Surgery

[gymnafreak]

So i injured my knee about 2 weeks ago on floor and i thought it was just a sprain... got back up and walked away, went and tried to compete at Westerns, and died on first event, beam. Found out 8 days ago that i might have torn my acl, got a mri two days later, got the results the next day, got an appt. with a surgeon two days later, and had surgery the next day lol, so from the time i found out it might be torn to surgery was 8 days.
So anyways, i had my acl reconstructed today. There was also a small tear in my meniscus and a pretty bad bone bruise. It was my first surgery and so far it wasn't as bad as i thought/expected it to be. I made it through and i'm doing good so far. They gave me a femoral block so my leg is still numn, and therefore i have no pain. Also, the pain meds they gave me just make me super super tired, but not loopy.
All of this happened so quick (which is good) so i will get back to gymnastics sooner as next year is the all important junior year... Well, i just thought that i would give everyone an update and i will try to update this more as my recovery progresses. So far, so good!

 

[gymbug86]

Omg

oh wow! this is bad! i hope you recover FAST! ill pray for you!
teehee good luck when the numbing wears off:/

 

[ginnymac]

So glad that you are doing well so far. Just listen to your MD's and therapists during the healing process--they will know what is best. Don't rush your recovery, a well healed knee will be better in the long run.

Good luck

 

[gymjoy]

Ginnymac is right. My husband had the same injury a few years back. Do what you are told by the therapist and everything should be fine. It takes a little time, be patient.
Do lots of gymnastics visualizing.

Good luck.

 

[hunde2]

Wish you a speedy recovery.

 

[nicci1999]

Glad surgery went well, and I hope you get back soon! What kind of graft did you get? (I still have to decide on mine, meet with my surgeon on Wednesday!)

 

[gymbug86]

Glad surgery went well, and I hope you get back soon! What kind of graft did you get? (I still have to decide on mine, meet with my surgeon on Wednesday!)

whats graft?

 

[gymjoy]

In this case the graft is taking a tendon from another place to replace the torn ACL.
This article has an good, short description:
ACL Graft Choice - Patellar - Hamstring

IIRC - my husband used his hamstring - which is why his recovery was longer, but he has had very little trouble since.

 

[flippinlolly]

Hi
I did this a couple of years ago and had the op (I had a patella tendon graft). Good news is it only took me about a year to get most of my skills back. Some of the harder stuff took longer but as long as you go to physio and do all of your exercises you should get back to it that quickly too. I'm now a British Elite so just remember that this injury doesn't have to stop you doing gym! It took me longer than some of my teammates to get here (because of a year taken out of competition and some training) but I still did it! Oh and when it does start to hurt I found that alternating hot and cold compresses really helped...although I think you're not meant to use heat until like a week after the op or something but after that it works great
Hope you get better soon and keep up the conditioning so that you're in the best shape possible when you get back to the gym
Lolly xxx

 

[gymnafreak]

Thanks for all of your prayers!! The femoral block wore off around 6ish the next morning and i'm still not really in any pain. I'm down to having 1/2 of the pain meds already and i went to church this morning. I was planning on going back to school this morning, but my grandma talked my mom into the idea that the pain is worse on the 3rd day so mom is making me stay on the meds and because they won't let me go back to school on narcotics i'm not going back tomorrow. Well, whats the difference if i miss 2 or 3 days lol. I'll have plenty of time to do my make up work because i won't be doing gymnastics for a while . Because i went in for a dr. appt on thursday and missed all day, and they got me in for surgery the next morning, i couldn't get any work before hand. Oh well...

Back to the graft thing, i was planning on using the patella one but my growth plates weren't closed yet so removing the bone and stuff could make my legs grow unevenly so they had to use the hamstring. When she got in though, she found out that i have teeny tiny ligaments so she ended up using cadaver ligaments.

I don't have my first PT appt until thursday which is 6 days after my surgery which kind of worries me because thats a lot longer than my research has told me to do... they gave me few exercises to do at home until that first PT appt so i will be doing those but thats it for now!

I'm actually almost looking foreward to school cuz i'm gonna die of boredom pretty soon...

 

[flippinlolly]

Glad your not in too much pain! I bet you must be REALLY bored right now! I know the feeling!

I wouldn't worry about the physio. Because you had the op so close to the original injury they probably need to wait for swelling/bruising to go down. I know with me they waited to do my surgery until I could almost straighten my knee so that they would be able to do physio more effectively. It's probably something similar with you. There's very little they can do with a swollen joint because the movement is so restricted.

Hopefully you'll get back to school before you go out of your mind!

 

[gymluvr33]

I'll be praying that you can heal quickly without too much pain!!! I hope you don't have too much make up work to do ... it is not fun making up work in HS! I was only out for a few days after getting my wisdom teeth out and I felt like I was drowning in makeup work! Anyway, I'll keep you in my prayers. Get well soon

 

[gymnafreak]

So it will be 3 days post op tomorrow and i'm already doing really well. I'm walking without a brace or crutches and it looks pretty normal. I can bend my leg to 125 degrees and straighten it to -3 so thats really good. The PT is being really cautious with me, no bars, no handstands, not even V ups... Grr... So tomorrow i will be able to do a little more since it will be the 3 week mark. Its kind of annoying going to PT appts and having them hold you back and constantly telling you no for everything... Very frustrating. Well... 3 weeks down, 3 months and 1 week (maybe more) to go.

 

[nicci1999]

Gymna, glad it continues to go well, keep me posted, surgery is in less than two weeks for me! I also have a torn meniscus, but hope I can be off crutches and out of my brace as quickly as you! Here are some super healing thoughts coming your way!!!