Tag: ACL

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I fell asleep in the MRI tube again

I guess this story stretches back awhile. Not sure how much of it I may have told before, so I’ll start from the beginning (at least of this chapter).

I was playing soccer after my car accident for a couple weeks (after a short break—I’m not that crazy) and at one point, I was running and felt a sudden flareup in the back of my right knee. Yes, the one that’s surgically repaired. I subbed out of the game immediately and was able to hobble over to the side of the field under my own power, but I was able to do that when I tore my ACL the first time.

That was my big concern: I might have retorn it. Over the next few days, I’d feel pressure against the back of my knee sometimes. Without the ligament, there’s no support to keep it from hyperextending and it felt like that’s what was happening. I scheduled an appointment with the knee specialist as soon as I could and spent the next week being almost positive that I’d need surgery again. Continue reading “I fell asleep in the MRI tube again”

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Gratitudes, Day 5

I waited to write this one because I went to see the knee specialist this afternoon. Something happened during a soccer game a few weeks ago—I’m not sure what it was—and I felt a burst of pain and pressure against the back of the knee that had the replaced ACL. After feeling some bad pressure on the top and bottom of my kneecap when trying to jog last Sunday, I was pretty much convinced that I was running on three functional ligaments in my right knee again. After some x-rays and a brief inspection, the doctor thinks there’s no permanent damage, just inflammation.

  1. My right anterior cruciate ligament — I spent a lot of time with the original one torn in half and then recovering from surgery, but I still don’t appreciate it very much… at least until it stopped working properly again.
  2. ACL replacement surgery — It’s not the original ligament, but I can walk and run and my knee moves in the direction it’s supposed to.
  3. Dr. Randy Lewis — The doctor who performed my ACL replacement surgery and doesn’t think I need a second surgery. (The x-rays look good and when he was moving my knee around, the graft still feels solid.)
  4. Soccer — It’s my favorite sport to play and I’ll be back on the field soon.
  5. National Sex Day — If it’s not an official holiday, it should be. Even if you don’t get to actively celebrate.
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The circumstances had to be just right

Well, the results of my PT appointment weren’t what I’d hoped, but given the nature of what happened during the game yesterday, it’s not like I had high hopes to begin with.

As soon as I got there, I told Chad (the physical therapist) that I had a question unrelated to my shoulder. He didn’t know about the knee surgery, so the first thing he did was have me lie down and bend my knees so he could pull and push my legs in different directions. The ACL graft and knee structure are about as symmetrical as they can get, which meant there wasn’t an obvious reason for the right one to lock up like it did.

His best guess: When I got hurt, there was a slight tear in my meniscus along with the torn ACL. Since it was slight, the doc didn’t trim anything off since the pad between your knee bones doesn’t grow back. It’s possible that the tiny flap moved in just the right (or wrong) direction to start getting pinched between the bones. As soon as that happened, the muscles locked up to protect it, thus preventing the tear from getting worse as well as allowing my body to tumble to the ground.

It’s a feasible explanation and doesn’t rule out the possibility of a repeat performance. I’m willing to take that chance—something as simple as this isn’t going to keep me off the soccer field—but if my knees become totally symmetrical and both start locking up at random times, Chad may have to come up with a new best guess.

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A new year, a new season

After ACL replacement surgery in April, I was determined to come back and start playing soccer again in 2011. Mission accomplished.

The season actually started on the 9th, but because our team got registered a little late, we had a bye week, giving me an extra seven days to exercise and prepare. (Yay for working out with the Wii!) This afternoon, I went to a presentation in Minneapolis, had dinner with Grandma, then went to the soccer game at 7:15. By the time I got to the field, I honestly wasn’t sure whether I’d be playing or not.

Exercising on the Wii may have helped me build up some long-lost muscle, but the workout programs available don’t provide much in the way of sprinting and kicking. I was intent on getting to the field, jump a few times, run, sprint, kick a ball… whether I was going to play or not depended on how much my knee hurt or how stiff it felt after putting it through that kind of stress. No point in suffering extreme amounts of pain and having to sit out for another couple months just to get on the field for 10-15 minutes.

I’m not sure if I’ve explained this before, but “knee pain” has nothing to do with the replaced ligament. That’s healed just fine. The pain is above and below my kneecap and rears its ugly head when I squat down, jump, etc. (I’m assuming it’s because the replacement ligament used to be the middle third of my patellar tendon, which stretches from the quad over the kneecap to the shin.) Thus, the problem is probably that the tendon isn’t at full strength yet. That’s my guess, anyway—all I know for sure is that’s where my knee hurts.

Anyway, after running around and taking a couple shots on goal, I felt okay (relatively speaking). There were a few small flashes of pain, but it wasn’t enough to keep me off the field tonight. I ended up playing… probably 10-15 minutes. I started the first half, subbed out a couple times, and survived the first 25 minutes of the game without too much trouble. For safety’s sake, I spent the second half on the sideline. (When the other team scored a goal, I felt a familiar urge to put my gear on and get back out on the field, but this is one injury I don’t want to aggravate any more than I already have.)

When the game was over and we had secured a 5-3 victory, I walked out onto the field and shook hands with the other team, walked back to the sideline and didn’t feel too bad with my knee covered by a thin layer of Biofreeze. However, that not-feeling-too-bad went away after an hour or two.

Now it hurts when I try to lift and straighten my leg… well, there are a handful of ways to move my leg that hurt at the moment, but lying here in bed with ice on my knee, I really don’t care. Pain is temporary—I’ll feel better after a day or two—but playing soccer again… well, it’s not pride, so it’s not forever. Still, being on the soccer field after so long has made the pain seem a lot more tolerable.

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What, my ACL could get a cavity?

I went to the dentist today for the first time in… a long time. Since it was my first time at that clinic, I got there at about 1:10 to do some paperwork before a 1:30 appointment. I filled out the forms, then sat around until it was time for me to get my teeth cleaned. Finally, it was 1:30. Then 1:40. About 1:50, the person at the desk saw me in the reception area and said she’d go take a look to see what was up. She came back and told me the dentist was still helping someone and it’d be another ten minutes before I could get back there. Yeah, they were running a little behind schedule.

Upon my arrival into the dentist’s chair, they told me they couldn’t clean my teeth. Why? Because I had knee surgery in April and they needed Dr. Lewis to sign a form saying it was okay to do it. I was a little annoyed, but that’s their policy (for legal reasons or something else, I dunno). So I asked how far back it goes. I mean, surgery was almost eight months ago. That’s a pretty long time, right? Well, not long enough according to their standards:

You need to have that form signed if you’ve had an operation performed in the last two years.

Sure, I think that’s ridiculous, but that’s their policy. The dentist wasn’t going to clean my teeth, but they took some x-rays and found out I have no new cavities after all this time. So that’s the lesson of the day, kids: remember to brush and floss properly and you can have surgery as often as you want.

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My leg feels naked now.

As the days passed and my impending doctor’s appointment got closer and closer, I kept thinking about what life would be like without my leg brace. So many things I took for granted before I had to wear it for six weeks after surgery:

* I could get out of bed and use the bathroom without having to clip anything onto my leg.

* I could move my shorts freely when sitting on the toilet instead of shifting them around at an angle across my lap because it was too much of a struggle to wiggle them down over the brace.

* I could take a shower without worrying about my underwear getting wet when putting it on or wearing a towel around my leg for half an hour afterward to make sure I wouldn’t soak anything else.

* Other things… well, maybe I shouldn’t have done them, but sometimes a man just needs to drive places. And shoot hoops in the driveway. And go bowling. Yeah, I didn’t exactly fill the doctor or physical therapist in on all of my recreational activities over the last six weeks. Continue reading “My leg feels naked now.”