In the beginning

This is the very first post on this blog, in which I tell you why I decided to start it at all. There are plenty of similar blogs, and they all have a purpose akin to mine - to document recovery from an ACL surgery. Just like them, I want this blog to be 1) a journal of my progress, 2) a way to encourage myself to stick to physio and to track milestones, and 3) perhaps a useful reference for someone facing a similar injury.

Now let me tell you how I injured my poor ACL.
In the beginning I had a knee. Well, actually I had two of them, and they were both healthy. My knees were tasked with doing many different things - walking, sitting, pressing gas and clutch, hiking, canoeing, skiing, biking, yoga, martial arts, etc. You get the idea - they are very hard working knees, though they mostly get to do fun stuff.
I've been skiing since I was a child, although mostly at a recreational level. Last year I finally had enough time and resources to really step up my game. I got my level 1 CSIA (Canadian Ski Instructors Association designation) in the beginning of the season. I taught at a private resort on weekends, and kept training all season. By the end of the winter I spent 30 days on the slopes, and was feeling awesome about my progress (which really was quite good).



Then, one day last March I was skiing at Lake Placid, when one of my skis caught on the heavy spring snow and I fell. It wasn't a bad fall, but my right knee got twisted behind the left and the skis stayed on. When I tried to get up, my knee gave in and so I was taken to the base in a sled. That was the end of the ski season for me.



In a couple of months the swelling subsided, but the pain and instability didn't go away, so I went to see a sports doctor. He sent me to an MRI, which showed that I had a partial or full ACL tear. The doctor recommended I do surgery if I wanted to ski again.
It being Canada the wait time for surgery was 8 months. This actually turned out to be a good thing because the wait gave me lots of time to do physio and figure out what I wanted to do. I won't go into all the factors that finally made me decide to go for the surgery, but the date is coming up in just a few days. I am equal parts excited and terrified, so it should be an interesting journey. Stay tuned for the updates!