Well, just found out that my surgery will not be until Saturday, May 24 – Memorial Day weekend. So while most folks will be soaking up the sun on the beach or grilling burgers, I’ll be elevating and icing my leg in bed – not to mention eating those pain killers like candy. So, in addition to burdening my friends to help me out, I now have to see if anyone wants to give up their start of the summer holiday weekend plans to help me out. What great timing!
I’ve been communicating with another women around my age who tore her ACL skiing in Colorado in February and is also quite active (I tore my ACL skiing in Colorado in January) via an online message board. We are now emailing each other with our trials and tribulations: misery loves company. Her surgery is scheduled for April 29 so I’ll get to hear her first-hand account before I have my surgery. While I am opting for an allograft (the tissue will be taken and transplanted from a cadaver - if my health insurance will foot the bill and if a match can be found), she needs to have an autograft (tissue will be transplanted from either her hamstring or patellar tendon) as being from Canada she says allografts are not easy to come by. Now, I see where there is also a thing called a xenograft, where the tissue is taken from another species. Hmm, I wonder if I can have xenograft from a cheetah so I can run faster. I can become the bionic mammal. One thing that has been bugging me in all of this is full leg extension (having a straight leg) and knee stiffness. It is suggested to have full extension before surgery. On average it should take about one month post-injury to get full extension. I am going into my 12th week post-injury and still don’t have full extension. If I don’t have it now, will I have it after surgery? The whole reason I’ve decided to have this surgery is to get full extension so my one leg doesn’t feel shorter than the other and I can get back to walking normally. If I don’t get full extension after surgery, that will be a whole lot of pain and effort for naught.
2 comments:
I had my ACL reconstruction on May 15, 2007. I had a hamstring graft. I am glad that I had the surgery because I now have a stable knee.
Good luck with your surgery and recovery!
I have visited Jim Thorpe many times. We always eat at the diner at the bottom of the hill (don't remember the name). Great town!
Michelle,
Thanks for your feedback. I'm not looking forward to the surgery or rehab but at this point I just want it done and over with.
P.S. Unfortunately, the diner is no more. The bar next to it bought it and probably will either destroy it or haul it away. So sad.
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