ACL Recovery for a 317 Baller: post op day 1

Well, this is the beginning of a long rehab journey. If all goes well, I'll be back to my old self sometime around the middle of September. But anyway, I'm gonna talk about yesterday now and fill you all in on what happened.

Monday, yesterday, is pretty much a big blur in my mind with a couple things that I remember. I got up at 6:45 to shower and get dressed then my mom drove me to the surgery center. My surgery wasn't until 9, but we had to be there at 7:30 to fill out some paperwork and so the nurses could prepare me for surgery. Lydia was also there bright and early with us, which was nice of her :) I was taken back to a room at around 8 for a little pre operation physical exam to make sure I was healthy, put in an IV, and so I could change into the infamous hospital gown. I have never felt more exposed/naked/violated in my life than when I was wearing that stupid gown. Then my mom, dad, grandma, and Lydia came back to hang out before I went into surgery. The doctor came in and prayed with us, which was pretty cool. Next, the anesthesiologist stopped by and talked to us then the nurse came in to walk be back into the OR. The OR is actually a pretty frightening room, with no windows and around 6-7 doctors/nurses with masks on. It's also freezing cold. They put me on a bed and a couple minutes later, the anesthesiologist put some stuff in my IV and I was out before I could even count to 1. Next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room with my family and Lydia there. I think that was around 12:30 pm. But from that point until 8 pm, I don't remember much. The doctor came in at some point to see how I was doing. I asked him what he did exactly and he said he reconstructed my ACL and took out 40% of my lateral meniscus. He also said that my bones are really strong. He had a tough time drilling through my bone to attach the ACL graft. Must be the gallons of milk a drink each week. And according to Lydia and my parents, I said some pretty strange things during this time like:

- "Who's mowing my lawns?"
- (to Lydia) "Did you go to Paris?"
- Me: "Who won the basketball game?"
Dad: "Pacers."
Me: "No, the one I was in. I need to go back and play!"
- "Am I naked? I feel exposed." (I was completely covered when I asked this, but the stupid
gown made me feel naked)
- "Can you scratch my face?" (I have no idea why but my face was super itchy so I would ask my
mom or Lydia to scratch it for me. But I'd just say scratch my face and expect them to know
where to scratch it)

But the weird thing is that I knew what I was asking/saying was nonsense, but to me, it was of the utmost importance that I ask these questions. I absolutely had to know the answer. Also, I almost passed out going to the bathroom the first time. I was standing over the toilet then all of a sudden the room started spinning and the voices seemed a mile away. My dad had to grab me in a bear hug so I wouldn't fall over. Then the nurse was caringly yelling at me to get back in bed. I thought I was moving with my walker but in reality I wasn't moving at all. Eventually I got back in bed with sweat dripping down my face. Aside from these things, all I did was sleep, although that at first was difficult because my knee felt so uncomfortable because my leg was strapped into a CPM machine that slowly bends your knee back and forth, which is crucial for regaining ROM (range of motion). The nurses gave me a shot of something in my arm for the pain and that made me super tired so I was finally able to sleep, which I did until 8 when Lydia came back to visit until 10. Then we just talked and watched HGTV with my mom. After Lydia left, it was bedtime. I slept from 10:30 until 7, with a nurse coming in at 1:30 and 5:30 to give me pain pills. At 7 a nurse came in to change the bandage on my knee and take out this draining tube that was draining blood from my knee. Then we were free to go home.

That's pretty much it for day 1. I'm pleasantly surprised at the lack of pain I have, which is nice. It only hurts when I try to lift my leg up. I also got to take home the CPM machine and an icing contraption for my knee that constantly pumps cold water around my knee. Using the CPM machine, I'm supposed to get to get to 90 degrees of flexion soon, so I want to do it by Friday. I'm starting to eat more, after only having a cup of jello, 2 crackers, and half a turkey sandwich all day yesterday. I feel tired all the time, which is probably due to the drugs. I'll post about today, day 2, tonight sometime. So check back. P.S. just in case some of you are wondering why I write novels when I blog, most of my posts probably won't be this long, but there was a lot to cover from yesterday. Thanks for reading!

Here are some pictures

Knee before surgery (yes my leg is shaved):