Finally Meeting with a Surgeon

On March 26th, one day after coming back to Rome from our Eurotrip, I was finally able to meet with an Orthopedic Surgeon who spoke English. Sure his English was a bit broken (he was French/Italian), but he took his time with me and explained everything that he saw in the MRI. He explained it to me, and then wrote it all down so that I could explain to my mom what happened (no I did not tell her yet, more on that coming up). He said I had a "totally ruptured ACL, lesion to the medial ligament, and lesion to the back part of the medial meniscus" and that I would most likely need surgery when I returned to the states.

What next? 

Well, he took the cast off and told me to buy a brace that would keep my knee from going side-to-side. I was to start putting weight on it and avoid pivoting. Once I finally knew the full extent of my injury and that I will eventually need surgery (and that I was back in Rome after traveling Europe on crutches), I finally told my mom what had happened. I explained to her that there was no point of telling her I got hurt before I actually knew what exactly happened to my knee and before I was back and safe in Rome.

After about 2 weeks of following the orthopedics protocol, I was walking much better and feeling less pain. I even stopped using the brace because it was causing too much pain and discomfort in my knee. Things were looking better and I was able to move around again. I was not able to run or jump but after not being able to get around without crutches for 2 weeks in 5 different countries, I was just happy to be able to get around by walking. 

From here on out, I was just doing simple exercises (leg lifts, bending the knee, tightening quads) to regain full motion in my knee and be ready for surgery. My last month and a half in Europe were great and my knee didn't prevent me from enjoying them. 

((my knee [the one without the turf-burn] after getting my cast of))