Day 0:
(Tue, Apr 4, 2006)

I can hobble without crutches. Engaging my leg muscles hurts, so I walk with a much-shortened stride. I spent the entire day with my leg iced and elevated. I took 1 or 2 Percocet pills.

Day 1:
(Wed, Apr 5, 2006)

Much like Day 0. The marcaine that Dr. Larson injected into my knee started to wear off, so I took 1 or 2 Percocet pills.

Day 2:
(Thu, Apr 6, 2006)

I'm able to push off with my foot a little bit, but contracting by calf muscles much more pulls on the knee and hurts. I'm still spending most of the day on the couch, leg iced and elevated.

Day 3:
(Fri, Apr 7, 2006)

I'm off percocet (oxycodone + acetaminophen). I'm still taking 3 x 800mg ibuprofen, as prescribed for swelling. I want to move my leg!!! It's tired of being locked in position. My physical therapist said it was ok to wiggle it a little, so I undid the velcro straps on my brace and wiggled my knee. Really, though, I just want to bend my knee. Grr. Not allowed.

Day 4:
(Sat, Apr 8, 2006)

I can stand for about 5 minutes before my knee starts to ache and swell. I can stand on one leg, rise up onto my toes, lower down to have my foot flat on the ground, rise up on my toes, etc. When I unstrap my brace, I can bend my knee slightly without pain, but on my PT's orders have not tried to bend it more. No percocet! I took my first bath, plastic bag on leg. I was bored of being at home so my boyfriend took me to a party in the evening.

Day 5:
(Sun, Apr 9, 2006)

I though I was being good by spending the entire party sitting on a couch with my leg slightly elevated, but I woke up with my knee telling me otherwise. I spent the morning icing, elevating, and took a percocet. Walking to the bathroom or kitchen is no problem.

Day 6:
(Mon, Apr 10, 2006)

My first post-op doctor and PT visit. They removed the dressings and let me have full range of motion. In practice, by the end of PT I could bend my knee to 90 degrees -- just barely. By the end of the day, I could walk up the stairs, although I had to do a funny butt wiggle to get my right leg onto the next step. I still can't walk down stairs because my muscles just refuse to do much work as I bend my knee.

Day 7:
(Tue, Apr 11, 2006)

I walked 1/3 mile to the bank, then back. That was ok. I sat an hour in a talk. That made my leg swell up.

Day 8:
(Wed, Apr 12, 2006)

I walked 1/2 mile to PT, no problems, and back. I can walk up stairs but not down. Dr Larson says I'm "ahead of the game". Aaron (the PT) told me not not to rush and emphasized working on getting my leg straight, both while walking and using gravity while sitting or laying down.

Day 9:
(Thu, Apr 13, 2006)

Last night I slept without my brace, stocking, nor ice pack. This was the first night that I slept through the whole night without waking up to add ice water to my CryoCuff. Today, I walked 1 mile to the UW, and later back home. My range of motion is about 0 to 100 degrees.

Day 12:
(Sun, Apr 16, 2006)

Another cyclist lent me his bike trainer for a month or two, so I could use it for PT at home. I raised my seat 1.5 inches and was able to spin, slowly, with no resistance, for 5 or 10 minutes. I expect the bike and trainer to remain as living room fixtures in front of the TV until Dr. Larson and Aaron (my PT) let me ride outside. I still need to elevate and ice my knee several times per day, although I can walk around for an hour or two between icings.

Day 13:
(Mon, Apr 17, 2006)

My range of motion is up to 120 degrees. Aaron says that's not horrible, but he'd like to see it better. I need to take it easy, walk less, elevate more. That's hard with needing to sit at a computer and do work.

Day 15:
(Wed, Apr 19, 2006)

I drove for the first time today. It was ok.

Day 16:
(Thu, Apr 20, 2006)

Day 17:
(Fri, Apr 21, 2006)

I went kayaking today. My first real exercise since surgery! It was fantastic. I wore my sports brace and got help getting the boat in and out of the water.

Day 20:
(Mon, Apr 24, 2006)

My knee is intermittently popping. It feels like swollen tissue or scar tissue catches on my patella. My friend Amy says she had a similar problem after her ACL surgery and it went away. Aaron also seems unconcerned, although he did massage the area to break up scar tissue.

Day 28:
(Tue, May 2, 2006)

The popping is going away, especially if I ice well. I think it's caused by inflamed tissue catching on my patella. With many precautions (knee brace, safe roads, easy pace), I rode a mile outside on my bike and went kayaking. It's nice to be able to start exercising outside again. I'm down to 1800mg ibuprofen per day. My range of motion is still limited by fluid in the knee. I have about 7 inches left before my knee can touch my butt.

Day 37:
(Thu, May 11, 2006)

I'm still at 1800mg of ibuprofen, and cutting back allows swelling. Swelling impairs healing. 140 degrees of range of motion.

Day 64:
(Wed, June 7, 2006)

I've been off ibuprofen for a couple of weeks now. I went for a 15 mile bike ride on Sunday. My muscles are still not as strong as my other leg so I'm supposed to be doing one-leg squats for strengthening. I'm able to kneel on carpeted surfaces, but only very gingerly on a wood floor. My range of motion is slowly returning, with my heel able to approach within 4 inches of my butt.

Week 12:
(Mon, June 26, 2006)

I had my 12-week post-op appointment with Dr. Larson. Of my rate of recovery, he commented that I am a "superstar." Yay! I'm cleared to do any sports where I won't be using my ACL because my muscles are strong enough to compensate. Among those allowed are: running uphill, bicycling, hiking, kayaking. Among those prohibited are: running downhill, skiing, basketball, soccer.

Week 12.5:
(Sat, Jul 1, 2006)

Week 15.5:
(Jul 22-23, 2006)

I hiked up Mt. Shuksan. This involved 6600ft of elevation gain, hiking with overnight camping gear, a glacier crossing, and some 3rd class scrambling (easy rock climbing). At the advice of my doc and PT, I avoided lifting my weight when my leg was bent 90 degrees or more. At the advice of my hiking partner and PT Caryn, I did not kick steps in the snow with the toes of my boot. Both of these activities can stress the new graft, which is still weak. Although my knee feels well and the muscles are almost back to full strength, it's prudent to avoid stressing the ligament for a few more months.

Week 16.5:
(Jul 29, 2006)

Seth and I attempted to go on a bike ride. My patella (knee cap) kept popping, once per pedal stroke. In the past when this occurred, my knee would start to ache within about 4 miles. We turned around, to my great disappointment. I don't know why the patella isn't tracking properly.

Week 19:
(Aug 14, 2006)

My knee cap is still popping when I ride a bicycle. It's ok for walking and short jogs. I've been trying to do more one-leg squats to strengthen the quadricep, since the quads participate in stabilizing the patella, but my knee starts to ache if I do too many squats. I've noticed that keeping my quad contracted through the entire pedal cycle makes the popping go away, but I can't maintain it for more than a few minutes because eventually the muscle gets tired and relaxes.

I saw Aaron and Dr. Larson today. Aaron showed me how to tape my knee. This technique attempts to pull the patella medially to keep it tracking properly. It gets mixed reviews in the literature and Aaron seemed skeptical, but a PT friend of mine (Caryn) and another of Aaron's patients swore by it, so I'm giving it a shot. Dr. Larson wasn't concerned, commenting that I'm "only 4 months out" of surgery, and expecting that it would improve as my muscle strength increased. His assistant noted some swelling of the bursa, and Dr. Larson commented on some swelling in the patellar ligament, both of which Dr. Larson interpreted as a call for me to take it easy.

On another note, someone mentioned to me the site kneeguru.com which mentions someone who had collagen meniscus implants with good success one year post-op. I was curious to read more, but the site seems to be down. Maybe they meant http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/...

Week 20:
(Aug 19-21, 2006)

Seth, Caryn, and I attempted to summit Mt. Rainier. We approached from the east, up the Emmons route. On Saturday, we ascended from the trailhead to Camp Sherman. I wore my knee brace and Caryn (a PT) taped my patella to pull it to one side in hopes of reducing the popping. Sunday morning, we left Camp Sherman and continued up the mountain. Unfortunately, the tape combined with the straps of my knee brace chafed raw the skin behind my knee. I took off my brace for part of the ascent. We were walking over fields of penitentes, 2 foot tall spikes of snow that sometimes held our weight and sometimes collapsed. As I grew tired, I discovered that my knee felt too unstable without the brace. I put the brace back on, no tape this time, and just ignored the discomfort of the nylon strap rubbing my skin wound. The previous winter hadn't brought much snow and this late in the season the crevasses were heavily melted out. Above 13,000ft, we traversed quite a ways without finding a place to cross a large crevasse separating us from the summit. We had brought our tent and sleeping bags, hoping to camp on the summit (a somewhat unusual goal) so as dusk came, we descended to about 13,000ft and set up camp. Monday morning, we descended to the trailhead and drove home.

Month 5:
(Sep 2006)

I just relocated to California. I have been trying to commute by bicycle between home and work, about 4 miles. On some rides, my knee popped with almost every pedal stroke. Since Aaron had at some point suggested that the poor tracking of the patella could be related to weakened supporting musculature, I tried keeping my quad contracted through the entire pedal stroke. At first, my quad would get tired after only about a minute. Within a few commutes, I was able to keep it contracted for 5-8 minutes, then let it rest a few strokes, and contract it for another 5-8 minutes. The popping decreased in frequency as my muscle got stronger.

Month 6:
(Oct 2006)

My flexibiliy is returning. With a couple of minutes of stretching, I can kneel with my heel touching my butt.

Month 10:
(Feb 2007)

My knee almost never pops anymore. On the rare occassion when it does, I contract my quad and it stops.

My legs are still somewhat imbalanced, noticeable mostly in yoga. I am more stable when doing one-leg balances on my left leg than my right. Also, I am markedly less flexible in poses that require a hip flexibility and with the knee bent. I can sit cross-legged comfortably, with either leg on top.

Month 13:
(May 2, 2007)

My knee is back to popping, mostly on longer steep bicycle rides when my muscles start to get tired. I'm back in PT. Laura gave me exercises to strengthen my muscles. Also, she has been manually stretching the residual scar tissue because she suspects that it may be impeding free motion of the patella and the patellar ligament.

Month 12-14:
(Apr 18 - Jun 6, 2007)

The PT seems to have helped. My legs are almost -- but not quite -- equally strong, and I have a set of exercises to do on my own in the weight room to finish getting back to normal. Laura's manual manipulation to broke up residual scar tissue enough that my patella slides more smoothly, and my skin is no longer attached to the bone by scar tissue. My knee isn't popping on longer bicycle rides.

Month 17:
(Sep 6, 2007)

We bought a house. I got busy. I didn't finish up my strengthening exercises after ending PT. I've been bicycle commuting 5 miles each way without trouble. However, kneeling has been becoming a problem, as if tissue in my knee was tightening up. Earlier this week, I went to yoga and did a lot of knee stretching. The next day, my knee was popping and achy. Hrm.