@therealMoj<\/a>) and after talking about the procedure on my regular Wednesday hit with Donnie and Dhali on CHEK TV.<\/p>\nSo I\u2019ve decided to share my experience with you to hopefully answer any questions that you may have if you are contemplating the procedure.<\/p>\n
First, some background.<\/p>\n
I tore the ACL in my right knee in the 1989 Shrum Bowl while playing for UBC. For some reason unbeknownst to man, I tried to tackle SFU running back Sean Millington \u2013 aka the Diesel \u2013 which proved to be a dumb idea. My ACL reconstruction was done by Dr. Ross Davidson, who was the Vancouver Canucks physician at the time.<\/p>\n
The surgery was a success, but as time went on, I noticed that my knee was getting weaker. Perhaps the greatest tell was when we had a high school reunion picnic at Hume Park in New Westminster in the late 1990s. My childhood friend Steve Goodwin, who had a great lacrosse career and was within a minute of winning the Mann Cup as head coach of the New Westminster Salmonbellies, was throwing around a football with me when he started to laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re running with a limp,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
It was something that I hadn\u2019t even noticed<\/p>\n
Nor did I notice as the knee just got weaker and weaker with osteoarthritis setting in over the years. Strangely enough, I never really felt any pain. There was weakness and discomfort but none of that excruciating pain that would force you to call the doctor.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to the last few years, whereas like before, there was no significant pain.<\/p>\n
So what was the breaking point for me?<\/p>\n
Stairs.<\/p>\n
They\u2019d become a nightmare.<\/p>\n
It had got to the point where going down the stairs was done one-at-a-time, almost always sideways while hanging on to the hand rail with an iron grip.<\/p>\n
Enough was enough, so I finally decided to pursue surgery and eventually met Dr. Kostamo. After a cancellation, we finally got a date for a total knee repalcement \u2013 Friday, March 13.<\/p>\n
I had done a lot of \u2018prehab\u2019 prior to the procedure which I\u2019m told is key. I would walk three times daily racking up anywhere between 12,000 to 14,000 steps. That helped me lose close to 20 pounds which was nice. I also worked on trying to increase the range of motion in my knee as well.<\/p>\n
The night before the surgery was interesting. It reminded me of the feeling that I had before playing in a big game. There was a sense of knowing that you were going to be in for a battle. I felt calm and confident yet I also respected what was going on and knowing that it was no joke.<\/p>\n
Lucky for me, I was the first surgery of the day at 7:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
I got taken to \u2018pre-op\u2019 where you meet the team that will be working on you. The nurses, the anesthesiologist and the surgeon all pay visits to discuss what\u2019s going to occur. You receive an IV drip and also get a nerve block needle into your groin to help with pain management post-surgery.<\/p>\n
Eventually you get wheeled into the operating room where you\u2019re greeted by the surgical team.<\/p>\n
The sedation process this time was totally different from my surgery in 1989.<\/p>\n
The days of having a gas mask placed on your face and counting down from 50 have been replaced by receiving a spinal block needle which numbs the body from the waist down.<\/p>\n
Remember that IV from earlier? That\u2019s how they put you to sleep during the procedure.<\/p>\n
I felt perfectly fine waking up in post-op. The first thing that I remember was hearing Dr. Kostamo on the phone talking to my ride and letting them know that the surgery went well.<\/p>\n
I asked Dr. Kostamo how bad the knee was on a scale of 1-10.<\/p>\n
\u201cNine-and-a-half,\u201d was Kostamo\u2019s response, noting that he pulled out a lot of osteophytes (bone spurs) with one the size of a toonie.<\/p>\n
I spent two hours in post-op with my heart rate and blood pressure being monitored with checks also being done on back where the spinal block was injected.<\/p>\n
From there it was to \u2018daycare\u2019 which I found ironic seeing how I\u2019ve been told at times I act like a child.<\/p>\n
Remember that spinal block?<\/p>\n
It left me temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, which is a normal side effect.<\/p>\n
The next four hours were spent with more checks and eventually the feeling in my legs returning. Once the feeling returned, a nurse taught me how to use a walker and I was up and about going for short strolls. Then the physiotherapist came by and gave me instructions on how to get dressed, get out of bed and a bunch of other tasks. Then another visit from a nurse with a list of prescriptions that had to be filled out immediately.<\/p>\n
As for pain, I can honestly say I had none but being jacked up on hydromorphone might have had something to do with it.<\/p>\n
By 3:30 p.m., I walked out to my ride using my folding walker and was on my way home.<\/p>\n
The fun was only beginning as the next step would be the recovery process and rehab.<\/p>\n
More on that in my next column.<\/p>\n
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob \u2018The Moj\u2019 Marjanovich writes about the B.C. sporting scene for Black Press Media.<\/p>\n
This column is brought to you in part by:<\/p>\n
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