For those who don’t know I was supposed to have this done at the end of the 21/22 season but when I returned to work from skiing in March all hell broke loose at work and I ended up having to go back out into the field. Being in the field did not afford me the downtime required for this procedure. I retired when I was in Utah for the Gathering this year so time and work are no longer an issue.
I returned to my surgeons office today. He was wondering what had happened to me. We did some x-rays, manipulated the knee a bit, and talked for awhile. It will be an allograft aka donor or cadaver ACL that will be used to replace mine. He’ll clean up everything else while he’s in there. I need to get labs and a chest x-ray yet this week for the anesthesiologist and then we’ll schedule. Should happen within the next 3 weeks if all is good.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally be resolving this issue. I can’t tell exactly how or when it happened but it’s been a few years ago now. I’ve had multiple meniscus issues with this knee over the years and a prior ortho surgery in the early 90’s. so I’d grown accustomed to knee pain and issues. I’d no idea I’d completely severed my ACL until the fall of 21 when I had the imaging done.
I first realized I had an issue more serious than the intermittent pain or aggravation led me to believe when @ChunderBlunder and I went to Beaver Creek in December 19 for Birds of Prey. I powered through December and January of that season and then COVID hit. We only skied a few days the 20/21 season due to COVID so I just powered through that. @ChunderBlunder and I were in the gym 4-5 days a week and in the pool as much if not more than we were in the gym going into the 21/22 season so my conditioning allowed me to get away with a lot but the swelling was pretty extreme. Going into this season my conditioning was poor. @ChunderBlunder had left for the Air Force and my dedication to training suffered greatly. When I went out this year I lacked any real stability in the joint. It was really bad. I was surprised at how debilitating it had become.
Anyway, given it’s a common procedure for skiers I figured I would chronicle my journey here for what it might be worth to others. The procedure is the easy part. The rehab is where all the work resides. Doc expects me to be 100% in 8 months if I get back to my former fitness level.
On a side note, I also quit smoking when I returned from the Gathering this year. I plan to be in good shape for my first full ski season retired. I am excited to get back to improving my skiing as opposed to what I’ve been doing the past few years.
I returned to my surgeons office today. He was wondering what had happened to me. We did some x-rays, manipulated the knee a bit, and talked for awhile. It will be an allograft aka donor or cadaver ACL that will be used to replace mine. He’ll clean up everything else while he’s in there. I need to get labs and a chest x-ray yet this week for the anesthesiologist and then we’ll schedule. Should happen within the next 3 weeks if all is good.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally be resolving this issue. I can’t tell exactly how or when it happened but it’s been a few years ago now. I’ve had multiple meniscus issues with this knee over the years and a prior ortho surgery in the early 90’s. so I’d grown accustomed to knee pain and issues. I’d no idea I’d completely severed my ACL until the fall of 21 when I had the imaging done.
I first realized I had an issue more serious than the intermittent pain or aggravation led me to believe when @ChunderBlunder and I went to Beaver Creek in December 19 for Birds of Prey. I powered through December and January of that season and then COVID hit. We only skied a few days the 20/21 season due to COVID so I just powered through that. @ChunderBlunder and I were in the gym 4-5 days a week and in the pool as much if not more than we were in the gym going into the 21/22 season so my conditioning allowed me to get away with a lot but the swelling was pretty extreme. Going into this season my conditioning was poor. @ChunderBlunder had left for the Air Force and my dedication to training suffered greatly. When I went out this year I lacked any real stability in the joint. It was really bad. I was surprised at how debilitating it had become.
Anyway, given it’s a common procedure for skiers I figured I would chronicle my journey here for what it might be worth to others. The procedure is the easy part. The rehab is where all the work resides. Doc expects me to be 100% in 8 months if I get back to my former fitness level.
On a side note, I also quit smoking when I returned from the Gathering this year. I plan to be in good shape for my first full ski season retired. I am excited to get back to improving my skiing as opposed to what I’ve been doing the past few years.