One Year Post ACL Reconstruction!

Yippeeeeeee!!!!!!  I made it!  This entry is a little off the PCT topic, but it feels relevant to me!

It’s hard to believe a year has passed since my surgery.  For those of you who don’t know, I tore my right ACL on March 12, 2011 in a ski accident at the Alpental Ski Area.  I’m fortunate my knee was the only thing injured.  It’s crazy to reflect on the heartbreak I felt after the accident and compare it to the optimism I feel today.  I vividly remember calling Joe, my boyfriend at the time, from the Shot Six run, waiting for him to drive to Alpental to pick me up, and the depressing trip back to Seattle.  I can still taste the Brooklyn Bridge pizza from Pagliacci that I ate for dinner that night between tears.  Despite being checked out by the ski patrol doctor, I knew something wasn’t right.  

I wound up going to the ER at Northwest Hospital early Sunday morning where another doctor told me he was 99% confident nothing was torn.  I left the ER feeling happier but still not totally convinced my knee was ok.  On Monday, I stayed home from work and scheduled an appointment with Dr. Chun, an orthopedic specialist at Virginia Mason, for Thursday in case I wasn’t feeling better.  During the week, I vacillated over whether to cancel the appointment but wound up keeping it because I still felt some instability and I was antsy to resume running.  Nevertheless, I thought the doctor might laugh at me since two others had already given me a clean bill of health and I was walking around pretty darn well.  I could have only wished that was how it went!  Within about 5 minutes, Dr. Chun told me he was more than 50% confident my ACL was torn, and I had an MRI later in the morning that confirmed a full tear.  I was totally shocked!

After the MRI, things happened really quickly.  Since ACLs do not repair themselves, surgery was necessary unless I wanted to try living without it.  Joe and I met with Dr. Belfie, an orthopedic surgeon at Virginal Mason, first thing the next morning and were both completely sold.  Dr. Belfie did an exceptional job of presenting us with the pros and cons of various reconstruction options.  In addition, despite the full tear, I had fantastic range of motion and very little swelling so having surgery immediately was possible.  I elected to use a graft from my own patellar tendon and was scheduled for reconstruction on Monday.  I spent the rest of the day arranging to be out of work the next week and then escaped for a weekend of cragging in Vantage.  There wasn’t much more damage I could do to my knee, so I intended to tough it out and enjoy one last weekend of freedom before the surgery.

My reconstruction went perfectly!  I returned home the same day and started physical therapy two days later.  The first couple weeks were challenging and I owe a lot to Joe for taking such excellent care of me and helping me stay positive.  After two weeks, life started looking up.  I was able to begin outdoor cycling at four weeks, a walk/jog program at seven weeks, light running and lead climbing at three months, and skiing at six months.  This may seem like a super slow process, but at the time, each new step (down to driving a car!) was thrilling. As cheesy as it sounds, I really appreciated small things I’d often overlooked.

A year later, my knee feels strong.  I set my sights on the PCT over 4th of July weekend last summer during my first long hike following the surgery.  I was so happy to be back in the mountains!  I’ve had a great ski season, and I’m looking forward to running the Yakima River Canyon Marathon on March 31st and then starting my trek next month.  I’ve learned a ton from my injury, surgery, and rehab, but what sticks with me the most is how amazing the body is at healing. I don’t live in fear of injuries anymore, because I now know I can come back stronger than before.  

Happy Spring!

Presidents Day Weekend

I was able to arrange a four day weekend around the Presidents Day holiday in order to head to Anchorage to visit my parents.  In addition to celebrating my mom’s birthday, squeezing in a long run, and waiting outside while the fire department ventilated our house after snow clogged the vents and caused a carbon monoxide problem, I managed to fit in some quality PCT planning time.  Organization was the name of the game! 

One of my first projects was to sort out my maps and route beta.  On the trail, I plan to carry Halfmile’s PCT maps (http://www.pctmap.net/), Yogi’s Town Guide, and The Pacific Crest Trail Databook, by Benedict Go.  I’ll also have the Wilderness Press PCT guidebooks, but I have a feeling these will be overkill and ditched along the way.  Rather than starting with everything I need for the entire journey (too heavy!), my parents are going to send me what I’ll need for each subsequent section in my resupply packages.  Therefore, I spent a lot of time over the weekend dividing up my maps and tearing apart my books.  This was a super tedious process, and I’m happy to have it behind me. 

Since I’m not going to make it back to Anchorage before I hit the trail, I wanted to get as organized as possible for my shipments.  Before leaving Seattle, I’d made tentative contents lists for each resupply box.  Over the weekend, my mom and I made a trip to the post office where we picked up a stack of flat rate boxes.  Our next stops were Costco and Fred Meyers.  Though my parents are planning to do a lot of shopping for me throughout my trip, I wanted to have some non-perishable items on hand to get started.  We also talked about how to repackage the food, as they won’t have space to ship everything in its original packaging and it would be too heavy for me to carry anyways.  While Costco and Freddie’s were a bit overwhelming and I wound up making a few changes to my lists, it was fun to think about the heaps of guilt-free goodies I’ll be eating this summer!   

My parents are going to be working overtime to make my resupply shipments the tastiest on the trail, and I owe them big time.  By doing most of the shopping for me, they’re allowing me to consume more fresh food.  They’ll be sending bagels, English muffins, and homemade treats that I couldn’t possibly purchase or make before the start of my adventure.  Thank you!   

The rest of my weekend was spent on smaller projects like activating my SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger (see the Where’s Kristy? tab for information about this nifty device), figuring out my solar charger, which I’ll use to charge my cell phone and batteries for my headlamp, SPOT, and radio, and showing my parents how to update my blog (most of my entries will be handwritten and mailed to Anchorage from pit stops).  My dad was also kind enough to seam-seal my new tent.

Back in Seattle, I just bought a one-way ticket to San Diego!   Big thanks go to my grandparents for donating their Delta miles!  I’m planning to leave Seattle on Wednesday, April 25th, and I hope to start hiking from the Mexico border on Thursday, the 26^th.  I’ll spend the 27^th and 28^th at the Kick-Off in Lake Morena, about 20 miles from the trailhead, and then mosey north from there.  I can hardly believe it!  It was great to get so many logistics taken care of over the weekend, and for the first time, I feel like this trip is actually going to happen!