Calling for More Rain?

Either something else is wrong with my knees or there is gonna be quite the storms coming up. My knees are achy and are pulsing like a heart beat...hmm. Ever wonder why our knees hurt and we seem to know when it's going to rain? Well here's why!

Knees are one of the joints that have sensory receptors in them. Specific receptors respond to changing barometric pressure, and when there is a big storm coming, the barometric pressure is rapidly changing. This can cause some knees to feel discomfort. Due to our injuries, we have defects in our joint cartiledge causing our knees to be more sensitive. Therefore, the aching we experience is greater than a completely healthy knee. So next time your knees are in pain, check out the weather channel to see if your ACLs can predict the next storm! ☔⚡☁

Check it Out!

I know this is all about ACL's and stuff but I figured why not add in some extras!

The trainer at our high school, Nick Nicholaides (whom helps me tremendously with my rehab/FST stretch (which I will talk about sometime soon)) has put together a concussion awareness video with facts from other trained professionals as well as other high school students. Please check it out, because when you finally get back to play, you won't want to be sidelined yet again with a concussion! The link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biRACajnv0o

Venting. A Normal ACL Habit.

Don't you just hate it when you literally are not 'allowed' to do anything? I'm told what I can't do, and half of the stuff seems quite stupid if you ask me. Everyone gets nervous that I am going to hurt myself around them, and that I'm not cautious enough; but there is one thing that they don't seem to understand: it is MY knee. I'm the one who had the surgery. I'm the one who, up to a few days ago, couldn't walk. I'm the one who can't play sports. You'd think I'd know to be cautious and careful, right? At least I'd think so, yet not many seem to agree. Lets just get it through our minds that I don't want to injure myself again probably ten-thousand times more than anyone else. People may think they understand what we are going through, but I personally think it's not possible unless it actually happens to you. My knee and I will be fine. I'll take anything they can fix, and it could be a whole lot worse.

"Don't You Wish Your Tan Lines Were Cool like Mine?"

So I'm glad to tell you all that zinc oxide really works. The sun just couldn't penetrate it, unlike the rest of my knee. Either I'll get strange looks when they ultrasound my knee at PT on Monday, or I'm starting a new trend....

So basically my suggestion to you fellow ACLers out there: put sunscreen on your whole kneecap. I mean unless you like my tan lines, then by all means go for it!

Hanging at the Lake!

Tanning at Lake Owasaa with my buddy Soph! I cant really go swimming yet but somehow I'm gonna find a way to cool off....and we've got some baking with "summer fruits" (to quote the loaf) coming up on our agenda. YUM!

#ACLproblems

So like many others, I'm an avid twitter reader/poster and I have to say, #ACLproblems could be my new favorite twitter account. I was reading through them today while on ice and stim at physical therapy, and figured I'd post a few of my favorites for you all to read: (okay a lot of them...)

1) Being excited that you lost weight after surgery then sadly realizing it was all the muscle in your leg #dammit #aclproblems

2) Getting pumped for my sexy knee tan lines this summer!!! #aclproblems

3) Asking everyone if they have sun tan lotion because you forgot it for your scar #aclproblems

4) If only we could shave our knees normally #aclproblems

5) Laughing because you know everyone in the bathroom is confused when they see your leg sticking out of the stall #aclproblems #braceislocked

6) #thatawkwardmomentwhen your friends dog is getting the same surgery as you #aclproblems

7) The second people see your brace they ask "acl"? #yup #aclproblems

8) Awkwardly trying to stretch your knee in class #aclproblems (umm and kicking them too!?)

9) People start asking you if it's going to rain #aclproblems

10) Kneeling in church <<<<< #aclproblems

11) Eating just as much as your teammate at team dinners and forgetting you can't run it off anymore #fatproblems #aclproblems

12) People expecting you to diagnose their knee injury as a tear or not #aclproblems

13) You'd like people to refrain from saying "tear shit up" when they are telling you to do well in sports #aclproblems

14) You have to sit at the end of the row in the movie theatre so you can stretch #aclproblems

15) #thatawkwardmoment when everyone at the super bowl party looks  at you when they announce the torn acl #aclproblems

16) You close your eyes and have people touch your scar to see if you can tell when they are actually touching it #nervedamage #aclproblems

and to end it on my lax number...

17) "Sorry, I can't...I have therapy." #aclproblems

^^^thank goodness I enjoy PT is all I can say

And if you don't follow @ACLproblems I suggest you do...there's always more than enough people going through the same thing! and if you'd like to follow me on twitter: @magicCONKshell

My Eventful Day by the Pool

So today I went in the pool for the first time! (and I had too considering it was nearly 100 degrees outside). I played some pool bball by myself (yes I am considering this a 'sport' for the time being) while trying to stay away from the pool vacuum, due to the fact I continuously was tangled in it, unable to kick my left leg out. Oh, and lets not forget the amount of zinc oxide I applied to my scars to keep the sun out! Let me tell you first hand; that stuff is hard to get off!

AND the stitch that was left in my knee finally came out. I was glad cause it was a nuisance, yet I wasn't so sure about the tiny hole it left in my knee...hmmmm...

So like any 16 year old girl would do, I applied a 'Winnie the Pooh' bandaid to it and moved on.

As my grandma says, "It'll be better before you get married!"

Get Creative!

Okay, so I know after surgery you're all hopped up on meds and such, but ya gotta do something! Why not channel the little concentration you have a make something fun out of it! My cousin Tara called me up to see how I was doing and joked about coming over to 'be-dazzle' my brace. We got a good laugh out of it, but little did I know she was serious! My aunt came over a few days later bearing 5 packs of rhinestone with gorilla glue from none other than Tara herself. Instead of my brace, I figured, why not bedazzle my crutches! Here I present to you my finished product:

And if you're not so into the rhinestones, how about some awesome colored/patterned duct tape!?

Or if your arms are sore, how about some adorable crutch critters! (http://www.crutchcritters.com/)

Trust me, I'm sure you'll get a ton of complements from all of the language teachers on your elevator rides to each class (and for some reason its always the language teachers...)

Hey, if you're gonna go through it, why not make the best of it!

The Basics

So before I share my stories, I figured I'd give yall the background of my surgeries. The first time around, I used my patella tendon to reconstruct my ACL, while the second time around I used my quadricep tendon. To be honest, the only difference was which exercises hurt more in the first 2 weeks. For the patella, bending my knee nearly brought me to tears for the first 4 days or so, but with the quad, I was at 90 degree in no time. With the quad, though, doing a straight leg raise was quite difficult until about 3 weeks. As they say, ya win some, ya lost some.

Here's my knee a few days after the surgery before the stitches were taken out. Sweet, huh?!

One of my lax teammate came to visit with her ACL 3 weeks after surgery...lets just say she missed her own CPM machine....

And my teammate came to bring me some get well goodies! Boy was I looking B-E-A-Utiful.

So, basically, although the few days after surgery suck, it wasn't all bad!

The Run Down

Greeting from my first ever blog post! It's FINALLY summer and we're out of school...for many that means the beach, summer sports, and training for the fall season. For me, more time for rehab!

When I first tore my ACL on September 16, 2011, I didn't know much about what to expect. I searched and searched online, not able to make sense of the tremendous amount of medical terminology. Therefore, I went to reading first hand accounts on blogs. Every blog I found was quite similar; showing how their knee felt day to day, and honestly, it was quite boring after a while.

I was cleared from my injury during soccer season around mid-April, and on April 16 (exactly 7 months from my first tear), my knee gave out on me and I tore my ACL yet again. I had my surgery at the end of May and am now just over 4 weeks into my second ACL reconstruction.

Considering it is summer, and I now have an abundance of free time, I figured I'd blog about it; but not like all of the other blogs. Instead of play by play of the physical therapy sessions, I am going to post the plain and simple truths. The happy, the sad, and often funny moments that happen to us as we work towards a functional knee. And lets be honest, there are a few. While I will post some of my progress, I'm sure all of you with torn ACL's will be able to relate to my many interesting stories and encounters along the way.