Dec 29, 2005 - Jan 3, 2006: The second week after surgery

So far this week, I have had no swelling and no pain!!!! Yeah!!!

I was actually able to help make dinner and I drove for the first time and actually went out for coffee with friends.

When I walk, with the brace, I am still very careful. So, like, walking with a cup of coffee in hand is not such a good idea, unless I want to wear it. But, I am not as tired as I was a couple of days ago when I walk around.

My friends are scared to talk to me about tennis because they don't want to make me feel bad.... but, actually, I love to talk about tennis... it makes me feel better... so I reassurred them!!!

I don't long for tennis yet, mostly because I can barely walk. But, I am sure in a couple weeks, I am going to be desparate to get back on the court. I had such high hopes this year!!! I was going to start the year playing in Les Grandes Dames National Tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, Florda. I played last year and had so much fun, and met so many nice people. In fact, every year at this time, I map out all of my tournaments that I want to play for the year and get totally siked for the season. I am not sure yet whether I will even play a single tournament this year.... we will have to wait and see. Also, I play USTA league, which doesn't start until April, but usually there is heavy recruiting going on this time of year. My team, the Alley Cats came in 2nd place last year in the league and we are really gunning to win this year. Let's hope that I will be able to contribute a match or two!!!

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Okay - 10 days after surgery and I was actually doing laundry, making lunch, walking to the mailbox. I am almost back to my normal routine. Walking is getting easier, thank goodness.

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12 days after surgery and I went to the grocery store for a couple of things. This is the first time that I have gone out on my own!!! Walking is routine, and I am so ready to get off the brace.

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Still to come this week is my first physical therapy appointment and going back to the office..... Can I wear high heals with this brace? I'll let you know.

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Okay, high heels are OUT!! They made my calf muscles contract all the time and it just was not comfortable.

On the subject of going back to the office..... I am exhausted. My first day... and when I came home, all I wanted to do was put my leg up with ice and lie down. I am sure it will get easier.

Oh, and the other thing..... the other day when I went to the grocery store on my own.... it was amazing how many people looked at me gimping around, but would not make eye contact, and hurried to get in front of me so that they would not get stuck behind a gimp..... interesting!

Dec 28, 2005 - One week after surgery

It has been a week since the surgery and I am feeling pretty good. I have the shower thing down and I am walking slowly without the crutches in the house. I do use the crutches when we go out. The swelling has gone down and there really is no knee pain and I am off all medication.

Today, we went out for several hours, and I am now tired. My leg tires easily after walking around for a while.

I wanted to kind of sum up what the first week was like and where I ended up one week later:

• If you have this surgery, it is essential to have someone take care of you for the first week. I could not have done it without my husband doing every single thing!
• The second day after the surgery is the worst. Just take the pain medication and hold it together, because it will get better.
• Bruises started to appear a couple of days after surgery and they hurt more than the knee. Don't worry, it is normal and they should be gone in a couple of weeks. One week later, and mine are starting to go away.
• The knee brace is a total pain and it is really hard to sleep on my back with the brace on. I only need to wear it for 2 weeks and I am on my own.
• Doing simple things like going to the bathroom and taking a shower were difficult at first, but have gotten routine again, one week later.
  
• I am not using crutches anymore, but my leg gets tired easily.

In essence, I feel pretty good, and it is amazing that in one week I have come so far and made such big improvements. After that second day, I never thought I would start to improve so quickly.

I have not driven yet, but feel like I am ready to drive. I go back to work and start physical therapy next week.

Dec 27, 2005 - Six days after surgery

I have been improving every day, and yesterday I stopped taking the Alleve. My leg is bruised and my foot will swell up if I am walking too much.

I went for my post-op visit today to get the stitches out. My doctor said that I should try to wean myself from using the crutches because the brace is all I need. I was excited and nervous all at the same time about that. He said that it is more a mental crutch than a physical crutch to use those crutches. Also, he said that the bruising is normal and it will go away. The blood just drains down after surgery and give it a week or so and it will go away. He said that 3 weeks max in the brace. And then I will be able to walk on my own.

I start physical therapy in a week, and he was happy about my progress so far.
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Check out the pictures my doctors gave me from the surgery. These were taken while they were inside my knee!!

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Once I got home from the doctor's office, I started slowly walking without the crutches... it is slow going and will probably take a day or two to feel really comfortable.

Dec 24, 2005 - Three days after surgery

Oh, I feel much better today. I took a shower and it was much easier than the first time. I have the walking with crutches down and am noticing that the leg lifts are getting easier. I almost have full extension on my leg, and can bend it not quite 90 degrees. There is very little pain today but I have continued to take Alleve just in case. The swelling has gone down, and I am feeling really good about it all.

Putting on and taking off the brace every time I walk some place is a pain, but I think that I have it down to a science now. I am using crutches to get around and putting just a little weight on the left leg.

My spirits are good!

Dec 23, 2005 - Two days after surgery

The brace that I have to wear while walking and sleeping is really uncomfortable. This is probably due to the bruising on my knee.

The pain has subsided but I was still swollen when I woke up. I am now only taking Alleve and off the narcotics!

I am back to doing leg lifts, still icing my knee and keeping it elevated.

Today is the day that I can take off the bandages, and take a shower. I cannot stand in the shower, only sit. I am really nervous about this.

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So, I start unwrapping the bandages on my leg, and I have a 6 incisions in my leg. The largest incision is where they took the hamstring graft and is about 2 inches long. All of the others are tiny. Since my leg had been wrapped up for two days it was compressed, yet swollen at the same time. Not a pretty sight!

Okay, now for the shower... so, I am supposed to not put weight on my left leg and somehow get into the shower, and sit down... This was awkward and scary all at the same time, and it took me a long time.... with lots of help from my husband! I don't think that I enjoyed the shower very much. The whole experience was stressful.

All I could think of was, "How am I going to do this every day?"

And that was the end of day two.... the pain had dissipated, but I was still swolen, and I felt like I had hit a milestone with the shower and the bandages.

Dec 22, 2005 - The day after surgery

Okay, so why didn't someone tell me that the next day would be worse than the first day? I did not feel sharp pain, but felt a throbbing pain in my knee that came in waves. This started at about 28 hours after surgery. Also, my leg was more swollen today than it was yesterday.

When the nurse called to check up on me, she confirmed that the second day was going to be worse and the swelling and bruising should start to appear. Indeed she was right! I continued on the pain medication and tried to keep my spirits up. I did less leg lifts today and just vegged on the couch with my leg up and with an ice pack on.

Don't let the second day get you down if you have to go through this.... it will get better from here.

Dec 21, 2005 - Surgery Today!

Surgery.. I've never had surgery before... so it was a little scary.

I went to an outpatient surgery center. The surgery took about an hour and a half, and I was under general anesthesia.

The nurses gave me anti-nausea medicine before I went under general anesthesia, and according to other blogs that I read, that was a good thing. I had no issues with nausea or throwing up!! Yeah.

I came out of the anesthesia about an hour after surgery and felt really good. My leg was wrapped up in an ace bandage and already put in the brace that I was to wear while walking and sleeping to keep my leg stable and straight. It was a little tricky getting into the car with the straight leg, and off we went home.

I did not feel any pain immediately following surgery or even that whole night. The nurses said to take the pain medication to stay ahead of the pain, and that is exactly what I did. So far so good. I am feeling like this is no big deal! I even started doing leg lifts!

Sleeping... hmm... I normally sleep on my side or my stomach... but no such luck with the brace! I slept on my back, kind of immobile. It was not that comfortable, but that is the way it goes!

Dec 5 - Dec 20, 2005 - The days leading up to surgery

My knee was stiff and I was limping. This was not good, considering I had lots of tennis lined up for the next week and was hoping I would be back on the court in a day or two. Deep down, though, I knew this was not good and a big deal.

I made an appointment with my orthopedic right away, and sure enough, the xray showed nothing. He send me to get an MRI and I got in within a couple of days.

A week later, I was back in his office with the results of the MRI. Torn ACL - SURGERY - no tennis for 6 months!

[Okay, don't think about it too much. Just get the surgery and you will have the fastest recovery anyone has ever seen. You are super human and this will not stop you!]

I was like, "Let's do the surgery right away. I need to get back on the court!".

I was able to get right into surgery. Of course, we had tickets to Les Miserables, so it had to be after that! Believe it or not, but everyone in the doctor's office was laughing when I said that. Turns out, we had tickets for Tuesday, Dec 20, 2005. I was able to get scheduled for surgery the next day, Dec 21, 2005. That was great as far as I was concerned. So quick that I did not have too much time to think about the reality of the situation.
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Which graft to choose? My procedure is going to be done arthroscopically, and I had 3 choices for the type of graft they were going to use to replace my ACL. I chose the hamstring graft which was highly recommended by my doctor.

This is an animated video of the 'ACL reconstruction with hamstring' procedure that they are going to perform on my knee. I warn you though, you might not want to watch it before you have surgery. I watched it afterwards!

I found a lot of information at about.com on ACL injuries and the whole process. I found this site really helpful.

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So, back to the office for a couple of days until surgery. Everyone seems to have a story to tell or been through a surgery, so I got a lot of advice. And the funny thing is, I just really did not want to dwell on the reality of the situation, or I might just chicken out of the whole thing and change my competition of choice from tennis to bridge.

Dec 4, 2005 - The day I tore my ACL

So, I was playing doubles on Sunday night. It was a really good doubles game, and we were having great fun. I think that we won the first set, and we were on serve in the second set when it happened. I was serving at deuce. We had quite the point with all kinds of running for lobs and drop shots, etc. I ran down a lob at the back of the court and planted my left foot to hit a backhand... okay, so I should have planted my right foot, but there was no time. Then, for some reason, I planted my left foot again and hit the ball. I immediately felt my leg extend down from my knee as well as up from my knee. I just sat right down. Of course, they continued playing and we won that point!!! I was able to get up, walk around, and then proceeded to serve at Ad-In. We won that game.

Then a couple of points later, I was returning serve, and felt my left knee go out to the left side. That was it. I knew something had happened and I had to stop playing. I don't think that I have ever stopped playing in the middle of a game.

I iced my knee on my drive home, and took some Alleve.