI done at a 2am appointment at my local hospital. The MRI report came back a week later inconclusive reporting i had a "possible tare". So this means, my family doctor has to recommend me to a surgeon. It also means i have to wait until December 2007 to see him.


My appointment with the surgeon eventually came and he too could not tell me for sure if my ACL was torn or not. The MRI was useless. So, the doctor told me he had to first perform arthroscopic surgery to determine once and for all if my ACL was torn or not.

January 17th 2008, the results of the scope concluded that my ACL on my right knee was torn. I was actually awake for this surgery which was kind of neat. You could see the torn ligaments. Anyway, the end result was one month of rehabbing my knee from the arthroscopic surgery i just had plus waiting 4 months until May 22nd for my ACL surgery.





May 22nd, 2008 finally arrives and the surgery was a success according to my surgeon. No complications. On a side note, i actually chose to have an epidural instead of the standard anesthetic. This was something i wasnt too sure about but the anistisiologist suggested i could stay awake for the surgery or he could put me under and i would wake up more alert . The bad thing was, they had to stick a kneedle in my back. That wasnt too plesant but the surgery was just under 2 hours long and i woke 20 minutes after they were done alert as can be. I just had to wait around longer for the freezing to wear off. I was in the hospital from about 8am to 2pm and felt pretty good. Better than i remember. But now comes the hard part. Rehab.
In this blog i plan to journal my rehab schedule and progress and hopefully it will give people an idea who need this type of surgery, an idea of what they have to go through.
Check this site out for more information about ACL injuries and surgeries and treatments: http://www.aclsolutions.com/default.php

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