And then suddenly you're at the bottom of the slope and you can't get up. This is how my holiday with friends ended last weekend. Torn anterior cruciate ligament is the diagnosis, and my outer knee ligament. At least… as far as I've been able to understand because my German isn't that spectacular. And the doctors in Austria are also not very fond of English unfortunately.
Yesterday I wrote an article about my skiing holiday with five girls and why you should really think about it for yourself. Not necessarily the skiing of course, but the holiday with friends. It was highly recommended. Even though I fell to the ground on the last day, resulting in a torn cruciate ligament in my right knee and a torn outer knee ligament.
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And I was almost there! The day with the best weather and the best snow. We had already had a lot of slopes and already had a nice lunch before we whizzed down on this fine slope. And so it went wrong almost at the bottom of this slope.
I fell but my skis stayed on. Bad luck, because that (I think) caused my knee to twist and I heard a loud 'snap'. oops. A sharp pain went through my knee and I became slightly nauseous. Luckily one of my friends was close by. She was able to release my skis so that I could sit in a slightly easier position to recover.
The pain went away and I actually felt fine enough to stand again. Hoppa, I thought… just relax and here we go again.
But unfortunately it was not that easy. Bummer. When I got up I immediately fell through that leg again where I heard that 'snap'. huh? As if the upper leg and lower leg no longer belong together, that's how it feels. So time for a helping hand. To come down the last 15 meters I really had to go on the snowmobile. We've had that again. And from that moment on it all went really fast.
The ambulance was called and before I knew it I was - alone - in the ambulance with another victim behind me and a nurse in front of me. On the way to the hospital in Mittersill, Austria.
A ride I will not soon forget, as my stomach is not so resistant to car trips and the other ski victim left an indelible impression on me. The nurse told him every 2 minutes that he had had a collision and was on his way to the hospital. So amnesia. But that wasn't all. Due to his (suspected) concussion, he was also very nauseous and had to vomit. And if you can't handle driving well yourself, that's not really nice.
In addition, there was a slight panic because the nurse thought he was also vomiting blood. However, the man himself had a small moment of clarity…. this was not blood… he had eaten goulash soup 😛 …
Like I said, my German isn't very special. And if the other party is not very strong in English, it can sometimes be a bit difficult. But the doctors and I managed to work it out with hands and feet.
Incidentally, I had chosen an excellent moment for a ruptured cruciate ligament. There was nothing to do in the hospital, except for the man with the concussion. It was soon my turn with the CT scan. Fortunately, it turned out that my bones were all okay. So no break. And after some pushing and pulling with my legs, the doctors came to the conclusion:anterior cruciate ligament torn and outer knee ligament.
With a big fat brace around my leg I was banned into the waiting room. At home to the doctor and the hospital I was still told. I was able to call my girlfriends that I was ready to be picked up. And an hour and a half later I stumbled back into our hotel in Gerlos.
Unfortunately… no more pub night this evening, but just good food in the hotel.
I'm not quite sure yet. I arrived home on Sunday evening, went to the doctor on Monday morning (who didn't even look at my leg) and then made an appointment by phone with Viasana, a clinic in Mill. I can go here on 8 February and then I will hear more about the damage. I expect that I will immediately have an MRI there so that they can see exactly what is going on and assess which treatment is appropriate.
Of course I have also searched a bit on the internet on the subject of 'ruptured cruciate ligament' and on possible treatments for a ruptured cruciate ligament. However, that doesn't make you happier. Operations and rehabilitations between 9 and 12 months pass me by.
I have therefore decided not to do any further research on the internet. I just wait quietly and in the meantime I stumble for my cappuccino from my desk to the kitchen and back again 😉 .
The strange thing is that I don't feel any pain at all. Unless I make a weird twist with my knee, that is. I also suffer more from the brace than from my knee, haha. What nonsense those are dude! Of course I am happy with it, because otherwise I would not have been able to move at all, but such a brace is extremely clumsy. And because of the tight tightening of all the Velcro, not really good for your skin.
It is now two days later and I can stand on my right leg much better than yesterday. Even if the cruciate ligament is torn. Driving and cycling will not be possible for a while, but so far I am actually quite positive about the recovery that I seem to be feeling now.
Keep you posted!
