eric's acl

made it to class on saturday (with lots of credit to adam and his dog for driving me in the morning) and it was glorious. probably wasn’t the best for me to be moving around that much, and not doing my exercises, but the bschool staff were extremely helpful providing me with ice throughout the day. the knee held up pretty well with minimal (i mean, how hard is it to sit in a classroom for 3 hours at a time) and pretty much all my classmates went out of their way to make it as easy as possible for me.

i literally had not left my apartment for over 80 hours so i was happy to be in the midst of other people. and it would have been sad to miss the last day of class since i really enjoyed my professors.

afterward, i had alcohol for the first time since surgery, also glorious. and with the dread of being back in the prison that is my apartment on my mind, stayed out til past midnight before hopping a way too expensive cab from morningside back to brooklyn. all around a great day.

it gets better every day. as you can see, i can walk now, albeit extremely carefully and slowly, the freedom to have 2 hands to carry things to and from the kitchen is fantastic. the pain has been very manageable. only once did i feel it hurt to the point of being uncomfortable, and it turns out it was because i forgot to take my painkillers on my regular schedule.

big step, i removed the bandages for the first time, and it was so anti-climatic. theres gauze and a waterproof wrap covering the part of my knee that would have scars. though i was happy to see relatively minimal swelling and also not too much atrophy of the quad. hamstring looks weak though, i’ll be happy when i can work out again.

ive finally fallen into a rhythm, good thing too since my paper is due tomorrow, and can cycle between doing work, doing exercises, and vegging out watching law and order.

i have literally not left this apartment for over 72 hours and cabin fever is an understatement. but with leg strength coming back, and columbia business school beckoning, looks like i’ll get my freedom in mere hours (ironic since ive been calling warren hall my saturday prision). visitors bearing gifts of food, ice, and seltzer have really made this isolation much more bearable (sak, may, akuo, cat, gillian, gewolb, rachel, scott, krisztina since the last time i updated). after days of seeing a couple people at a time, seeing all my classmates at once tomorrow may be overwhelming. hopefully i can focus enough to learn something. finals in only 8 days!

one of the first comments i get with this whole acl mess, after “im sorry” and “how long are you out” is “at least you’ll get some good drugs.”

truth is, other than whatever drugs they pumped into me during and right after surgery, i have managed the pain with only tylenol and aleve.

im not trying to be all “holier than thou” and say prescription drug abuse is bad, or that its not cool to find vicodin “fun,” but my first priority is to get myself healthy, my leg strong, and to be back on my feet. oh, and i also have this 1500 word paper due for class as well. none of that is going to happen if im dizzy, nauseous, and not thinking straight.

and this isnt to say people who take vicodin for pain are weak. i was just lucky enough to have a surgeon who was good enough to perform a surgery that allowed me to manage pain without it. and because of that i will be able to do my stretches and exercises, and hopefully finish this paper.

i took a shower! it was quite an episode.

first off, for those who had to visit an un-showered eric, im sorry.

but i am quite happy with my successful shower. it required wrapping a towel around my brace and bandages, sticking my leg in a huge trash bag, and tying it tight around my atrophied thigh with a thera-band (i knew those things had other purposes than PT torture). then i proceeded to shower with my bad leg sticking out of the tub.

sure i got water all over the bathroom, but i’m all clean! well, all except my right leg. oh, the satisfaction of accomplishing something so simple.

yesterday, in addition to the general anesthesia, the docs also gave me local anesthesia, a femoral block, that made me numb above the knee. its been slowly wearing off and i’m kinda terrified that its going to start hurting a lot. still, ive been disciplined with my painkillers and sticking with just aleve and tylenol, and avoiding the vicodin.

appetite is coming back. last night i couldn’t really stomach very much, but i had scrambled eggs brought to me from academy diner by ann and scott. and for lunch i made myself a turkey and swiss sandwich. i even had a juice box and goldfish, just like old packed lunches.

ive spent 4 hours in my CPM (continuous passive motion) machine, got up to 120 degrees of flexion, and feel like i’m at full extension, but with all these bandages, i can’t really tell. also, impossible to tell if this will last when the femoral block wears off.

ive also gotten zero school work done because have been lucky to have visitors. last night sak, akuo, and cat came and were lifesavers. there’s no way i would have been able to prep for bed by myself. then scott and ann bringing me breakfast and krisztina spending the afternoon here, made my day go by a lot quicker. not sure i’ll get as many visitors on other days, but if i do, i’ll be a happy person.

tomorrow’s another day, but today, as you can see from the pic below, i’m definitely in better shape than i was in yesterday, photo courtesy of sachin kamdar