Day 14 Post PCL Reconstruction - Patience is NOT Working for Me

Two week out and I am feeling pretty good. My only complaint is that I developed a slight allergic reaction to the beta-dine used during surgery. From my knee down I have a rash and my leg feels like its on fire.

A Lot has happened in the past 10 days, so I thought I would breakdown the major milestones.

Day 5 PPR (Post PCL Reconstruction): Took my first post op shower. This was the first day I started feeling human again.

Day 6 PPR: Returned to work. While I held up pretty well, I learned that one should not communicate via e-mail while under the influence of pain killers.

Day 8 PPR: Drove for the first (I stopped taking my narco pain meds 24 hours prior). Stitches were removed and replace by Steri-strips. Made it home safely from the OS office and promptly returned to taking pain meds.

Day 9 PPR: Went to Jiu Jitsu promotions and to my surprised was promoted.

Day 10 PPR: 100% off all pain meds.

Day 11 PPR: Was able to help the woman take our son to and from school. Driving is no longer painful.

This past Monday I started to push my workout routine and have started making significant progress with regards to rehab. Today I walked, using my crutches, for half a mile. I am performing the following workout 4 days per week (M, T, T, F):

ISO Knee Extension - 2 sets of 10 reps/Body Weight
ISO Hip Adduction - 2 sets of 10 reps/Body Weight
Resist Hip flx Supine - 2 sets of 10 reps/Body Weight
Gravity Hip abd - 2 sets of 10 reps/Body Weight
Assisted ROM (Range of Motion) - 2 sets of 10 reps/Body Weight
Single Legged Squat (Good Leg) - 2 sets of 10 reps/Body Weight
Toe Touch Walk

I will be headed back to Jiu Jitsu tomorrow to try some drilling...Hopefully this is not going to be a bad decision.

“Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't”
― Jerry Rice

Day 4 Post PCL Reconstruction

Today was my first follow up appointment post operation. I got to see my knee for the first time since the morning of my surgery. I still have a pretty good amount of swelling, seven puncture wounds, and a moderate amount of bruising. Overall the knee looks better than expected. I am also ahead of schedule from a recovery perspective. I have been able to reduce my pain med intake to one percocet every six hours and I am able to perform some basic exercises from my original physical therapy plan. I am hoping that this is a sign that all the pre-surgery PT and knee prep is going to pay off.

It turns out that I had a new PCL reconstruction technique performed on me. In fact I am the first person my doctor used this technique on. Here are some links about the procedure used on me, hopefully somebody will find the information useful:

Surgical Technique Brochure

Surgical Animation

So far I am happy with my current progress. I go back on Friday to get my stitches removed.

Third Times a Charm

I was scheduled to have my PCL reconstruction done on February 4th and as some of you may have noticed, nothing was ever posted. Well, I had my surgery cancelled because I had a real bad flu and they don’t like sick people at the hospital. After I got better my surgery was rescheduled for Feb 28th, I didn’t post anything because I didn’t want to jinx the new surgery date and have to do another reschedule. The good news is that yesterday the reconstruction was performed and I am now resting at home. I am still recovering from anesthesia, so while what I type makes sense to me...it may not make sense to you.

Yesterday, my day started at 0400(4:00AM). Actually the previous day never really ended because I got almost no sleep due to nerves. I would suggest to anybody having any surgery to ask for valium to take the night before so you can sleep. My surgery was schedule to start at 0715(7:15AM) so I had to be at the hospital at 0600 to get going on all the pre-op stuff. Everything went very smooth, with the exception of my blood pressure(nerves), and everybody was ready for a two and a half hour long surgery. I walked into the operating room, the anesthesiologist starts doing his thing, and the last thing I remember is the gas mask.

So I start waking up and as my mind is getting recombobulated I asked, “What time is it?” and my wife who just sat down next to me says its 1315(1:15PM). Even with a major amount of anesthesia fog I realized surgery went a tad long…like double. At this point I am having an internal panic attack wondering WTF happened. I asked the nurse what happened during surgery and my wife was able to tell me that my surgeon was performing a new allograph technique and did not take that into account from a timing perspective. I spoke to my OS later in the day and found out his assistant didn’t know this new allograph technique which essentially made the entire surgery single threaded. Outside from that minor timing hiccup, my surgery went very smooth. I got home by 1445(2:45PM) and have been resting as much as I can.

Pain hasn’t been a major issue so far. When I was in recovery I was pretty sore, but now I would say I am at 4 on a scale of 1-10. I do know pain is on the way, the local anesthetic is starting to wear off and I am hoping I can manage with the meds I was given. Currently my pain management routine is as follows:

• 2 Percocet every 4 hours
• 800mg of Advil staggered 2 hours after the Percocet.

I am icing A LOT. I was given a cryo cuff and I am basically icing 30 minutes on/30 minutes off.

 

Here are the final surgery stats:

•  5.5 Hours.
•  Complete PCL replacement using a donor Achilles tendon.

Lessons learned:

1.  Ask for valium so you can sleep the night before.
2.  Surgery time estimates are just that, an estimate.
3.  Stay on top of icing and pain management
4.  If using a Cryo Cuff, get a couple of ice bags from the local stop and rob to augment your ice maker.