Day 25-POST-OP

I saw the surgeon today. He said that my knee is healing very well and that I am making progress. I can't totally straighten my knee yet but he said that will come with time and that I am bending it well. He said no more restrictions on bending my knee and weight bearing as tolerated. He wants me off the crutches and walking with the brace on by my next appointment on May 18th.

DAY 18-POST-OP

 Just left PT. My therapist is just evil! He helped me bend my knee to where the doc wants it and helped me straighten it all the way! It hurt like hell but i know it has to be done!

April 12-DAY 11 POST-OP

So I am doing pretty good. It is the 11th day since my surgery. I am now able to get up and down out of chairs and move around without assistance. I am also going to physical therapy twice a week. Therapy is going slow. My therapist said that I should have better range of motion and more strength in my knee at this point than what I have. So I assume that they will probably start working me harder in therapy. I am still not able to fully extend my knee which my therapist said I should be able to do at this point. My therapist also wants me to do my home exercises more times per a day than I have been doing them. I have onl been doing them 2 times a day(which is what they told me last time in therapy). They want me to do them 5 times a day now.

I will also be going back to school on the 18th so there is less than a week to go

April 10th-Day 9 POST-OP

 I am having trouble with my leg hurting. My knee is hardly bothering me at all. The part that is hurting is the part of the leg between knee and ankle in the front of the leg and it's only on the left side of my leg. Has been hurting there for about 3 days. I'm icing it almost 24/7 and taking pain meds for it. I don't know what else to do for it. Can't even do my PT exercises because it hurts so bad to move my leg.Just been really exhausted since my surgery. Been really tired and sleeping a lot. I get on for a little bit and then back off again. Wishing it would get back to normal. Have PT twice this week and then I can go back to school again next week so maybe I wont be sleeping all of the time then.

April 7th-DAY 6-POST-OP

I slept in my own bed for the first time last night. I was a lot more comfortable and slept much better. Woke up with my knee very stiff this morning. I think that may have been from the PT and the doctor moving it around yesterday. I am starting to develop bruising and soreness down my leg below the knee which I asked the doctor about yesterday(and forgot to mention) and he said it was because of the tunnels that he had to drill into the bone to run the ACL graft through. He said that was perfectly normal.  The thing that is driving me nuts is that the muscles in my lower leg keep twitching and every time they twitch it makes my knee hurt.  I have actually slept most of today in the recliner. I have taken pain pills twice today and they are so strong that they knock me out shortly after I take them.  Hanging in there and making a little bit of progress every day!

April 6th-DAY 5-POST-OP

I had my first post-op appointment with the surgeon this morning. He removed all of the dressings over the insicions and replaced them and now I am to do the dressing changes myself. The stiches stay in until my next follow up appointment  on April 27th. The doc said everything looked good and it is healing well from the looks of it. And there is very little swellling. He wants me to continue to ice and elevate and to work on my PT exercises. And he told me that if I feel up to it I can go back to school on April 18th. I believe I will be ready to go back by then since that is still a week and a half away. My pain is getting better every day so that is awesome. I have only had 6 pain pills all day. 2 when I first woke, 2 before PT, and 2 after my first trip out to Walmart.  The doc was actually kind of surprised at how well I am doing pain wise after the first few days which were the worst for me. He did say that he changed his mind and will have me in physical therapy for 9 to 12 weeks instead of the 6 weeks he had planned on originally because I can not straighten my leg  without my brace on and he said that I should be able to do that. And I can't bend it very much so he said it will take me a while to regain the ability to bend it and straighten it and then learn how to walk normally without the crutches once I am finally allowed to put weight on it. I have already been on the crutches for 2 months and by the time I get off them I will have been on them for 3 1/2 to 4 months. Brace is still locked on 0 degrees extension and was moved to 90 degrees flexion. The doctor wants me to be able to bend my knee to 90 degrees by my next appointment so I will have to work hard in therapy.

Now on to PT: 

PT was just an evaluation today. They have to wait on the insurance to approve the rest of my sessions(they usually approve stuff within 72-96 hours). The therapist gave me exercises to start doing at home. He told me to do them with the brace on and locked when I do my straight leg raises. All of the rest of them I am suppossed to unlock the brace so my knee can bend and do the exercises and then relock the brace. I need to be able to bend my knee to 90 degrees by my next doctor appointment and I could only bend it to 27 degrees. The therapist said that we will be working on restoring my range of motion until the doctor allows me to put weight on my knee. They will also be icing it and doing e-stim treatments at every pt session. After I am allowed to put weight on my leg we will start to wean off the crutches and do stregthening exercises for that leg. 

April 5th-DAY 4 POST-OP

My first post-op appointment witht the surgeon was originally scheduled for the 13th of this month. They called me this morning and said they don't know why the appointment wasn't made for a few days after surgery. They asked me to come in tomorrow morning for a dressing change over my incisions and for the doc to look at it they didnt say anything about removing the stitches yet. I assume they will have to stay in longer since it has only been 4 days since the surgery.They really itch and I have them in about 5 different places on my leg.

Pain is actually doing pretty good for the most part and the new pain med is working without any side effects. I am trying to be sure that I take the meds on a set schedule, because if I miss a dose the pain gets way out of control and its harder to get it calmed down. I am having the most trouble with my knee hurting when I first get up in the morning because it is so stiff. I still have not been able to move around much since I am non weight bearing on that leg, so I am making sure I take my meds everyday that the doc wanted me to take to prevent blood clots. Mom makes me get up and move around even when I don't want to.

 When I see the doctor in the morning I will ask him when I can go back to school because I am so bored just sitting around the house. I am hoping I will only need to stay at home for the rest of this week and for next week before he lets me go back.I won't go back though until he releases me to do so even if I don't agree with his choice.

So first post-op appointment in the morning and first post-op PT session in the afternoon.