ACL class of 2015

[montanaskier]

A new year and a new injury. Wife cased a catwalk at the Beav in low light on 12-28. Two tibia plateau fractures, torn ACL, torn meniscus, torn MCL. Surgery today by Dr. Cunningham of Vail-Summit Ortho. He did mine and several other friends. Let the rehab journey begin!

[montanaskier]

Wife surgery went well. The nerve block lasted a long time. Today has been a predictably bad day. Nerve block gone and that burning fire has been strong today. Tonight will probably stink but it's a process.

[mfa81]

Hope she is ready next season in good shape!

[BLOOWERPOW]

I guess I better chime in. Blown knee in Kiroro, Japan 1/17/15. Deep snow, fell awkwardly tele skiing. Japanese doc thinks it's a full ACL tear. Relaxing then flying long haul back to Aspen in the morning.

@montanaskier, do you recommend Dr. Cunningham? Looking for the best of the best to do my repair.

-Chris

[montanaskier]

He did mine, my wife's, and about 15 other friends. All love him and all have had great success with knee post surgery. Great Doc.

[Kevin_mcbride]

I blew my ACL about a month ago, for the first three weeks my physiotherapist thought it was an MCL tear. Surgery in a month

[montanaskier]

Wife is 10days out. -4 flat and as high as 92 bent but that has regressed a bit back to 85.

[BLOOWERPOW]

He did mine, my wife's, and about 15 other friends. All love him and all have had great success with knee post surgery. Great Doc.

Thanks for the rec, I'm assuming everyone had the double bundle as well?
Seeing him on Tuesday for my MRI. Excited to work with him through this process!

[montanaskier]

I had a db and he likes the db for guys but not for women. My db is great, rock solid. Tell him Matt and Katie Jones recommended him to you. Good luck.

Wife has made progress this week....process.

[gaijin]

Present. /raises hand

Jan 25th. Tumbled in powder. MRI = MCL and ACL partials. Interviewing surgeons this week. One famous guy, Dr. Onuma, is local.

More later...

[BLOOWERPOW]

Montanaskier, what was your post op physical therapy and timeline like?

[BLOOWERPOW]

Had my MRI on Monday. Grade 3 ACL, and grade 1 LCL & MCL. No meniscus damage that they could see. Surgery on Friday...excited to see how my body responds to this!

[BLOOWERPOW]

Surgery date was February 20th. Double bundle hamstring autograft. No work needed on LCL or MCL, and my meniscus didn't have any damage.

Was off painkillers by day +3
At work and driving on day +4
Off crutches by day +4
Rode stationary bike at day +5
Full extension day +7, still working on flexion.

I was really looking forward to how my body was going to respond to this surgery. As I heard everyone's different, and there can be quite the range of recovery times. I went into the surgery with a really positive attitude and I think that really paid off for me. Going forward I think the toughest part of this recovery will be not pushing too hard in the next few months & reinjuring my graft.

[montanaskier]

Wife has great quad strength but has struggled mightily with flexing. Was just 110 this week. Hopefully she can get over this hurdle soon.

[jmerrey]

Happened first day (first 4 hours) on a short tip to Jackson on a routine spill in Rock Springs. Just one of those things I guess. Got the official word on Wednesday though, full ACL tear. Fortunately no MCL, LCL, PCL, or meniscus damage but surgery is on April 17th nonetheless. BUMMED

[lasereyes]

I never thought it would happen to me. Until it did. Was skiing in Utah in mid Feb. It was the final day of our vacation and I was in a tree-filled area off piste in rather poor snow. Musing over the irony of skiing for the past 5 years in a myriad of often-tricky conditions out East and then taking my first trip out West the one year that my native states were monopolizing all the snow in the country! As I turned to traverse through a narrow space, my right ski slipped on some ice. I skidded at a fair pace into a clump of foliage. My skiis hit and wedged between two bulbous growths and I capsized with my knees twisting violently as I fell. As soon as it happened, I knew and felt something wasn't right. Got to my feet and was able to put my skis back on. Initially i thought it was just a sprain and continued to ski for that day. When I got home, I immediately went to the orthopedist who based on an inspection, diagnosed an MCL sprain on my right knee but ordered an MRI on the left knee due to instability that he felt.

The MRI confirmed the bad news that i had a complete ACL tear in my left knee. After a couple of weeks of stretching and regaining flexibility, based on my orthopedists' advice, to opt for Allograft surgery. I was able to move around and walk without too much pain. And the prognosis for a normal sort of life with conservative treatment was apparently good. But I love skiing and tennis too much, and those would definitely remain high risk for me sans ACL. So surgery seemed the best option for a 49 year old, physically fit, sports-active individual!

I continued my daily stretches until my surgery day last Tues. It was quite a surreal experience - one moment, my leg was being numbed with a nerve blocker; the next thing I knew, I was looking across the room at the hospital nurse who informed me that the surgery was over. There was a large bulbous brace around my knee and I couldnt feel anything around my leg.

The next 3 days were quite an experience. My wife had very kindly set me up in our Library with a very comfortable inflatable bed to avoid my having to traverse up and downstairs. My only movement was hobbling around on crutches to go to the bathroom and sporadic hops around the house to avoid going stir-crazy. There was quite a lot of pain in the surgery knee, initially masked by the nerve block and painkillers, but increasing in intensity as those wore off. My 3rd night was the most difficult - I had taken 2 painkillers and woke up around 2am feeling queasy and woozy. I staggered to the bathroom to relieve myself and almost passed out. But i held myself together and minute by minute things got better.

And from there, I have continued to improve. On Friday (3rd day after surgery), i took off my large bandage and dressing as per doctor's instructions. I was able to see my reconstructed knee for the first time, most notably the 5 incision points neatly stitched up where the arthroscopic camera had probed into. What technology!

I have started my rehab exercises. Managed 100 leg stretches this morning (day 4) and also to flex my knee to about 90 degrees. Still doing regular knee exercises on my right (non surgery) knee where the MCL sprain is not quite healed yet.

Feeling optimistic and very, very happy I opted for surgery. Expect to be on crutches for up to 2 weeks, but just taking it day-by-day. I have told my tennis fanatic daughter to expect a dramatic return to the court from me in Sep or Oct. Watch out my gal!

[montanaskier]

Wife is now 115 and progressing finally. A steroid injection I her knee seems to have helped. She's been cleared for small hikes in mostly level ground.

[lasereyes]

Good to hear that. Best of luck to her.

[ex-powderbroker]

Whoah, missed this the first time around. Hope she's doing well!

[ex-powderbroker]

Good to hear that. Best of luck to her.

good luck to you too, injuries suck so bad.

[lasereyes]

Thanks ML242. First pre-op visit with doctor and physical therapy today. I'm out of my armour-like immobilizer and down to one crutch - hoorah! Flexion at 113 degrees (with target 148). Not bad 1 week post surgery! Feeling like there is light at the end of the tunnel ...

[montanaskier]

Wife hit 120 flex today now 10 weeks post op. SLOW go due to scar tissue but seems like she's turned a corner. Her quad strength is amazing for 10 weeks, gotta keep that flex progress coming!

[MMP]

MRI tomorrow night. Sigh

[montanaskier]

^^^ vibes and good luck!

[MMP]

Thank you.