Tips dealing with Knee Surgery

I'm writing this post about the tips I've come up with dealing with ACL surgery. I've read a bit beforehand, have my own ideas about what helps.

• Working out before surgery really helps. I had about 2 months before surgery and spent some time walking, weight lifting and on a stationary bike. Though I was miserable, because my knee was unstable, the extra time really helped. I noticed the first couple of days that the extra strength helped me get around.
• Find a surgeon who believes in putting weight on your leg right after surgery. I get the impression that some don't. But I never would have gotten around on crutches without putting some weight on the bad leg. I was on one crutch by the third day post surgery and could get around without a cane or crutch a couple of days afterwards.
  
• Use a cane. And get one with a flat head. I was a little stubborn after I got the brace off and tried to get around with one all the time. But my pain was easier to deal with when standing around and walking when I had a cane to put some of my weight on.
• Ice is good. Those ice paks that you put in the freezer are better. Get at least two big ones. Though I didn't use the ice pak much until after I had the brace off.
  
• Too much ice is not good. Be careful of leaky bags. Also now that I'm more mobile ice can make my knee too stiff.
• Trigger point therapy is a good idea. I just got a book from the library about it. The symptoms for the sartorious muscle pain are exactly my symptoms - pain in the front of my knee that does not feel like regular myofascial pain and numbness in my thigh. It makes sense since it was that muscle that was moved around to get to my hamstring. Just massaging the points in my thigh and also in calf has helped.
  

Surgery - Done!

So I'm finally posting about my surgery. I've been fuzzy headed since then for a week with the pain killers and since then with the pain. I'll be a lot more understanding about the pain they are in.
It's funny how just having the surgery has renewed my interest in nursing. I was worn out after last semester, and had not been looking forward to this Fall.
And I can attribute my interest to the kind nurses at the hospital I was at. I admit I might have been distracted, because I was not only thinking about myself, but also about what they were up to. I had to look at the IV to see how they set it up. Which reminds me that I have a question. When I woke up they had a bag of Lactated Ringers instead of normal saline. I was wondering why they used that. I would think it would be more expensive. I don't think I've seen someone with LR during my clinicals.
Comparing this operation to my other two, I found this a much better experience. When I woke up I was not as groggy as my first operation on my wrist. I remember being so groggy I practically pushed myself out of the hospital to get home so I could sleep. The second time to take out my gallbladder I was nauseous afterwards. And I had more difficulty with my asthma acting up. I also think that abdominal pain is harder to deal with then knee or wrist pain. (In fact the first surgery, what bothered me most was my hip - where they took a bone graft from.)
I was impressed with the anesthesiologist. Not only did we talk about my previous experience with anesthesia, he explained to me what he was going to do - that he was going to give me something via IV to make me sleepy and O2. (The last thing I remember was him applying the mask.) He did a femoral block and warned me about the numbness afterward. I think that really helped with the pain. Before the block wore off the only pain I had was behind my knee. Though since then, my main problem with pain has been in front. And no asthma problems or nausea. Though I do remember the nurse in PACU giving report to the nurse in ambulatory care that I had some sinus tachycardia.
I can't wait to see surgery done. I want to know what happens after I fell asleep. And since I'm blind without my glasses, I also have not really even seen an OR.