This week, long term Red E Personal Trainer, Tegan, is back in her home town of Adelaide to undergo a knee reconstruction. She is going to document her experience – from when she initially found out, to the surgery, to her recovery. We hope you enjoy reading her sometimes humorous, sometimes nervous and sometimes frustrated account of her op and recovery. Once she’s back home in Mackay, we will be rehabilitating her and she’ll be up and running again in no time! She’s a tough cookie, this won’t keep her down for long!
Here’s part one of her ‘diary’:
***
Between the age of 19 and 21 years I had 3 arthroscopes to remove torn cartilage and tidy up a slight ACL tear, from injuries sustained while playing Lacrosse. By the 3rd meeting with my knee surgeon, on my 21st birthday he advised me to have my ACL reconstructed.
However… I didn’t have time for that, I had a party to attend a few days later to celebrate my birthday! The surgeon agreed to a 3rd arthroscope but encouraged me to return within 12 months for the reconstruction, which I have managed to put off for almost exactly 5 years. I must win some kind of procrastination award, surely.
I slowly built up strength in my legs to support my knee using my super PT skills, and as everyone with knee problems knows some days they are strong and some days they are unstable, that is just they way it is. Every so often I’d have a little ‘hiccup’ but it never really held me back from my training for more than a day or two. I gradually progressed to plyometrics and long distance running, completing two half marathons during 2011, and becoming a master of the box jumps!!
Since the start of 2012 the ‘hiccups’ were becoming a little more regular, and I was noticing a few more aches and pains, then I had a couple of big hiccups… one too many ninja tuck jumps at a ‘Red E Trainers’ group workout and then the really big one in the first five seconds of my Dodge Ball debut game. This one even required a bit of RICE therapy post game and a trip to the doc the following week (I don’t like to rush these things).
(a nasty tuck jump)
The Doctor’s verdict: she sent me for an MRI but in the mean time I could continue strength training and running – once it could be done reasonably pain-free – to preserve muscle strength and size in case a reconstruction was needed (this would help with rehabilitation).
So I booked the MRI for the following week and in the mean time did just what the Dr said! I smashed out a few cycle classes, and continued my workouts, but each time I tried to run I had to pull up pretty quickly, this was getting very frustrating for me and poor Ivan (my puppy).
So on Thursday the 10th may, Selina and I did our usual lunch time workout in the studio, and I decided to finally give the legs a good hit! I felt pretty good – some cautious plyometrics and jumping around. The little bit of discomfort was hardly worth sacrificing a good muscle burn, until about 4:30pm when I picked up the MRI results…. Now I know why there is a big label saying “To be opened only by the referring doctor”…because she (me, the patient!) knows what it means!!
“Impaction fracture posterolateral aspect of lateral tibial plateau.”
“Long standing complete ACL tear.”
“Horizontal cleavage tear”
“Uncomplicated Baker’s cyst”
The first reading the only words I saw were “fracture” “complete ACL tear” “cyst”
The second reading the only word I took notice of was “uncomplicated” and “cleavage” (real mature)
Ahhh thats sounds better…. : )
So I headed in to work for Bootcamp, and then on my way home I got a call from the Dr….“You have a fracture in your tibia, you should be on crutches, and we need to put you in a cast tomorrow”
Me: “But I’m not in that much pain”
Dr: “You need to come in tomorrow”
Then mild panic set in as I rang my mum, partner and Selina to give everyone a heads up, not knowing if I’d be plastered up and banished to non-weight bearing for 2 days or, for 6 weeks!?!? I was secretly hoping when the doctor saw me walk in she’d say ..
“oh no it wasn’t a fracture, there was just a crack on the MRI screen, my bad”
So Friday morning the DOMS had set in and my knee was screaming at me from that crazy leg workout. When I got to the doctors I did my best to walk straight and prove to her I didn’t need a cast even demonstrating a perfect squat to seal the deal. It worked! But she made me promise no training until it’s fixed. Which meant I’d have to get it done ASAP!
So it’s locked in…date set, flights booked, panic setting in….
Coming to terms with time off, from work and training is the hardest part!
I’m also petrified of waking up and finding a drain tube coming out of my knee. My surgeon is known for being very straight forward, no fluff. When he saw my dad who had the drain for his reconstruction, he walked in and whipped it out mid-hello!! Just like a band-aid!
Now I know I can use this opportunity to prove how important nutrition can be and how to work around injuries to maintain your training and stay on track with your goals. Sure my goals have changed a little, but I now have the hunger and passion to aim even bigger than before!
(Tegan – 15th May, 2012)
