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.

March 4th-DAY 3 POST-OP

Today is the third day post-op for me. I left a message on the nurse's answering machine about the pain medication causing me to be itchy. When they called me back it was actually the doctor that called me. I told him about the meds and he is changing me to Lortab 10/500 since I can normally take that without any problems. He told me to continue the Benadryl with every dose of pain medicine and if the itching continues to call back again and he will give me something that doesn't have hydrocodone in it. Pain levels so far today are very low and am able to move around easier than I was. Pain is probably about a 4 today. And I am starting to get bored and ready to go back to school so I know I am on the road to recovery!  

  I finally talked to the doc's office around lunch time So the doc switched me from 1 to 2 Norcos (10/325) every 4 to 6 hours to1-2 Lortabs (10/500) and it has made a huge difference. I am no longer itching all over like I was and am having less nausea and better pain control with the Lortabs. I am very happy with the switch and feel 100% better than I did on the Norcos and glad that I am tolerating it much better. I actually talked to the doctor himself and he said that Norco and Lortab are the same medications but slightly different formulations and some people can tolerate one better than the other.

March 3rd-DAY 2 POST-OP

I actually slept through through the night last night and only woke up to take my scheduled pain meds so the pain wouldn't creep up with a vengance. i am still nauseated though and the Phenergan does not seem to be helping that. I beleive the nausea is probably being caused by the pain meds since they are so strong. If the nausea is not better by in the morning, I will be calling the surgeon to see if he will raise the dose on the Phenergan(only taking the 25 mg tab) and/or change the pain meds to something not as strong the Norco.  I have moved closer to real food though. I had some oatmeal this morning with a bananna and i feel a little queasy but it's not anything I can't handle. I am staying well hydrated and drinking lots of Gatorade and water. I am continuing to ice my knee mainly on the back of the knee. The dressing over the knee is so thick that I can't feel the ice on the front side. There are stitches on the back of my knee over to the side so the ice feels really good on it. The stitches are driving me nuts though beasue they are itching and obviously i can't scratch them. My whole leg is still swollen but not like it was. Pain level is probably about a 5 out of 10. My stomach muscles have been strained by putting all of my weight on the one side since I am not putting weight at on that leg, I feel much better than I did yesterday.

April 2nd-Day 1 POST-OP

I am still in a lot of pain but the meds are helping now.I am still taking Phenergan because I am still nauseated and sticking with clear liquids until the nausea goes away. i have been able to get my pain under control and am continuing to take the pain meds on a strict schedule. I think i have strained my stomach muscles though because they are very sore. I am using the mucsles more since I cant put any weight on my leg. I called the doctor on call for my surgeon to the doc on call and he told me to take 2 benadryl 30 minutes before the pain pills. He said that the Benadryl will make the pain meds and Phenergan work better since my doctor doesnt want me to have anything stronger. if cant get the pain under control that I am to go to the er and get a pain shot. He also had me loosen the ace wrap underneath my brace to relieve some of the pressure from the swelling. So post op meds are a 10 milligram Flexeril every 8 hours, Norco  10/325-every 4 to 6 hours, Benadryl 50 milligrams every 4 to 6 hours, Phenergan 25 milligrams every 6 hours and Ibuprofen  800 milligrams in between doses of Norco and the other meds. Pain was probably an 8 on a 1 to 10 scale all day yesterday

April 1st-Day of surgery

I am home from the hospital. Surgery went well. They did a femoral nerve block right before surgery to help control my post operative pain levels. The damage to my knee was worse than the MRI showed. He did a meniscectomy on the medial meniscus and sutured the lateral meniscus back together. He also did the scheduled ACL reconstruction. I am in a brace from thigh to foot locked in full extension. No weight bearing for 4 weeks and on crutches. i start PT on April 6th w/ my first post-op appointment and dressing change on April 13th. I have at the minimum 6 weeks of PT with 2 to 3 sessions per a week. He gave me really strong pain meds with instructions to take 2 every 4 to 6 hours and 800 milligrams of ibuprofen in between the pain meds and muscle relaxers every 8 hours. Icing for 20 minutes every 4 hours. I also have to take a daily aspirin for 6 weeks to prevent blood clots. I am in a lot of pain even with the Norco, Flexeri, ibuprofen, nerve block and the icing. 

March 31st

Surgery in the morning. I am very nervous and anxious. Can't wait to have it over with. Surgery has been moved up an hour

March 23rd

So I have been going to physical therapy and today was my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. My surgery is scheduled for April 1st. It will be an outpatient surgery and will be having an ACL reconstruction done.

March 8th

Therapy was today. It was hard and very painful but I made it through it. They made me work on bending it since I am unable to do it. It doesn't feel as stiff now

March 2nd

MRI results are in and saw orthopedic surgeon. Here are the results: He told me that I tore my ACL and the medial meniscus as suspected. I completely tore my ACL and there is a really severe bone bruise too. Treatment will be 3 weeks of PT to regain some range of motion and then he wants to schedule me for surgery. My next appointment is after the therapy is done on March 23rd to discuss the surgery.

February 25th

MRI is today.

February 23rd

First physical therapy appointment was today. It was rough. It was just an evaluation. Waiting on insurance to approve the rest of the visits

February 16th

My appointment with the orthopedic surgeon was today.Well I am home from the surgeon with not so great news. He told me that I tore my ACL and the Medial meniscus. He said that I will need surgery, but he wants me to go to some physical therapy first to regain some range of motion since I can't move it at all. I am scheduled for 8 sessions. He said once the PT is done that some of the range of motion should be restored then I can have the surgery. He said that it will be easier recovering from the surgery if I have some range of motion in my knee already. They are scheduling an MRI to determine the extent of the damage.

February 14th

I saw my primary doctor today and he thinks that I tore my ACL. My doctor wanted me to get in with an orthopedic surgeon as soon as possible. He said they were going to try to get me an appointment with this week. I can not walk and my knee keeps buckling.

February 13th

Well I spent all day in the ER because my knee was getting a lot worse. They put me in a knee immoblizer that goes from my thigh to my foot with instructions of no weight bearing and icing and keeping it elevated. Feels much better now. Can't move it at all. And my knee is not buckling with every step I take since I can't bend it. Will see my primary doctor tomorrow for the referral to the orthopedic doctor

February 9th

I called the orthopedic clinic and they would not see me without a referral from my primary doctor even though I had one from the ER.  I made an appointment with my primary doctor. He was out of town so I made an appointment for the 14th.

February 8th

I fell this morning at school. When I fell I knew that I had done some damage because I could not get up off the ground. When I feel I felt extreme pain and felt and heard a popping in my right knee. I could not walk so 3 people helped me to the car. Once I got to the car my knee popped again as I was getting in. I went straight to the Emergency Room. Once in the Emergency Room I had x-rays taken of my knee. The x-rays did not show any damage to any of the bones. My knee was wrapped in an ace bandage and I was given a prescription for pain medication and a referral to an orthopedic clinic.

About this blog

My name is Mary and I'm 26 years old. This blog is about my ACL  Reconstruction and Mensiscus Repair that I had done on my right knee on April 1, 2011. I published all of this on Facebook originally and thought I would put it all in a blog online so that it might help someone else. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to comment on here or send me an email at marymarler@hotmail.com