My ouchie

That's what I've been hearing from my two year old for the past 3-4 weeks, anyway.

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I'll be 42 in March, and to date, I've never had any type of surgery to speak of, with the exception of having my wisdom teeth extracted back in college. But come this Friday, I'll be heading over to the Health and Wellness Center in Montrose to have my ACL replaced.

If nothing else, this has been a crash course in anatomy for me the past few weeks. I know I probably learned this stuff years ago in school, but it's been kind of interesting to read up on the parts of the knee...so just in case you're interested...

The ACL crosses from the back of the femur (thighbone) to the front of the tibia (shinbone). It acts as a strong support for your knee, but it can be injured if you twist your knee too far or change direction too quickly. With a complete tear of the ACL (as in my case), your knee gives way more easily, letting the tibia shift forward while at the same time placing greater stress on the other major knee ligaments: the MCL (medial collateral ligament), the LCL (lateral collateral ligament), and PCL (posterior cruciate ligament)- got all that? See diagram for clarification.

Funny...when I first hurt myself, I thought it was just a sprain- even after visiting the Barberton ER that same night. They took x-rays, wrapped my knee, and sent me home after 4 glorious hours of waiting. But, after seeing my doctor a week later, he feared that it might be something a bit more severe...so after having the MRI done, the pics came back indicating a complete tear of my ACL. Unlike the X-rays, which simply show pictures of bones, the MRI is able to depict injuries to the muscles, ligaments, and cartilage.

My doc told me that the most common type of surgery for an ACL tear is reconstruction, which involves replacing the torn ligament with my own tissue. (evidently, they'll be "borrowing" one one of my hamstrings for this procedure). I could have opted to use one from a donor- as in a cadaver- but I told Dr. Franken...I mean Dr. Canterras that I was good with using stuff from my own body.

After Friday's surgery, I'm not gonna be able to drive for 7-10 days, and then shortly thereafter will begin physical therapy, which will require a 4-6 month program. All I know is that being sidelined for the fall volleyball league- not to mention the Akron Road Runner Marathon- has been utterly depressing, but my goal is to be ready to run some 10 k's and play some serious sand volleyball come this spring.

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Wish me luck.