I have to confess that I got pretty freaked out when the specialist told me I'd busted my ACL, and I've been thinking a lot about it since.
Perhaps the reason I got freaked out is that, being a fairly keen follower of sports, a lot of my heroes are sportsmen, and for these people, a busted ACL is a big deal, for some the worst injury you can have. For them, it puts in jeopardy their profession and passion, which is pretty hardcore. For me, I'm increasingly realising, playing tennis, basketball or football is important to me, but I'm fortunate enough that cutting them out would still leave me with plenty of alternative pursuits.
I'm also coming around to the idea of having the reconstructive surgery in France. A couple of people I've talked to in Australia seem to think that it would be elective surgery in Australia, which would mean no or little public coverage, and a long waiting period before getting it done, neither of which particularly appeal to me.
In the interim, apparently it helps the recovery process if the knee is strong prior to surgery. In aid of that, I went for a run last night, and plan on going and getting my bike fixed up this week so I can go and do some cycling a bit beyond what I normally do to and from work. Who knows, it may even have the effect of getting me fitter, which would certainly be no drawback.
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Jim, bummer about the ACL. However, given the lead time on getting anything done, you've got time for some research.
Go here: http://abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/ and read or listen to the two most recent shows: "Facing the evidence" parts one and two.
Then, go ask your doctor the three questions:
What are my options?
What are the expected outcomes? And
What's the likelihood of each of those outcomes?
I'm sure you'll be better than new after reconstruction. Take care.
Thanks for the link. I have to say two things, though.
1) I'd much rather have no lead time and no options, no research to do. If it was up to me, the doctors would tell me what to do and I would deal with it. As it stands, I'm getting more and more comfortable with the idea that my options are (a) Get the surgery, or (b) Don't, and never play certain sports again. From there, what I can do is determined by how well I apply myself to recovery.
2) Also, I'm not too sure about "go ask your doctor X". Getting an appointment with a specialist is like getting blood from a stone. In any country.
You can try and get free answers to your health questions here:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcsite.nsf/pages/ask_experts?opendocument
It may be worth a try. I think it will be more cost and time effective for you to get it done in France in January and fly over a rehab pro from Australia.
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