Thursday, March 24, 2011

One Year!!!!

Today is one year from my ACI surgery, and that is a pretty big milestone. I also had an appointment with Dr. Trice today so I have updated guidance. Yay! It's not a total removal of restrictions, but it is progress.

He said I can go without my brace unless I am in a situation where I am walking a lot. That's what I was really hoping for, because it is nice to not have to wear it at work. However, he wants me to wait 3 more months before jogging and 6 more before doing any squats at the gym. He just doesn't think the benefit from squats justifies how hard it is on recovering knees. That's tricky though, because squats are exactly what personal trainers recommend to people who want to strengthen their quads. I guess my trainer will just have to find another way.

There were two other things in the conversation that surprised me. First, when I told Holly (Dr. Trice's surgical nurse) that I had been in contact with another patient who found me through this blog, she said that she also had another one or two who told her that he or she was reading my blog. I have readers! That's pretty shocking. Holly said she was glad because there is only so much detail she can provide on what the surgery and recovery feels like. It's still going to be different for each patient, but I have tried to accurately represent what this one patient felt.

Second, Dr. Trice told me that he specifically remembers me from before the surgery because he could see how much pain I was in. He said he just still remembers my face and how it had "Please just make this stop" written all over it. He's said before that I was worse off than a lot of his patients, but I didn't know how firmly my face had stuck in his mind. I mean, doctors see a lot of patients and I don't think of myself as particularly memorable.

So, here's an update on what I am experiencing.
  1. I am not in pain, but the knee is weak and I still guard it and protect it. I am also still aware of it most of the time. Let me put it this way: a normal person would sometimes stumble or trip and it's not a big deal. I almost never stumble or trip because I am always paying a great deal of attention to my walking. 
  2. Leg extensions (where I am sitting and straighten the leg in front of me) are very difficult. When I do them, the leg shakes and it takes a lot of effort to control it. 
  3. Also, I still have trouble with stairs, particularly going down. 
  4. In general, the knee pops a lot, but it's not catching or locking. It feels like cracking your knuckles or your back. It actually feels good. 
  5. If I get up from sitting for a little while then I limp, but that goes away after walking for a minute or two and especially if I can get the knee to pop. If I am walking for a while, I have almost no limp. 
  6. Some of the nerves are still dead on the outside of my knee so that area is still slightly numb (like if you sit on your hand for too long kind of tingly numb).
    I think that's it for now. I don't have to see Dr. Trice again for 6 months and I will be getting another MRI at that time. I'll continue to update if anything changes, but recovery is slow at this point. Good luck everyone.

    7 comments:

    1. Allison-

      I am one of those people who your blog has really helped. I just had my biopsy to harvest and am waiting for the surgery next month. I had a failed MFX surgery last October, and it was a big help to read about what you went through. I am getting prepared now (even invested in your surgery shorts...nice call)

      Congrats on 1 year out, I will continue to check back and see how you are progressing.

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    2. I had my ACI surgery March 9th, 2011 and have followed this blog for the last 7+ months or so. I also got the surgery shorts and they have helped a ton! It helps because they have wide legs and protects my non surgical leg from getting scratched up from the brace.

      Thanks Allison and good luck everyone!

      -Joy

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    3. I had my ACI on May 4,2011. I have read your whole blog. I am glad that I found it and found all of you recomendations great for post op. I have 4 weeks left on the CPM and am going crazy. I might have more my defect was large 22X10MM :( so the Dr said My recovery will be longer and also because of the location. I am off pain meds as of day 10 post op. I still have pain but nothing I can't handle. I also will not begin physical therapy till after my next apt so maybe 7 weeks post op. Dr is afraid of them messing it up. Thank you for your post and look forward to more updates.

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    4. Hi Allison :)

      In case you are still wondering if your blog is useful.. It really is !!

      I´m having my ACI on 29th on November. I´ve had so much information from your blog! This kind of information you can provide only if you have had personal experience. So, you sharing this with us is invaluable.

      I live in Finland, and we have only few people here who share their information / experiences about their ACI on the internet. Suppose its b/c its quite rare operation in our country (this is a small country!) So it´s great that these kind of blogs can be found trough KneeGuru !

      Hope your recovering goes fine no and in the future, and thank you :)

      Mila

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    5. hey so I've had horrible knees my whole life & so far I've had 4 surgeries (2 on each knee). Since I will be heading off to college next year I want to go ahead and fix the cartilage in my right knee. About half of it is gone. Do you think the surgery that you had could help it? During the last surgery on my right knee they said they took out some of the cartilage to grow it, but it's been almost 2 years and I didn't know if it was possible for them to keep the cartilage that long. Could you give me a time frame of when you were able to walk & things like that?

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    6. Those are awesome signs of progress. Those lessened restrictions must be a great sign of relief, eh? You must have fully recovered by now. Are there any permanent restrictions? I hope you're enjoying life the way as you did before the injury! :)

      Kristal Byrnes

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