ACL reconstruction!

Warning, long text with some graphic descriptions of surgery and side effects.

So today was my surgery day. I thought I’d give some details about what happened and how it all went.

I woke up at 4.25am, had my last sip of water with my thyroid medicin. Then I had a shower and got ready for going to the hospital.

At 7am I arrived at the hospital and after a few minutes of waiting I was sent up to pre-operation ward. There I was given a hospital gown and some paper underwear. All my belongings had to be labelled and put away. I was then told to lay down on a bed and got this special “warming” blanket which looked like huge bubble wrap and warm air was pumped into it. It was very comfy, I have to say.

Before I went in to theathre and before they put me under the “warming blanket”. Will find a picture of that later.

Various people came to see me and ask questions about my health and wellbeing. Nurses, doctors, surgeons and an anesthetist. At 8.30am I was wheeled into theatre, the anesthetist put a needle in my left hand but no blood came out. He then had to put it in my right hand after a few trials of hitting the left one. When that was done he put the anesthetic in and said “aaaand sleep”. Immediately the room started spinning and I closed my eyes. After this I can’t remember a thing.

The next thing I can remember is waking up in the PACU (post anesthetic care unit) at 10.45am. At this point I was feeling very sick and everything was still spinning. My vision was also very blurred and I couldn’t focus on anything. I was offered water and given some anti-sickness medicin. This made me feel a lot better.

At noon, I was given some wholemeal toast and a cup of tea. I was really looking forward to this as I had been fasting up until that point. But after one sip of tea and two bites of toast I felt sick again and this time it all came up. I was given some more anti-sickness medicin and water, and at this point I was very reluctant to try any more food.

At 1.30pm it was decided that I was too weak to go home the same day. I was dizzy, faint and felt nauseous so I was sent up to a ward to stay over night. Before that I had a few x-rays to make sure all the screws were in place correctly. The surgeon came to me and told me that the surgery had gone very well, he was especially happy with the hamstring graft that will act as my new ACL. He also told me I had beautiful tendons!

Poorly me, feeling sick and dizzy… Got oxygen to make me feel less dizzy…

2pm, I got up to the ward and vomited again. Everything was spinning and I really didn’t feel well. Got more anti-sickness medicine and felt better for a few hours. I dozed off several times and was in some sort of half unconsciousness.

My part of the hospital room, that I shared with two others. It was a very lovely atmosphere there and all the staff were so lovely.

At 3pm a physiotherapist came to visit me and let me know what I needed to think of. She checked how much I could bend and extend my leg and said all was fine. As soon as she left I dozed off again…

At 4.30pm Rob came to visit me, it was great to see a familiar face. We spoke for hours and it made me forget about the pain and nausea for a while. But then I felt sick again and vomited for a third time. After that I felt better however and we kept chatting.

At 6pm I got some supper. I got lovely wholemeal chicken sandwiches with some vegetables and a cup of vegetable soup. As yummy as it was it all came up for a fourth time…

My lovely supper that I couldn’t keep down

Tomorrow I’ll be learning to walk again, and hopefully I’ll be able to eat and keep it down. I should also be going home, which will be great

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