Surgery Flashbacks

Today my little sister had ACL Knee Surgery. She tore it while trying to be a rock star at Lakes Park and attempting to do a tumbling pass. It brought back vivid memories of the day I too had that surgery back in February of 2000. It was a Not-So-Fun time in my life, actually, it was pretty depressing. I was a senior in high school and it was two weeks shy of UCF Coed Cheerleading tryouts. I was devastated by the injury. I'll never forget how my appointment with Dr. Curcione went down. I sat in his exam room waiting for him to come in and take a look at my injury, and after a few little "tugs" at my knee that took a total of 5 minutes, my dreams to cheer in college were gone. I sat in that room with my mom, both of us sobbing, while he talked into a recorder about his examination of my knee and how I will require an MRI to verify the injury and then have to have ACL reconstructive surgery. Of course, now I know that it wasn't such an awful event, and it led me to other great opportunities (like cheering for Top Gun All Stars Open team), but then, at that very moment, I was crushed.

I'm always surprised by the irony of situations. Yesterday, while at Home Depot, I ran into the physical therapist who worked with me after my knee surgery. I told him that my sister was having knee surgery tomorrow and that she might be coming in to see him. He was stunned, but I'm sure excited by the news of a new patient. Mickey Jones was fantastic. I loved going to PT. One memory I'll never forget is when I was on the stationary bike, pedaling away while tears ran down my face because I was in so much pain. I had a huge knot on the top of my leg that hurt like a bitch, and yet I wouldn't stop, couldn't stop pedaling because I wanted so bad to get better. He massaged the giant knot out and then sent me to "the chair" to wrap my leg up in ice. I hated that wretched ice bandage. It was about the size of my entire leg. He would wrap my leg in a black garbage bag first and then slap on this ice pack. It was torture for about the first 5 minutes and then as my leg became numb from the cold, it actually felt good.

One of the exercises he had me do was sit in a rolling chair and try to scoot my way across the room using my legs. The first time I tried, I couldn't move at all. By the time my PT was coming to an end, I could clear the entire room with just one push. I was amazed by the progress.

The boys and I went over to my moms house today to see how Melissa was doing. She looked great! She was in a little discomfort but overall seemed to be doing pretty well. Those pain killers must have been doing their job. A few times she stumbled over her words and said some really random things. But the true test will come tonight when she tries to get some sleep and can't think of anything except how her leg hurts. Dr. Curcione told her that he used a different procedure on her than he did me. With my surgery, he removed the center third of the patella tendon with a piece of bone attached at either end and then used surgical screws to put it in place as the new ACL. With her surgery, he used a cadaver tendon. He told her the recovery time for her procedure will take less time.


"The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the major stabilizing ligament of the knee. The ACL is located in the center of the knee joint and runs from the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone), through the center of the knee. In this position, it functions to prevent a buckling type of instability of the knee.

Usually the tearing of the ACL occurs with a sudden direction change or when a deceleration force crosses the knee. The patient often feels or hears a popping sensation, has the rapid onset of swelling, and develops a buckling sensation in the knee when attempting to change direction.

The diagnosis of an ACL injury is usually arrived at by determining the mechanism of injury, examining the knee, determining the presence or absence of blood within the joint, and performing diagnostic studies. These may include x-rays, MRI scans and stress tests of the ligament.

The initial treatment of an acute ACL injury often includes ice, anti-inflammatory medication, and physical therapy which is directed at restoring the range of motion of the injured knee.

Although a number of different types of tissue have been utilized to reconstruct the ACL, the most common type of ACL reconstruction involves harvesting the central third of the patellar tendon with a bone block at each end of the tendon graft. After performing a diagnostic arthroscopic examination of the knee, the central third of the patellar tendon is harvested. The remaining tendon is then repaired. After harvesting the tissue, drill guides are used to place holes into the tibia (above the knee) and femur (bone above the knee). By placing the drill holes at the attachment sites of the original ligament, when the graft is pulled through the drill hole and into the knee, it will be placed in the same position as the original ACL.

After pulling the graft through the drill holes and into the joint to replace the torn ACL, the graft is then held in place with bioabsorbable screws or metallic screws."


So tonight I say a little prayer that my sister finds a bit of relief in her pain medication and that she has a speedy recovery! Oh, and that next time she uses more of her brain cells before thinking that she's still 18 and can perform those kinds of acrobatic maneuvers!