3 Month Reflections

Now that I'm 3 months out from surgery I have a few reflections that I want to pass along:

1.  Most surgeons and physical therapists don't have a lot of experience with this surgery and the recovery.  Ask your surgeon how many ACI procedures he/she has performed.  I've worked with 2 physical therapists so far.  Neither of them had much experience dealing with ACI patients.  That doesn't mean they aren't knowledgeable and can't help you get better but I've had to be very proactive with my therapy.  My PT has tried to get me to do things that conflicted with the rehab protocol I was given.  Know the rehab protocol cold and don't do things you shouldn't do.  Also, unless you have a PT experienced with ACI you'll get a lot of blank stares when you ask questions about your recovery. I have often wondered if certain things I was feeling were normal and haven't got real answers to my questions.  I can't make an appointment with my surgeon every time I feel something weird or have a question.  So I've just stuck by the mentality that if I don't have a significant increase in pain or swelling and feel like I'm slowly getting better, then things are ok.

2.  Do patellar mobilization and scar massage every day.  I still try to do this on a daily basis.  Breaking up the scar tissue with massage has helped immensely with getting rid of the painful areas around my knee.

3. I don't feel worse after this surgery.  One concern I had with open knee surgery is that it would make things worse.  I can now safely say this hasn't made my knee any worse.  I'm still waiting to see if it made it better though.

4. I still have swelling and my knee feels warm to the touch.  I had no idea after 3 months this would be the case.  Apparently this can last for months.

5.  I'm looking for a new car because I didn't want to drive a manual anymore (surgery was on my left knee).

6. I can't wear heels yet.

7. I still have cracking and popping in my knee similar to before the surgery but it doesn't hurt.  Sometimes my other knee will crack and pop as well but I have no pain in it.

8.  When bending my knee sometimes I have painful popping sensations in the areas I have scar tissue build up.  This used to scare me but now I realize it's scar tissue breaking up.  At one point, I had a particularly painful "pop" but later that night it felt so much better because it had loosened up. 

9. I'm still waiting for the pain in the graft area to go away when I walk.  Weight bearing increases cartilage generation when the graft has healed enough support your weight.  So the way I see it, pain in this area is not necessarily a bad thing. It will take awhile to go away. 

10.  I can ride a bike normally with no pain.

11.  I can walk normally but I need to go up and down stairs one at a time with my good leg.

12.  I still have aching and throbbing at night but it's more of an annoyance than anything.  I typically don't take any pain medication for it now.