Follow Waterville HS senior Alex Jenson's Blog. Jenson is one of the top hurdlers & jumpers in the state. Jenson won't be competing this spring but instead recovering from a torn ACL. Follow Alex this spring as she starts the recovery process.
The good news is that I finally have a new ACL! The bad news is that it will be awhile before I can return to the level of physical activity that I have been used to in the past.
I had ultimately three graft choices to choose from for my new ACL; cadaver, patellar tendon or hamstring. My new ACL is constructed from my own patellar tendon, the gold standard. My surgery took about two and a half hours but it felt like two seconds for me because I was under general anesthesia. I was kept in the recovery room until my doctor was able to stop by and talk about how the surgery went. He was very pleased with how everything looked in my knee, other than my ACL of course, which was good to hear because small tears of cartilage sometimes don’t show up until the surgeon is working on the knee. My MRI only showed an ACL tear so I was happy when he confirmed that my ACL was the only tear. The surgery was successful and I am officially on the road to recovery!
The day after my surgery I had rehab. I know it sounds crazy but it was actually very helpful and reassuring. My PT took a look at my range of motion, my incision, and my pain level. The doctor also stopped by to see how the physical therapy was going and how my knee was doing. We talked about my timeline for the next six months and I am very optimistic that I will be back skiing at the end of October and ready to compete by the middle of December. Although I liked being able to walk and being pain free prior to surgery, I wasn’t actually getting better. I’ve made it through the hardest physical part of my recovery, the first two weeks.
The frustration of being a cripple has had its ups and downs. I have to rely on people a lot more than I ever have and it’s hard for me to ask for the help sometimes. The rehab is also a challenge because all of my exercises used to be things I could do without a problem. Two of the hardest exercises I have to do are quad contractions and wall slides. The quad contractions require me to extend my knee and then hold it for five seconds. It sounds easy until you actually have to do it post-op. My leg that I had surgery on has lost a lot of muscle so I can’t actually see my quad muscles react but I sure can feel them. Working on my range of motion has also been a challenge. My patellar tendon and quad are very tight just because of the nature of the surgery. I can fully lock out my knee but the tightness of my patellar tendon makes it really hard to allow my knee to bend. At this point post-op, I have eight different exercises that I do four times per day.
I missed five days of school and my first day back was only a half-day. Crutching from one end of the school to the other end is actually a pretty physically grueling task. My friends help carry my backpack from class to class so that all I have to worry about is getting my knee around the crowded halls. This week I wasn’t able to sit through track practices but I think by next week I will be able to do so. Luckily with a little bit of extra time after school I have been able to focus on writing my senior paper and studying for AP exams.
I am a big goal setter and my goals have changed drastically from pre-injury to post-injury. The other day I took a look at my goal journal from this point in the track season last year. Last year my goals were to run a sub-15.5 in the hurdles, to jump a new PR in triple jump and to prepare for Loucks Games where this year, my goals are to start walking without crutches, to lift my leg without help and to prepare for my next PT appointment. It’s crazy how things can change in one year.
The other day I was talking to Devin Burgess and he said that although it is horrible and not fair that I got hurt for my senior year of track, everything happens for a reason. I may never know the reason but I am going to prove that this injury will have made me stronger both physically and mentally.
-Alex Jenson