The surgery has been scheduled. How insane is that? A week ago everything was unknown. Now I have a surgery date, a med clearance appt, pre-op bloodwork and an Ekg to get, a covid test scheduled… Crazy! Every step is hesitant, another inch closer to surgery, and it’s exciting and overwhelming all at once.

When I got to my appointment (45 minutes early, thank you Mennonite genes) I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was my quad muscle strong enough? Would they know I only did the exercises once a day instead of twice? Would they scoff at my puny excuse for a leg? “What? That thing? I wouldn’t operate on that if my life depended on it! Go back and try harder!”. Or could they tell I’d been swimming without permission? Would I get a tongue lashing? Fortunately that didn’t happen. First the Fellow (like a super resident) came in, did all the same laxity testing, and talked to me about the benefits of surgery and different types of grafts and etc. Still trying not to get my hopes up, of course this visit was the first time the surgeon was running late. Like 45 minutes late. I was starting to sweat. Then he finally came in, all cheer and smiles. “You’re ready!” He said.

We discussed the procedure, he drew me pictures on this cool touch screen in the room, he told me he prefers to harvest my own hamstring, loop it over, and then pass it through a hole he’s drilled in my femur, anchoring it with some staples and stuff. I’ve seen Ortho surgeries, it’s reminiscent of a blacksmith working on a sword at an anvil, so I didn’t want to think about that too much. They would also remove my old tendon, and repair my meniscus if needed. He says he always has a cadaver ligament on hand though, in case the hamstring falls on the floor! 😂😖. I laughed out loud at that. In return, I would get 9-12 MONTHS of recovery, but it would be back to 95% function.

Wow. I guess I didn’t realize 9 whole months. That made me pause. Here I am nine weeks out of the injury and I can walk, I’m going back to work, I’m swimming and spinning, now I’m going to go back to doing nothing, back into the dark hole of blackness, just to be back to full function in 9 MONTHS??? And that’s the low estimate. No running for 4 months, no swimming for 6. This is to help the new ACL fully graft to the bone. This then makes me reconsider trying to push the PT too hard. I don’t want to impair the grafting, because that can affect everything later. I will admit I fully intended to try to swim asap, but this has made me reevaluate. I will need to follow his instructions specifically in order to minimize my complications in the future. In the words of Inigo Montoya, “I hate waiting.” But after I went home and really thought about it, and I almost slipped on the ice, and I over extended my knee in the kitchen, I can to the conclusion that I have to do this. For future Elizabeth. To do more triathlons. To be able to trust my knee. Not to be crippled on pain management at 60.

I got my pre-op bloodwork done today. I walked into the lab, and they have a sign saying they can’t do any urine tests at this time. I was perplexed. Why not? You’re a lab, right? You have a bathroom, right? Is there some special covid bathroom thing I don’t know about? The chatty phlebotomist very deftly drew my blood, then handed me a cup to take home and bring back. Now this whole thing baffles me. 1) I’m not having uti symptoms, why do they need a urinalysis for my surgery? 2) why can’t I just pee in the lab? 3) what if I had to use the restroom? Would they still tell me no? Clearly they can handle the specimen once it’s deposited in the cup, so why can’t they handle the depositing process? But covid has everyone on edge, and I didn’t want to be THAT PERSON. I took the cup, drove across the street to my office, collected my sample, and drove it back across the street. It was a beautiful, sunshiny day, and I’m sure my urine enjoyed seeing a bit of the world before being forced into a tube and through the machine. Maybe that’s why the lab wouldn’t let me pee there. They wanted free range urine, worldly urine, urine with experience.

Another thing checked off the list. Pre-op clearance appointment scheduled for next week, pre-surgery covid test scheduled, and my mom has her tickets to come for a week to help out. It’s all coming together, in a frightening symphony of medical appointments. I hope all the instruments are in tune.