Week 1 Recap

Heres a pic of my knee
4 days post op (12/21)










So right now I'm 9 days post op and a lot more mobile now than I was even a few days ago. I went back to the doctor on tuesday 12/21 for my checkup. Basically they took off all of the bandages and wraps which was awesome because my leg was starting to itch and i was very curious as to what was under the wraps. There were 3 ace-like wraps going from mid thigh all the way down to my foot. Under the wrap was some type of bandage that was pretty thick going from just below my knee to just above my knee, and then finally under that there was some sterile paper or gauze just on the knee covering all the wounds. Once I finally got to see it my knee was pretty swollen and similar in size as it was just after the injury happened back in october. After i got it all unwrapped I had to take some xrays to see how the innerds were doing.

Doctor finally came in and started pokeing and prodding. He tested my passive range of motion and to my surprise he got it to 90 degrees with little to no pain so that was really good although my hamstring is a limp noodle right now. He also had pictures of the inside of my knee from surgery, dont have a scanner at home and I'm not exactly sure what all of the pictures are showing so just imagine a bunch of pictures of some red and white stuff and then random tools sticking in there. The pictures of them actually threading my piece of hamstring they cut off through the holes they drilled in my knee are really interesting.

I also got my icing machine that day at the doctor and it is so awesome. Its a bucket that pumps ice cold water that you put in the bucket through a knee wrap. It makes icing 5-6 times a day a lot easier than ice in ziploc bags. Its also gunna make it easier once I'm back at school since i dont have an ice maker. Pro tip: using water bottles and sticking them in the freezer is apparently better and easier to keep the supply of ice going. I may even let some lucky friends on the team use it for their random ailments because i have a generic wrap that you can use on anything and anywhere. BUCKETS!

So basically right now I can walk without crutches but keep them around just in case my leg gets tired. Im supposed to wear my brace whenever I'm walking around but it gets really annoying so i leave it off when im laying around the house. I supposed to wear it until im able to flex my hamstring to extend my right leg and then raise it to 45 degrees and hold it for 5 seconds, 20 times. Seeing as i can't do that right now without really straining, I'll be wearing the brace for quite a while. Im thinking that this isnt the brace that id be wearing while playing, maybe i'll get a different one? who knows.

I have my first physical therapy appointment tomorrow at Accelerated Rehab in Schaumburg and Ill be there for another few weeks before I head back to school in champaign and continue my rehab with Christie clinic, which is where i got all my initial diagnosis and testing done in november. I head back to the doctor again on the 10th of january for my final checkup before i head back to Champaign for our week back of practice before classes start. Being at the gym for 5 hours will be pretty boss and my leg will probably be very sore because I plan on just doing rehab stuff the whole time. Im gunna see if I can switch that appointment to the week before so i dont have to miss the first day of practice but were already going about a week early because its supposed to be my 4 week check up which would put it on the 14th.

Thats all I have for now, that should get everyone caught up on how my knee is.

Day 1/2/3

So since I've been feeling the same theses past three days I'm gunna group them together as one big post.

So I have a bed setup in my basement with my computer right near me and the tv remote so I dont have to move for anything other than the bathroom. I crutch over the 10 feet to the bathroom and everything is pretty much right next to me. One thing about the bathroom issue is that due to the femoral nerve block that they used for anesthetic, it made it really hard to pee. I would sometimes get to bathroom and they I just couldn't go or it would take a lil more convincing than usual. That was annoying to say the least.

The pain is kind of odd to describe and I've tried to avoid it by keeping the pills flowing at their regulated times. I think the constant pressure from the brace and wrap produces more pain and discomfort that the surgery itself. I've mostly just been sleeping a lot and watching tv with some video games thrown in there as well. My butt is getting sore from sitting all the time and sleeping on my back as well/ (i usually sleep on my stomach).

I head back to the doctors office on wednesday for a checkup appointment and on the phone they said something about pics so maybe ill have some awesome pics of my surgery to show to you all. At home right now i've been working on the exercises that they gave me to do.

Exercises are: Hamstring contractions, quadriceps sets, straight leg raises, and ankle pumps.

I havent done many of the hamstring contractions yet because I've kept my leg in the brace for most of the time. I just took it out now while im laying down and writing this and its a hell of a lot nicer. I dont feel all the pressure on the leg from my brace so i might sit around like this more often.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what is under this big wrap on wednesday as well as being able to shower completely sometime soon. Ive washed by hair because it got pretty greasy and I felt really scummy.

So theres not much else to update you on, but theres probably going to be a lot more to tell come wednesday after the doctors appointment.

Day 0- The day of surgery

Once again thank you to everyone who has sent me messages or comments, they are all appreciated!

I was all set up for surgery scheduled at 2pm on Friday, December 17th . I had surgery at St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates, Illinois and my surgeon was Dr. Howard Freedburg. He performed a double bundle ACL reconstruction with a hamstring graft.

I'll go through what all happened the day of as accurately as I can. Some parts are a little hazy due to the anesthetics and drugs they were giving me.

So I showed up around noon to get the check in and prep stuff done before getting on the actual table. It started out with me having to change into some puke green colored gown and I had to get out of my illinois jersey, untouchables five shorts, and comfy wool socks. I was in a waiting room with my own tv so i was watching sportcenter while I waited. I was mostly worried about flashing the people walking by my junk so i made sure to keep the blanket covering me.

They first started me out with an IV of just fluids, but would be used later for more anesthetics. Then the "team" of anesthiologists (sp?) to start phase 1 of my drugging process. This first phase was called a femoral nerve block i think and its purpose was to numb my whole right leg from the hip down. She first had to do an ultrasound to place it correctly and then shoot me up with some big needles that i decided not to watch. Theres a small bruise on my groin where it went in that leaves me to believe it was pretty big. Sometime during all of this the nurse came in and shaved my right knee which was a weird sight. Then i was visited by my surgeon, Dr Howard Freedburg and he autographed my right knee with a sharpie in very large writing saying "YES!" to make sure that they didnt slice open the wrong knee.

After this they started the second phase of anesthetics and this is also where is starts getting fuzzy. They were wheeling me over to the surgery room where they transfered me to the other table and shot the rest of the drugs into the IV. It was very very cold in the surgery room and the last thing i remember them doing was putting some blankets on me that felt like they had just come out of the dryer, so that was nice.

I then woke up pretty groggy in another room that looked similar to my waiting room from before but as I looked past the curtain I could tell that it wasnt the same one. I noticed that my right leg was much bigger than my left, it was because i had a large wrap, brace, and some ice on it. Although i was still pretty numb from the surgery drugs, the nurse gave me my first round of hydrocodone which helped with the pain. I napped for another hour or so and then I got dressed back into my jersey and 5ive shorts, i got to rolla round in a wheelchair for a few minutes before my dad got to the ramp.

He picked me up and put me in the backseat of the van and we went home, but not before heading to portillos for some cheese fries and a chopped salad. This was all around 7 or 8pm Sadly my hunger wasnt as big as it had seemed. I only ate about half of my fries. I moved down to my set up that i have in my basement. It was pretty hard to fall asleep for anymore than 5 minutes at a time. Another anoying side effect which is from the anesthetics i think is that its difficult to pee. Something about the nerve block or something. its just another annoying thing that i have to deal with.

I didnt get any real sleep until 5am the following morning until about 9am.

Quick update

Thanks to everyone who has sent me comments or messages!

I had surgery yesterday and everything is going well. I'm really exhausted from the drugs so I'm gunna do a write up about the surgery and the day following sometime soon when I have more energy

I've been laying around mostly, I'm not that hungry due to the drugs i think. I had planned on playing a bunch of video games, but I dont know how much i can concentrate or stay awake. I do plan on watching ESPN's 30 for 30 movie called "The U" which is about the Miami football team when they were dominating.

Once again thanks to everyone for their support and advice!

How it Happened

As I outlined in my previous post, I tore my ACL at Rivalry Reheat in Ann Arbor,MI on October 23rd. It was in our first game of the weekend against GVSU. Everything was going as usual. We were up a few breaks to start off, but was somewhat expected. I had been our teams puller for the fall and was making some pretty good headway. I pull both backhand and forehand, but prefer my forehand, it all depends on the wind situation.

So sometime towards the end of the first half or beginning of the second I pull it forehand and it was a pretty good one, so I didnt hustle really hard down on the pull since I wasnt covering their main handler. I had pulled from the right side of the goal line because there was a small crosswind, so i tried to invert it a bunch and let it hang then fall to the middle of the field.

I'm running down and staying in the center of the field as I was running down to slow down the first cut in the middle of the field. As I was closing on my guy, now running at an angle to the sideline on left to meet my guy, the center handler swings it to the handler I was covering.

All in a split second I decided that I had a play on the disc and started a layout, but midway through this split second decision I decided that I probably couldnt get it and tried to back out. I ended up sticking down my right leg whiel extending with my right hand to maybe get a hand on it. My right foot landed somewhere in between my guys legs at an angle where the outside of my right foot hit the ground first. In any other conditions my foot probably wouldve just slipped out and fallen over. The perfect combination of a cushiony pillow like ground, too much traction (nike speed TD ftw), and getting tangled up with the handler I was guarding.

As it happened, I heard and felt the pop that everyone talks about. I immediately regret the play I tried to make, or if I had fully committed to it, maybe i wouldve gotten the D and everything would be peachy. Funny part about getting injured on those specific fields was that as I was laying on the ground there was UM's med school about 500 yards away and there had already been a few helicopters taking off and landing. For the rest of the weekend I iced and tried to keep it elevated. Later that day and the following day, my knee just didnt stop swelling and by th time monday rolled around, it appeared that I didnt have a knee due to all the swelling.

After a bunch of doctors appointments and a MRI later, it was determined that I had a complete ACL tear and I will be undergoing surgery tommorow at 3pm. Right now I'm eating my last meal because I cant eat after midnight tonight.

I will post when I get home from the hospital possibly with some pics of my knee and the sweet set up I have at home, everything is in reach.

About Me and This Blog

Well as most of you could probably expect i would much rather not be writing this blog right now, but rather be the proud owner of 2 functional ACL's. That sadly is not the case.

A little background info about me if you don't personally know me. I play for the University of Illinois' Men's Ultimate Frisbee Team. I'm a junior, and i started playing competitive ultimate my freshman year. I started out as a long with a limited amount of success. That whole season I wasn't very dedicated to ultimate and I spent some of my time with the Illini Wrestling club as I had wrestled in high school. This ultimately led to me getting cut to our C team my freshman year (we were a very deep program that year). We had only 1 or 2 handlers who had gotten cut to that C team so I decided to switch and it was probably the greatest idea I've made since coming to ultimate.

At the 1 and only C team tournament, D2 sectionals I also discovered that hucking it is awesome although we only won 2 games on the weekend. The summer following my freshman year I decided to play in 3 summer leagues with no real aspirations of getting better, but it kind of just happened naturally. My love of hucking continued into the summer and my forehand continued to get better and better. This eventually resulted in me playing club in the fall of my sophomore year with the local club team FC champaign. This provided me with the valuable experience that let me roll through the fall college tournaments with my new found position and new found throws.

Tryouts rolled around, Kinda boring to talk about, but myself and one other teammate from the C team the previous made the A team. To my knowledge its the first time in history its happened, but obviously we don't have a C team every year. I spent most of my sophomore year on the bench with some limited play time over the course of the year. Following that years nationals we were graduating 2 of our d-line handlers (I'm d-line fo lyfe).

So this year (my junior year) I was in a good spot to be our #2 d-line handler behind Ryan "Kennedy" Smith, (Former FOTY and 2nd team all region). We we're getting excited along with the rest of the class of 2012 (9 of us were on A team last year) for the promise of a strong team that would only improve from then on. We had a good showing this fall playing together as FC champaign and coming within 1 intense DGP with Beachfront Property from advancing the the Great Lakes Open Regionals. After the club season ended we had some impressive fall tournaments with 1 of our split squads winning whitesmoke, both split squads performing admirably at No wisco. Following No Wisco we had a preliminary split between Rivalry Reheat (@ michigan) and Glory Days. I would end up suffering my injury in the first game at Rivalry Reheat, but that will be outlined in the next post. In November we headed to MLC and had some good games, as well as some close ones that didn't go our way. I would like to think that with my presence that those close games would've gone our way instead.

Now I'm faced with the hard time of trying to come back from a huge injury that too many ultimate players have to go through. Lots of players end up tearing their ACL's but I couldn't find any specific information about their surgery, recovery, and rehabilitation and how it affected their play. I plan to post as much as I can about the process as I go through it and I'll probably end up talking about current ultimate news and other random stuff that seems to be the current topic on RSD.

I'm doing this all kind of last minute as my surgery is tomorrow at 3pm and the date has been looming for a while and I'm feeling a little anxious as to how its going to feel once I have an ACL again. As my knee is right now I sometimes forget that I'm injured until i twist it one way or another and it reminds me that I am not ok.

Basically I'm going to post a bunch of rehab updates and how fast I'm getting back to ultimate practice and games. Hopefully this will be helpful to some one in the future that has to face the same thing. If anyone who's gone through this surgery has any words of wisdom, feel free to tell me as all help is appreciated.