Discharge from Hospital
Most patients go home the day after their reconstruction. It is possible to go home on the day of surgery if you are well and the physiotherapists deem you safe.
Dr Ward will write instructions specifically for you on your discharge letter; if your ACL is the only reconstructed part of your knee you will not need a brace to go home with. Dr Ward will send a letter to your GP with the intra operative findings, procedures completed and a post operative plan.
If you have a favourite physiotherapist that you would like to see post operatively, book an appointment to see them for after your wound review with Dr Ward. She will write them a referral so that your rehabilitation is safe and efficient. The team at Active Rehab will see you while you are in hospital, and will usually call you in the week before your operation. They will give you exercises to do for the first two weeks after your surgery.
Post Operative Medications
Your anaesthetist will talk to you about your post operative pain requirements. You will be given a small supply of medication to bring home with you from hospital.
If you need more pain medication after you go home, it is best to see your GP if you can. It would be a good idea to book an appointment to see them in the second week of your post operative period ahead of your admission to hospital.
Post Operative Appointments
Wound check
This will be done at about two weeks. All going well your small waterproof dressings from surgery will stay on until this appointment. The stitches used by Dr Ward for ACL reconstruction dissolve out after about three weeks.
Final appointment
Dr Ward will see you again at two months post operatively to check on your rehabilitation progress. Usually this will be your last appointment with Dr Ward; if it is easier to do that via telemedicine Amber can arrange that for you.
It is very important for you to work closely with your physiotherapist, in particular heeding the restrictions on activity to protect your reconstruction. These restrictions will evolve and be lifted as you progress along your rehabilitation journey; all going well you will return to contact sports (or your chosen equivalent) at nine months post operatively.