ACL Surgery tomorrow... How bad is this gonna suck?

[phreeloader 0]

The thread title says it all. I destroyed my ACL when I wrecked my motorcycle a month ago. I haven't been able to walk without crutches since, So tomorrow they're building me a new one.

I know a bunch of you guys have been thru this before, so on a scale of 1-10 how bad is this gonna suck?

[Zep 0]

ALC on a scale of 1-10 it's a 50 On the other hand my multiple DVT's are only a 5

Gone fishing

[turtlespeed 226]

phreeloader

The thread title says it all. I destroyed my ACL when I wrecked my motorcycle a month ago. I haven't been able to walk without crutches since, So tomorrow they're building me a new one.

I know a bunch of you guys have been thru this before, so on a scale of 1-10 how bad is this gonna suck?

It won't be bad at all.
I won't feel a thing.

I have been told that . . . The first three days are really not all that bad, but the end of the first week is the worst. (at least you don't directly remember pain.
) Then its ok again . . . until the evil bastard they give you for rehab shows up.

You'll be ok.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[ryoder 1,590]

You might send a PM to eeneR.
She had it done after a skiing injury.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[rwieder 0]

Your in for some phys-rehab you won't begin to believe. When they did mine, they told me I would be able to walk out...LIARS! I was 6 months coming back from that surgery. They repaired my cartilage as well. The surgeon that performed my surgery was a born again christian (N joke) and he refused to prescribe any pain meds. Absolutely couldn't believe it. I wish you all the best.

Richard

[GooniesKid 0]

phreeloader

The thread title says it all. I destroyed my ACL when I wrecked my motorcycle a month ago. I haven't been able to walk without crutches since, So tomorrow they're building me a new one.

I know a bunch of you guys have been thru this before, so on a scale of 1-10 how bad is this gonna suck?

Dat sucks bro.

FYI: You'll have to get current again if your recovery time is at LEAST 6 months.
I'll keep in contact and post videos of my adventures for ya.

Take it easy

[skymama 37]

Quote

I have been told that . . . The first three days are really not all that bad, but the end of the first week is the worst. (at least you don't directly remember pain.

I've hurt myself so many times, I feel like I'm an expert on this. You are right! Getting hurt or having surgery isn't that bad, it's the 6 weeks of recovery time that sucks!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[oldwomanc6 60]

Good vibes for you, tomorrow!

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[turtlespeed 226]

skymama

Quote

I have been told that . . . The first three days are really not all that bad, but the end of the first week is the worst. (at least you don't directly remember pain.

I've hurt myself so many times, I feel like I'm an expert on this. You are right! Getting hurt or having surgery isn't that bad, it's the 6 weeks of recovery time that sucks!

It was you that I heard it from.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[wildcard451 0]

rwieder

Your in for some phys-rehab you won't begin to believe. When they did mine, they told me I would be able to walk out...LIARS! I was 6 months coming back from that surgery. They repaired my cartilage as well. The surgeon that performed my surgery was a born again christian (N joke) and he refused to prescribe any pain meds. Absolutely couldn't believe it. I wish you all the best.

Richard

Turn his ass into the State Medical Board. That is fucking ridiculous.

[phreeloader 0]

Thanks for the vibes

[DSE 5]

You doing hamstring or cadaver?
Done both allograft and hamstring. Allograft is easier.
First week is hell; be sure they give you an ice pump.
Outside of that, don't slack on the PT and the pain is minimal.
Pain scales are relative. Before my fragmented pelvis and CRPS, my knee was a 9. Now...the knee is maybe a 5.

[swisschris62 0]

I had the acl repaired years ago...it was anything but pleasant. Giving PT your all and letting your physical terrorist do what he has to do is key to regaining full range of motion and overall success.
In April of this year I had a total knee replacement done on the same leg, it made the acl repair seem like a walk in the park. The surgery went well but I'm still having alot of nerve pain which is quite painful and runs down my leg into my foot. So far no one has been able to give me any answers regarding this and I'm hoping it will eventually go away when the nerve heals itself.
Good luck tomorrow/today....

[SStewart 13]

phreeloader

The thread title says it all. I destroyed my ACL when I wrecked my motorcycle a month ago. I haven't been able to walk without crutches since, So tomorrow they're building me a new one.

I know a bunch of you guys have been thru this before, so on a scale of 1-10 how bad is this gonna suck?

In Jan 2012 I had a wreck working at Snowbasin Utah and I suffered a tibial platueu fracture and a torn ACL. After the initial trauma and recovery I still managed to make almost 400 jumps in 2012 (with no ACL) After all the hardware removal I had a hamstring ACL graft done 6 months ago. I did not start jumping until may but I have made almost 200 this summer. So far so good.

I am more concerned with skiing than skydiving. Skydiving is easy.

Onward and Upward!

[nigel99 568]

rwieder

Your in for some phys-rehab you won't begin to believe. When they did mine, they told me I would be able to walk out...LIARS! I was 6 months coming back from that surgery. They repaired my cartilage as well. The surgeon that performed my surgery was a born again christian (N joke) and he refused to prescribe any pain meds. Absolutely couldn't believe it. I wish you all the best.

Richard

Wife goes in for reconstructive ACL surgery in about 6 weeks, and has been told to expect 12 months till full recovery - 3 weeks off work.

In the UK she had it partially repaired using keyhole surgery and that was pretty quick to recover.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[Nataly 38]

I know nothing about it, but am sending you good vibes for tomorrow.

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[fpritchett64 0]

Nothing to do with the legs but I had my rotator cuff and a slap tear repaired with an A/C resection in April. The doc initially told me 6 months before I could put the uniform on and go back on the road. He released me back to regular duty about 2 weeks ago (3 months early) with a little persuasion. I have full range of movement back in my healing shoulder and have more range of movement in some areas than I do in my "good" shoulder.

The first six weeks were definitely the worst. Trying to sleep was a bitch I managed to kick the pain meds at around week 5 and just take over the counter stuff now for any phantom pain. Although I haven't taken anything at all for pain in about a month now.

It's still a long process but I'm sure the physical therapy sessions have really helped that process move along quicker.

I plan to give things a few more months to be on the safe side and to finish up some financial hurdles and I'll be back in the air. It's been a few years and I miss it terribly.

Your doctor may tell you like mine told me. For the first 3 months post op, you're gonna hate me. After that, you'll start realizing how all this works.

Good luck with it all.

[rwieder 0]

Quote

Turn his ass into the State Medical Board. That is fucking ridiculous.

Yeah, well that was back in 1998, so I doubt I could do anything to him now. Initially it was just supposed to be a simple cartilage repair. But when they got inside AFTER I was good and under, the cartilage was worse than the MRI showed up, at least that's what I was told. So they took a graft off of my ACL to repair my miniscus. They didn't wake me up to get my permission to do it, HAH! Needless to say when I woke up I was in a world of pain, and no pain killers. They sent me to re-hab and assigned me a device that I had to sleep with, It strapped on beneath your knee, and above your knee, and was hinged in the middle. This "Contraption" was a medieval device. It kept my knee flexing the entire time I wore it. It would stretch your knee/leg out, and then pull on it a bit each time. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep during this process. I didn't get to walk out of surgery like he said I would (His name Is Dr. (Quack) Sandy Boehm) and it was a 6 month process....without pain killers. When I asked him for some pain killers, he advised he was a Born-Again-Christian and didn't prescribe them, I couldn't friggin' believe it. NEVER AGAIN. I finilalized the phys-rehab myself as I have always worked out and have several universal gyms, and free weights. That was the easiest, and cheapest part.

Best-
Richard

[phreeloader 0]

DSE

You doing hamstring or cadaver?
Done both allograft and hamstring. Allograft is easier..

I'm going cadaver so hopefully it won't be so bad. Thanks for the info!

And thanks again for the well wishes guys, I'm about to head out and get this thing done. I'll try and follow up with a drug fueled post this evening to let ya know how it went!

[rehmwa 2]

Good luck - everyone is different. I've had both knees take new ACLs. The cadaver graft is much easier. (My first was a patellar BTB graft, 2nd was cadaver).


One general rule - the better fitness you have going in, the easier the recovery will be. Don't slack on the PT, hit it hard.

the post surgery pain period can be a few days to a few weeks - again, depends on your tolerance and overall heath too.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[phreeloader 0]

All in all it sucked a lot less than i thought it was gonna!

I declined getting a nerve block because i was afraid a completely dead leg would make it extremely hard to get from my car to my bed when I got home (i live on a small farm, not the smoothest terrain in the world to navigate.. and since i declined the nerve block they really took care of me before I left... all in all i got a cocktail of Demerol, Fentanyl, & Dilaudid before they turned me loose so i was feeling pretty good.

With that said, all those wonderful drugs are starting to wear off and now I'm relying on a cryo-cuff ice pack and some percocet now.. so i'm not out of the woods yet

[oldwomanc6 60]

I'm hoping all went well, and you are being kept as comfortable as possible!

Here's to a speedy and complete recovery:







eta: You posted one minute before me, glad to hear it doesn't suck too bad, yet.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[oldwomanc6 60]

How's it going, now you're a few days into it?

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[phreeloader 0]

oldwomanc6

How's it going, now you're a few days into it?

Well.. remember how I said it sucked a lot less than i thought it was gonna .. i take that back, day 1 really wasn't that bad, all the hospital drugs made it go by fast and hazy... the next couple of days were really bad. I keep running into this cycle where percocet can't keep up with the pain, but if i take more percocet i'm gonna get sick... I knew this was gonna suck, but i underestimated the suckiness!

with all that complaining today does seem to be an improvement, i've taken less drugs and seem to be in less pain, but i'm still in no shape to rejoin the world just yet

[swisschris62 0]

See if you can get your doc to write you something other than percs if they are bothering your stomach. Percs have alot of acetominophen which can be pretty hard on you. If you can get him to change it to an OxyContin you would be eliminating the acetominophen and might even be better for pain.
Strictly talking from experience here after numerous knee surgeries over the years and recently had a total done on the right leg. The reason for my knee problems was being crushed between a car and truck as a pedestrian. My legs took most of the injury.