Yet another ACL report

[Arnold Babar]

Seems like these are all too common, but here's my story. Had my hammy graft done wednesday. Doc says everything went well. No further damage to bones, notch, meniscus, or cartilage. Gave me the go ahead to start rom exercises. 1st nite sucked hard. Couldn't keep food, water or meds down, so lots of pain and little sleep. Second nite better. Good sleep. Now off meds (for now) soreness is preferable to crappy oxycontin/oxycodone hangover. I've now joined the kinship of acl surgery, so I've got that goin' for me anyway. Others posts on this board have been helpful in alleviating fears and informing. Thanks. Hope I can do the same for the next generation.

Yo Tyrone, how yoooouuu doin'? I'm sure we'll hear from you soon. I hope all went well.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Yeah Babar! Everything went well here...I've already started my roll call at Kirkwood for when I return :) (http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19930&page=1&pp=20).

Second day was the worst for me. Constantly nauseous, leg sore, difficult to eat/drink, etc...but I think I've over that hump. yesterday felt great and today is even better. Been religiously whipping this damn immobilizer off to work on ROM and I can easily get to 90 degrees....it's pretty sore comin back to down, but that'll get better. Doing a lot of straight leg raises, straight leg abductions, and sit-ups/crunches in between sets just to keep movin. Aside from the 2nd day, this isn't really as bad as I thought....but I do know its a long road ahead.

Just finished watching my surgery vid....pretty sick to see 'em pull the new acl through and get in place. the new acl looks bomber :D

[KQ]

Now off meds (for now) soreness is preferable to crappy oxycontin/oxycodone hangover.


Mmmmmmmmmmm Oxycontin (much better than Oxycodone). Good stuff but not as good as *Fentanyl. Nothing like the warm fuzzy feeling - kind of like when you first get high on Nitrous.

As my Anestesiologist friends like to say "Better living through pharasutecals."

*an analgesic potency of about 80 times that of morphine.

[KevinDineen]

Arnie, I don't think you should keep those left over meds around the house, what with kids and all. Go ahead and send 'em here, for, uh, product testing. Yeah, product testing.

[altagirl]

Really glad to hear things went well for both of you guys. Keep up the good work! I quit using the meds early too and then started using them again later for working ROM at PT.

[Arnold Babar]

Just finished watching my surgery vid....pretty sick to see 'em pull the new acl through and get in place. the new acl looks bomber :D

I'm gonna watch mine tonight. Gotta check out the new goods. Mrs. Babar has morning sickness, so she's been too queezy to watch. I can't wait to check it out.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

[QUOTE=Arnold Babar] Gotta check out the new goods. QUOTE]

yeah, if you're lucky, you got one of those new twin-tipped models...so your knee can do all sorts of stuff switch now.

[Agent 00X]

AB! Glad to hear the reconstruction went well and the other tissues are not involved in the damage. Rehab like altagirl!!! Hit it! and post more updates.

[Arnold Babar]

[QUOTE=Arnold Babar] Gotta check out the new goods. QUOTE]

yeah, if you're lucky, you got one of those new twin-tipped models...so your knee can do all sorts of stuff switch now.

Checked out the vid last night. It was really cool watching him thread that thing through. No twin tips though, I was gonna try and get one with a parachute pack built in, but they were out :cussing: Story of my life: custum taste with a stock budget. Now if I can just get to zero without screaming in agony...

[altagirl]

Checked out the vid last night. It was really cool watching him thread that thing through. No twin tips though, I was gonna try and get one with a parachute pack built in, but they were out :cussing: Story of my life: custum taste with a stock budget. Now if I can just get to zero without screaming in agony...

Hey, I didn't even get a video. I just have pictures.

[Arnold Babar]

Hey, I didn't even get a video. I just have pictures.

That's cuz you went high end with the alograft :wink: Incidentally, do they let you pick the donor, like with sperm donations. You could pick a high level athelete, or make sure your getting a ligament from someone who didn't do a lot of damage to it, "It's never been skied before, belonged to a Tai office clerk who only did Yoga on Sundays, great condition!" :cool:

[altagirl]

That's cuz you went high end with the alograft :wink: Incidentally, do they let you pick the donor, like with sperm donations. You could pick a high level athelete, or make sure your getting a ligament from someone who didn't do a lot of damage to it, "It's never been skied before, belonged to a Tai office clerk who only did Yoga on Sundays, great condition!" :cool:

Heh. No - the company my OS used cuts them to fit the individual's knee. I know there's a whole screening process of age/illness/condition etc., but it's not an ACL - it's a bone-tendon-bone patellar tendon just like they would use when you do a patellar autograft (because it's stronger than your original ACL). They can theoretically use a bigger slice of the patellar tendon in an allograft (assuming it would fit in your knee) since the donor doesn't need the rest of his/her patellar tendon to heal up and function again.

[Arnold Babar]

Now that's custom work! I think I remember you explaining that in another thread. Does the sterilization process weeken it at all? I guess it might not matter if they can grab a wide enough sample. Those bones are really going to increase your healing time as you get further out on the curve, and be stronger earlier than Ty and my hammies. I just could NOT get over the infection/rejection thing. It's nice to hear a success story, though. Probly the wave of the future.

By the way it turns out I also had "narrow notch syndrom" (not uncommon by the way), It was cool watching them widen it out on video. I gots plenty of room now! :fmicon:

[scoober]

the hard part's over Arnold. your knee is fixed, the only thing left is just getting it back up to speed with the rest of your body.

post surgery/anasthesia induced nausea is a bitch, i know for sure, it hit me bad.

[Arnold Babar]

the hard part's over Arnold. your knee is fixed, the only thing left is just getting it back up to speed with the rest of your body.

post surgery/anasthesia induced nausea is a bitch, i know for sure, it hit me bad.

Thanks, Scoob. When I made it home without puking, I silently felt triumphant, having read your post. Then I took one bite of grilled cheese sandwich, and it was over. Funny thing is, my wife's pregnant, and gets nauseous easily at nite time. So when she emptied out my puke bucket, SHE spewed. And it was the same story for the next three vomiting events. Talk about a vicious cycle. How's the ROM going?

[altagirl]

Make sure if you ever have general anesthesia again that you tell them about your nausea this time. I went through the same thing my first surgery - but my last two they gave me special anti-nausea meds with the anesthesia - that stuff works wonders, and I woke up happy and feeling great - no problems eating or drinking. But I remember that first one - I just drank a glass of water in the recovery room too fast and puked. Ugh.

[Arnold Babar]

Make sure if you ever have general anesthesia again that you tell them about your nausea this time. I went through the same thing my first surgery - but my last two they gave me special anti-nausea meds with the anesthesia - that stuff works wonders, and I woke up happy and feeling great - no problems eating or drinking. But I remember that first one - I just drank a glass of water in the recovery room too fast and puked. Ugh.

Just before I went under, I related Scoob's story to my anesthesiologist. He was asian, and his reply was, "Ha! only woman get sick! That only happen to woman. you a man right!" I was like, "uhhhhhh" The nurse got all pissed at him, said, " it's the ANESTHESIA that makes us sick" The he said, "I only joking, we take care, no worry" The he flicked my wrist where the IV was with his index finger and said, "you sleep now" It was a little unerving, but somehow comforting and I don't know why.

[Endlessseason]

I think we should have someone edit all of our ACL videos together into one big happy maggot-acl-video-thingie for all to enjoy at some future summit....

[Arnold Babar]

I like that, Endless. Gotta put it to some good tunes, though. Every crash shot on a ski vid could be followed up with a shot of an acl graft being threaded through a newly scoped knee. Risk/reward kind of thing.

[Arnold Babar]

Post-op day 5: Now it's starting to suck. Ennui. Guess I'll go do some more straight leg lifts, hell slides, leg curls/extensions.

[Big E]

Can someone post one of these vids? I don't even have pics of mine, and I don't think I've ever seen a vid of it. Good luck AB, hang in there.

[Arnold Babar]

I'm a total JONG at tech stuff like this, but I'm sure it's possible. Mine's not on DVD, but VHS and I don't know how to upload video, let alone convert. I think I remember seeing a sample vid on Web M.D. or some other medical site I was checking out.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'm a total JONG at tech stuff like this, but I'm sure it's possible. Mine's not on DVD, but VHS and I don't know how to upload video, let alone convert. I think I remember seeing a sample vid on Web M.D. or some other medical site I was checking out.

mines on VHS too, and I too am a tech JONG. however, if some non-vid-tech Jong **cough**skier666***cough*** would like the tape to convert to dvd and or upload, i can certainly get things in motion ;)

the tape is killer. first they poke around with my meniscus. then they start drilling. and drilling, and drilling and drilling. then the new ACL comes looping through. brings a tear to my eye...

[Arnold Babar]

the tape is killer. first they poke around with my meniscus. then they start drilling. and drilling, and drilling and drilling. then the new ACL comes looping through. brings a tear to my eye...

Mine also showed some mcl probing (that bitch healed up TIGHT!), and the actual cutting of the graft (I think). Really would benefit from some cool tunes, I must say.

[Arnold Babar]

A little update: I'm livin' large and laughin' easy! I'm crutchless! walking pretty good (without the brace around the house, stairs and all.) Started working again today. :cool: For me that requires lifting, carrying and moving stuff around all day on my feet. I took many breaks, but I got some stuff done for the first time in weeks. It'll be four weeks wednesday, and I know that's early to be doing this kind of activity, but I lose money every day I don't work, and everything feels pretty good so...

I start aqua-therapy tommorow, and my PT says that will accelerate an already faster than normal healing process. I am psyched to be feeling this good. This board has been an awesome source of inspiration.

[altagirl]

Awesome! Glad to hear you're doing so well!

[Arnold Babar]

Thanks. Your posts (and others') were informative and super motivating. There's no question this place has helped me stay one step ahead of the game. Community is a powerfull, positive force.

[Arnold Babar]

Got into the pool today. I recommend it. Did all kinds of resistance exercises, as well as some propioception stuff. It's soo low impact and efficient. I felt great when I got out of the pool, and now hours later I still feel really loose and a little fatigued like after a real workout. I'm stoked!

[Arnold Babar]

7 weeks post op. Took my bike out for a spin, outside! Rode for about an hour. Felt great, sooo much better than stationary. Even stood up on some hills. My doc raised his eyebrows a bit when I told him, "be careful of all the sand out there..." I appreciate the concern, but I'm so starved for momentum and fresh air I wanted to strangle him. It just sucks how fast muscle atrophies in comparison to how long it takes to build :mad: .