Best way to say goodbye to these items? By giving hope to someone else who needs it. That said, I’m going to donate all of these items.

There’s a lot of worthy causes out there where you can donate your crutches–Salvation Army, Veteran’s Hospitals and nursing homes, to name a few.

Here’s a great e-how article on the best way to do this. Read it here.

I was told by this point, things would be getting back to normal–crutches would disappear, swelling would fade and mobility would miraculously come back, full swing. I feel as though I’m on a slight delay because not only was my ACL repaired, but so was the lateral meniscus. Anyway, my recovery is just taking a little longer than I thought. I’ve planned a successful-recovery trip to New Zealand in September, so I just hope that I’ll be better by then.

At 3 Weeks, here’s the knee stats:

-Bending at 106 degrees

-Still swollen, but starting to see a bit of my old kneecap

-Still scarred, but using Mederma 4x/day for the next 5 weeks (Use for 8 weeks for new scars)

-Still in the locked brace ( I take it off at work and while watching TV so I can “breathe” and stretch the leg out

-PT 2x/week. might start going to the gym to supplement for less than stellar insurance, which only technically covers 10 PT visits…seriously? seriously lame.

-Still on crutches, but I use one crutch around the office and apt.  

-Currently swimming in a sea of hosiptal bills, dr. bills and PT bills (Most people have a file, I have a box!)

I realize not everyone wants to see my stitches (actually the steri-strips cover the stitches, but there’s plenty to see), so you can click here to see the damage from a patella tendon ACL reconstruction. You don’t have to look. My goal is to provide a realistic portrayal of recovery, so the pic is there if you need it.

In other ACL news, my last few days have been a strict schedule of rest, exercise and quality time spent in my CPM machine. I see my surgeon next Thursday and I want him to remove my stitches and allow me to start physical therapy then. That said, my main focus is to get the swelling, which is pretty prominent, to go down. Here’s what I’m doing each day to get me closer to those goals.

-I spent four hours in the CPM machine. (1hr. in the morning, 2hrs. in the afternoon and 1hr. before bed)

-After each CPM session, I go for a walk with my crutches, utilizing the “touchdown method.”

-I exercise after each walk. Here are the Week 1 post-op exercises as recommended by the Northwestern Orthopaedic Institute: Knee Extensions (straight), Knee Extensions (prone leg hangs), Sitting Knee Flexion/Extension, Isometric Hamstring & Quadricep Contractions, Co-Contractions w/Hams & Quads, Ankle Pumps, Straight Leg Raises and Range of Motion (bend & stretch as far as you can). This is just a list. I plan to expand upon each in future posts.

I can tell you from my own experience that there is a lot to get used to after surgery, even the simple things like, how to get out of the bed, If you need to get surgery, just make sure you take at least a week off work to really focus on you reducing swelling, getting back on your feet and re-learning how to move around your home.