Today is my five-month anniversary with my newly constructed ligament.
Overall things have been going well. I think my biggest obstacle now is life getting in my way. It’s hard to stick to a 2/day PT schedule when you work long hours, socialize and overall are feeling a little bit more back to normal. Not that normal, though. I still try to make it to PT twice a week, but find myself cancelling a lot of those appointments due to the aforementioned commitments of “life.” Some of it I can control, while others I can’t.
Right now I feel like I’m in a weird holding period of “feeling fine to go about the normal day” but “not up to par with normal physical activities.” I can walk to work just fine, substitute the stairs for the elevator with no problem, but I’m just not back to my old physical regime–soccer two nights a week, the gym every other night, run 3 miles, then play various other sports throughout the week. I’ll get there. I just have to reevaluate the importance of pushing myself to go beyond getting through the normal day and getting back into normal activities. Besides, if I want to be skiing by the end of January, I think I have my work cut of for me.
If it helps any, at least it did for me, go back and look through the pictures of your progress. Maybe you have pictures after surgery, your scar progression or any pictures of you post-op. Now, think about where you are today–how you feel, how your strength is and your mobility. Finally, take your hand and give yourself a big ol’ pat on the back. Congrats, champ! You’re that much closer to your normal life.
I think about the bandages, the CPM machine, the pain killers that made me sick, the crutches, that damn brace in the middle of summer and my humility–none of those things are present in my life anymore. I hope you continue to shed layers of bad ACL experiences every day.
After Surgery–ACL Scar 
i know how you feel i hate/hated every minute of this
your knee does not look right. why is it all scabbed up like that?
It looks like this because this was taken right after surgery. No scabs, just some blood and banadages that covered my patellar tendon graft incision.
Wow. I know how you feel. It’s kinda of a relief in a weird sense to know that someone else is going thru what I have gone thru. I got my reconstruction on Aug 18, 09. The 5 months post op things you were feeling when you wrote this is exactly what I’m going thru right now.
I feel encouraged. A person only really understands a knee injury when they have gone thru it.
Hang in there, Liz! Anyone with the patellar/scope scars know this is a very tough process. It gets better, but feel free to add you frustrations in the comments section! I, too, apprecaite knowing that I’m not alone.