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ACL surgery, and other wonderfulness.

3K views 68 replies 39 participants last post by  Nemo 
#1 ·
To bring you all up to speed, the ACL surgery is Monday :wings:, and oh brother am I looking forward to it! The final visit with my surgeon :hammer: was yesterday, and he pressed the lapels on the knowledge I'd gained from searching the internet -- did you know there are streaming videos of the whole procedure? He's using an autograft from my patellar ligament rather than cadaverous ligament, which wouldn't at all bother me, but is susceptable to degradation from foreign tissue rejection and thus is not an option.

Muscular atrophy is a problem during recovery from this procedure, so I'm going to measure the circumfrence of my leg muscles, writing on the skin, so I can have a reference for isometric exercises to help prevent it. Once the 7 1/2 miles of mummy wrap comes off I'll post a picture only if it's lurid enough to make you regret that chorizo burrito you had for lunch. Seriously, there won't really be much to look at as most of the work is done arthoscopically, so no Frankenstinian scars, darn it.

Fortunately, I'm in a relationship with a wonderful woman who has volunteered to let me stay with her during my initial recovery, and I'm really tempted to take her up on it. She is a tremendous source of positive energy, and the reason I'm so upbeat about it all, even eliciting a comment from the doctor. She may well be the one :eek:hyea:.

That's about it for now, I'm off for a long weekend with her.

Rob


:wings:
 
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#3 ·
Good luck with the surgery and the recovery. I can definitely sympathize since I just went through 4 months of muscle atrophy while waiting for my broken leg to heal. Nice part is (at least for a while anyway) having your lady bring meals to you while you sit there and wait.
 
#5 ·
My youngest had ACL surgery with the same patellar procedure. He's doing well, and they gave him a DVD of his procedure. It's quite interesting to watch.

Good luck to you.
 
#15 ·
best of luck on the surgery, hopefully your doctor is better than my wifes.
 
#16 ·
Rob,
I can't believe you're looking forward to surgery! But I suppose that having the knees made right is something to look forward to indeed.
May the surgery go smoothly and may the healing be fast, and may your lady friend be DELIGHTFULLY sympathetic.
 
#18 ·
Best of luck with your surgery Rob!
I had the patellar tendon graft also, but there was still a fair amount of cutting involved to get the graft. The I believe the 3 tiny holes around my kneecap are from the grafting procedure, but the 4" incision below the knee is (I believe) from harvesting the graft. Had between 13-15 staples to keep it closed up.

Woke up with my leg in a machine that slowly & constantly raised/lowered my heel in order to keep the knee from resting. Kinda weird.
I also got the sweetest little cooler - it's about big enough to hold a six pack. It comes with a power adapter you plug into the wall, so the pump inside it will continuously feed ice water from inside the cooler through a send line, into a big pad that I kept wrapped up around my knee, and then back again through a return line to the cooler again. Of course the hospital charges a couple hundred bucks for the thing, so if you wake up with one be sure to bring it home - cause you'll pay for it one way or another.

Remember: your Physical Therapist is your friend. Do what they say & try to give 'em a little extra & you'll come out on top.
Speedy recovery to ya :thumbup1:
 
#23 ·
Wishing you all the best in everything. Now that i'm done sucking up send me left over pain meds so i can be as happy as you until i get my knees replaced. HAHAHA!!! Just kidding but not really. Good luck man and it's true to go a little harder in therapy it will really help you in the long run. if it wasn't for my various therapists i would be in a wheelchair and be without an arm. These people are more important than the drs themselves.
 
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