I used my hamstring to replace my completely torn ACL on July 1, 2009. I am not sure exactly what Dr Robert Jackson did differently but he told me that it was a new technique that I was going to love. This was my experience: Surgery on Wednesday July 1st. On Friday July 3rd, I went to rehab. I took my first and last pain pill before I showed up because I heard it could get pretty crazy in there.
I told the Rehab guy that was my first pain pill and he told me that I would really regret it if I didn't stay on top of the pills. I usually listen to people but I didn't have any pain so I decided that I would wait until the pain kicked in before I took the next pill. I never experienced any pain so I never took any more pills. My knee throbbed when I was on it too long but I wouldn't consider that very painful. I took ibuprofen, iced and elevated my knee VERY often to keep the swelling down.
The first visit to rehab on that Friday the 3rd I had around a 95 degree bend. On the 13th I had a 140 degree bend and then on the 20th I reached my goal of 150 degrees which is exactly the same as my good knee. The rehab team was very impressed with how fast I had come around. They actually went and talked to Dr Robert Jackson to see what it was that they did differently in my ACL surgery because the results were so awesome.
Dr Robert Jackson said that he used my hamstring and did some sort of bundle which is very common now. The main difference in my surgery had something to do with the angle in which he fastened the new ACL graft.
Anyway, I took pictures almost every other day from my surgery until I was released from rehab 3 weeks later. I also kept a little bit of a journal on what went on each of those first days:
Sunday, July 26, 2009
June 31st
The hospital called. They were suppose to call and tell me a time for the surgery but all they did was tell me to call them back at 10:00 am the next day to get a time for the surgery.
July 1st
I called the hospital and they asked me if I could come in at 11am. I was very excited and told them that I would be there. They called back when I was in the shower and told me that they would not be ready for the surgery until 1pm. I had my friend drop me off at the hospital at 1pm and checked in. They put me in a room where I changed into their robes and a guy came in and shaved my leg.
They had me write yes on the leg where my surgery was going to take place. My Mom showed up around 2pm and waited until they took me away at around 3pm for the surgery. Dr Robert Jackson came in the room with a big smile and checked my leg again and then initialed it next to the Yes that I had written on the leg. Next the anesthesiologist came in and told me the different options that I had. I told him to just do whatever he thought was best.
Next thing I know he is injecting some sort of red colored liquid into the IV in my arm. He said, hmm I think I'll do two of these and that is the last thing I remember. I started coming to in some sort of recovery room. I wanted them to know that I was coming around so I thought it was a good idea to start whistling and taping my chest. I think it would be a pretty cool job to be there watching all the dumb things people do when they are waking up. It was probably around 5:30 when they wheeled me into my new room where my mom was. The nurse brought me some food which I was glad to eat because I hadn’t eaten since around 11 pm the night before. I felt nauseous eating so I took my time with the pudding.
Dr Robert Jackson came in and told me that the ACL surgery was a complete success. He told my mom to keep my knee iced and elevated and to get some ibuprofen along with the other pain killers that he prescribed (oxycodone). We left the hospital and headed to Harriman UT where my parents live. We stopped by a wedding reception on the way there but I stayed in the car while my mom said hi to some relatives. We made one more stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some pills and then headed home. I slept pretty well that night.
They had me write yes on the leg where my surgery was going to take place. My Mom showed up around 2pm and waited until they took me away at around 3pm for the surgery. Dr Robert Jackson came in the room with a big smile and checked my leg again and then initialed it next to the Yes that I had written on the leg. Next the anesthesiologist came in and told me the different options that I had. I told him to just do whatever he thought was best.
Next thing I know he is injecting some sort of red colored liquid into the IV in my arm. He said, hmm I think I'll do two of these and that is the last thing I remember. I started coming to in some sort of recovery room. I wanted them to know that I was coming around so I thought it was a good idea to start whistling and taping my chest. I think it would be a pretty cool job to be there watching all the dumb things people do when they are waking up. It was probably around 5:30 when they wheeled me into my new room where my mom was. The nurse brought me some food which I was glad to eat because I hadn’t eaten since around 11 pm the night before. I felt nauseous eating so I took my time with the pudding.
Dr Robert Jackson came in and told me that the ACL surgery was a complete success. He told my mom to keep my knee iced and elevated and to get some ibuprofen along with the other pain killers that he prescribed (oxycodone). We left the hospital and headed to Harriman UT where my parents live. We stopped by a wedding reception on the way there but I stayed in the car while my mom said hi to some relatives. We made one more stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some pills and then headed home. I slept pretty well that night.
July 2nd
The anesthesiologist placed a hip blocker that stopped all the pain from my leg. I started to regain feeling in the leg and around 3pm I could tell that the hip blocker was pretty much all gone. I wasn’t sure what was going on but I still didn’t have any pain in my knee. I could wiggle my foot just fine and felt like the leg could probably support my whole weight. I didn’t’ want to push it so I stayed off it and kept it elevated the whole day. My mom brought me around 6 meals and kept ice in the little cold water circulator cooler (not sure what its real name is) . I only got out of bed to use the bathroom which I had to do often.
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July 3rd
I took my first pain pill around 6am then I went to rehab around 8am. They took off the brace for the first time and got rid of the gauze. They told me I looked pretty good as far as the swelling goes. They started to have me tighten my quad and try to push my knee to the bench I sat on. I did two sets of 20. They then had me do strait leg lifts. These were difficult. I felt like I was missing a lot of muscle in the joint area and found it was tough to keep my leg strait while I lifted it.
Next they had me bend my knee. They placed a board with a towel on it and had me use some webbing to start moving my knee back and forth to work on the flexibility. This wasn't fun but it got easier as my joint warmed up. Next they had me get up and take a few steps with the crutches. They wanted me to step with my bad leg and the crutches at the same time. I felt like after two or three steps I might be able to drop the crutches but they told me that my knee could buckle at any time and that they wanted me to keep the crutches there just in case. We walked over to a squat machine.
This machine positioned me on my back and I didn't use any resistance other than my body weight. I did this for around 5 minutes. I felt really good like I could do a lot more. They then moved me to another one legged squat machine that had some sort of rubber bands set up as resistance. I did 2 sets of 15 on this with one leg. They were all really impressed with where I was and decided to have me walk on the treadmill for around 5 minutes. I did that without any problems so they tried to have me walk backwards for a couple minutes which I was also able to do. I felt something being stretched on the inside of me knee. Overall it was a very productive first day at rehab.
When I got home I found that my knee was starting to stiffen up. I went back to my room and laid in bed with my foot elevated for the rest of the day. I would get up to use the bathroom but that was about it. My leg was very sore around the joint the rest of the day. I iced and elevated for the rest of the day. I had around an95 degree bend
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Next they had me bend my knee. They placed a board with a towel on it and had me use some webbing to start moving my knee back and forth to work on the flexibility. This wasn't fun but it got easier as my joint warmed up. Next they had me get up and take a few steps with the crutches. They wanted me to step with my bad leg and the crutches at the same time. I felt like after two or three steps I might be able to drop the crutches but they told me that my knee could buckle at any time and that they wanted me to keep the crutches there just in case. We walked over to a squat machine.
This machine positioned me on my back and I didn't use any resistance other than my body weight. I did this for around 5 minutes. I felt really good like I could do a lot more. They then moved me to another one legged squat machine that had some sort of rubber bands set up as resistance. I did 2 sets of 15 on this with one leg. They were all really impressed with where I was and decided to have me walk on the treadmill for around 5 minutes. I did that without any problems so they tried to have me walk backwards for a couple minutes which I was also able to do. I felt something being stretched on the inside of me knee. Overall it was a very productive first day at rehab.
When I got home I found that my knee was starting to stiffen up. I went back to my room and laid in bed with my foot elevated for the rest of the day. I would get up to use the bathroom but that was about it. My leg was very sore around the joint the rest of the day. I iced and elevated for the rest of the day. I had around an95 degree bend
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July 4th
My knee joint is feeling a lot better. Yesterday I could hardly move it onto the pillows myself but today I feel like I can get in and out of bed without too much trouble. I am going to a family picnic at noon. I realize this probably isn’t the smartest thing to do but it’s the 4th of July.
July 5th
I had my friend drop me off at my house on his way to church. I couldn't fit my church clothes over my strait leg brace so I decided to skip and just drive up to SLC. (I iced and elevated before I left). In order to drive I took of the brace and drove the 45 minutes to my parent’s house with my left foot. I feel like I was pretty good driving with my left foot. It was nice to get back to my mom's cooking and pampering.
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