More post surgery comments

Today is the 5th day after my surgery and my first real day of physical therapy. I spent about 45 minutes with the therapist doing leglifts, stretches, toe raises with an elastic band and most importantly bending my knee to a 90 degree angle with his help. Thankfully someone gave me the advice to take my pain medication so that it was max effective during the PT session. All things considered, it went remarkably well. I've got really good extension on my knee and getting to 90 degrees didn't hurt too badly. I think that being in really good shape going into this surgery and a pretty nutritionally complete diet, complete with Mona Vie shots daily, is gong to really help me pull through this surgery well. Today, during the therapy session, I was picturing myself being back to running, cycling, exercising better than I ever have. If we are right, and this ACL has been broken for a number of years, then I should be a stronger and better athlete than I've ever been. If I've been in the best shape of my life in recent years, with only a partial right knee, I can only imagine what I can do with a uncompromised knee. I am actually very excited and that is what is fueling my therapy sessions right now.
Here's the other fun part. I am going to try to get off the perkoset today and go back to the lower level pain meds that I had the first day of my surgery. So, I am living on ice today and trying to make it to tonight so that I will have cleared out the oxycodone and can move to the lower level stuff. That is the plan and it would have been better to make this decision on a non-pt day because the therapy session is put some extra strain in today and I sure would like a pain pill right now. Hopefully, this will all be behind us by tomorrow and then hopefully they'll let me move to high strength Ibuprofen where I don't feel so loopy.
Here's to my new knee!

Post Surgery

Here is my disclaimer on this post- I am under the influence of some pretty strong narcotics in order to block the pain from the ACL surgery I had 2 days ago. So, if this post rambles, seems disjointed, offends, or just sounds plain dumb, it's the drugs talking.

Wednesday morning, Yvette took me in for surgery on my ACL. Dr. Gregorius tells us right before surgery that while he is in there replacing my blown ACL with one from a cadaver, he was going to check on the break and the patella. If he needed to he'd trim the patella and if necessary drill some holes by the break in order to help that heal better. Worst case scenario he said and if he had to take these measure, it would mean 6 weeks of no weight bearing on that leg.

So, I put on the sexy gown, get wheeled into the surgery room where the anaesthesiologist slips some drugs into my IV while asking some questions. That was about 7 am. At 11:30 am, I hear them say that Yvette is free to take me home and I hear Dr. Gregorius tell her that he had to trim the patella and drill the holes. Yikes! Worst case scenario realized.

I've had surgery 3 times now and each time I distinctly remember thinking that they should never send someone home in the shape that I am in when they discharge me.

Nonetheless, Yvette and some rookie nurse dump me into the front seat of the Honda for the ride home. I spent at least the next 10 hours somewhere between moaning and screaming outright because of the pain. Wow! This one hurt.

My follow up appointment with Dr. Gregorius was at 1:30 the next day and the first thing he said to me was "How was last night?" He really didn't even need to ask. He's had 3 of these surgeries and knows what he did, so it was more of a "welcome to the other side of surviving that hell." He immediately upped my prescription from Hydrocodone to Perkoset ( about 2 times the strength).

I went in to my first round of physical therapy right after that appointment, a mere 26 hours after surgery. The PT seems like he's going to be ok and he's been through this surgery too. That means a lot to me, because I know he understands the pain. We worked on a couple of exercises for about 30 minutes then he sent me on my way to fill my new prescription.

The new drugs helped but it was still a tough night on Thursday.

It has progressively been getting better although there are bursts of crazy pain. However, I can't help but be excited that now I get to start the recovery process and when it is done, I'll have a knee stronger than I've had in probably over a decade. Everyone tells me to make sure I do all of my physical therapy and the harder I work there, the better I'll be. Anyone who know me, would know that those words aren't even necessary. Nobody outworks me at anything and I am the king of following through on commitments, so by the end of all of this, I will be in great shape.

Tomorrow, I am going to attempt to dial back the medication and hopefully get off of it all together by Monday. I hate the feeling out of being out of control and this stuff certainly provides that sensation.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for me or sent well wishes. I really appreciate it.

I blog more later this week, but right now I am drifting off to sleep.

Torn ACL and a new direction

I haven't mentioned this on my blog ( mainly because I've been horrible about updating) but late in May I completely blew out my ACL. The easy story on it was that my right leg was locked down by a pretty good jiu jitsu practicioner and I made a stupid mistake. He did exactly what he was supposed to do and straightened out the lockdown. My knee came completely out of joint for a second, wobbled, then went back in to place. We both felt it. He let go immediately and I rolled out of it expecting a searing pain to hit. It didn't. In fact, it hurt a little, but felt more numb and swollen than anything else. Sadly, after two weeks of rest and recovery, it didn't improve. In fact, it got worse.

So, off to the doctor I went. Where he told me what I already knew. "You blew out your ACL and you'll need surgery". The MRI showed that I actually fractured my knee bone when it popped out of the socket and then slammed back in. More importantly, by studying the MRI, it looks like the ACL has been "broken" for years. We saw a picture that showed where the ACL actually hooks to the bone, it had torn away a piece of the bone. He said, "that is not from this event". Hmmm.... so I've had a torn ACL for a while? This could explain a lot. It seems my IT band has been trying to act as my ACL in some of my training and racing, so this explains my problems in the Northface race, my early cramping in my right quad in most of my 1/2 Ironman races. So I guess, I can look at this as a blessing. I get a new ACL and hopefully, a better working right leg at the end of this.

That is exactly what I keep trying to tell myself, because not being able to do any aerobic exercise makes me a little nuts. I am spending a lot of time working out with weights on my upper body, but I feel like I am losing a lot of what I've spent years to gain. I've heard that endurance ability comes back quickly. I guess I'll get to see for myself. I'll let you know.

So, August 19th at 7 am, I go in for surgery. The doctor, who seems like a really good one, is going to be inserting a cadaver tendon into my knee and anchoring it with 2 screws ( more screws in my body- yeah! I've already got some in my elbow). They say the recovery is 6 months to full lateral use sports. Which means I'll be able to go back to my jiu jitsu classes in February. Wish me luck.

Now, for the new direction part of this post. I am going to be using this blog, from now on, to not only post athletic endeavors, but also any and all self-improvement areas of my life. So, I'll be posting on books that I am reading, classes that I am attending, businesses endeavors, and family endeavors. My goal is to capture all parts of my life that I am trying to fine tune into this blog so that hopefully I can add some insight for my readers. It is said that the highest form of learning is the teaching of the subject matter, and this forum will provide that for me.

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Charleston, SC Hotel: The Sanctuary Hotel, Kiawah Island's Oceanfront Beach Hotel, South Carolina

Here's where we stayed for the last 9 days. Amazing. I would highly recommend it.Charleston, SC Hotel: The Sanctuary Hotel, Kiawah Island’s Oceanfront Beach Hotel, South Carolina

Shared via AddThis