E-stim at physical therapy!

Getting the dressings changed

PT visit #1 (7/23/10)

Close up of the Fatty Knee!

Exercises!

Fatty knee!

Ace bandage, Saran wrap, pre-wrap, packing tape, and garbage bag.... there's no way my knee is getting wet lol

Feels so good to finally shower :)

Pictures from Surgery Day!

Surgery!!!!

Well it was a crazy early morning since they rescheduled the surgery for 6am which means I had to be there at 5am! But this was way better than the alternative of waiting until effing 12:45pm!

Before we got there I was told to "decorate" my legs with yes and no so that there would be no confusion as to which leg is getting the surgery. I didn't really decorate it but rather wanted it to be direct and to the point lol

Once we got to the surgery center, I was brought to the back and told to change into the super sexy hospital gown... then they asked me a bunch of questions and not too long after I was getting an IV put in and talking to the anesthesiologist.

Then they moved me to the room where I'd be getting my surgery and told me to lay down. I remember the anesthesologist asking me if it felt weird or funny yet and it did. Next thing I know the nurse is waking me up, I have a huge brace on my leg and I'm freezing!

After sitting for a little while and regaining consciousness and drinking some water we managed to get me into the car and I was on my way home. Once I was home I literally laid on the couch ALL day (only getting up twice to go to the bathroom lol) and my leg was so sore! Getting upstairs was even more of joke, since I cant put weight on that leg, there was literally no way to go up even with people helping me so I resorted to going up backwards on my butt one step at a time lol I cant even imagine how much pain I'll be when they start making me move my leg!!

My mom talked to the doctor right after the surgery and he said that they reconstructed my ACL, and fixed my meniscus and my MCL wasn't torn but rather just stretched out so he tightened that up too. However, since I had cartilage damage I have to be on crutches (NON WEIGHT BEARING!!) for 6 effing weeks! That means the first week of school will be on crutches. FML.

I go in to my first PT today at 3:40 and they're gonna change the dressing and show me pictures from the surgery! :)

Tomorrow's the big day!

Well surgery got rescheduled for 6am tomorrow! Starting to get nervous but at the same time ready to get it over with!!

Surgery!

Surgery is scheduled for Thursday at 12:45pm. :)

6 weeks

Today marks 6 weeks since I tore my ACL and MCL! I go in for my pre-op visit on Monday and if all goes well I'll be getting surgery on Thursday :)

Swollen!

As you can see the left knee is still a little more swollen than the right... but keep in mind this is going on 6 weeks post injury so I'm very happy about how it's looking. I wish I would have taken pictures when it looked like I had a little alien growing inside my knee haha

"Shouldn't it be getting by now?!"

So after 2 weeks of hobbling around with the stupid knee immobilizer, we decide that maybe it's time to finally make an appointment with an orthopedic specialist. We schedule the appointment but they cant get us in for another week. We finally go in to meet with Dr. Steven Thomas on June 25, 2010. This is now three weeks and a day from when I thought I sprained my MCL. They get some x-rays of me and finally Dr. Thomas comes in and started feeling around my knee. I can tell that it feels funny when he does some of his special tests but I just assumed thats what a sprained MCL felt like. Thats when he says "I have no doubt that you've torn your ACL, MCL, and probably your meniscus.." WHATTTT?!!??! There I was thinking that I just had a sprained MCL and now I'm being told that I've torn more than half the crap in my knee. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! yeah, definitely wasnt expecting that! He talks about my options and says I can either get the surgery and be back to playing within a year or not get the surgery and never play again. This is was complete no brainer! Not even for a second did I consider NOT getting the surgery. There is no way in hell I'd be able to go without ever playing again! Plus, Ive seen enough of my friends go through the surgery and they all seem to do fine. So we finish up the appointment and he tell us that we can go check the PT office that is just down the hall since he wants to be able to bend my knee before I get the surgery.

So I start "prehab" but only go twice since it's fairly expensive and they have me do the same thing every time I go so I figure I can do the stuff at home. I've gone from a disgustingly swollen knee to an only slightly swollen knee and I can now bend it almost all the way :)

I go in for a pre-op visit Monday (7/19) and if all goes well I'll be getting the surgery Thursday (7/22) which is exactly 7 weeks post injury!

My last game...

It was June 3, 2010 around 10pm. I was playing in a stupid game with SDM that meant nothing and to top it off we were losing by a score of around 14-2ish. We were playing Ninja Kat 500.

I don't really remember exactly what happened, probably because the extreme pain I was in has made me never want to recall that moment. However, looking back this is what I think happened (slightly different story from what others tell me lol but who cares). The ball was passed in front of me and I reached out to get it with my right leg, next thing I know I'm falling and twisting and in the most awkward position ever on the ground unable to move my leg AT ALL. I remember crying and just instinctively knowing that something was not right. However, I didn't hear a pop and it wasn't too swollen. Once everyone realizes that I'm not faking it and that I am actually hurt they start making their way over. Eric saw the whole thing and knew right away that I tore something. The game is called off and after a failed attempt by Will and Eric (poor guys, they were too short) to get me off the field, Flick and Josh are able to get me to the bench. Flick is awesome and gets me calmed down but it hurts like a bitch and there is no way in hell I can move it. Even on the ride home the small bumps in the road make me cringe in pain.

We decide to the hospital just to make sure its nothing serious. The doctor feels around and makes a diagnosis of a sprained MCL... Im not too happy about it but hey it could be a lot worse, I think to myself it could be a torn ACL, at least this injury will heal on its own. I'm given a cute little knee immobilizer (note: its neither cute OR little lol) and some crutches. And after this whole ordeal, keep in mind we didn't get home until around 1:30am that night, I still managed to go to school the next day.