Last Friday—after an almost three-year wait—I finally had ACL reconstruction surgery on my right knee. It was badly damaged in what I can best describe as a fluke altercation. Now, stuck in recovery for the foreseeable future, I figured there’s no better time to document the experience.
The Meniscus – The Knee’s Shock Absorber
The meniscus is often overlooked but is just as crucial for knee function. Each knee has two menisci (medial and lateral), which act as shock absorbers, distributing weight across the knee joint and preventing excessive stress on the cartilage.
Without a functioning meniscus, movement can become painful, and the risk of arthritis increases significantly. In my case, part of my meniscus was too damaged to save, so a portion had to be removed (meniscectomy), while another part was reconstructed.
The Operating Room
As I entered the operating room, despite having met just about everyone who was in there, I was surprised to see the room filled with so many people. They were all prepping and energetic music was playing in the background. I can’t remember what music exactly, but for some reason I was just really surprised. It must be part of their ‘pre-surgery’ routine. And I guess if I was one of them, I wouldn’t want it any different.
I got up on the table and laid down. The image above is not unlike what I saw (music playing in the background of course). I was oddly at ease. I did ask the anesthesiologists student helper what they would be using to knock me out. She responded with propofol. After testing the IV, she gave me the heads up that they would start administering it. I began to feel an intensely strong bodyload within a few seconds. My vision started getting a bit fuzzy, and a familiar visual paradoxical effect set in not unlike that when compared to other dissassociative anesthetics. It is best described by the movement of objects towards or away from one another without any relative movement actually happening. eg. A dot on the wall moving towards the edge, but not actually getting any closer to the edge.
Visual distortion became apparent too. In my case, none of this worried or scared me, but even if it had those feelings would have only lasted a few seconds before I was totally knocked out and waking up after the surgery was complete.
The Road to Recovery
The First Few Days
It’s a long one.. The first three days following surgery I was taking 2mg hydromorphone IR tablets once every three to four hours. The pain was fairly bad. I was unable to support any weight on my right leg, small movements radiated pain from the inside of my knee both down and up my leg. My kneecap felt like it was popping out and resting my leg straight felt as though it was over extended to a painful position. Icing it along with medication really helped.
Simple things like getting in and out of bed, going to the washroom, getting up and down stairs, washing myself, or even just getting comfortable took some trial and error. I managed to figure ways to assist myself in doing these things when I was alone. With that said, there really wasn’t any pain free way of doing anything those first few days.
An example of what I mean above would be geting myself off the bed, I’d position myself on the bed with my bad (right)leg parallel to the edge. By leaning back and hooking my left foot under the heel on my right foot, I was able to lift the leg upwards while maintaining its unbent position by using my body weight combined with the upward push from my left leg. At this point I could shift myself so both legs were no longer over the bed itself, and slowly lower it to the floor. With that said, I am thankful to have my girlfriend here with me and taking good care. After a week now, I can say things have progressively improved and continue to do so. I can now get up and down the stairs on crutches quite easily on my own. This of course includes getting in and out of bed and other tasks one takes for granted.
I suppose I’ll write more about this in the weeks to come.
Photos
Below is a simple table with text-based links. Each link leads to the full-size image. The Description column notes what stage of recovery or content you’ll see, while the Link column provides a clickable title (no direct server paths).
| Description | Link |
|---|---|
| Post-surgery (Day 1) | First bandage removal |
| Healing Progress - Week 1 | Signs of healing |
| Staples Removed - Close-up | 27 staples out |
| Leg Support & Brace | Knee brace in use |
| Bruising & Swelling | Bruising around the knee |
| Side View of Incisions | Healing incisions |
| Bandages Off - Week 2 | Further recovery progress |
References
- Image: orthoinfo.aaos.org
- Text: Wikipedia - Meniscus
- Image: hopkinsmedicine.org
- Image: istockphoto.com