The deed is done

Got my surgery on 17th May.

Thought it would be good to relax for a while before this given the hard work i imagined would be required for rehab purposes. Elaine and me had 9 nights on Ibiza returning on 15th May. Very quiet, relaxing and just what we were after.

Went in to hospital on 17th with the operation that afternoon. The idea being that i could get home the following day if all was well. It wasn't. The surgery went fine with my own hamstring tendons harvested to make the new ACL but the silly buggers gave me a Patient Controlled Analgesia(PCA) device post op. This allows you to push a button when sore for immediate delivery of a controlled amount of medicine. Morphine in this case. The nurses encouraged me to use it quite freely however I think i may have got a bit carried away.

During the night i was sore, unable to stay asleep for more than 10-15 mins, or so it seemed, and was anticipating the pain becoming worse when the local anaesthetic added in theatre wore off. Once pressed the device locks you out for 5mins so you cant really over do it but i zapped myself loads during that night and suffered on Tuesday. Feeling nauseous, head spinning and falling asleep throughout the day in the fashion of heroin related gouching I couldn't take part fully in the physiotherapy. No going home till they had me on the stairs and it was going to have to wait till the next day.

So two nights in hospital then home. The pain and swelling seemed much less than with my arthroscopy last November. Went back to the physio yesterday and got a few more exercises to add in. Even at this early stage they, along with regular icing, are making quite difference to the swelling and discomfort. Funny that. Will be seeing the physio weekly and have a copy of the whole protocol which is likely to take at least 6 months. There is definitely a light on the horizon.

The exercises aren't particularly difficult and are done in 4 sessions per day. It is a bit time consuming but i've got plenty of that just now. Probably takes about 3 hours altogether for the sessions.

Feeling optimistic.

Concrete plan...

...or not as the case may be.

Saw the physio yesterday and told him of the new plan ie Ironman UK cancelled for this year and will be having the surgery instead. He thinks this is a good decision and should particularly benefit because of how active i want to remain for the next 83 years.

My plan now is to get the leg big and strong pre-op to give me a better recovery post-op. Hope it works. The physio gave me a copy of the rehab protocol and suggested i concentrate on the final couple of phases of that just now before the real hard work has to begin. I dont know how much Jeremy Kyle i'll be able to handle when mainly couch based during the first week or two of the road back.

I've been concentrating on my hamstrings as advised and can feel quite a difference in them from a couple of weeks ago. Think it's even perking up my erse. Good times/

In the beginning...

... i had nothing wrong with me. Now I do.

This blog will be (if i dont get fed up doing it) about waiting for my Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction and the recovery process.

A wee bit of background first. I've always been quite active even when I was fatter, smokier and pissed quite a lot. Maturity brought a new vibe to my life and with it I decided to become immortal. Getting fit was part of the plan and I managed it relatively well for an overweight, non smoker who still enjoyed a drink. Running was the staple and i managed a few half marathons at middle of the pack pace during my 20's.

The first major spanner in the works was rupturing my right ACL playing football in 1999. No surgery at that time, rehab by physio instead. I managed to return to a reasonable level of fitness within a few months. Cycling had been a major part of the rehab and fortunately i liked it. Got back playing football but still getting niggles after games. It would only be another 6 years before i decided to give it up and what a great difference it made to the knee. Funny that, who'd've thought?

Back in time, a little, again. I hit 30 in 2002 and had a revelation that all the stuff i'd been saying i'd like to do was never actually getting any closer to being done. A triathlon had always tickled my fancy, so i did one that year and continued doing them with the peak being completing Ironman UK in 2006. I was really enjoying endurance sport and had moved up to running marathon distance with my first effort at Edinburgh in 2004. It was the worst physical torture i'd ever put myself through. Within a day or two though i was thinking i could and knew how to do better. I was right. Still not knocking on elite athletes doors but got a best time of 3:39 at London in 2006.

The endurance stuff seemed to suit me. Not very fast but can go on and on. Another on my want to do list had been the Marathon Des Sables. I was delighted to complete this in 2009 and was, i think, the 25th British male home. I hope there was more than 26 British males taking part. Unfortunately in the year before and since i have struggled with knee related injury. It seems all the off road running with packs and an unstable knee joint has taken it's toll.

I had knee surgery at the end of 2009 requiring partial lateral and medial meniscectomies. The recovery since then has been slow and following discussions about my future hopes for sport (i hope to be doing endurance and ultra endurance for many more years) the surgeon has very kindly agreed to give me a new ACL.

It's around a 3 month wait for the op from now. I'll be trying to get as fit as i can before the op to help me out on the other side. Got the physio this week and will hopefully have a concrete plan in place from then.