2 Weeks Post ACL Revision

I'm going back in time and posting these two pictures from 2 weeks post acl revision. The surgery was on April 6, 2010 these were taken on April 20, 2010. Other than looking like it's been invaded recently for the 3rd time and that nasty little red circle where the blister was it looks good! LOL!

12 Days since the ACL Revision

What a difference between the original ACL surgery and this one! First off I'm not frustrated as hell from being on crutches and all that goes along with having no free hands.

Here's what's up now...

• Bruising - Minimal. Barely bruised up at all.
• Swelling - Minimal. Well considering it's really quite good. I can actually see some of the knee cap instead of a ball of swelling.
• Sensitivity - I do have more lack of sensitivity this time around. It's kind of like touching your cheek after getting Novocain from the dentist; you can feel the pressure of you touching it, but you can't feel the surface.
• Range of Motion - Great. I even impressed the physical therapist just 7 days after surgery. It's not 100%, but did bend to 130 degrees which is 30-40 more degrees than most people.
• Quad Muscle - What quad muscle? It's not as bad looking as it was after 5 weeks of crutches, but it's not pretty either.
• Calf Muscle - Again not as bad as the first time around. In much better shape than the quad. I can actually feel muscle mass when I flex it.
• Brace - I've barely taken it off. I AM NOT GOING THROUGH THIS AGAIN! I've had it on like 95% of the time. If I could shower in it I would. The first time I tried not sleeping with it I kept waking up because I could feel it. I did sleep without it last night, but I went to bed at 4AM so I don't think anything would have woke me up.
• Blister - That tape/surgery blister thing leaked 5 days after surgery. It was quite big. It had some blood in it and now it is this flat purpley-red scabby looking thing. It reminds me of those birth marks that some people have.
• Portals - The incision points look good from what I can tell. The tape kind of started coming off and then I was helping it out but on my first day of PT they put fresh ultra sticky tape over them again. But I want to see!
• PT - It is what it is. Nothing too drastic yet. Although I am leaps and bounds ahead of where I was last time and I really think I'm ahead of the game compared to most people. There was a young very athletic football player in there also with a torn ACL. He could not believe that I was just 10 days post-op! It was almost encouraging to see those young guys (there was another, don't know what he injured... also a football player.) They were jumping and pulling and squatting. Muscles were pumped, veins were defined, the sweat was pouring... shoo-wee, I better stop! But really, that was the most encouraging thing I've seen/experienced during this entire process. Just to think that I could maybe really return to my physical level I was at before! The first time didn't count since I had an issue that I didn't know about... yeah, that little ole re-tear thing that certainly prohibited me from excelling at PT.

I think that about covers it. I'd take pictures, but there's the tape and all. You'll just have to believe me that it looks great in terms of swelling! YEAH!

48 hours - The first look

It's now been a little over 48 hours since the surgery so I get to remove the ace and gauze and take a shower. I'm a little concerned that my leg is still numb because last time I'm sure it didn't feel like this; which is no feeling. I do still have the pain pump hooked up, but I did last time too. I' guess I'll know for sure when the pump is turned off and right now I'm just not ready to. As a quick side note before I forget, the pump people just now returned my last call to them which was Wednesday morning; 30 hours to get a call back is reasonable??

PAIN/NUMB: My leg is mostly numb from the upper thigh to just my lower calf. I have a lot of pain on the back outside area, but the anesthesiologist said that the block doesn't affect that area because the nerves don't go there.

I cleaned off some of the iodine with alcohol before showering and was delighted to find that I didn't have that nasty sticky stuff all over my leg too. If you encounter that, alcohol will remove it. The shower was without incident which is very good. I redressed the wounds with fresh gauze and re-wrapped it with the ace bandage, but not before getting in a few pictures.

I don't have nearly the bloody mess I did last time which is good if nothing more than a mental relief. I do have some sort of blister which I'm sure is just some pool of saline from the surgery. It really does look like a blister; I'm not going to worry about it. As for the incision points, they look normal. DH was informed that I will have a slightly larger scar on the lower inside. No big deal at this point! I'm sure he had to make the incision a bit bigger to dig out the old screw. oops. Otherwise the swelling looks normal even though I haven't been able to get in a good icing since I've been unwilling to remove the brace until I can feel my leg... up till now anyway.

Here's a couple quick pictures; hope I'm not grossing anyone out! :)

Broken Pain Pump

I've survived the first 20 hours without injuring myself! But I had a major problem with the Stryker pain pump at about 8PM last night. I got home from the hospital and went to bed at like noon. At 8PM I woke up, yes I was tired. When I threw the covers over, my arm was under the pump line to my leg and I yanked it pretty good. While it was a good yank, I certainly had yanked the last pump line harder lots of times over the duration of using it. Often you forget it's sitting next to you and get up and walk crutch away and the pump gets yanked and even pulled off the surface it's on.

Anyway I guess this pump is more temperamental than the last because that yank must have done a number on it. I was sitting at my desk with the pump on the desk and I saw a drop of water on the pump face and once I felt wetness. At first I thought I spilled pop into the pump holder when managing the stairs with a pop and ice wrap in one hand while gripping the rail with the other so I didn't think much of it. After 20 minutes or so I noticed a puddle on the floor which threw the switch that something wasn't right. Upon examination, I discovered that the inside of the pump bag was quite wet and that the liquid certainly wasn't the color of root beer. Then the pump activated and I saw liquid drops forming near the orange connector to the pump. Uh oh. I got out a magnifying glass to further determine the extent of the damage and saw what looked more like a diagonal cut about 5/16ths of an inch beyond the connector and it appeared that the surface of the cut was red. The tube is clear and there is no red anywhere on the pump. I have red sheets on my bed, but the pump never leaked in the bed and it was on the floor the whole time I slept. This is strange. Like somebody started to make a cut when putting it together, stopped then cut a little further back. I'm thinking the cut was there already and my yanking on it opened it up. There is no way that I could have made a slice like that by yanking on it.

Ah, on to the story. By now the pump is literally squirting the medicine out. I had to stop it, but didn't know what to do so I removed the connection. Ok, I admit that wasn't the thing I should have done, but I was on oxycontin, vicodin, and was still fuzzy from sleep. There are actually directions on the pump to stop the flow, but it's written on the top and I was looking at it from the bottom. Ooops. I figured maybe I could just cut off the bad end and then reinsert the tube into the connector and it would all be good but of course once I removed the connector I could see that wasn't going to happen.

It's now about 9PM. I recalled seeing an instruction booklet in my release folder about the pump and there is a 24 hour number on there for technical assistance. I called them even though I had already began thinking of how I was going to fix the tube. The lady I spoke with said I shouldn't have removed the connector and that it is now contaminated. Ooops again; didn't think of that. She said I needed to call my doctor. After searching through a bunch of paperwork I found an after hours number to call. My doctor's answering service called Dr Anderson who told her to tell me to tell the pain pump people that they had to call Dr Anderson. So I called and left a message with the pain pump people telling them that they needed to call Dr Anderson's answering service so they could talk with Dr Anderson. Ah, once again I'm just the patient stuck in the middle of more protocol. At 5AM I haven't heard anything yet and called and left another message inquiring what was to be done. Honestly though I had already taken things into my own hands because I know the red carpet stroll that these companies do and nothing gets done and besides the more time I wasted the longer and sooner I would be in pain. It is now 8:30AM and I still haven't heard back from anyone.

Now how Ms. McGyver fixed the pump. Materials: Duct tape (YES!), an oversized wide straw, and a tampon. First cut very thin strips of duct tape and while holding the slash/hole closed stick the duct tape on the opening leaving just a 1/8" tail on one side. Tuck that tail around the tube and press firmly, but try not to press so hard that you open up the slit! Continue wrapping that strip of duct tape then the next and so on until you have about 1/2" wrapped on both sides of the hole. In my case since it was near the connector I also wrapped the connector with duct tape to get a better hold and seal over the hole. 

I decided to use the small pusher of a tampon applicator because of its stiffness; a regular drinking straw or two stacked would work too. Cut the applicator down to about 2" and cut a slit in it from one end to the other. Fold the tube over on itself so the loop is closest to you then thread both tubes into the applicator through the slit then secure it all around with duct tape. Next I took a large mouth 1/2" straw and cut it about 2 1/2" long and slit it all the way up. Again fold the tube over on itself but the loop will be furthest away from you. Holding the folded tubes together with the already duct taped mess slide the large straw over everything. Again wrap the entire thing with duct tape. The idea is to make it strong enough and stiff enough to withstand any future yanks and stress which is accomplished by having it fold over on itself so yanks are distributed to the folds and duct tape rather than the length with the hole that is now sandwiched between. If your hole isn't at the connector you can skip the large tube and just use the small one.

I rinsed off the tube connector and the pump connector with alcohol and stuck it back together. Works like a charm! Yeah! So I'm a little long winded this morning, hope you enjoyed my story about duct taping together medical equipment to get it to work! Perhaps I should send in my idea.

After ACL Revision

I never got a chance to see Dr. Anderson before or after the surgery because first they sedated me a bit to insert the pain pump line and after I was simply still out. Dave, my husband, did speak with him after though and he said that it went well. He said the condyle is in good shape (what a relief!!) and that the revision went as planned.

I did have a new cadaver ACL (the bone-tendon-bone of the gracilias aka hamstring) and the best news ever is that I DO NOT HAVE TO BE ON CRUTCHES! Ok, I need them a little right now, but it's day one!!!!

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So here are the events of the day:

6AM arrive at hospital
6:30-8:00 Q&A by Doc's assistant, the nurses, a couple anesthesiologists; surgery prep with clothing, socks, IV, pain pump, BP, heart monitor and all that other good stuff.
8-8:30 Sedation and into OR (don't recall this)
10:15 Wake up in pre-recovery room
10:45 Go to recovery room
11:30 Go home

The pain is pretty bad at this point but only on the back left (typical since the pain block can't reach that area). This time my toes aren't numb too, which will definitely make things way better-- my upper thigh down to just below my knee is very numb.

12:15-7:45 SLEEP

Right now, I feel pretty good. That back left pain area is gone matches the other pain, which isn't that bad.
At first I attempted the stairs with one crutch in an upright position, but felt too wobbly on the second step so decided butt scooting was a better option. Thinking about it now, I'm probably wobbly because the quad is numb and dead so my calf is doing all the work.

8PM I take my first oxycontin, which I'm beginning to feel now. I'm going to ice now WITH THE BRACE ON. :)

4 hour countdown

Actually it's less than 4 hours since I do actually have to get to Beaumont. Yes, that's right, I'm pulling an all-nighter. I won't even see daylight again before I'm all drugged up and braced up and being wheeled out with some horrific no weight bearing instructions.

Ok, maybe I"m jumping the gun. But standing in my shoes and feeling the way I'm feeling, I'm pretty darn sure there's going to be crutches involved. I do wonder how bad it is in there; it feels bad. I actually wonder if the meniscus isn't torn again too. Every once in a while I'll have that torn meniscus feeling, but never the severe stabbing pains.

Hey the positive side to having a revision is that I already know what to expect! I still have the sleeping elevation thingy I made. Yes, I'm quite aware that these things can be purchased, but 1) I don't want to buy one and I'd probably need a script for it and do you really thing worker's comp is going to pay for it? HA! Oh yes, and 2) I like to make stuff! In fact I decided that the basket of pillows was for one thing dangerous and it's just in the way too much so I came up with some new comfort/elevating/icing ideas.

I think the end result will work nicely. We have this rather crappy coffee table set and the only reason we bought it in all it's ugliness is that the top raises up to you and becomes a table. This is perfect for the couple that eats in front of the TV. Anyway the side table does the same thing. So I positioned that so I could swing the arm over and put my leg up on it. For comfort in this position I made a slant board for lack of something else to call it. The construction of the slant board is pretty much just like the sleeping ramp with foam.

Here's a picture of my new set up. I'll be pretty much living on that one cushion for many days to come. The ice machine is more readily available. The icing pad should hopefully be tangle free. That extra cheapo table thing there will hold my crafts :)