ACL Reconstruction recovery journal

Tore my ACL while playing badminton. An awesome jump, delivered a smash at a impressive angle. On landing I slipped twisting my ankle and entire weight of my body fell on the right knee. After 15 minutes I was walking out of the club with the idea of a 10k ride (cycle) back home. Probably I was high on adrenaline/endorphins. But as soon as walked 20 meters, I couldn’t take another step.

Friends helped me out. Few days later a MRI confirmed the ACL tear. Sought opinions from 3 surgeons. A day later I was scheduled for ACL Reconstruction.

Day 0 : Wheeled into surgery. Got shots of anaesthesia in my spine. 5 minutes into the procedure I started feeling my knee again. Then some new shots to my neck and i’m out for next 4 hours. Woke up in recovery room. Crying with pain in my thigh and knee.

Day 1 : High fever. Unable to move my leg. Felt like a dead log.

Day 2 : Realised that morphine (a better refined form .. Fentanyl ?) is being pumped in to me 24 hours.

Day 3: Fever continues. Unable to therapy. But was on CPM.

Day 5 : First time moved around 10 meters (felt like 5 km) to physio rehab. Was able to walk holding support ramps. Did some weight excercises. Morale boost.

Day 6 : Fever started fading.

Day 7 : Discharged from hospital. Realized I lost so much muscle mass. Right leg is very lean.

Day 8 : Woke up at brother’s place. Good food. Ate like a hungry pig.

Day 11 : Regained some strength in the thighs. Able to move around confidently with support.

Day 16 : Moved back to my own place.

Day 17 : Afraid to bend my knee. Looks like I’m resisting to bend the knee.

Day 18 : Able to sit with around 90 degree bend in my knee. Noticed some muscle development.

Day 19 : 90 Degrees knee bending

Day 21 : Mental battle is tougher than actually bending the knee.

Day 22 : Walking without support (crutches). Yay!

Able to handle stairs without support.

Day 25 : 95 – 100 Degrees. Moving to Squat exercises.

Started riding on a stationary bike. Able to walk  small distance with little limp.

Day 31 : 115 Degrees. Knee feels stronger.

Day NN : Recovery still continuing. Yet to build muscles. And regain those remaining degrees. But I’m confident now that i would be back to 110% in few months (yeah .. months!).

I should confess that I’m not a very fit athlete. I’m just a ordinary clumsy guy who started playing a bit. So this is my recovery timeline. Rehab is the tough part. Painful and needs a good amount of will power to keep doing it. It is going to take a long time to get back to my running (hopefully a marathon!). Can’t wait to get back on my bike (cycle).

One thing I kept remembering was this “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever” (Lance Armstrong). In this case it is literally true.

Notes :

• Do research. Learn about the injury and the procedure before you go in. Helps a lot. Realize that you have options on the graft being used.
• Ice is the best pain management you got. I personally don’t like pain killers.
• Most of the online materials on this subject give times lines for fit athletes. So don’t get discouraged if you are not. Keep at it.
• Mail from nice people at Bangalore Bikers Club

Misc :

• Fun when you are on a stretcher and pushed around. Profound
• Scary part was not the surgery, but the catheter in my arm. Got over it after a day.
• Enjoyed the royal treatment. People always around you. don’t have to do anything. Everything is there as soon as you think about it!
• I was without a laptop for about 15 days.
• Long phone calls from stoned friends.

(Would try to add more information and keep this post updated ..)

Me.

openSUSE 11.1 on PS3

Woohoo ! After a long delays and issues (in the last few days) I’ve managed to install openSUSE 11.1 in my PS3.  Running a full blown desktop is very sluggish. Reminds me of my first computer (amdk6 500mhz). Some screenies :

Now onto get the Cell SDK running … Synergetic Processing Elements (SPE) here i come !

3 Years in Novell, Bangalore.

This seems to be considered as a milestone here (Actually i’ve been involved with Novell for about 3.5 years).

It has been a interesting journey for me. Met a lot of *different* (sometimes weird / highly skilled / not so skilled) people. Realised how different I am, the good and the bad. I learned how to do and how not to do certain things. Amazed at people’s survival skills in the corporate jungle.

But above all, Itz been a pleasent journey and i’ve enjoyed it very much. Met some of the best engineers in the world and had oppurtunity to work with a few.

Digging into my blog archives I realise how much I’ve changed. A silent low profile student -> an intern ->  engineer ? (that is a honourable title. But have I earned it ?)

• Getting paid for having fun (Fun and more fun! and getting paid)
• Surprise assignments
• A small compilation of what i’ve been involved so far

And how ‘work’ changes you.

Looks like the next milestone is 5 years. Have lot of ideas! Lot of things that I want to learn! So many books to read! DIFFERENT things to try out! And i’m excited about it!!!

I feel like i’m just out of school and the best is yet to come!

A fun ride to ‘Jain Farms’

Around 12 bikers started by 6:00 (i guess) at Sarjapur ORR junction. Series of climbs. Fun. I was impressed by my pace it was bit more than my morning rides. So riding in groups make a lot of difference. Reached Jain Farms after 80 minutes.I didnt’t know that we would be crossing into TamilNadu !

Guyz went for a 10k run. Breakfast, Table tennis (I’m awesome at it. Right! ) and swimming.(big no no for me)

Head winds added a extra 30 minutes on the return ride. At some part of Sarjapur road I lost sight of the lead pack. I knew that one rider was behind me. I was so tired I thought I was on a highway to Delhi till I saw some familiar apartments on the horizon .

People were talking about TFN. Me ? I dont know  yet !

Thanks a lot Ravi, Anil and everybody (:) )

Had fun !

Update : Report by Anil

Update : Pictures from Prashant

Lessons on a friday evening

Last Friday evening I had to go through 20 minutes of verbal blah blah and haha haha . Yes I was the object of ridicule. I was angry but wore a mask of fake smile. I wanted to punch few faces and also considered using a GoW Lancer . But thank God I did not do that because I was either polite / a coward. Walked away. I hoped that my rage would go off after 10k of biking. It did not. I tried ranting to a few. It did not. Then in a moment a realization : “nobody is perfect that includes me”. Started looking at this in a different point of view. I had lessons to learn from this :

• If you don’t understand something, take your time and learn about it. Don’t utter STUPID words and advertise that you are a FOOL.
• Don’t make money as the object of living.
• If somebody does something and it looks stupid according to your life’s code, share your opinions. And try not to be a IDIOT claiming that what you are doing is the ideal way to go.
• Every right word that is not said and ever wrong one that is shouted is going to hurt somebody. As you sow so shall you reap.
• Just because I’m friendly doesn’t mean that I’m your friend. Trust once broken, hard to mend.
• Understand your relationship and choose your words accordingly.  If you are just a work mate, then you CANNOT speak like my brother / father / friend. KNOW YOUR LIMITS.

Thanks to you : when you buy that dream house or go about buying nonsense expensive gadget or a new motorcycle, I will smile and _try_ to share the joy brought by those stupid things (stupid according to my life’s code) even though I don’t understand it.

Today’s prayer would be : God,  help me to remember and use these lessons. And help me to be a better person.

Note : There were 4 -5 of you standing around and *having fun* . This is not for all. I appreciate a few who actually tried to bail me out of that ‘bully session’. Not expecting this but please don’t come and apologize. It is better the way it is (as of now )

“Do you see someone who thinks himself wise? There is more hope for a fool than for him!”

update : Comments closed.

Dirty bike.Yay ! (STR Apr 11 2009)

This weekend wanted to go for a ride. STR (Staurday Trail Ride) was interesting. Saw some pictures from their previous rides and was wondering whether I would be able to actually match up with their pace. Anyhoo we (me & Kalyan) started @ 0545 and reached the rendezvous point @ 0600. Met the other riders and off we went. Well, i saw the black tar road only for few minutes. The lead pack jumped off the road and it was dirt road (most of the time).

We were tailing and was slowing down the group. Awesome group of riders. Very patient with us

I simply loved the ride. Some of the stretches had surprises. Then tried some jumps (ahemm )

And my bike is dirty ! Finally .. felt like i did some justice to trek over this ride .. Hoping to do more.

Paro’s report : http://ride-bike.blogspot.com/2009/04/off-sarjapur-road-11apr09.html

Abhi : Some pics / Vids /Trail route : http://bikeszone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2677#p23152

Some lessons :

- Carry more water and some chocolates.

- Train more.

- Be with the lead pack .. 

- And try to take some pictures

Commute to office : A Test Ride

According to plan, I was supposed to go for a long ride in morning (XT – running) before going to office. But thanks to mosquitoes I couldn’t get enough sleep and woke up bit late. So i decided I’ll do a test commute to office. Just wanted to know how it feels. Started from home @ 0635 and reached office by 0710. Stopped to check saddle height and front tires (I think the brakes are not aligned)

Thanks to Kalyan & Nikanth for letting me park it in their house. I’m not confident of parking in office (yet) .

Kalyan's Firefox Cyclone & Trek 3700

Left office earlier and rode back home. Loved the ride and would be commuting to office in my bike

Life += Trek 3700

Bought a Trek 3700 today.

A beautiful machine in ‘Acid Gold’ colour. Will be using this for cross training and some fun rides on weekends. Have to assess about commuting to office. (Distance is not a problem . Parking is ).

Initially I was looking at a Firefox Target. But when i tried out the Trek i just had to get it. Its definitely worth it.

Rohan from BOTS suggested that I go for a 4300. But itz a bit over my budget. so settled for a 3700.

This Trek 3700 is from BumsOnTheSaddle.com .

Why BumsOnTheSaddle.com ?

• Passionate people. (Differentiates lot of other stores)
• They know what they are talking about.  (They are real bikers!)
• They are building a nice community.
• Have very good online presence. And very good on emails (important to me .. and i didnt have to make a single phone call!)
• Good amount of material about bikes : notebook.bumsonthesaddle.com (i’m impressed by this)

Thanks a lot Rohan, Nikhil and umm ForgotHisName! It was a good experience. A nice run through the bike and personalizing it for me!

I rode all the way from Jayanagar (BOTS) to Koramangala 1st block (6km ?). Was worried about the traffic a bit .. But it was not a problem at all. The ride was smooth. Was learning about the gears and really understood why people stress on consistent cadence ! After that had a quick lunch and started off to CV Raman Nagar (10 km) . It was around 1430 and the sun just drained me out when I went over Domlur flyover. Reached Kalyan’s place. Went out with Kalyan and he bought a Firefox Cyclone.

Later in the evening we (Me and Kalyan) went out and explored CV Raman nagar a bit.Was learning about gear ratios all along. Realized the importance of  saddle height. It dropped down and my knees started hurting. Stopped and fixed (Yup carrying Allen keys proved very useful ).  Would leave CV Raman nagar in morning (of course .. on my Trek 3700 ! ) (10 km)

I should have got a bottle cage along with the bike. Stopping and drinking from the bottle in the backpack wasted time.

I’m going to enjoy this part of my life.  Yay!

Random words :

• New would be  bikers : Please do your own research before getting a bike. It helps you a lot in understanding your equipment.
• For calculating gear ratios : http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

Hmm … big post. Been a while ..

Update :  19 Hours after buying :  Pedaled 30+ Km

0o3731 0×7D9 (2009)

Back from 2 week long break. Met family. Some observations :

+ You got no idea why your relatives like / hate you !

+ When you have a 8 month old nephew around , Don’t pack your laptop for the trip.

+ In some places you don’t have GSM network, but have access to internet @ 240 KB.

+ Cruising at 130+ K in Indian roads! yep .. they are no more dreams.

+ RB doesn’t help when you are sleep deprived and driving ! (hey .. not me)

+ Solitude helps after 2 weeks of too much human contact.

2009 :

+ This is going to be a awesome year! (or in Swen’s words : New year : Same shit )

+ Need change. Can’t take crap everyday from crapy ppl. You know what i mean.

Looks like my urges to write blog posts are back. naaah …

Code :

+ Been fixing up e-seek. Thanks to GIT for all itz offline awesomeness.

+ Will finish up Hiveminder for Tasque (live.gnome.org/Tasque) soonish. Already started scratching files for Toodledo backend.

Looks like my urges to write code is still there and strong

foss.in 2008

Some of the sessions that i’m planning to attend :

• Speed up boot through disk sorting – Nikanth Karthikesan or Giving git-rebase a facelift (UI) Abhijit Bhopatkar
• Profile Gnome using Dtrace Parthasarathi Susarla

The Dark Knight in IMAX Hyderabad

Simply Awesome ! 2.5 hrs, non-stop .. felt like 25 minutes. Woa !

Thanks to Swen for the perfect middle row/seats and to Punns for infecting me with TDK fever.