Yesterday I had my ACL reconstructed. The surgery went well and I feel better than I thought- not feeling much pain. It was performed in Vancouver, WA by Dr. Roberts of Rebound, a well-respected surgeon in the Portland area. He previously did Trailblazer Greg Oden’s knee surgery.

The new makeshift ACL was constructed from a hamstring graft, but Roberts has his own unique way of fastening it. As I understand it, he doesn’t just use bioabsorbable screws, but a couple of titanium screws and washers, along with a 55mm x 3mm titanium pin placed in the lower femoral bone. This gives the new ACL (hamstring) something secure to loop around and tie back. He said he’s been doing these for 10-12 years and believes it’s the best fixation.

My right knee was injured when I was playing ultimate frisbee. The surgery came after a lot of thought and research on which graft to choose: patellar vs hamstring.

The rehabilitation will be quite involved. I have quite a laundry list of tasks to do, including various strength-building exercises, constant icing using a fancy Game Ready ice machine, and making multiple trips to the physical therapist. I think it will be worth it.

This was a year of significant change. It feels like it was two years in one. In chronological order, here’s a summary of my significant events in 2008.

• Moved to Longview, WA
• Started a new job
• Navigated through some challenging issues with Turbo Photo
• Found a new group for playing racquetball
• Joined a walleyball group
• Went snow skiing 5x
• Camped in a snow cave
• Taught salsa dancing a couple times
• Performed at a tango/cha cha dance recital
• Volunteered as ESL tutor at the library
• Made a difference at my workplace- revised the logo, website, and increased traffic 6x
• Maintained a blog
• Hiked every weekend for 6 weeks in preparation for climbing Mt. Hood
• Took a LCC course
• Saw the supercross in Seattle
• My car was totaled by an uninsured drunk driver
• Bought a motorcycle
• Won a settlement in court from a fraudulent car transaction
• Reconnected with an old friend
• Learned more about programming PHP, including a breakthrough with data mining
• Played in an ultimate frisbee league
• Tore my ACL
• Became president of new Toastmaster club
• Joined a local photography club
• Posted drum videos to YouTube and received more than 25k views
• One of my websites doubled in popularity- received 700+/day visitors
• Started yoga
• Enjoyed a vacation in Cabo
• Visited family
• Chose to have knee surgery in Feb 2009
• On the schedule to teach at LCC
• Had a photography vacation in San Diego

Here are some of the places I’ve worked…