Cruciate ligaments :
First 48 hrs after ACL recon - success - - Posted by nas (nas), 24 January 2005
Just about 48 hrs ago, I had a patellar autograph ACL reconstruction, and everything went quite smoothly. Thanks to everyone on this board, I knew exactly what to expect, and am looking forward to a speedy recovery.
Given the option of being sedated with a lot of valium or a little, I chose to stay awake and watch the operation on the same monitor that the doctors used for the arthroscopy. The epidural/spinal anesthesia was effective in completely numbing my body from the waist down, so I was able to have lucid conversations with the anesthesiologist while the surgeon was hammering and sanding and drilling away...it was more than a little bizarre.
My greatest fear going into this was post-surgery pain. However, I've found that so far it has not been worse than I experienced at the time of the injury itself. The femoral nerve block was fantastic, though a little bit worrisome since it didn't wear off until this morning (2 days after surgery). The worst is really the first night of sleep after surgery. With my leg in the immobilizing brace, and my body full of painkiller, anti-inflammatory, and a nerve block, I pretty much didn't get more than an hour of REM sleep the first night...I took 600 mg of Percoset every 2 hrs for the first day or so after the surgery, but after that I've found the pain to be not so bad, and so am weaning myself off the painkillers from here out. I do plan to stay on the Naproxen (anti-inflammatory) to keep the swelling down, along with the constant Cryo-cuff.
Questions:
For those of you who used a CPM after surgery, how long did you use it for each day, and after how long did you discontinue use?
Is there anything I can do about the bruising/blistering in my leg around the calf/shin area? I know I've seen posts about this, but don't remember what the advice was.
Posted by Gab (Gab), 25 January 2005
Wow, I'm not sure I would have liked to hear drills going through my bones lol. Do you remember what the hammering was for?!
For your questions, I was in the CPM machine 23 hours a day and I stopped when my flexion was easily over 90 degrees.
As for the brusing, mine was pretty intense, I had 80% of the back of my leg dark blue from the top of thigh to my ankle. That hurt like hell when I would stand up without the brace until about 10-14 days after surgery. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about it. Take an aspirin a day to help prevent blot clots.
Posted by Wookster (Wookster), 25 January 2005
Lucky you having little pain. I was on painkillers everyday for 5 weeks. And the first week post op was hell. And thats an example of good ol' english subtlty.
Posted by TheGroover (TheGroover), 25 January 2005
great post, it's nice to hear positive stuff.
i'm three weeks away from the same op. i'm not sure i'll stay awake. i feel like i'm pretty strong-stomached, but attempted to watch a recording of the Channel 4 Anatomy Show while eating my breakfast this morning. The very first slicing of the skin was enough to make me ill!
To see it happening to my own body. Er, no thanks 
Posted by Gab (Gab), 25 January 2005
Wookster, don't worry mate, my first month was complete hell as well, especially the first 36 hours..
Posted by nick157 (nick157), 25 January 2005
on 01/25/05 at 19:17:34, TheGroover wrote:great post, it's nice to hear positive stuff.
i'm three weeks away from the same op. i'm not sure i'll stay awake. i feel like i'm pretty strong-stomached, but attempted to watch a recording of the Channel 4 Anatomy Show while eating my breakfast this morning. The very first slicing of the skin was enough to make me ill!
Groovy,
did you see much of it? Got a text off a friend of mine who said they were talking about knees for a while - but by the time I turned over they were on brains!
anyone know what/how much they said? Any mention of ACL's?
Posted by nas (nas), 26 January 2005
You know what? I'm not positive what all the hammering was, but I think it was some sort of metal piece that they were using to hold the bone plug in place from the side. Basically, they drilled a spot for the bone plug to fit in my femur, but then they put a screw in from the side to put lateral pressure on it until it is accepted by the bone. I would call it a screw, but they were hammering it, so maybe more like a bolt. I didn't want to bother the doc at the time, so I didn't ask. I did, however, ask if it's going to go off in metal detectors and thankfully, it will not.
Initially, I thought it would be tough to watch, but really I was totally engrossed in it. I think it helped that they gave me a modicum of valium to ease my nerves (just not enough to make me forget).
As far as the CPM goes, I've seen tremendous progress on the CPM in just these past few days. First day out I got to 0 degrees extension and 55 flexion with some difficulty. Two days later, my flexion is now up to 120 degrees (max on CPM machine) with almost no pain. I'm not using it constantly, but when I'm on, I take it seriously. Also, yesterday I did no CPM work and instead just used my hands to work the flexion and extension. It was very effective as well, just not as easy to do while working/reading.
The cryo-cuff system is great. So easy to work by myself, and a much better solution than frozen peas or an ice pack that I'd have to hold. Of course it helps that my insurance is willing to pay for all this stuff...otherwise, I might have skimped a bit.
First P/T appt tomorrow morning. Wish me luck! And good luck to everyone else who's going through similar stuff!
If you have surgery coming up, I'd highly recommend the "prehab" strengthening of the quads, hams, and calves in the gym. That was my main focus and I think it's paying off now.
Posted by Gab (Gab), 26 January 2005
Good for you, the surgery in itself sounds...neat..!
cryo-cuff is AMAZING. Seriously, best way to ice your knee without a hassle + you get the compression effect. 
Updated Sat Nov 21 2009
