ACL reconstructive surgery and all that comes with it
Page 1: The Knee Injury
Sunday February 24th, 2008
Playing a game of pickup flag football, I was playing wide receiver on the right flank. My quarterback and I had already made eye contact pre-snap and he knew I was uncovered. I went out 10 yards to the goal line and hooked around for the ball. The ball was thrown slighly behind me and I had to make an extra effort to come back for it and that is when it hit me. My right knee twisted and "popped". I went down in a heap, in agonizing pain.
I just knew that I had messed my knee up, but to what extent I didn't know. For 3 to 4 minutes I laid on the field while the pain subsided enough to crawl off to the sideline and eventually faded enough to be able to get up and hobble back to the sideline and watch the rest of the game with an ice pack on my knee. The next day, I called my doctor and scheduled an exam.
Wednesday February 27th, 2008
It was Wednesday, 3 days after my knee injury. This was the first appointment that I was able to get. My knee was still pretty sore and slighly swollen. I was able to walk around gingerly and generally have a normal couple days at work. The doctor had a look at my knee and noticed the swelling immediately. He did some range of motion tests and pulled on my lower leg. The tests turn out well. I didn't have any pain and I had good range of motion. He told me that he thought it was just a knee sprain and to rest it for 3 weeks. I was told to get a knee sleeve which would keep my knee warm and encourage healing. He said that I should be fine after some rest. It was a typical sports injury.
Monday, April 28th, 2008
It was the second week of softball season. I had rested my knee until last week when softball season started. I hadn't had any problems or knee pain and it felt fine playing last week. This week I was playing in the outfield when a fly ball came my way. I moved about 5 feet to my right to get under the ball and as soon as I caught it, "pop!" I went down in a heap again and was in severe pain for about 3 to 4 minutes again. This time the knee injury was still painful, but not as bad as the first time. This is when I realized that something more was wrong with my knee. It wasn't just a sprain. It was more than a typical sports injury. I was able to get into my doctor the next day and he and I agreed that it was time for an MRI. I went in that Saturday
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
My doctor called with the MRI results. He told me that I had a completely torn