My cousin just went through knee reconstruction surgery, and boy what a nightmare! Her recovery is going to be pretty brutal because it turned out to be the worst case scenario. Once they did the arthroscopic surgery, they discovered that not only was her ACL ruptured but her lateral meniscus was also detached. It had to be reattached as well as the planned reconstruction of the ACL ligament.
She checked in around 8 AM, and she was taken to pre-op, where they started her on an IV. During this time, she was able to talk to the anesthesiologist and the surgeon about the procedure. When it was surgery time, about 10 :15 the anesthesiologist gave her a sedative and a local injection of anaesthesia at the top of her leg. This allowed him to administer a nerve block in the leg by guiding a probe in through her groin with ultrasound imaging. The nerve block made her leg numb from the hip all the way to the toes, and lasted for the next 20 hours. After that, they put the gas mask on.
When she woke up back in the recovery room, it was about 2 and a half hours later. Waking up took her quite a while, just opening and closing her eyes and mumbling a lot about how numb her leg was. After a while, she was coherent enough to talk, and reported that she was feeling very queasy. She was given a few sips of ginger-ale and crackers, which prevented her from vomiting. After a few more hours of rest, they helped her get dressed and into a wheelchair, and she was brought to the car.
Now she is on Oxycodone, and is tolerating the pain reasonably well as long as she stays still. Even adjusting her leg a bit or using crutches to go across the hall to the bathroom is quite excruciating though. She won't be doing much for the next 6 weeks, but hopefully by late May she will be able to enjoy a few light summer activities while continuing physical therapy. Her ordeal has been a glaring reminder for us all to be thankful for the health we have and to take care of ourselves!
