Day 42 - What does it feel like to tear your ACL?

Sorry to those with a weak stomach, but I had to put this in here after reading this description of what it's like to tear your ACL on ESPN (but I did put in a picture of puppy to take away some of the sting, so if at any point you feel nauseous, just look at the puppy and you'll instantly feel better):

Typical symptoms include a "pop" felt in the knee, followed by immediate pain and swelling. The pain may be so severe that the player will feel nauseated and vomit. Sometimes players may have mild pain and swelling. Because of the range of symptoms, a physician should always evaluate the player

I didn't experience any of those, well, except for the pain. I didn't feel a pop. And the pain wasn't that severe that I thought I would vomit. But I knew something was immediately wrong before I even hit the ground. As the ACL (and probably the cartilage) tore, a white hot sensation shot through my brain as I was tumbling to the ground.

I had never felt anything like that before, so that was a pretty good indicator that something seriously bad had happened. I was in pretty intense pain, but I think it was more due to the concern that my knee was wrecked rather than sheer physical pain. I pounded the ground with my hand and said the "f" word repeatedly. I'm not sure why I did that, but it seemed like a good thing to do at the time. Maybe something to do with exercising the evil spirits or something. Plus, it distracted my brain from the pain.

But once I hobbled off to the side of the field, I laid around for probably 20-30 minutes or so, waiting for my girlfriend at the time to arrive and drive me to the hospital. The pain was bad, but not too severe. I was carrying on conversations and doing ok for the most part. And I did follow the ESPN recommendations above and had a doctor at the ER examine me. They took X-rays and did the standard tests for an ACL tear. The doc concluded that my ACL wasn't torn and that neither was my cartilage. She was wrong on both counts. But I was later seen by an orthopedist and a physical therapist, both of whom also did not think my ACL was torn. So either there's a lot of bad healthcare providers in this area, or I'm just one of the lucky ones whose knee remains stable even after an ACL tear. But apparently, it's not stable enough. Ok, back to the puppy.