Hello Renrenspeakers! I hope all is well! I am back here again, one week later! One thing I have appreciated about my recovery is being able to get back into blogging consistently. I am kinda on a roll, am I right?

It has already been 2 weeks (to be technical, it has been 16 days) since I have had my ACL surgery. I still cannot believe sometimes that I am on the other side of this FINALLY. To be quite honest, recovery has been better than I anticipated. I am very thankful for some return physically, as each day my leg gets stronger and stronger. I am still on crutches, but I have met some milestones already that I would like to share!

Since surgery, being able to lift my leg up has been the hardest thing ever. I have been squeezing that quad again and again and AGAIN and no matter how much I tried… nothing. It felt like a dead leg. My mind to body connection felt severed, and it became very frustrating to have to lift my leg up with maximal effort such as with a gait belt or my stretch band. I definitely had some cries and moments of defeat feeling like I am trying to activate muscles that are just not activating enough.

Then…. suddenly, as I was going through my daily HEP and attempting straight leg raises on Day 12, (mind you, I could only do them with much active assistance at this time) my quad decided to play a trick on me and help me unassisted lift my leg up from the bed. I probably only raised my leg up about 2 inches, BUT my leg had not done any of that since the surgery (besides Day 0 with the nerve block lol). I had to film it and do it again because I could NOT believe what I just saw.

On Day 13, I cried literal tears of joy because my quad was officially awake!!! This was confirmed in PT, as my quad cooperated and did not become shy (I told my quad to not act up in front of my PT, and she listened lol). I was able to complete 1 set of 10 straight leg raises without any assistance, and my leg was actually coming up pretty high off the bed too! It was legit a night and day phenomenon in which my quad finally remembered that it was part of my body and decided to start functioning again. In PT, my leg was UP! I told my PT that this is a new development and I still cannot believe that this was happening because truthfully, I was beginning to really hate the straight leg raise since it magnified how weak my quad was. Whoever knew that being able to lift a leg up would be something so monumental!

On Day 14, I feel like I just began to see even more activation of my quad, enough so that I actually began to take some steps without my crutches, whohoo! I could only mobilize very short distances — crutches still very much required, I might add — but it no longer felt like my whole leg was about to buckle with every step. I am pretty adamant about getting off crutches completely when the time is right, as I would like to normalize my gait rather than just follow an arbitrary timeline. However, to feel more confidence in my knee and to trust that it would not just buckle under my weight was very reassuring. I also had my 2 week post op appointment on Tuesday, and the doc said everything is looking great in terms of swelling and healing. I was able to get my bandaids off completely and see what my scars actually look like. I was even able to see some pictures of the surgery itself and my previous completely obliterated ACL transformed into a newly intact ACL provided by a part of my quad tendon. It was a pretty cool sight to see.

It is now Day 16, and though I am definitely trying to keep myself entertained at home, it is nice to reflect back on some of my very early post op videos and pictures and already see how much progress I have made thus far. The largest lesson I have learned this week is that ACL recovery is by no means a sprint. It is a marathon. I really REALLY have to be patient and just learn how to retrust my knee. For example, my patience regarding initial activation of my quad finally paid off, as I was literally crying the previous day about how annoyed I was that I could not lift up my leg. Sometimes less is better especially if my knee is aggravated. The more reps I do won’t necessarily make a difference if this is not what my knee needs at the moment. ACL recovery is also not linear. After my appointment, I had to do some quick errands, and I noticed that my knee was more achy than it typically had been. In that instance, I tried to initially push through my discomfort, but then realized that it was not doing me any good, let alone my knee. Thus, I forced myself to take a nap and elevate the rest of the evening. When I woke up, it felt much more manageable again. Hence, I gotta listen to that knee because it is telling me something at all times!

I’ve heard from my PT, medical team, and other ACLers that my knee will scream at me if I overdo it sometimes, and it is very true. Finding newfound mobility, especially as a person who loves being a busy bee, I’ve been tempted to test my limits. Recovery has a way of reminding me that the mind and body are not always on the same page — and that sometimes the body wins. That’s okay. I look forward to seeing what week 3 of ACL recovery will look like, what milestones I will achieve, and what challenges I will have to overcome.

Peace and love,

Irene