Forgot to mention--I also have an enormous bruise on the back of my knee. It's sort of a dark brown color now. I look forward to its inevitable hues of green and purple.

For any women (or vain men) out there having this--or any--surgery, I want to recommend a few cosmetic procedures that will make your life happier in the few days following the surgery.

1) Have a pedicure. Your legs will be ugly after the surgery, but your feet will be beautiful.
2) Have a manicure too. This may be one of the few times you will not be standing around doing the dishes, so enjoy the extra time the polish will last.
3) Shave your various body parts at the last possible minute. It'll give you an extra few days/hours/minutes before you cross that line and start looking like a Sasquatch.
4) Have your eyebrows shaped and tinted, and your eyelashes dyed. It's perfectly safe these days, and it will make you look like you're wearing makeup at a time when you really won't want to bother to put any on.

I didn't take any painkillers at all yesterday during the day and my knee was slightly achy but fine. I took some of the Coproxamol before I went to sleep. When I woke up, my leg was slightly more achy, but I tried to stretch it out before I got up, and now it's fine. No painkillers. Again, I am walking with full weight on the leg wearing the brace.

I've also been able to walk on the leg without the brace, but I'm very careful not to get into positions where I will have to do that. Last night I took off the brace and put it on the vanity table bench on the left side of the bed (which was stupid because that's Jon's side of the bed), so this morning I had to get up and walk over to the bench to get the brace. The knee doesn't complain about this sort of treatment at all, but I worry that I could make a false move and end up twisting it or bending it too much.

I have been icing it regularly with the gel packs. It's still pretty swollen, and I guess it probably will be for about three weeks (if this is anything like the arthroscopy).

The most irritating thing right now is the waterproof bandage. It's a godsend because I can shower when I want, but it's itchy and plastic and stuck to my skin and I want it off so badly! I have already peeled up one corner, which was marginally satisfying. You can leave them on for up to 7 days, so I'm going to remove it either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Last time the arthroscopy wounds were so tiny that I just didn't bandage them after removing the steristrips. I could probably do the same with the three little wounds this time, but I worry about the larger one-inch wound with the running stitches underneath it. I should probably rebandage that one and re-cover it. I guess I'll decide what to do with it when I see it. The brace hits me just on top of that one-inch incision, so I should probably bandage it with something just to keep it cushioned.

The second most irritating thing is the brace. I want it off now. I understand why I have to wear it, but it's quite large and stiff and makes me walk unnaturally, and I don't want to develop a weird walk just because the brace is too large for a 5'3" woman, which, by the way, is the average height for a woman in London--and my legs are long for my body, so there's no reason why they shouldn't make a brace that fits me, especially when more ACL injuries are incurred by women than men. Gah! It's just like when I broke the top joint in my left pinkie finger and they didn't have any braces that fit my fingers because they're "child" sized, and children don't need a brace when they break that joint. ARGH!

Rant over.

So on my wishlist:
1) bandage off
2) brace off
3) get full range of motion back
4) start running again

I miss running so much :(

After yesterday I decided I can't take any more of that particular pain medicine in the daytime. It makes me too zombie-like. I took some before bed last night, but I haven't had anything today, and I'm fine.

My leg and knee are slightly sore, but not in any serious way. I have managed to bend my leg to the 90-degree limit while wearing the brace, and I can take showers easily thanks to my waterproof bandage. I have to say, reading everyone else's accounts of the aftermath of this surgery, I was expecting to be in smelly agony for a couple of weeks. Either the others had masochistic surgeons or they're total wimps. Or maybe there have been significant advances in the technology so that the surgeons don't have to be so invasive. In any case, I feel mostly fine.

I'm home again.

On Tuesday I got to the hospital around noon. The hospital was very nice, sort of like a hotel, really. The porter took me up to my room, where I sat in a chair and read for a while. I was visited by the anesthetist, the physiotherapist, and my surgeon before the surgery, and then one of the nurses came in and gave me a hospital gown and paper panties and checked my blood pressure and other vitals. About 4:00 they wheeled me down to the surgery ward, put a needle in my hand, and I was out!

When I came to, I didn't have any bad reaction to the anesthetic at all. Previously when I've had a general anesthetic, I have woken up hysterically crying, or with terrible tremors, but this time I woke up with a general sense of well-being and more than anything the strong desire for a nap.

The anesthetist numbed my femoral nerve, so for the whole of Tuesday night and Wednesday I had no feeling at all in my thigh. Now that the nerve is back to normal, I can feel my hamstring complaining about where the doctor sliced a bit out of it. It's pretty sore, but since I was able to stretch it while it was numb, I am more inclined not to favor it.

The knee itself doesn't hurt at all yet. It's still pretty swollen, and I can't make it to a 90-degree bend without pushing it with the other leg, but I can straighten it out to the same extension I had before the surgery. Dr. Lavelle used the same three incision points from my arthroscopy, so I will only have one extra scar, the one inch scar below my knee where he went in to harvest the hamstring. There is a running stitch in that knee that he will remove on June the 11th.

Aftercare has been very easy. They put a waterproof plastic bandage over the steristrips, so I can have showers, and they sent home extra waterproof bandages with me in case I need to change my bandage. They immediately put me in a Donjoy brace locked to go no further than 90 degrees, but I don't have to sleep in it. I have to wear it when I walk for two weeks, until I see Dr. Lavelle again.

Dr. Lavelle said I can feel free to put full weight on the braced leg, so I've been walking without crutches around the house. The physiotherapist seemed surprised that I was able to do that so quickly. She said most people find it impossible to put full weight through the leg so early. Like I said, though, my knee doesn't hurt at all.

They had me taking Cocodamol, which was fantastic floaty happy-making codeine-based stuff, but unfortunately codeine makes me itch all over, so I asked them to switch me to something else. They decided to switch me to Coproxamol. It's not as floaty and happy-making as the codeine, but it does make the pain go away, and I don't itch while taking it, so I appreciate it. They also sent along some Diclofenac, which is mainly for anti-inflammation but also for pain. I think I took it before when I first harmed my knee, and I seem to recall that it made my legs retain water.

One thing that I've noticed while taking the Coproxamol is that I don't seem to have any drugged-up sensations, but I can sit for hours shuffling papers, or staring out the window, or flipping through the channels, without really thinking about anything or being distressed by the lack of mental stimulation. I think it's an opiate, which would explain it, so I should be careful to avoid alcohol for a while.

The physiotherapist said that I should aim to get my full range of motion back within three months, because scar tissue will start to form that will prevent me from regaining my range of motion after that. I've booked in to see a private physiotherapist at King's Oak, which is inside the Chase Farm Hospital grounds, and apparently I don't have any limit on the amount of physiotherapy I am allowed to get with my insurance.

The x-rays are cool; you can see the bone screws (my favorite words).

Ok, so since I'm on the Coproxamol now, maybe I should set out the major points again:

1) Knee doesn't hurt, and I am happily walking around the house with a brace on but no crutches
2) I can take showers, hurray!
3) I can bend my knee to 90 degrees and straighten it almost completely
4) Physiotherapy starts next week and continues for as long as I need it
5) I have a doctor's appointment to have the stitches out and brace officially removed for good on June 11th
6) I have three months to get my full flexion and extension back (end of August)
7) Oh yeah--the physio said I should be able to start running again in about 6 months (end of November).

Today's the day!

I've heard the Wellington is a good hospital, so I'm not as worried as I was going into the NHS hospital (as nice as Chelsea and Westminster was, it was still NHS). I'll be back home on Thursday.

I have been running quite happily from time to time, not marathon-style running, obviously, but sprinting to catch the bus, or to get across the street. I don't really get any sort of reaction in my knee or leg when I run now, unlike on April 24th, when I ran and my knee really complained afterward.

I pretty much have my extension back. I think I'm into a decent amount of hyperextension now, perhaps not as much as the other one, but still pretty good. I think I'm missing about three degrees. I don't find myself favoring my right leg like I did previously, especially when standing in the shower or brushing my teeth. I am now trying to work on getting my flexion back, which is harder.

I have dared to kneel a couple of times, and to crawl into the bed. Actually putting weight on my left knee is sort of scary, but it doesn't hurt when I do it. Yesterday I tried to get out of bed too quickly to answer the phone, and I bent my knee too far and it screamed at me, but the pain went away immediately, which makes me believe that much of the pain I am getting is psychological.

When I bend my knee slowly, I still feel a sort of tightness in the knee itself. Unless there is still residual swelling, I have no idea what that could be. Of course, it could easily be residual swelling, since the doctor said I would have to wait until next week to have the reconstruction. In any case, the physio said that it's very rare not to get your flexion back, especially if you're young and limber and active.

Today I kneeled in front of a bookshelf quite happily and tried to sit on my heels. Of course, I ended up sitting in a wonky position, toppling to the right with my right buttock on my right heel but my left buttock in the air--but that's still a vast improvement on even a week ago, when I wouldn't have dared even to kneel.

As the physio said, I'm really just marking time now until my next surgery, so there's no point in pushing myself too much right now, except to build as much strength as possible.

Bizarrely, I am having dreams about being able to sit on my heels and stretch to full hyperextension. I don't feel any real worry or psychological pressure to get my full range of motion back--I know it will come--but I guess my subconscious is mulling it all over quite heavily.

I haven't been posting here because there hasn't really been all that much to say. My leg has improved. Instead of going "OW!" when I bend it, it just goes "ow." I can straighten it all the way, and I can even sit cross-legged now, a little bit.

Also, I ran for the bus this morning when I went to physiotherapy. It was sort of a limping oh-my-god-I-shouldn't-do-this run, but it didn't hurt. I sort of limped around all day, though. I don't know if that was because of the running or not.

I massaged my scars for about three days, and now they don't hurt at all anymore. I was really worried that the scars were going to hurt forever, but the massaging really did the trick.

My reconstruction is happening on Tuesday, May 27th. I'm having it done privately, so I didn't have to get on the NHS waiting list. I've spoken to a few people who said they were down for a couple of days, but were back to work and walking around normally very quickly. That's in direct contrast to many of the blogs I've linked to, where the people have said they were in misery for months. Maybe the technique has changed sufficiently that people don't have so many complications anymore.