"Are you getting ANY better?" "So you need another surgery, right?" These are the two most asked questions I hear when someone sees me still limping or walking gingerly down the hallway. Of course something LOOKS wrong with me, after all it's been 8+ months since surgery and I am far from normal. Most people know I was a very active outdoor person before this. Well, the GOOD news is that nothing is actually wrong. I don't have any complications (thankfully!) like tendon rupture, ossification, calcification, tendon shortening, loose screws, etc. My MRI and Xrays all look as they should (although my bone plugs are a little on the large side). I have full range of motion. With the Bone-Patellar Bone graft, post surgery anterior knee pain is actually so common that it's not even considered a complication. Well maybe if it is severe enough to affect your everyday living. My harvest site pain affects my everyday life so in that sense it is kind of a complication; whether it's standing to cook a meal that takes longer than 20 minutes, lifting something heavy, going down the stairs, standing to talk to someone in the hallway. However, there is not much we can do except give it more time. Time to heal. Studies I've read said it can take a full year to heal at the harvest site. I rarely take any medications for it though. It's about a 4 on the scale out of 10 on a daily basis when it's not flared up. If I had to quantify it, I think I'm only 35% of normal right now at day 248 (8+ months). I can walk and drive (VERY thankful I am independent at least!), but still far from doing normal things in everyday life let alone my outdoor pursuits I once did, nor am I pain free. My rehab has back pedaled immensely. It all fell apart at week 13, and now I'm at week 35 doing the exercises ACL patients typically did at week 6 (not counting patients with meniscus work). It's a DAILY - scratch that - HOURLY struggle to keep spirits up. My worst fear is the I will be in pain forever, or at least for years and I won't be able to do anything I did before because of constant pain. It is a very real fear and only time will tell. Check out my MRI and Xrays. Note the chunk out of the shin, a similar chunk of bone is out of the knee cap too. a slow acl recovery
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AuthorA 45 year old active female who tore her ACL in January 2017 (at the age of 40). Reconstructive surgery in February 2017 with bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft. Archives
November 2022
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