Week One and Two Post Right ACL Reconstruction

I'm a little behind again, so I'm going to break this post into two parts.

Week One Followup:

Just like the followup from the first surgery, the one week appointment was getting my list of PT (same as before – mini-squats, heel raises, 10 minute extensions, straight leg raise, one leg balance, and biking 10-15 minutes with no resistance, all 2-3 times a day), turning in my CPM (thank goodness – I'd be happy to never see one of those ever again), and having my dressings changed (I was very thankful for that too, since they were disgusting this go around).  Here, have a lovely picture of what the insides of my dressings looked like after they pulled them off.  Mmm, dried blood.  It was like an enormous scab.

The guy who changed them didn't clean my leg off, though.  Just slapped some steristrips down and gave me my little compression dressing.  So I had the privilege of being crusty until I got home from work.  Ew.

I tried to make it through the entire day in the office (last time I only worked a half day, then went home, but that was mostly because I'd forgotten my work computer at home, so I just went to a couple meetings, then worked the rest of the day from my couch).  I managed to tough it out until four, then I couldn't take it anymore and went home for some narcotics and time in my cryocuff.

I did get a shower once I'd gotten home and sat for a while, though, which was glorious.  The first shower after having the dressings changed is awesome because you don't have to hassle with the stupid Saran wrap anymore.  Plus it meant I could finally clean off the remaining dried blood and gunk.

Again, I had the totally awesome fishing wire stitches.  That stuff is so cool.  When Erica takes them out (as she did today), she just pulls the bottom string and they all come out at once in about half a second with zero pain.  So neat.

The bruising was about the same as what I had on the left side, and the past week it's been itchy and annoying as it's healing. It's mostly faded in the middle and is just still dark around the edges. Unfortunately, some of the darker bruising that's lingering is on the back of my knee/upper calf, which makes my leg ache when I stand for too long.

I did range of motion tests last Monday and came in at 136º on the left (which is about 6º short of "back to normal") and 117º on the right.

Week Two Followup:

I went in this morning for my second post-op appointment and got my PT bumped up again (same as the last time – leg press, hamstring curls, one and two leg squats, heel raises, skaters, standing hip abduction, gradually work up to 45 minutes biking or stair stepper). This means I can go back to the gym this week, woohoo! I'll be back down on weights again (was at 155 lbs double leg press and 75 lbs single leg, and 70 lbs double hamstring curl, 35 lbs single leg), but I get to EXERCISE. The hardest part is going to be working back up to 45 minutes on the bike, since I have to start at 5 minutes per session (OMG want 45 minutes NOW). If I go every day this week, I will be at 45 next Monday. I can't wait (I have a thing where plan it out so I get to the bike at 6:00PM so I can watch AC360º while I'm biking).

Range of motion today: 136º left (unchanged from the last visit, but I haven't been doing extensive PT on that side) and 125º right (not bad!).

They also shot x-rays again today, which I always enjoy (no really! I like looking at them!). I saw Dr. Trumper and he said that my knees were "freakishly symmetrical", and that usually they didn't come out quite so identical after double ACL reconstruction. I'm hoping my scars are equally symmetrical, because I'm OCD like that. Everything is aligned properly, and Dr. Trumper says I'm doing great.  :)

Additionally, he says I can get back in the pool in two weeks instead of three!!!!1 My incisions need to be completely healed (scars not scabs), but WOO FREAKING HOO! I'm still not sure I can swim at State (I'd have three weeks to train before the meet), but getting back in a week early is still fantastic, awesome news!

Anyway, here is the obligatory shot of the x-rays on the screens in the consulting room. My right knee is always labeled with an R tile, and left with an L (naturally).

Here's a better look at both knees together, front on.  Please excuse the crappiness of the photo demarkation, my software at work is pretty lame (yay freeware?). ANYWAY, these are my knees! This x-ray was taken with my knees bent at about 30º with my knee caps against the machine. The orientation is as if I'm facing the reader, so my right knee is on the left, and my left is on the right (yay confusion!).

Anyway, the blue circles are around the titanium pins that are holding the grafts in place through my femurs.  You can't see the plastic buttons that hold the other end through my tibias in the x-ray, but you can see the holes they drilled in there; those are circled in red.  The one on the right (my left leg) is harder to see because it's more healed.

That's about all I've got, I guess.  My next appointment is at five weeks (three weeks from now), and then ten (I never did ten on my left ACL because I had surgery again at week eight).  From here on out all my followups will be based on my right knee, with the caveat that my left is two months ahead in recovery.  Erica says I'll be getting strength tests in three weeks again. It will be interesting to see if my left leg has gained or lost any from my last five week test, since I've had two weeks of relative inactivity in the middle of my PT on the left side.