Round 2 - We Can Rebuild Him - The First Five Days

So, here we are again.  More prepared physically and mentally, all my ducks in a row, and really happy to get recovery going. I knew the moment of injury that I had done something severe to my meniscus allograft, and possibly to my ACL.  I was lucky that only the allograft was damaged, but it was pretty severe as per the MRI.  The tear caused daily pain, locking, and giving out so I was really hurting for the almost three months after the injury before surgery.  I was ready to get started healing instead of limping and babying the knee for one more day. 

We arrived at our room at the Marriott in SF, conveniently located next door to the surgery center, late the night before surgery.  We prepped everything for the 7:30 a.m. surgery time, I took the shower with the anti-bacterial wash, and crashed in bed exhausted. Frankly, the crazy day before surgery removed much of the nervousness, but I did waste a great dinner the night before feeling not-so-hungry and thinking about the next day. 

DAY 1-MT Revision Day

I woke early in the morning, showered again with the anti-biotic soap, and we walked across the street to Starbucks so my wife could grab a coffee.  It was torture looking through the glass at the pastries and smelling the coffee knowing I could have nothing!  We walked back across the street to the surgery center building at 6:20 a.m., and rode the elevator up by ourselves.  The surgery prep was very quick, and the pre-op nurse shaved the leg, cleaned it again, and I sat waiting for the call.

Ready to rock and roll.  No drugs were on board at this point!

Dr. Stone went through the procedure, I met the anesthesiologist, and they walked me back to the OR at 7:30 on the dot.  Of course, I was a bit nervous knowing the intensity of the surgery, but things went very smoothly pre-op, and it was time to get this show on the road.


I was positioned on the table, had a great chat with the anesthesiologist and Anne about riding bikes, I felt that feeling of complete relaxation (drugs were now on-board), and the next thing I new I was in the recovery room.

The recovery room was a relatively painless experience.  I don't' remember talking to Dr. Stone, but I was reminded a few times that the meniscus was beyond repair, and they put in a new one.  Surgery had gone perfectly, and I was finally on the road to recovery!  There was some minimal pain, but it was managed really well by the staff, and I was ready to go home before lunchtime.  They loaded me up in a wheelchair, and they graciously wheeled me all the way back to the hotel room. 

Proud owner of a second transplanted meniscus.  Stoked to think of the new adventures ahead.

Day one was so easy I almost wondered if they had done anything in there.  I wasn't hungry at all, but had very little pain.  We kept the ice machine flowing, although the cooling pad didn't help much because it was over the surgical dressings.  It still felt good to have the cooling sensation, and I kept trying to sneak a few extra minutes of ice time.  We kept it elevated, watched a movie, and crashed for the day.  I barely needed any pain medication, but we knew the harder days were coming.

Ice and elevation is key to pain/swelling relief.  The ice-machine is my best friend.

DAY 2

I was going to rent a wheelchair for this round, but found it was cheaper to buy one on Amazon.  It was a great investment ($120).  The path from the hotel room to the car was long, and my wife wheeling me to and from the car was a life-saver.  It also enabled us to eat breakfast in the restaurant, and the staff from the Marriott was so awesome.  It has provided me with a tremendous amount of freedom for us to attend some things I couldn't handle crutching.  So, we had breakfast, and shot over to the Stone Clinic for some rehab.  Trish put me through the Day 2 paces, and while there isn't much going on Day 2 (since they keep the bandages on), we were able to work on the begginings of rehab. 

Trish and me putting in work on Day 2!

After rehab they offered to have me have the post-op MRI that day so we could leave a little sooner on Day 3 to avoid the traffic.  Getting the MRI wasn't that fun.  My leg started to kill sitting still for 45 minutes, but Mark was awesome and we chatted about cars and bikes making the time go by pretty fast.  At least I was done with that task.  The rest of Day 2 was uneventful, the pain started creeping in, but we had a light dinner at the hotel restaurant, and crashed for the night.  I can't thank my wife enough for taking care of me, and you will need help for the first week (at least) after an MT.

DAY 3 

The morning of Day 3, as with my first MT, sucked a little.  I had some pretty severe pain around 5:30 in the morning that concided with the next cycle of pain meds.  I took two percocet, and felt way better when they kicked in.  We had a light breakfast from Starbucks, packed and wheeled to the car, and went over to the Stone Clinic for some Day 3 PT and the bandage change.  The knee looked, well, this is what is looked like:

Smaller holes this time around!

Well leg with compression sock, ready to get this rehab rolling!

I had a really good PT session with Susana, and then we took off for home.  The drive was going to be long, but we thought we would miss the traffic by taking the long way.  We were totally wrong, and the two-hour drive took four and a half.  It pretty much sucked, but we did have a bluebird day as we were leaving SF. 

The exact spot where I proposed to my wife 22 years ago!  I was feeling so great, we stopped for a quick photo!

DAY 4-5

Day 4 I had planned to attend a football game at my alma mater, UC Davis.  I had my chair, our stadium is fully handicap accessible, and I was feeling pretty to very good.  The game didn't go our way, but I was invited to watch from the President's box by some Aggie Staff, and it made the game quite enjoyable.  I was able to keep my knee comfortable in the wheelchair, and things went very smoothly.  I pushed it a little to hard by going out to dinner afterwards, and felt some pain from that poor decision, but overall this was a very sooth recovery.

Aggies lost, but I was able to make my one and only game this year.  Thanks to the wheelchair, we were able to have a great time on Day 4

Day 5, I hit the the gym for some rehab, stretching, and a very light upper-body workout.  The rest of the day was dedicated to the couch, ice-machine, and football.  Pain was very controllable with Tylenol, and a few percocets, and I was excited to start with my local PT the next day.

PT on my own, some very light modified Yoga, and upper-body workout on Day 5