Surgery Update: Success

Double peace signs pre-sugery, post-drugs

First, and most importantly: congrats to all the ITA baller athletes who are qualifying for London. We get internal emails within the group about milestone accomplishments, and they are coming fast and furious at the moment. The newest Olympic entry goes to Lea Davison, WOOHOO!!!! It's pretty sweet and very motivating to read about the success ITA athletes are having. Keep it up!

Now, for the update.

I'm getting good at surgery. This being my fourth trip under the knife and second in three months, I had few questions heading into Wednesday's procedure. I got into DEN 12:30 the night before, and arrived at the Vail Valley Surgery Center at 8am on a little more than 4 hours of sleep. I was first up on doctor's surgery to-do list, and by 8:24am I was in a gown, my leg was shaved, and I had an IV in. My only issue was that I was insanely hungry. Flight delays and pre-surgery food restrictions after midnight meant that I hadn't eaten anything substantial since 2pm the day before, so I was happy to see the process moving along so quickly.

Things continued to go quickly, efficiently, and without much ceremony. Each doctor/nurse/hospital person I dealt with would begin with "I see that you've done this plenty of times before so you know what's going to happen. Any questions?" I even knew some of the people from last time! I'm still a huge chicken shit about needles, but even that wasn't too bad. The IV was almost worse than the enormous needle that went into my hip for the nerve block (I was already half under at that time, otherwise I would have fainted. Again.). By 11:30 the surgery was complete, I was back in reality, and spent the rest of the day eating, resting, and taking a ride on the Grade A IV-induced no pain train.

Post-op, things have been great. The team at Howard Head Physical Therapy has done an amazing job getting the swelling out of the knee in a short time, allowing me to regain control of my quad muscle and limit the amount of atrophy. I think the relaxed and positive attitude that I took toward this procedure has contributed to the progress as well. I didn't dwell on the fact that I was getting operated on in June, and instead just went in, got fixed, and am continuing to heal. My rehab schedule is still unbelievably slow (not much for the first 6 weeks), but I've never had such high range of motion without pain before. Things are definitely going in the right direction and it's great to be on the road to a full recovery.

I'm looking towards a productive and fun summer, even if I won't be in Zermatt, Chile, New Zealand, or anywhere else my summer schedule usually takes me. The prep nurse shaving my leg recommended shaving both legs for the whole summer "so I won't look so funny", but we'll see. Thanks for all the support from everyone, so far so good!

Bring on the Next One!

FIS forms and rehab schedules...all part of the road to recovery

I finally have a date set for my (hopefully) last surgery. Dr. Millett remarked in my meeting last week that the bone tunnels have filled in quicker than expected and that I am recovery ahead of schedule. I had hoped that my extensive experience in the post-surgery healing department might speed up the process, and he confirmed this by saying my diet and rest schedule probably had a lot to do with my recovery....well aren't I a model patient!

This next/last surgery, scheduled for June 13th, will give me an ACL. I have been without one the past 10 weeks and would very much like to have back in my life. Looking at my leg right now, the quad muscle has stayed relatively strong, I'm walking around and biking like a normal person, even the hairs on my legs have grown back from the first surgery leg shave. It's a little bit of a bummer that I'll be going under the knife so deep into shorts season, but I couldn't be happier to know the date of this procedure as it provides a much better view of my healing schedule going forward.

Hoping for a good surgery and a fast recovery!