ACL Reconstruction Post-Op Day 7

I slept pretty well last night, once I finally fell asleep. I woke up a few times, but I slept from about 12:00 midnight until 6:00 AM. Then, after my husband and kids left, I fell back to sleep for another four hours.  That's probably the most sleep I've gotten since the surgery and maybe since the accident.
My pain was very manageable this morning. Until about 3:00 this afternoon, I wasn't in much pain at all. I'm not sure what happened at that point, but that was three hours ago, and since then, it's been pretty bad. Maybe a six on a scale of one to ten. That's about the worse it's been in the last three or four days. I took my meds about thirty minutes ago, and that's helping, but I am disappointed that the pain didn't stay mild all day. I had hopes that today would be the day I'd turn a corner and be on the downhill slide.
I'm wondering if the refill on my hydrocodone has anything to do with it. It's the same prescription, according to the bottle, but I got it filled at a different pharmacy. I doubt that is it, but it's the only thing I've done differently. Of course, I realize that pain ebbs and flows, and it could be any number of things that have caused my rough afternoon.
Something else interesting about my refill is that this bottle says to take 1-2 tablets every 6-8 hours whereas my original prescription says 1/2 to 1 pill every 6 hours.  If I had known I could take two pills right after surgery, I definitely would have been doing that. I don't need that now, but I did last week. I have no idea why the directions are different. I'm sticking with the original plan--one pill every six hours with a Tramadol about halfway through if needed. And ice. Ice has been my life saver. When the ice melts in the middle of the night or I run out before my husband gets a chance to fill it, I can definitely tell the difference.
I am worried about straightening my leg. I can't do it, and I am too scared to really work on that right now without specific instructions. I'm afraid they will make me do it on Friday at Physical Therapy and that it will hurt like a son of a biscuit.  I'm also concerned that they might make me straighten it at the doctor that day because the nurse made me do it last week--as in he picked up my leg and straightened it, and even when I told him it was excruciating, he kept it straight anyway so he could put my immobilizer on.
I decided to take my ace bandage off while I'm sitting around this afternoon. I know the doctor said I could take it off last week, but I was a little scared to leave it off, especially with two little girls. But it's off now, and that's a lot more comfortable. I really hate the feeling of having something bunched up behind my knee, so I was constantly straightening it, and it was constantly scrunching up again.

Not planning on using this too much anymore.

Tomorrow should be another non-eventful day of catching up on DVRed shows. I'm sad that I won't be with the girls at school on their last days of kindergarten and third grade. I'm sad that I won't get to tell the student and staff at our school goodbye. I am happy that the girls will be here next week though. I've really been missing them these last few weeks. I am used to spending a lot of time with them, and they've been coming home from school and playing or going upstairs, a place I vaguely remember.... I think we are all ready for summer vacation to officially begin, and I would love to think I might be walking again by the end of the month.
If you are undergoing ACL surgery and you have any questions, please feel free to comment or email me.

ACL Post-Op Day 5 and 6

The last few days have been filled with firsts for my post-op life, which is a good sign that there is a light at the end of this tunnel, and soon enough, this whole experience will be over with!
Yesterday, I took a shower for the first time since my operation. I know that sounds pretty gross, and it would to me, too, if my interpretation of life was anything like it was before this happened.  Now, the fact that I spend 99% of my day sitting or laying in bed because I can't do anything else makes the fact that I haven't showered far less significant than the fact that I have no where to go, couldn't get there if I wanted to, and don't really have anyone to talk to about it (except you fine folk and my immediate family) or to even notice if I did shower. So, while I desperately needed a shower, I had no idea how it was going to go, and I certainly wasn't looking forward to it.
When I saw the doctor on Friday he said give it a couple of more days before I got my surgery sight wet. I still did everything I could to keep the wounds from getting wet, but it didn't quite work out as I had expected. I left the bandages on and wrapped them in plastic wrap, but I didn't tape it, and it didn't hold. So my bandages got wet, but because I was sitting on the bench in the shower, my knee didn't really get that wet anyway, and the wounds didn't even get damp.

I can't wait until taking a shower is no big deal again!

It was a pretty quick process, but I did need my husband's help.  If I hadn't dropped the soap on my knee, I think things would have been pretty uneventful. So that hurt a little bit, but it's fine now. Getting in and out is always scary because everything is slick. I highly recommend using the bench that sticks out of the shower because you can just sit down and slide all the way over and there's no climbing over anything.
Another first for yesterday was sleeping on my side. I hate sleeping on my back, but I have been trying to do it because I think it's the best way to ensure I don't bend my knee all the way up. Last night, I slept on my side with a pillow between my legs and my left leg on a different pillow. I had the ice machine pad wedged in there as well. I think this worked pretty well. My knee was possibly even straighter that way than it has been when I've been on my back. I also put some pillows behind my back so I could flip over a little onto my back if I needed to. So, in this position, I actually slept for about six hours, which is the longest I've slept since before the surgery. This meant that I slept through my pain medicine though, so when I did wake up, my knee was starting to hurt. Once you get behind, in my experience, it takes a while to catch up, and so I've been in pain most of the day, though it's been tolerable. It's been at about a three or four all day, maybe getting up to a six for a little while.
It's getting a little worse now because I don't have any ice on it, and we are within the two hour window of when I need to take my medicine again.  The reason I am out of ice is because of today's first--first day at home by myself. My husband went to work for the first time since the surgery today, so there isn't anyone to refill the ice machine.  I'll be okay for the next couple of hours until he gets home, but it does show just how much this $200 investment has paid off.
Being at home by myself today has been a little different than I thought. I expected to sleep most of the day, but I really haven't much.  I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be more productive! Either I'll sleep or write the next great American novel... or catch up on the shows on the DVR.
This is where I'm at almost a week after my surgery. Let me know if anyone has any questions!

ACL Post Op Day 4

Just a brief update on day four after my ACL reconstruction/meniscus removal surgery.  I have read in a few places that day four has been like a brick wall, but that hasn't been my experience at all. I haven't been in too much pain today, and I have a lot more strength in my leg. I can get up and down off of the bed now with very limited help, and sometimes I can do it myself. Before, I was using my hands to lift my leg, and my husband often had to help me lift my heel onto the bed.
I have been exhausted today, however. I think it's that lack of sleep catching up with me. Last night, I think I slept about two hours in a row a couple of times, which is better than the ten or so minutes I had been sleeping in a row the nights/days before.  Today, I have fallen asleep dozens of times but haven't slept too long any one time except for a two hour nap. I am still jerking around quite a bit, and I've read that might be due to the opioids. So, I'll fall asleep and then have a muscle spasm or some sort of a full-body hiccup type of reaction and wake myself up. Sometimes it's my hurt knee, but lots of times, it's another part of my body.  It's not any fun at all, and it will be interesting to see if it tapers off as I stop using the hydrocodone.
I've stayed ahead of my medicine all day today, and I've used my ice machine all day.  My pain hasn't really gotten above a four or five, and that's just been when I've returned from an activity, like getting back into bed after using the restroom. That's basically been the extent of my activities again today. I know some people are allowed to walk around, etc., by now. But I'm not. My doctor made it pretty clear he didn't want me putting any weight on my operative leg at all and he mostly wants me resting and elevating with ice. I also am supposed to do ankle pumps and quad exercises, which I am doing.
So, that's been day 4.  The swelling seems to have gone down quite a bit. I am having some itching around the bandage site. Tomorrow, I am allowed to take a shower so long as I keep the incisions covered, so we'll see how that goes.
Questions? Comments? Concerns??

ACL Post-Op Day 3

I wanted to update this quickly without writing too much. I'm on some pretty strong pain medication (hydrocodone, which is strong for me) so you just never know what I might be inclined to write.  But I think it's important not only to update my family and friends but to also leave more information for those to come....
Yesterday was really rough. I went to the doctor to have my bandages removed and just getting in and out of the car, etc. was exhausting. The wound looks fine, and it's nice not having all that bulkiness wrapped around my leg. But the nurse who took the bandages off was a little rough, and if my leg wasn't straight when I went in, well, it is now, for the first time in about two months.

Here it is in all of its glory! Just a tad swollen....

I came home and went back to bed. I think the best advice I've gotten so far is to stay ahead of the pain, so that's what I've been trying to do. I have pillows behind my back and shoulders, and my leg is propped up so that it's above my heart when I'm laying down, which is most of the time. I have the ice machine on it at all times. The doctor said I could take the immobilizer off as long as I'm not up, so it's off almost all of the time. I have read a lot of other posts where people say they are supposed to leave their immobilizers on basically all of the time, so I clarified this point a few times with my doctor. It is a lot more comfortable to have it off, and sense the doctor said I could take it off unless I'm on the crutches, it's off. I have an ace bandage wrapped around it, as well as the "dust covers" he put on the wounds, a towel, the ice machine pad, and a blanket.
Last night, I was able to sleep a little bit more, but only because I took my medicine exactly as prescribed. I didn't wait for it to start hurting. I am taking the hydrocodone six hours apart. He also said I could take the Tramadol two hours after I take the hydrocodone.  I've read that Tramadol can be pretty addictive, so I'm not taking it every two hours, but I am taking it every four if I feel like the hydrocodone isn't as effective as it could be.  I am also still on antibiotics. My mental state is pretty fuzzy most of the time. I think this is more due to the exhaustion than the medicine, though the medicine makes me sleepy. I haven't gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep in a row since Monday, and it's Saturday now. I am even having a hard time writing this because it keeps getting blurry.
I only get up to go to the bathroom. I have rails installed on the toilet still from when I originally injured myself, so that helps, but I still require supervision. My husband always gets the fun jobs! Just getting up out of bed is hard.  I can't really lift my leg yet, so he has to help me get it off of the pillows and then slide it out of bed. Then I have to transfer to the wheelchair, to the toilet, and then reverse. By the time that's all done, I am very lightheaded and exhausted.  It's very painful. It hurts on the inside of my leg especially, shooting down from my knee through my shin. So I wait until the very last minute to go to the bathroom--and I'm really hoping I don't end up with a UTI because of it. It's just that painful. Hopefully, in a day or two, when my leg is stronger, getting out of bed won't hurt so much.
I am doing ankle pumps and quad tightening exercises designed to strengthen my leg muscles.  I think this is helping with regaining the strength in my leg.
My leg is still pointed out a bit. The doctor said this is due to swelling and not to worry about it.  I'm having a hard time keeping it from laying down on it's side on top of the pillows, so it's rotated out, and I'm hoping this is okay.  The doctor said it was fine yesterday....
I go to physical therapy next Friday. Hope to have a better timeline for recovery then. I also go back to the doctor next Friday.
That's all for now.... Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any insight. Your prayers and well-wishes are always appreciated!

ACL Reconstruction Surgery and Recovery

It's all over now except the healing.... I had my ACL reconstruction/meniscus removal surgery yesterday morning, and I am now on my way to recovery.  I wanted to write about my experience because in doing my own research, I've found there are not a lot of actual accounts from real patients available, and the ones that are out there are kind of old. There are some YouTube videos, but I think writing can often provide more information because it's easier to go back and add things in. So, this may be a long post, but hopefully it will be helpful to anyone else going through this process.
My surgery took place at Methodist Hospital for Surgery in Addison, Texas. I was told to be there at 6:00 for an 8:30 start time, but when I got there, all of my paperwork actually said 6:30.  That's okay--it jut ended up being a little bit more of a wait.  There was definitely no one there when we got there, so there was no wait to get paperwork and bills paid, etc.
When we pulled up, Brian went in to get a wheelchair. We had mine, but they recommended we use there's, and that did end up being easier. It took a while for an orderly to bring it, but eventually he did, and I was able to go in and wait for Brian while he parked the car.  I waited in the lobby and watched the news for a few minutes. Before he even came back in, a nice lady from billing came and greeted me. We waited for Brian and then went back to sign paperwork and pay my portion of the hospital's bill.  Maybe it is tacky to discuss money, but I do see a lot of people wanting to compare how much surgeries cost, so I don't mind saying that our portion, 20% of the hospital's fee, was about $1500.
Next, we met a nice man named Eddy whose job was to keep Brian informed of what was happening while I was in surgery. He took me upstairs and into the pre-op waiting room. He got Brian's cell phone number, showed him where the cafe, vending machines, coffee machine, etc. were located. Then, a really nice nurse came out and got us and took us to the pre-op area.
Our curtained off area wasn't very big. It didn't have a window or a TV. I found out later that the one next to us did have both of these things, so I was a little disappointed. It would have been nice to have both of those things as we waited. It was just about 6:30 by the time I got back to that area. The nurse took my blood pressure, which was a little high, likely because I was nervous. She took my temperature, etc. and I had to do a pregnancy test. She said everyone who hasn't had a hysterectomy is required to do one.

Almost every staff member we met was extremely nice and helpful.

After that, I changed into the awesome hospital gown and some yellow socks with the anti-slip surface, transferred to the bed, and waited for the next nurse to come in and start my IV.  I had a warm blanket, but it was really, really cold in there. I almost asked for another blanket, but I toughed it out.
After about fifteen minutes, another nurse came in and started my IV. She also drew a few vials of blood, which she was able to take out of the IV prick so she didn't have to poke me twice.  She had me write on my knee. She said I could write whatever I wanted, so I wrote, "This one!" And then we waited, and waited, and waited. It was about an hour and a half, I think, before the next person came in.  Meanwhile, next door, a very animated couple took up residence. That woman was having back surgery which was also scheduled for 8:30, and she didn't arrive until 7:30, and had a constant stream of doctors and nurses over to discuss things with her. I know it was a totally different procedure, but I was feeling a little neglected, really cold, and wondering why they got a TV--and a window.
It was almost 8:30 on the nose when the first doctor showed up, and it was the anesthesiologist. By then, the entire bag of IV fluids had run out, so he had to get another bag going before he could give me the "happy" medicine.  As he went off to do that, a lady brought in the Polar Care cooler the doctor had arranged for and showed us how that works. I'd talked to her the day before and decided to go ahead and get it even though my insurance didn't cover it. I had read a lot about how this machine, which circulates cool water around the surgical area, does a lot for pain. So, I thought it was worth the $198.
As the Polar lady was finishing up, my ortho came in. He is a man of few words. He told me again what he was going to do, nothing I didn't expect, asked if I still had enough hydrocodone at home (to which I said, won't I need something stronger, and he said probably not) and asked Brian if he had any questions. I don't even know what it was I was supposed to ask, so I didn't have a lot of questions. I had been told earlier I would have to walk before I could go home so I asked if he thought that was going to happen (since I haven't walked in two months) and he said with help but I won't be putting weight on my right leg still.
The anesthesiologist came back in as my ortho and the Polar lady left.  They asked Brian to go to the waiting room now because it was time to do my femoral block. He would get to come back later to tell me goodbye, but things were getting real now, and I wasn't sure if I'd even remember if he came back in later or not.
The OR nurse came in and asked me my name and all of the questions about why I was there again--it's like a quiz and you have to pass it each time. She looked at my knee (my doctor also had to write something on it) and got on to me a little bit for not writing my initials. (The nurse said I could write whatever I wanted....) The anesthesiologist put something nice in my IV and I became very, very calm. I did hear him ask the nurse to go get him an anesthesiology tech at least three times before I started to drift into another dimension. He finally went out to get the other guy himself. I was still awake and semi-aware of what was going on, but not so much.  It took the two anesthesiologist guys a long time to find whatever it was they were looking for in my leg. They had an ultrasound machine and they were speaking a language that may as well have been foreign to me. I guess they were finally satisfied with what they had found and he put the blocker into my upper thigh.  I didn't feel it at all, although it must have been some heavy duty needle because I have quite the puncture wound now.
Brian did come back to say goodbye, though I barely remember it, and then I was wheeled back to the OR by the anesthesiologist guys and two OR nurses. When I got into the operating room, I was asked to transfer to the other bed, or table, and they helped me over. I remember thinking how everything looked so sterile and white, including the giant light hanging over the table.  I don't remember seeing my ortho in there at all. I don't remember being asked to count backwards or anything like that. I just remember moving over, and then the next thing I knew, I was in the Phase I recovery room.
I wasn't in any pain, but my mouth was incredibly dry.  The nurse offered me a pain pill, some water, and some crackers, all of which I accepted. My throat felt raw, I assume because of the tube that they probably put down it, but it didn't really hurt. I was having a hard time talking though.
My leg was wrapped in layers of gauze, ace bandages, and a huge immobilizer. I could tell the blocker was still working because it felt pretty numb, although I could feel my foot; I had my left sock on, but not my right, and my foot was cold.
I wasn't awake in Phase I for very long before the nurse wheeled me over to Phase II. Brian was brought back a few minutes later. I was really, really tired, but I also really needed to use the restroom because of all of that IV fluid. It took two nurses and Brian, but I was able to transfer into a wheelchair and go to the restroom before returning to my bed and falling asleep for about two hours. I found out later I was in the Phase I recovery room for about forty-five minutes.  So, all in all, I was in recovery for about three hours before I woke up, needing to go to the restroom again, unfortunately (because it was a real pain!)  and then I was able to get dressed and go home.
I wore some really stretchy, thin capri/yoga pants and a T-shirt, so it wasn't too difficult to get dressed, although the nurse and my husband had to help me.  My leg still wasn't hurting at all as they wheeled me down to the car, but my mouth was still incredibly dry. I wasn't sure how I would get into the car with the immobilizer on because it doesn't actually bend, but I was able to wedge it in by pushing myself up onto the console.
The ride home took about an hour, and the only time my leg hurt was if Brian hit the breaks a little too hard and I leaned forward on it.  I had to stop and get a tea on the way home because my mouth was so dry, but I definitely wasn't hungry, and the last thing I wanted was to end up nauseated or worse.
I got home and went to bed.  Brian hooked the Polar Care unit up, and it didn't seem to be doing anything at first, but it was cold--I just couldn't feel it because my leg was so numb.  Brian went to get my daughters, who had been at a friend's house. When they got home, they were a little leery of coming in because they were afraid that my leg was going to be gross.  Finally, they came in to say hi, but they didn't stay very long. I think they were happy to be home but tired from too much playing and afraid of all the stuff wrapped around my leg.
Brian went to get my prescriptions, which are an antibiotic and a pain medicine called Tramadol, which I hadn't heard of, but I have since read that it isn't very effective. I still have some hydrocodone, though, so I will probably be relying on that. I believe he prescribed the antibiotic because the tendon they used to replace my ACL is from a cadaver, and they want to make sure it doesn't cause an infection.
I didn't really sleep too much yesterday afternoon, though I did doze off for a few minutes from time to time.  I started to have a few aches later in the evening, but nothing too bad. I would say my pain was maybe a 3 or 4 at worst. The doctor had said I could take my immobilizer off to sleep, though I have read other doctors have said not to take it off, but then other patients also get some sort of machine that bends and straightens the knee, and I don't have one of those, so maybe every patient is different. So, when I went to sleep last night, I did take the immobilizer off.  I thought I would be more comfortable without it on, but in retrospect, I'm not sure it would have made any difference. I still had to basically sleep flat on my back because I can't roll onto my side with my knee wrapped in these bandages and gauze. I can bend it some but not completely, and I cannot completely straighten it either.
I didn't sleep well at all last night, despite having taken the Tramadol (I wanted to see how it compared to the hydrocodone.) My back was hurting from being in the same position, and my leg was starting to hurt.  I could tell the blocker was starting to wear off. I couldn't get my knee in a comfortable position.  I think I may have slept for three or four hours total, in half-hour chunks. Luckily, I wasn't going anywhere today.
The blocker was definitely gone by about 9:00 this morning, and my knee was really starting to hurt. Anytime the cold water started to run out of the Polar Care, I could really tell a difference. When it was time to take my pain medicine today, I decided to go with they hydrocodone. It seems to be a lot more helpful than the Tramadol.
Most of the pain I've been having is either in the back of my knee or in my shin, not too much in my knee itself, although there's been a little bit in the anchor site on the top, outside area of my knee.  I've also had a little bit of pain from the immobilizer digging into my leg and the cord from the Polar Cube digging into my foot. At one point, when it wasn't quite time for me to take my new medicine yet, my pain got up to about a five or six, and that's about the worst it's gotten today. I have had a lot of twitching and spasming, jerking, and cramping in my leg today. I decided to put the immobilizer back on because every time I fall asleep, my knee starts jerking around on it's own, which is painful and scary. I'm hoping the immobilizer will prevent any damage, though my understanding is there's not much I can do to re-injure myself at this point short of putting too much weight on it too quickly.
I go to the doctor on Friday to have my bandages changed and to see how everything is healing. Other than that, I'm planning on just doing a lot of resting this weekend.  I'm not supposed to put any weight on my leg this week, but when I go to physical therapy next week, they'll let me know when I can start bearing weight again.
That's where we are at this point, about a day and a half after surgery.  Does anyone have any questions? Anyone else whose been through this care to share their story? In my experience, every little bit of information is helpful, so please feel free to post in the comments or ask questions. I'll update again in a few days.