ACL reconstruction surgery experience:

Before Surgery:

It’s Monday January 28th. I went for haircut, called a cleaning company to get our home cleaned. Fasted till my surgery (no water for few hours).

Check-in:

Myself and Pranitha checked into surgery center at 1:45 PM and filled out couple of forms. I was taken for dressing. After dressing, pre-requisite work starts. A needle went inside my left hand. So soft and unnoticing as numbness cream is applied. This is to keep me hydrant. Nurse took out a pen and wrote “YES” on my right knee and “NO” on my left knee. Just to avoid confusion at surgery room. Anesthesia doctor checked in and explained about anesthesia. As I have motion sickness, anti-nausea was also prescribed along with anesthesia. Surgeon checked in and took us through operation again.

Operation theater:

I was taken into Operation Theater. Anesthesia doctor tried to make it easy to me by putting up some conversation. I started answering them. 1, 2, 3…my surgery is done. When I woke up I could see Pranitha and my friends. I was given bread, juice, pain killers etc., I was too drowsy to talk. It is evening. They gave us some instructions and wheel chaired me to our car. Bhanu drove me back home along with Pranitha and Pravin drove our car home. We came home. I was given shoulders to get into home. As our steps to upstairs weren’t so spacious. I sat on steps and climbed up.

Surgery night:

I was hesitant to take oxycodone as I was told, it will increase constipation. I took it and thought it is last time I am going to take it. I slept fine without any issues. Not a lot of pain. I was able to get into restroom and sit. Ok no more oxycodone I thought.

Days 1 and 2:

It is better to stay ahead of pain I read. It was extremely painful for me later. I was adjusting my elevation of pillows. I tried to do knee bending exercises and stopped. I should have taken pain pills. I took it later, but it was too late. Pain all over. Second day afternoon, I called doctor to explain the pain and he referred me to ultra sound check.

Ultra sound:

I visited clinic and I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t feeling pain. I felt much better to walk on crutches. I went through ultra sound and they found couple of blood clots. Damn it! We had to go to another clinic to meet nurse practitioner to discuss options. We drove there. She pointed us to time sensitive medication. Injections every 12 hours for first couple of days and tablets for next 3 months. Hardest part is follow up appointments. I had 2 extra appointments to check on blood clot above my surgeon’s appointment on Monday.

How is it now?

Well, it is not very comfortable obviously. I wake up at around 2 AM with a pain on lower part of my knee. I changed elevation and started using the machine given for knee pushing as my elevation. I took my brace off. Initially I felt comfortable with these settings but it is same again while writing this (5:00 AM on feb 1st ).

Tips:

Talk to your surgeon about knee elevation and if possible, get a demo. Those pillows didn’t prove comfortable to me, but maybe I did not place them right.

Take medication as prescribed. No matter what your fkking pain level is.

Pain in Calf: Do not take it easy. It could be blood clot. it is better to tackle it early.

It’s been a month since I properly walked (running is out of question)

Dec 31st night:

It’s on NYE, my right knee gave up and I couldn’t stand on dance floor. I felt like someone kicked on my knee outside in twice in split seconds. I couldn’t sit in car without falling down. We drove to emergency at 12:30 in the morning on Jan 1st 2013. I was given immobilizer to stabilize my knee and was asked to use ice pack to avoid swelling. I asked for an x-ray report and it showed nothing.
Follow up appointment with orthopedic:

I was getting better with my walking though little far from being perfect. I booked a follow up to get an orthopedic opinion. If I did not fall down again in my office while walking, I wouldn’t have bothered putting more questions. But I did fall down and Ortho asked for MRI scan.

MRI room:

This is another day. A scary thing without second doubt! You shouldn’t move for 20 minutes. You shouldn’t watch those rays in front of you as they are dangerous. I felt so conscious and moved all my body parts. Technician there said, he is going to try one more time or else he will put me on medication so that I wouldn’t move. I was disappointed and more conscious not to move my body parts. This time I was successful.

Follow up appointment:

Big day! Ortho said my ACL is fully torn and I have to go through surgery. As an alternative I can go through Physiotherapy but no guarantee that I will not need surgery. Ortho took me through the ACL reconstruction surgery video. At this point, I knew they are going to get into my knee and shave torn tissue, open tunnel etc., nothing pleasant. I was warned of severe pain post surgery and no travel. Being fast in decision making, I wanted to schedule surgery appointment for following Tuesday to get the surgery done but I am married. I have to take consensus before making decisions and I had orthodontic appointment following week to check on braces.

Orthodontic appointment:

After 20 months of having braces and restricting myself on biting few food items like burger, I am tired of braces. Doc asked me to keep them for few more weeks. I requested him to take them off to be ready for surgery so that I don’t have to come to this doc post surgery. Thus! Braces are removed. From orthodontics to orthopedics now.

Second opinion:

I am restless between surgery and physiotherapy. Everyone around me had their say. Even people who doesn’t have a clue about ACL and pain had their say. I wanted to get an appointment with Physiotherapist to get his view. I called pro-club and they had orthopedics too but no surgery center. Good one, no business of pushing patients towards surgery. I visited doc for second opinion. He looked into my MRI reports and said, it’s all spaghetti inside now and I have to go through surgery. My question “did dance really do this”, he said it must be skiing or some other activity in December before dance and I did not realize it. He said dance wouldn’t cause such a damage. Alright, it feels reasonable now. I did my first time skiing during X-mas a week before NYE. No second guess on surgery, I can try PT but ACL re-construction wouldn’t happen on its own. I might be able to walk now after PT, but risk of falling down is same even after PT.

Conclusion:

Decided to go on surgery. Couldn’t wait. Called doc on Thursday to check on Tuesday slot but it was booked. I made some reasons to get faster appointment and they said, they will look into it. They did not update me anything later. Some guy who provides rental CPM and other post surgery equipment called me and said, he got an order to deliver this equipment to me by Friday as surgery is on Monday. I said, it’s a news. I did not know that I got surgery scheduled for Monday. Called doctor’s assistant and confirmed. Paid some annual deductible on Friday to get things going. Surgery experience in my next post.

We did not know about my recovery time from bed. We decided to make better week end. We went for a long drive to mountain loop again into snow (accidentally) :) and We watched silver linings. Enjoyed Spartacus.