ACL Update Month 5

It's really hard to believe it's been just over five months since I tore my ACL.  In some respects, it seems like a million years ago; in others, it seems like it just happened. I know the hardest part is behind me now, and I'm just perfecting my walk now so that I don't have such an awful limp. But it's still painful, it's still awkward, and I still get a lot of ridiculous comments from people--mostly those who don't even know me. I'll start there.
I don't know why people think it's okay to ask the following types of questions:
"What happened to you?"
"So, did you hurt yourself or...?"
"Don't you think you'd be better off in a wheelchair?"
I have been asked all three of these questions since I started walking with my cane. All by adults--not the sweet little cherubs I work with everyday. (Although they will often ask if I hurt my leg. And I expect them to. Children are curious.) What if I had been born this way? What if I had an incurable disease? What if there had been a horrible accident that took the lives of my family? Is that any of their business? As a matter-of-fact, why is it anyone's business why I "walk this way" any how? It's not! So... if you see someone with mobility issues, perhaps the best thing to say is just, "Hello," or "May I hold the door for you?" and leave it at that. I'm not in the business of rehashing the entire story to total strangers, and a simple, "I tore my ACL," is never sufficient. Most people don't even know what that is. So it's really better if people I don't know don't ask.
Now, I've met a lot of great people the last month or so because I have a new job. And when one of those people, someone I work with, someone I see everyday, asks what happened, or how I'm doing, or the often, "Now how did you do that again?" I absolutely don't mind.  Most of them know I tore my ACL last year before school ended because people talk, and that's fine. I certainly don't mind if they have follow up questions. But that's totally different than someone I don't know who I'm never going to see again asking, "What happened to you?" I got in a fight with your mama. You should see her!
Okay--rant over. Here's what I can do now that I couldn't do last time I updated this blog: I can go up and down flights of stairs with assistance from a spotter, a.k.a. my husband. I just found this out tonight. We removed the ramp from our front door a few weeks ago and I can go in and out of the house with minor issues. I have been using my cane if I need any help at all, and that's mostly at work because our halls are so long. I also use it first thing in the morning when my knee is pretty stiff. I can get in and out of the shower and the bathtub now. Basically, the only things that are still problematic are walking long distances (like a quarter of a mile would be far for me right now) and standing for too long.  This is because I'm still not distributing my weight evenly and it starts to hurt my left leg, my "uninvolved" leg, as it is known.
My extension hasn't gotten much better, despite my best efforts, but my bending is basically normal. My strength is also pretty good, though my quad is still a little weak. I think this is part of what is causing my limp, that and the bend in my knee. I saw my doctor last week and he is concerned about my limp. He took new X-rays and said the placement looks good, but he wants to know why I am limping. I have to see him again in six to eight weeks. He also said I will most likely have arthritis where my meniscus is missing. It already hurts there more than anywhere else, so I'm pretty sure there's no getting around that.

I'm bringing the cane back into style.

As for pain, it hurts in my shin a lot while I am walking and/or going up and down steps. My quad hurts sometimes, but most of my pain comes from the inside bottom part of my knee--where they removed a big chunk of my meniscus.  I'm not sure if that's why or if it is just a coincidence. If it rains, it hurts more than usual. It's not pleasant, but it is tolerable.
The last thing I wanted to address is just a quick explanation of what an ACL is and what it does. A sweet friend asked me one day if I tore the ACL in my knee or my foot, and it made me realize that some people probably don't know much about the ACL. I certainly didn't until this happened to me. With a popular football player and at least one Olympian recently tearing their ACLs, more people may know, but I really think the more people know, the more likely they are not to injure there ACLs in freak accidents like mine. The ACL is a ligament that runs through the middle of your knee. It goes from the upper-outside of your knee to the lower inside of your knee. There's another ligament that goes the opposite way, but it isn't as important. The ACL's job is to stabilize your knee and keep your bones working together.  It's a lot easier to tear your ACL than you might think, and they almost always tear completely when they tear. You can tear it just a little bit, but they don't mend well on their own because not a lot of blood gets to the area, so you will likely have to have it surgically repaired even if it's not a complete tear. I jumped off of bleachers onto uneven ground. I wasn't playing a sport or doing anything where my knee should have pivoted or twisted, which is often what causes a tear. It doesn't necessarily happen because of vigorous activity or anything too athletic.  When it did happen, I just assumed that my kneecap had popped out of place, because I had seen that happen to someone before.  I had no idea that there was something inside of my knee that could tear and cause such a huge problem for me for so long.  So, please, educate yourself about your knees--your ankles, your hips, whatever body parts you'd like to keep working. And be careful. I'm that mom who is always saying "be careful" about this and "be careful" about that. I guess I needed someone to shout to me to be careful!

ACL Reconstruction Post-Op Days 8-10

Day 8 was pretty uneventful--it was basically a repeat of day 6 and 7. Things got a little better in the pain department, but I was still around a 3 or a 4 most of the time, with tiny spikes to 7.  Day 9, however, was a game changer.  Day 9 was the day I took control back over the situation and was reminded that I am the only one who can "fix" me.
I went to the physical therapist for the first time on Friday, which was Day 9. It was an early appointment and I took my medicine about an hour before it was scheduled to start so that if they decided to torture me, at least I'd have something to take the edge off. This is the first time since the accident that,when they've called my name at an appointment,  I've gone back on my own--Brian stayed in the waiting room. It was a little unsettling, but I knew this was something I had to do by myself.
I really liked the therapist right off the bat. He was very easy to talk to, seemed genuinely concerned about my injury, and definitely gave me the impression that we were going to get me all fixed up in no time. But after I finished telling him what had happened, and he'd asked me about my goals, etc., he said something that really resonated with me. He said, "I can't fix you--only you can fix you." I've known this all along, I guess. But hearing him say it really reminded me that whether or not I ever walk again is really up to me. I can go through the motions, or I can choose to ignore them altogether, and either way I end up in a wheelchair for several more weeks, months, years. Or I can give this everything I've got and get back to normal as quickly as humanly possible. Of course, I need guidance from the therapists, but at the end of the day, the results are all up to me.
I was there for about an hour.  We did measurements and I found out that my leg will currently extend 31 degrees. My left leg, the good one, extends to -5. He explained that I will need to get my right leg even with my left so that I can walk without a limp, etc. He also told me how far it was bending, but I don't remember what he said. I am definitely more concerned with extension at this point.
He showed me six different exercises that I will have to do several times a day. They are all designed to stretch out the ligaments and muscles in my leg and get it to extend and bend the way that it is supposed to. The worst one, by far, is the slow stretch, where I extend my leg as far as I can and then leave it that way for up to fifteen minutes at a time.   So, for me at this point, this would be taking it out 31 degrees, and keeping it stretched as long as I can.  He said I could start out at two minutes, but I needed to build up to 15.  This is one of those slow burn, no pain no gain type of exercises. Sounds simple enough, but it is pretty painful. He told me if it hurt above a four to stop, and if it really starts hurting I suppose I will, but a sustained pain at a four that you know you can relieve by changing position is almost as bad as a sharp seven that goes away pretty quickly.
I really liked my therapist, and I felt like he had a great plan in place. Unfortunately, at the end of the session he told me he wasn't going to be working at that location anymore. That was kind of disappointing, but I'm sure they have other therapists that are just as good and that will help me make quick progress.

My daily exercises!

I go back on Tuesday, which will be post-op Day 13. By then, my goal is to have my extension to 20 degrees. That seems like a big jump to me, but I'm ready for the challenge.
My next stop on Day 9 was back at the ortho's office.  There's a nurse there who is very nice and she always stops to speak to me even when I'm not her patient. I was really happy that she was the one to remove the tape from my wounds!  I thought a man would probably just come in and pull it all off, but of course she didn't. (Most of the other nurses in the office are men, including the guy who insisted I fully straighten my leg last time, even though I can't.)  She cleaned it off with alcohol and the tape all came off pretty well. It actually looks a lot better, although it's still a bit misshapen and there will likely be some scarring.
My doctor checked it, forced me to fully extend it, even when I told him the PT said I couldn't, and checked how far I could bend it. Then, he showed me some pictures from the surgery. Apparently, I had completely severed my ACL from my femur. There was just a scraggly little stump left, like the roots of a weed holding on for dear life. He showed me pictures of my new ACL, too.  It looked very sturdy and fully capable of doing its job!
For some reason, I think the doc was under the impression he had already given me a brace with an adjustable locking mechanism. I explained that I haven't had one. He asked a similar question at the hospital, so I think he that we had done this already. Well, I got one yesterday and got it fitted. They locked it in at 20 degrees. I was confused and explained that my extension was only 31 and they said okay. I don't know if these two things are related--I thought they would be--but when they put it on, it wasn't uncomfortable (I mean, not anymore than any brace would be) so I guess it doesn't matter that I'm at a 31 and it's at a 20.  I like it--it reminds me a bit of Luke Skywalker's arm for some reason.  I hope I don't have to wear it for long, but I appreciate the fact that it has a lot of support for my knee, which should be helpful once I can start walking again. Speaking of, he told me to wait until next Wednesday, two weeks from the operation, before I start putting any weight at all on it and then to start off with 20 to 30 pounds tops. We are going to have to get that number up pretty quickly for me to be walking on it anytime soon....
Today is Day 10, and I started my exercise full throttle today. Sure, I went through as many as I could yesterday afternoon, but I didn't really have some of the props I needed, and I didn't have time in the day to do all of the reps.  Today, I have all day, and I'm almost done with them, though there are some I'm planning on going back and re-visiting.
As anticipated, that slow stretch has been a killer. The first time, I couldn't hold it for more than two minutes. I have now worked my way up to 10 minutes, but I don't think I can do 15 yet. I have to have at least an hour in with this stretch each day, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I can't tell you how many times I haven't been able to fit an hour long workout into my day (or have thought I couldn't anyway) which tells me it's a bigger chunk of time than it sounds.  Still, it's the most important thing I can do to help myself get better, so I'll definitely get that hour in each day. For now, I don't have a lot of other things to do anyway....
I do think I am making progress. Even right now, my leg is pretty straight. I usually keep it as bent as possible, but I'm just naturally keeping it straight with one pillow under it right now, and I think that tells me it isn't as insistent that it has to be bent as it has been in the past.
I will go to PT twice a week for the next two months, and then we will see where we are. They said the first two months are the most critical to my recovery.  The doctor still thinks it is possible that I could be walking (assisted) in another two weeks. I hope that I can walk by the beginning of July when I go back to see him.
So... that's where I'm at on my journey right now. It's been two months and two days since the incident. My pain is getting better each day, my leg is starting to cooperate a little more, and I really feel like I have more control over this than I have in a long time.
If you have questions, or something you would like to share, please feel free to leave a comment!

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.