Phases of ACL Knee Reconstruction Rehabilitation
Now that a date has been set for my surgery I’m starting to consider my rehabilitation a bit more. What I can and can’t do, if I can continue with my plans for Christmas etc. Luckily our office is shutting down for the Christmas break for 3 weeks (instead of the usual 2) and they’ve approved my working from home for the 2 weeks directly after my surgery. This is also the last 2 weeks before the Christmas break, so I’m looking at a good 5 weeks before I need to consider coming back into the office.
One of my concerns was the crutches, it appears they recommend crutches for the first 2 weeks. As I am booked in for surgery on the 9th, the 2 week “crutch timeframe” brings me right up to the 23rd. Not bad – I’ll hopefully be off them in time for Christmas. However we are meant to be driving down to Lismore for Christmas day (as we’re visiting Mat’s grandfather), which is a 5 hour drive. Hopefully there won’t be any issues with sitting in the car for a long period of time, otherwise I’ll just have to sit in the backseat with my leg stretched out, stir Mat up about being my “driver” and call him James. “Just to Lismore thanks James”.
Immediately following our trip to Lismore, we’re then returning on the 27th, only to head straight back up north to Bagara to go camping with friends. It’s going to be a busy time. What a better modus operandi for rehabilitation though? Chillaxing at the beach, drinking, and making Mat do everything for me since I can play the “injury” card. Just kidding, I’m too stubborn for that – I hate being dependant on people. I’ll have to speak to my physio and try to arrange to see him before we leave for Lismore so he can give me a plan for the next week and a half.
I googled about the recovery phases, and managed to find some great information on about.com. It steps through the different timeframes of recovery, explaining what the patient will be focusing on and basic activities they’ll be able to partake in. Of course everyone is different so I can’t consider that a concrete plan for my recovery, but it gives me a taste of what to expect.I know I have to be very careful walking as I can’t put my knee under any stress at all, so walking on the sand will be a bit of a challenge. I always charge over it like a lunatic, and it’s not the most even of surfaces!
Just a small point too, I’m yet to find out what time my surgery actually is, but I plan on blogging the whole thing. From waiting for it to happen, through to waking up in my hospital bed doped out on painkillers, I’m writing it. And if I get to see the gory image of what will be my knee with multiple cuts and stitches, I’ll be sure to take a photo for everyone to see! *grin* Stay tuned!!
Final note – I hope I get to wear one of these sexy things. I’m sure that will get me some major sympathy points!!
Knee Brace
**Update – 2nd Jan 2010**
It’s been over a year now since I had the surgery. To see all my blog posts related to my knee reconstruction, click here. Feel free to ask me any questions as well, I’m happy to answer them all.