So yes, it has been 31 days since my ACL decided to give me the big middle finger and rupture. I have faithfully been following my rehab/pre-hab schedule. Which is basically doing some leg exercises with e-stim so that my knee is as strong as possible going into surgery.
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| Typical night at my house. Charlotte playing Wii, and me on the e-stim. |
Here's what happened at my last doctor appointment……I got lectured for not bringing my doc a coffee. Good lord. Then he got down to the business of examining my knee. The big questions were: how stable is my knee? And, how's my MCL doing? Is there a tear?
The big answers: The knee is moderately unstable. Which means that if I didn't have it repaired I could swim and bike and be really very happy. Running would be a big question mark. I certainly couldn't run trails which is about all I usually run on. So that seems like it would be a problem. And the MCL? Well, it is FINE!!!! Thank goodness for a little piece of good news.
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| Swelling as of a week ago. |
I had already decided that the ACL needed to be reconstructed. My life is far too active at this point. And honestly, I cannot miss another season of skiing with my daughters. I don't know how much longer they will want to ski with me and I want to be hanging out with them on the slopes as long as possible. So even if my knee was stable, I had decided to have the surgery. Skiing is my first love. I grew up skiing. I never moved away from Colorado because of skiing. I went to college in Boulder because I would be close to skiing. Triathlon is my second sporting love. And I do want to keep training and competing. So not being able to run is not an option.
Then the decision of an auto-graft or an allo-graft. I had been told that because of my age (damn that sounds old), I wouldn't have an option. I would get a cadaver tendon (allo I think). Which would possibly mean an easier recovery (or less painful). But my doc and I discussed it and since I am actually more active now than I was 5-10 years ago, it would be best to use my own tendon. So he'll be taking part of the patellar tendon. Apparently this involves cutting and drilling bone and all sorts of things I'm not sure I want to know about. But, because the tendon and bone is my very own, my body should be able to assimilate easier/faster than a cadaver.
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| My favorite re-hab buddy. |
1 week. Yikes. Recovery begins Feb. 7 and is a long slow process. The first 4-6 weeks are the most important as that's when the new tendon is being integrated into my knee. And though I may be lacking in patience I do actually follow instructions very well. Sometimes. I will listen to my doctor. I will listen to my physical therapist. I won't push my recovery. I'll do what they say and no more (and certainly no less).
#strongerthanbefore
And Go Broncos!
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