Pre-Surgery - Background

Hey,

On the 11th of August this year, I hurt my knee performing the same movement I had done thousands of times previously, a non contact injury. I suppose fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) due to the strength of the muscles around my knee i passed all ACL tests and had massive hopes of a less serious injury. I was lucky to get a scan in Santry and two days later just after work I received the bad news that I had torn my ACL had sprained my medial ligament and had bone bruising from the injury. I’m so fortunate to have massive support and help in work, not just since my injury, but in general.

You’d be very low after hearing that but to be fair my friends and family were really helpful and supportive and I’ve a lot to thank them for and to be thankful for.

Post results I had an appointment in Santry with my Surgeon Mr Niall Hogan, he was lovely and again did the ACL tests. He agreed that because my muscles were so strong (gains) that I had good stability around the knee but that according to the MRI my ACL was completely disrupted. I knew myself that my knee was goosed so I knew that I would need the surgery. The surgery was scheduled for three days later, I thought it was all a bit mad but I just wanted to start the recovery and I suppose it didn’t really give me much time to think about it. That Thursday I went up to Santry, went through admissions, had answered all the routine questions and was kitted out in my gown and sock and ready for the surgery. Mr Hogan came to meet me and informed me that unfortunately the surgery had been cancelled and he gave me a new date for the future. Now after that you’d be very very low… Everybody was offering advice and telling me that it would be fine but it was hard to take. I found it hard to go out or to even leave my room some days but it did get easier with time. (For anybody that knows me well would know that it was around this point I met the love of my life…. My puppy Charlie haha! He’s a little Shih Tzu and he’s amazing. He kept me busy and didn’t allow me enough time to feel sorry for myself).

So off I headed home to work on prehab for a few weeks. We decided to turn one one of the rooms in the house into a recovery room. Along with that, I’m so grateful to Shannon Leisure Centre who have allowed me to use their facilities! I also started cycling a few kilometres every day and did as much as I realistically could to get the knee as strong as possible for the surgery.

Naomi