T minus 1 week

It's happening.  It's really happening.  I have never had any type of operation performed on me, not including fillings, but they don't count (do they?).  On March 30, I go under the knife for a knee reconstruction surgery.  The anxiety level has moderated itself, but I have to admit, there is some nervousness regarding such a dramatic procedure.  They are going to know me out for a few hours to do the surgery, and who knows how that is going to work out.

There is good news, though.

I get dead person parts!

The procedure that I am having is called an allograft.  A donor ligament is going to be installed in the place of the flapping useless ACL that is already there.  From what I gather, they take a notch out of the two bones that the ACL attaches to and replace the useless parts with the new ones that came out of the cadaver.  There is no risk of rejection, that only happens with organs and things that have blood flow through them, like veins and hearts.

The reason I chose this procedure over the alternative, which is taking a piece of another tendon form myself and transplanting it into the slot where the ACL would go, is time.  This surgery, plain and simple, is the next available operation.  From what I have learned, there is no difference in recovery time or how the knee feels once the procedure is done, the only difference is where the new ligament comes from.

I'm a little freaked out now, but I'm sure that this weirdness is going increase as the days move forward.  I have come to grips that I am not going to get this person's life force though, so I guess that is a start.

SD