Days leading up to surgery

Here's my knee. Looks a little swollen but overall not too bad. Looks can be deceiving and the inside is what counts for this day. Today I learned first hand from my surgeon that I completely tore my ACL. I got my MRI done last Wednesday at Escondido Imaging. The MRI was pretty interesting. I was amazed at how loud the MRI machine was. I tried not to move but each time the machine would kick into a new cycle I would jump. I was able to get a copy of the MRI as I left the center and I immediately posted the information online so that my brother Kirk, an orthopedic surgeon in Colorado could look at it. I actually downloaded the MRI info to my computer and tried to analyze the images. The images were a complete mess and I could barely understand anything. I could see an outline of my knee and various components but that was all. I thought I saw my ACL attached to the knee bone but it turns out I was dead wrong. My brother Kirk called me after a few days and he said that my ACL was indeed torn. He said without a physical inspection of the knee, he couldn't really diagnose anything else.

Today I went to see Dr. Kim. He asked me how I was doing. I replied that I was hanging in there. The next utterance Dr. Kim said, "Your ACL was torn in two. I looked on the MRI and the ACL is basically gone. You'll need surgery." Boom. There it was. Cut and dry and no nonsense. I gathered myself quickly and then asked to see the MRI, not because I doubted him but I was curious how in the world he was able to decipher anything from the mess of images known as the MRI. He pulled up the main photo and rotated it to show where the ACL should be and that there was nothing left but a dark mess of muck. He told me that I actually have 2 options in dealing with this injury. Option A - don't fix it, allow it to heal but I'd have to quit all my sports and activities or wear a brace that may or may not prevent further injury. Basically I'd have to give up my active lifestyle, no surfing, no skiing, no anything. Option B - ACL replacement surgery. 4-6 months of rehab and I'd be as good as new. Needless to say I opted for surgery immediately.

Dr. Kim explained that the reason why the knee swells up so much when the ACL ruptures is due to blood leakage. The ACL carries blood and when it rips or tears it leaks blood all over. Internal bleeding results in a huge fat swollen knee. Pretty gross. He then explained how the ACL is repaired or rather replaced. Almost always now days, they harvest a strain of the hamstring and screw it into the opposite knee bones. The hamstring is not a blood carrier and it is very, very strong. The ACL holds your tibia to your knee joint. Without it, your tibia could come up and out from your knee producing a terrible injury. Plus without a ACL, the knee can move around and produce complicated injuries. Dr. Kim makes an orthoscopic incision about an inch long and goes in and cleans out the knee and replaces the ACL. Pretty cool way to repair the ACL in my opinion. I was pretty optimistic at this point when I suddenly remembered the experience my friend Burk Adams had when he tore his ACL in high school. I started to sweat and became light headed. I had to lay down on the table or I would have fainted.

Burk, pictured left, blew out his knee playing football in his senior year at Meridian High School in Meridian, ID. A couple of his friends and I went to the hospital to give Burk our support. While we were walking in the hall to go to his room we heard a scream followed by faint sobbing and then pleading stemming from one Burk Adams. It turned out that Burk needed a catheter due to his surgery. As a boy in high school, a catheter is pretty painful especially during the insertion. Burk was doped up on pain medication but he knew that the catheter (aka "The Tube") was coming. He pleaded to the nurse to let him have another half hour to pee. He kept saying "No tube. No tube!" Nurse said she couldn't wait because his bladder was terribly full and he simply wasn't able to relieve himself. So all of his friends stayed outside in the hall while the nurse plugged in the Tube into Burk. It sounded as if the tube was a garden hose because Burk was vocal with his discomfort. After that event, I considered Burk to be the bravest guy I'd ever known. I have always been very wimpy when it comes to blood, needles and hospitals in general. I couldn't take it and I had to sit down with my feet up to avoid fainting. So, ever since that fateful day I've been terrified of being in the hospital and having a catheter. Just the thought of it makes me light headed.

Dr. Kim gave me the best possible news under the existing circumstances. He said that ACL surgery is an outpatient operation now and that I wouldn't need a catheter. I was so relieved. No Tube, no needles, and hopefully no pain. That was my plan. Dr. Kim gave me the date of March 23rd for the surgery at 10:45 am. Sounds good. I'm going to continue to ice my knee and bend my knee to prepare myself for the operation in two weeks.