Surgery and Post-Op

After two months with a torn ACL, I finally had surgery done last Thursday.

ACL surgery involves recon-structing the torn ligament with new tissue. I chose to use tissue from my own body, specifically my hamstring, instead of using donor tissue. (Photo, the StayWell Company, 2001).

I go into the operating room around 9am and get anesthetized, and the next thing I know, I wake up in the post-op room about 3 hours later, with bandages and dressings on my right leg, and a huge brace that went over all of it.

This image to the left is my new ACL.

I was in a fair amount of pain after the surgery and once the pain block wore off. Mia had warned me that surgery sucks, but that it is beneficial in the long run, but I really wouldn't have minded going back to having a torn ACL. With the wonderful invention of drugs, though, my leg has become tolerable.

Today was my first follow-up appointment post-surgery. All the bandages were removed. Not surprisingly (thought it still shocked me a little) my knee is swollen to the size of a small melon and my leg is partly emaciated (or as Mia would say, it's a "sweet chicken leg").

Today was also my first day of physical therapy, and now that surgery is over, I have a few long months of that to look forward to. It's another reason to pop those pills though, so who's complaining.

A big thanks to the handful of friends who wished me luck on the surgery and checked up on me. But especially to Adam for bringing me movies, getting me my drugs and sharing some of his. And Lisa and Mia again for being my reconstructed ACL triplets for life.

And whether or not you're stuck on your couch because you can't really walk because you got surgery because you tore your ACL because you thought you were too cool to handle and wanted to cut and the field you were playing on had been dangerously and stupidly neglected... you should watch the TV show Extras.