Post Op - Follow Up - Day 9

Today was my first follow up with my orthopedic surgeon, Dr Anderson. He examined my knee and checked its stability and seemed pleased. He asked me if I was icing and I told him yes. He pointed out the bruising and I kidded with him about being too rough with me while I was under. I pretty much had just a few questions for him.

1. Weight bearing - I've been on "toe touch" only non-weight bearing status because of a micro fracture in my femoral condyle; can I walk on my right leg now without the crutches? Answer: No. But I'm allowed to release the brace now so my knee will bend when I "toe touch" walk with the crutches. I've tried this method now that I'm home and can't really say I get anywhere faster but then again my toe isn't used to being on the ground unless I'm standing still nor has my knee been bending with a walking motion.

2. The brace and PT - Part of the brace issue was answered with question 1 but also should I wear the brace when doing the PT exercises? Answer - It's not necessary.

3. What about the other knee - I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but I tore the meniscus in my left knee for the 3rd time in April. Oops. I thought I might just wait it out and see how it does, but for one I know it will only get worse over time, I hate to take more time off work in say a year or two if I can avoid it and lastly it's been screaming something awful at me for several days now that I rely entirely on it (and the crutches) to get me around. So I asked him how long I should wait before having it done. Answer - At least 6 weeks otherwise the ACL reconstructed leg will have to compensate for the meniscus leg. I was thinking I'd maybe have it scoped again in mid November, which should be ample time for the ACL leg to gain some good muscle strength and enough time that I will recover from both about the same time. It might take a little longer, but less time cumulatively if I did them at separate times.

I told him about making a big bloody mess out of the one suture and he decided that I should come back next week and have the sutures removed then since they didn't look ready yet.

I slept well last night with my legs on the elevation thingy I made. I did wake up a couple times to some pretty severe pain; some in the knee but mostly in my heel. I guess I need to put something down on the floor when sitting with my heel down for long periods of time. I had pain when I got up which located at two points: the upper outer part of the knee and lower inner part of the knee which isn't too surprising since that's where the tunnel was drilled through to thread in the new ACL.

I have to say that the swelling looks a little bit better today, which is kind of a surprise since I actually have more pain than I did yesterday. Go figure. There's no monumental change though so I'll skip the picture. :)