I have an update for my story that I have wanted to publish but I have

struggled to get that done (and my web guy is too busy to help).  So, here is my first attempt at Web Publishing myself...hope it works!

7 weeks after the first surgery, on Saturday, October 2, 1999, I tore my

new ACL when I slipped on wet grass. I heard the 'pop', and I knew it

was bad.  The process left me back at the beginning, with no ACL ligaments in

either knee. And, because my knee bent so quickly, I also fractured my

right patella from the stress. I had to wait for that to heal (this also

postponed my left new ACL replacement, scheduled for 10/7/99). After I

healed, I had the surgery re-done on 10/28/99.

Needless to say, I had to overcome some depression after that. In fact, I

did not respond to emails from my web page for over a month. After that,

I came to accept this as a minor set back. I believe there is a reason for

everything, so I am now on the lookout for one! It certainly slowed me

down. But, I just got back from 8 days in Orlando with my family, and my

knee held up with no problems. Still have some pain occasionally, but

nothing big.

After experiencing two surgeries within 90 days of each other, I feel like

an ACL replacement expert. My lessons from my first experience caused me

to make several changes to my second surgery. First, I did not spend the

night in the hospital (no screaming/deaf roommates to deal with)! Second,

I avoided narcotic drugs all together (so I could pee right away!!!!).

The other major change was the source of the graft. My second surgery was

easier because we decided to use a cadaver ligament for the graft (I had

no patellar tendon to harvest at that point). This was a great decision.

The recovery time was much faster. It was really amazing. I had 90+ degrees

range of motion immediately. The amount of pain was much, much, much less

then the first time.

For my left knee surgery (later in the fall, after golf season in

Pennsylvania is over), I am definitely going to use the borrowed ligament

approach! It is just too much easier.