Almost there...

Last month when I went back to Redwood City to see my Physical Therapist, Brandy, I didn't get good news. I might have been slacking on working out a little bit and Brandy pretty much said "If you want me to clear you to ride this season, you need to get on it." Read that again. "This Season." Meaning, I wasn't just at risk of having an extra month without riding, but a whole season.

That woke me up and I starting hitting the gym every day and really putting energy into strengthening my knee and leg again. It got even more real for me when it started snowing and all my friends were out having fun. Over the course of the month I felt like my knee was improving by leaps and bounds.

This past week I went home to see Brandy. She agreed I was doing ridiculously better since the last time she saw me. I'm back on the road to riding in December now. The one thing she said she was concerned about is that if she clears me, it's only to make turns. No going into the park. No going fast. Just baby runs, going slow, and keeping my board on the snow. I swore to her that that's all I would do. I don't care if I can't go to the park yet. I don't want to reinjure my knee. All I want to do is be on my board and be happy again.

I'll find out December 7th if I get to ride again. Fingers crossed. Friday will mark 6 months since surgery. Busting my ass in the gym now to get cleared for December.

Recovery week 5 & MRI #2

This morning I went to the hospital to get an X-ray on the screw in my knee and to meet with my surgeon. My surgeon said everything looked good and I was doing really good for only being five weeks out of surgery. Afterwards I met with my physical therapist who also said my knee was doing awesome. This means I'm definitely on track to be snowboarding again in December. All I can say is, hashtag-so-glad.

I also set up an appointment to get an MRI on my right knee. I've had this worry in my mind since April that I might have torn something in that knee too so I really want to know absolutely sure I know what's going on. My MRI is in a half hour so I should know in the next couple days what the situation is. Crossing my fingers that my right knee is a-ok.

Physical Therapy butt kicking.

Man. I just got my butt kicked. Well, not really. I just got back from physical therapy though. On the way to PT I'm always stoked like "This is gonna be awesome! I'm gonna move around and feel so good!" and then once I'm there it's like "Wait I still can't move. This hurts so bad. I want to cry. Why did I think this would be fun?" It happens every time. I know I need to commit to PT to get better, but it doesn't feel like I'm getting better, it just hurts. I can't wait until I finally have my range of motion back and I can actually work out and start looking forward to snowboarding again.
On a good note, my therapist measured my knee bending at 85°, which is up 20° from when I saw her 5 days ago. Hopefully this keeps going up until I reach full bending and I don't get stuck at any point.

Post Surgery

Well, it's been two weeks since surgery and I'm healing up. I was posted up on my living room couch for a week but I finally made the move back to my bedroom and life is getting almost back to normal. I started walking again today, but I'm slow moving.

Surgery was interesting. I freaked out a bit when they put the IV in my arm because I'm terrified of needles, but then once they fed the anesthesia into my blood stream I was chilling. Last thing I remember was rambling on about random things to my surgeons in the surgery room and then I woke up in the recovery room.

Here's some pictures and stuff.

Hospital Chilling. 6:30am. (Rocking Out)

Anesthesia coming my way. Goodbye

Right out of surgery. Mind is still absent.

My couch living set-up

Dressing change 5 days after surgery. I thought they only made one incision, but I ended up with 4

30 minutes until surgery.

Oh man. It's finally here. Exactly 2 months since I've blown out my ACL and I'm finally getting it fixed today. I've done everything I could to prepare for surgery: I've talked to other people who have gotten this surgery, I've done research online, and I've been working out with a personal trainer at the gym.

But for some reason, a case of the butterflies has set in. I haven't been nervous about surgery until today. I don't know what has gotten into me.

Well, my parents are calling me to come to the car. Here goes nothing.

Good bye old ACLless knee.

Last photo of my knee before surgery :[

I have no ACL

Back in this post, I chronicled my experience at Billabong Flaunt It, that resulted in my getting sledded off in the worst pain I've ever felt.

Yesterday, I got a call from my doctor with my MRI results.

"So I have some good news and some bad news. Good news, you didn't tear your meniscus. Bad news, you blew out your ACL. You have no ACL. It's completely gone."

Great, I find this out 27 days after my injury. And if I hadn't lied to the doctor about being in a bunch of pain so I could get an MRI, I still wouldn't know. I probably would have gone to Hood the summer and still not know until something happened there and then I would lose the whole winter season. As it is right now, I probably won't ride until the end of December or January, because I was told it would take 9 months for recovery after surgery.

I'm kind of freaking out. I don't know what to expect- I've never had surgery. I don't know what to do in the nine months I can't ride. I don't know how I'm going to find meaning in life during all that time, because honestly, the only thing I think about all day, is riding. And I'm nineteen years old. This shouldn't be happening to me. I'm too young to already need a new ACL.

I'm working on getting out of school early so I can move back home and get the surgery done ASAP, but I'm still probably gonna have close to two weeks before going under the knife.

Has anyone had to get a new ACL? Advice? How was it getting back into riding? Freaking out. Anything would help. Thanks.

PS. Ask people about the speed on big jumps before sending it so you don't end up like me.
PSS. How did I blow out my ACL and not get best crash award at Flaunt It? I think I did the most bodily damage out of anyone in the contest...