17 days post op - helpless to hopeful

Well I am getting close to the 10% mark on my recovery period. I was told 6 months - so if my math is correct that is 365/2 or roughly 182 days. Rounding down to 180 days, that means that every 18 days is 10%.... tomorrow is day 18 post surgery.

I've made some really good progress (though definitely not as fast as I would like). On May 11th I got on the bike and could not pedal all the way around. On May 14th I got on the bike, could only pedal all the way around going backwards, but after a few minutes also managed to get the pedals all the way around forwards. (I never really thought about the flexion in my knees when riding a bike before this whole ordeal). May 19th (yes I spent part of my birthday at PT) I got on the bike and was able to go all the way around on the first try. It was still quite a bit of a stretch, but not as labored as the time before, and I actually got the RPM up to about 45. Pitiful for a normal knee, but pretty darn good for my knee just two weeks after surgery.

When I was at my visit on the 14th, the PT told me I needed to ween myself off the crutches or I would probably be taking them with me on our CA vacation. Needless to say, on Friday the 15th I went cold turkey. I have not used the crutches since the 15th (except for a little balance going down the stairs into the garage once). I am still walking with a limp, but there are some times when the limp is not as significant. My main concern really is the 'instability' I feel with the knee. The whole reason I had this surgery in the first place was to give my knee stability back (since that is the job of the ACL). My knee feels pretty wobbly - most evident when I try to do one leg balancing on my repaired leg. I have been told this is not unusual, but it is still disconcerning.

PT has upped their game with me too - I am doing harder things like wall squats (ouch that really hurt my knee cap when I first attempted those), and step ups - yep that's right, stepping up onto the repaired knee, good leg knee up, and then back down. The ultimate goal with the step ups is to allow me to start climbing stairs normally again (right now I go one step at a time which is getting frustrating).

On May 18th, Cullen practically ordered me to get myself out of the house. This was actually a challenge for me, because since the surgery I have felt very helpless - when your ability to move around easily gets taken away from you, it's very difficult to just get back out there. I admit it, I was scared. But I got out, and it was really nice to know I could do it, even if it was just a short trip to the local coffee shop. It was still a piece of normal life that I had taken back. A small victory.

Tomorrow I go back to PT and am supposed to be fit with a brace - one of those lovely metal hinged knee braces. You might cringe at the thought, but I am super excited. I can't wait to get it because I think it will help a bit with support and provide a bit more confidence for me to do some of my exercises as well as just walking around more.

Keep thinking good thoughts for me! I have gone from feeling helpless to feeling hopeful.

More baby steps

I have been encouraged by the PT to take some unassisted steps around the house, which I've been doing here and there. I go to the PT tomorrow morning and then straight to the surgeon for my post-op visit and stitches will be removed. I am anxious to hear what he has to say and see how my progress stacks up.... I am scheduled to be in California two weeks from yesterday, so I am hoping that I see big improvements over the next week and a half or so.

ACL Surgery - Baby Stepping Recovery

On April 24th at black belt prep class I was performing the technique "crashing wings" on my partner. While I did the technique correctly, two things went terribly wrong that evening. First, I didn't do it at full speed/power - because I am not in it to hurt my partner... Secondly, my partner not being the brightest banana in the bunch held onto me instead of break falling. Result? SNAP SNAP SNAP - it sounded like cracking knucles in my head. At that point I realized, oh goodness, that sound is my knee! After falling to the floor, holding my knee and screaming NO! NO! NO! I managed to get up with help and walk around a little. Maybe I was going to be OK afterall... I took my ankle brace off and proceeded to the cubbies to get my flip flops on. At that point I felt my knee kind of slide from side to side in my leg. That instability is a very strange feeling. I had Cullen drive me home after my body went through a bit of a shock and we went to the PCP the next morning to see the doctor on call (Saturday). The doctor checked me out and said I'd probably be fine because I didn't have any pain (despite my complaints regarding stiffness and instability). He gave me a brace to wear and told me to wait a week, if it wasn't better then they'd probably order an MRI. I didn't want to wait a week, so I went to the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday. When he saw me he said "I don't think your ACL is torn" -- WHEW! What a releif.... but then he said "I think you tore your Meniscus" Either way it meant surgery. We booked surgery for May 4th and had the MRI on April 3oth. The MRI was not my friend - it confirmed the opposite of the surgeon's suspicions... meniscus ok, ACL, shredded.

Surgery went smoothly with an allograft procedure (yep I've got cadaver tissue in my knee now) and a bit debriedment of damaged cartilage below the kneecap. Waking up from the anesthesia was hard - it made me nauseous so they gave me phenergan for that - which made me extra groggy. It took me an hour to eat four saltine crackers so that I could take some pain meds. Over the next 24 hours I came to find that the pain meds (oxycontin and vicodin) did not agree with me. Doctor prescribed another called Ultraset - that was even worse! I decided pain was better than complete nausea/dizziness/disorientation. So I've been on Alleve since May 6.

May 7 I went for my first PT appointment. I learned some exercises to do at home. I've been doing the dilligently.
May 9 we took the surgical bandaging off - knee doesn't look that bad, but is swollen.
May 11 I had my second PT appointment, but my car doesn't want to work now. I really needed to get there, fortunately between my mechanic and my co-worker I got there and back - whew! The first thing I did when I got in was to hop on the bike. I can't even peddle all the way around yet because of the swelling, but I am almost there. The PT encouraged me to try some walking around the house without crutches. Surprisingly enough I'm able to do it (though I think that has a lot to do with the super tight ace bandage wrapped around my knee.
May 12 (today) I am spending most of the day icing, elevating, and trying to hobble around a bit without crutches. It's 1 week until my birthday. I'd love to be able to walk around 'normally' by then! A week after that it's off to California, so I've got a lot of work to do until then.

Recovery from a torn ACL is long and hard! I asked some questions yesterday about different forms of exercise. I probably won't step onto an elliptical machine until 6-7 weeks out. A treadmill - well that's like 5 months away. Can't go back to karate for at least 6 months. Brutal. I am of course missing my black belt test which was scheduled for August 15th.

I will try to post updates on here as to how I am doing, what I am doing, etc. It might help ME realize my accomplishments as I go. Cullen claims he sees improvements when I don't feel they are there.... It's very frustrating. Though I know the hobbling/walking without crutches from the couch to the kitchen or to the bathroom is a huge accomplishment. I guess the next few weeks/months will be all about baby steps.