Well...since I am going to have more downtime than I am used to in the upcoming weeks, and months I've decided to blog about my journey. What journey you ask? The journey of my completely torn ACL and meniscus.....but let me start off with a little bit of backround.
I am a wife to a pretty great husband and a SAHM of 4 wonderful kids.....to say I'm busy is an understatement. Health & fitness are my passions. I've worked out pretty consistently over the past 4 years. I go to the gym and have probably tried every workout there is on the market. I love keeping it new and I get bored easily. Working out and living a healthy lifestyle are important to me. Not only does it help me be a better mom by de-stressing me, it is giving my children a look at what a healthy life is and setting an example for them. Over the past 1.5 years I've taken up running. Not aggressively, but definitely something that I love and something that has become my new "me" time. Even now, I feel as if running is still new to me. It is something that I cannot completely conquer. Running is something I truly have to work at and I love the challenge. There is nothing better than the feeling after a great or even a not so great run. So, I guess this injury is just another part of my journey here on earth. To remind me of how very lucky I am and to not take things for granted! Crap, who would've thought I'd be brought to tears by the thought of not being able to run for a long while!
Now onto my injury! I love to be active and being able to keep up with my kids.....I never really thought much about it. I just enjoyed my time goofing off and playing with the kids. All that changed one recent Sunday evening. Jumping and flipping on the trampoline is something I do often. I mean really, we have 2 trampolines in our backyard! My latest jaunt on our trampoline began uneventful like any other day. However this time, while doing a back flip that I have done a thousand times, something went wrong. I landed the damn thing as my knee twisted, went pop and down I went. Immediate swelling and the inability to straighten or bend it completely. I knew it was bad! Off to the orthopedics office I went the next morning!
Fast forward a week or so after my initial meeting with my orthopedic surgeon. It was a Tuesday and I was heading in to see Dr. S for my MRI results....initial thoughts before my MRI, were that it was a torn meniscus and that is what was causing my knee to be locked. I was in complete denial, I had looked at my MRI photo's and compared them to youtube and any other website I could find and my meniscus looked intact and healthy to me. Even if it was torn, it's a quick surgery and recovery is relatively quick for a knee injury. Then he spoke those words, Kelly, you've completely torn your ACL, and have a torn meniscus. We may need to operate twice, no running, no skiing, 6 month recovery, autograft/allocraft ACL. Oh, and since we'll be using a cadaver ACL there is also the risk for contracting life threatening infections....Uhm, Dr. S, we both better knock on wood because clearly you can see the luck I have. Once my head stopped spinning, I spoke with Dr. S at length. He was optimistic that if I worked on stretching my knee and getting it straight, he would only have to operate once. We set up a follow-up appt to check on my progress for 3 weeks out and my surgery was set for 9/29. I am allowed the bike, the elliptical and weight bearing exercises for my quads and hamstrings in preparation for surgery. Oh and lots of ice and ibuprofen!
It has been one week since that day! I am feeling good, my knee is sore, but the pain isn't too bad unless I twist it or try to bend down! I have been stretching, icing, and working out as instructed. I have 13 days until my follow-up appointment. Here I sit, putting it all out there, hoping that when I hit the pavement again I can see how far I've come and appreciate the simpleness of how great the ability of putting one foot in front of the other truly is.....
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