Surgery here I come…
Check in with Surgeon (Mon, Apr 4th)
On April 4th we went back to talk with the surgeon again. He said that my progress was looking good enough to schedule surgery! I’d have to wait for 3 more weeks though, which he said I’d need to get the swelling down more and to regain more strength. After that, we talked about which sort of graft I would get. I asked a lot of questions about the relative advantages of the three types; what pain I could expect, what concerns and what outcomes I could look forward to. Between us we decided that the hamstring autograft was the right choice for me. Then Kammy and I went out to the desk and scheduled over a dozen appointments for me: Rehab 2x weekly for a month, Surgery day plus 2 day, 1 week and 6 week follow up with the Surgeon. I also called my GP to schedule a required pre-surgery physical.
That was it…in 3 weeks I’d be having my first ever surgery.
Rest of Prehab
The rest of my prehab went pretty much according to schedule. By surgery day I could walk up and down stairs without using the handrail, swelling was still there a bit but you could clearly see my kneecap, range of motion was very good (nearly full extension and 90+percent of flexion).
Pre-Op Physical
The pre-op physical was mostly a non-event. It was more of a survey/questionnaire than anything else. Basically, my Doctor looked for anything that could complicate the surgery. He asked about family history with anesthesia, checked blood pressure, discussed meds I was to avoid during this week preceding surgery; no aspirin, ibuprofen etc. that could thin my blood. I hadn’t been in to my regular doctor since before the injury so it was also a chance to catch up with him…we joked about me out skiing with a bunch of young guys though I never think of it that way until someone brings it up. Basically he gave me the two-thumbs-up to go have surgery.
Surgery eve (Mon, Apr. 25th
On surgery-eve Kammy and I went to see Jonathon Coulton with Paul & Storm. If you’ve never heard of/seen them, check them out! They’re comedian/musicians and sure put on an entertaining show. It was nice to be doing something to keep my mind off of the fact that I had surgery in the AM and couldn’t eat or drink anything. Starting at bedtime even water was off limits. We got to bed later than I’d have preferred, there’ll only be 4 or 5 hours of sleep before surgery wake up call. Still, I’m nervous and find it hard to sleep.
Posted by Greg on June 15th, 2011 :: Filed under ACL Files
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June 15th, 2011
I really like reading these stories, Greg. I have a lot of sympathy for what you went through, since I went through something similar. In a way, it was kind of an adventure, wasn’t it?