In this video, Victoria S. Dorsano walks viewers through every stage of her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction day, aiming to demystify the process and reduce fear. She begins by explaining why she chose to share her story— to provide a rational, knowledge‑based “armor” against anxiety— and notes that the surgery occurred during the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic, which affected visitor policies. She details the pre‑operative phone call (fasting instructions, brace preparation, surgery timing), arrival at the surgical center, check‑in, and the pre‑op room where nurses verify medical history, vitals, and provide a post‑op medication packet. She describes meeting the anesthesiologist, who outlines the medication plan, and the surgeon, who marks the correct knee. An IV line is placed before heading to the operating room. Inside the OR she observes loud Metallica music, a common practice for many surgical teams. She explains the anesthesia protocol: general anesthesia combined with a femoral nerve block, and introduces the newer adductor nerve block as an alternative that preserves quadriceps activation. She recounts the sensation (or lack thereof) during the nerve block, the rapid induction of unconsciousness, and the gentle awakening in the recovery room, including vital sign monitoring, nausea management, and the provision of ginger ale and crackers. Post‑operatively she receives crutches, a knee brace, and discharge instructions, and she emphasizes the importance of open communication with the surgical team, proactive pain‑management (icing, elevation, medication schedule), and the overall low‑pain experience. She invites viewers to ask further ACL‑related questions and offers to create a follow‑up video on pain management. Throughout, her tone is reassuring, instructional, and supportive, aiming to replace fear with concrete knowledge.
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So I've been getting a lot of comments recently about fear around ACL surgery, and I get it, especially if this is your first time going into surgery at all. So I'm a big believer in rationalizing against fear and kind of bringing knowledge to the table and helping kind of develop a protective suit of armor against that fear. So I figured by maybe sharing my own story about surgery day and what that experience was like and what I went through step by step, it could give you guys a little bit more of a basis of what to expect and ease some of your fear given my experience. So just keep in mind too, as I share story, I had my surgery during the height of the pandemic, so some of these things may change. Like, for example, I couldn't have a family member or friend come into the surgical center with me. I had to go completely by myself. So I'm not sure if that's the same protocol right now or not. I'm guessing not, but, you know, some things were a little bit different. So here we go. So a few days prior to surgery, I got a call from one of the members of the surgical team, and they were just going over all the details of of what I need, you know, postoperatively, making sure I had, you know, crutches around, making sure I had— was going to bring my brace with me that they had already given to me prior to surgery. And we had fitted and everything to where, you know, when I came out of surgery. So that's very common that they will give you the brace ahead of time. You'll get it fitted to your leg and then, you know, you'll bring it with you on the day of surgery so that they can put it on post-op. So she was just checking to make sure I had that handy. She was checking to make sure that I knew, you know, not to eat or drink anything 8 hours prior to surgery. So just kind of hitting all the bases, which gave me a lot of feeling of security and safety and just kind of feeling like, okay, I have more information, this is good, all good stuff, right? So that was good. And on that phone call, she also gave me the time of my surgery, so I knew what time I needed to be there, what time my surgery was going to start, and what time I needed to tell somebody to pick me up after surgery. So on surgery day, I had to arrive about 2 hours prior to the surgery time, which is pretty standard. I was fasted at that point. I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for 8 hours, which is really important if you're going into surgery. So my mom actually came by to my apartment and picked me up that morning and then dropped me off at the surgical center. Because it was COVID, she wasn't allowed in, so she just had to kind of drop me and then wait for a phone call after surgery to, you know, figure out when she could come back. But typically the surgery for ACL surgeries is about 2 to 2.5 hours, so she had a rough window when she knew she needed to come back. So I was dropped off at the surgical center. I walk in, there's usually like a receptionist, you check in, right? So I checked in, I don't think I had any forms to fill out. She already had all my stuff there ready to go, and she said just kind of wait in the waiting room until I was called back. And then probably within like 5 minutes or so, the nurse came and she called me back into the surgical center, and away we went. So then the nurse came back, right, and she gave me like this gown to change into, and I had to take off all my jewelry, all my clothes, change into the gown. She gave me these cute little socks to wear to keep my feet warm, which were cute. And yeah, then we made our way into the medical room, which wasn't the OR yet, right? So there's kind of like this pre-op room that you're in with a curtain and a nice comfy chair, and it was a very like comfortable environment. And from there, the nurse just took some of my medical history down, just double-checked certain things, you know, wanted to make sure there was no medication allergies. So things that they already had in their system, right? But they're just like double and triple checking that they have everything correct in the system. She also gave me a post-op packet kind of explaining different medications I'll need to take afterwards and kind of the standard procedures stuff that I had already gone over with my surgeon prior, but just kind of reiterating some of that information because you don't want to just give it to somebody after surgery because you're obviously going to be a little groggy, right? So she gave that to me ahead of time. I put it away with my belongings, and that was that. So then the nurse proceeded to check my vitals, like my blood pressure, pulse, all that good stuff. And while she was doing that, the anesthesiologist came in, introduced himself, um, and just kind of went over some of the medications he's going to be giving me and the procedures they're going to do during the operation to make sure that I'm not experiencing any pain and all that good stuff. So that made me feel really comfortable and cared for. Then he left and my surgeon came in and said, hey, good morning, all that good stuff. And the surgeon came in and marked up my right knee, which was the knee I was getting operated on, just confirming it's the right knee. It's something they do before surgery, and he— you have to say it out loud, is your right knee the one we're operating on? Yes, it is. Okay, cool. They mark it so they don't make a mistake when you're on the operating table, which would be terrible, right? So they make sure that all those things are checked off the list before you even get into operating room. And then the last thing that was done was the nurse put an IV line in that would be accessible to the anesthesiologist during surgery so they can put, you know, the pain medication in. So she put that line in, and from there we were good to go. So at that point, then they walked me back to the OR. We walked down the hallway, opened the doors into the OR, and the anesthesiologist was already there, scrubbed in into the OR. And then they laid me down on the operating table, and from there it started to get fun. So one thing I do want to share that I thought was pretty interesting that I feel like if you haven't been in medicine before or shadowed a doctor in the operating room or anything like that before, you might be like, what the heck is going on? But I'm gonna keep it real and share this with you guys. So usually during surgeries, a lot of surgical teams like to play music, like, pretty loud in the OR. Um, obviously not so loud that it's going to interfere with their dialogue and, and being able to communicate. Um, but I walked in and Metallica was blasting in the OR, like, hardcore, which I had already talked with my surgeon and knew that he was a Metallica fan. So it all made sense. But it was just kind of funny to me because I was like, man, this is kind of an intense environment to walk into. But, um, wasn't too shocking for me. I could totally see how that would be really weird if you weren't familiar with that's what they sometimes do in OR. So just, just something to kind of know ahead of time, um, if, you know, to kind of have that expectation that that might be the case. Anyway, so I'm laying down at the OR table, anesthesiologist is talking to me just saying, hey, like, here's what we're going to do next. He put a little pulse oximeter on my finger to make sure that they're monitoring my blood oxygen saturation and, and pulse and all that stuff during surgery and some other monitoring devices. He started hooking up and that's when things started to get a little loopy for me because at that point he started to say, hey, we're going to start to put some stuff in your IV. It's going to help you feel very relaxed and then we're going to do your femoral nerve block. And I was like, great, sounds Sounds good. I'm definitely cool with being nice and relaxed. A quick little note I want to add on the femoral nerve block part of things. So usually during ACL surgeries, they will put you under a general anesthetic that will make you pretty much go to sleep, and then a, you know, regional anesthetic, which will numb most of your leg completely. Not your calf or foot, but usually a good part of your quad, and definitely your knee will be like fully numbed up. And they do this by typically doing something called a femoral nerve block. And femoral nerve blocks are great, and you definitely want them because it helps with post-operative pain too. So, you know, once the general anesthesia wears off, you know, within an hour of surgery, the femoral nerve block kind of stays working for 2 to 3 days post-op, which can be sometimes the most painful if you don't have something like that. So it really just kind of numbs everything out, which is great. But there is something that's not so great about that femoral nerve block, and it's that it pretty much deactivates the quad from firing for a little bit post-op. And it's really important to get the quad firing to help support your body, especially if you're gonna try to weight bear early and you didn't have a meniscus issue or anything like that. Because usually if you have a meniscus repair while they're doing your ACL reconstruction, you're not supposed to be weight bearing right after surgery. But if it's just ACL related, your doctor or surgeon might say that it's good, you're good to go for weight bearing. However, you want your quad firing appropriately for that to the best of its ability. And with a femoral nerve block, it's kind of hard to fire your quad, your whole leg feels very numb. So they came up with this new technique called an adductor nerve block. And that's something that's been shown to really be just as effective from a pain level scale, but not necessarily numbing that quad to the degree where you can't fire it. So you're able to actually get better quad activation post-op, which can really help with the initial phase of recovery. So that might be something to have a conversation with your surgeon or anesthesiologist about way prior to surgery and kind of ask about their techniques and see if that's something they're open to, if you want to look into it. It's just something to mention that that's a new technique that they're implementing that I think would be really cool to do. So anyways, the anesthesiologist gives me the nice relaxing drugs. I'm feeling great, you guys. Nothing can stop me. I am just feeling so relaxed and chill. It's a really nice feeling. And then he's like, okay, we're going to give you the femoral nerve block. I'm like, cool, whatever you want to do is great. He's like, you're going to feel a little bit of a pinch. And he brings out, you know, It's a pretty large needle, but at that point I was so relaxed, I did not care whatsoever, which was great. And I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel any pinch. And at that point, I don't remember anything else. I was out at that point. So I actually don't— I remember seeing the needle. I remember him telling me that we were going to do the nerve block and him saying that I might feel like coldness down my leg. I don't remember anything. I was out. And the next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room. And it was actually a very gentle waking up process. For me. That was something else I was also having a little fear around, as if it was gonna feel like a sudden abrupt awake. I just remember kind of gently hearing like my nurse's voice like, okay Victoria, it's time to wake up now. And she was just gently kind of rubbing my arm and it was like a very gradual, gentle, gentle kind of awakening, which was really nice. And I felt great. I remember looking down, my leg was all wrapped up and bandaged up and in my ACL brace, it was kind of locked out straight. And I felt fantastic. I was just chilling in my little recliner chair. She was asking me how I was feeling, if I felt any pain. I said, no, I feel great. And then she gave me some ginger ale and some crackers, and I was happy as a clam. Then the anesthesiologist came back in, just confirmed I wasn't in any pain or experiencing any nausea or anything like that. I told him I was starting to feel maybe a little bit nauseous, and he put something in the IV drip to help me with nausea, and then I felt great again. So it was honestly like— it felt like that. Like, it— the whole experience went by so, so fast, which is just wild. It's not It's not like sleeping sleeping where you dream and you feel like time has passed by. It's just completely in and out and you're awake and you got crackers and soda and it's happy time. So, at that point, the nurse is, you know, just again making sure I'm feeling good, checking in, taking my vitals again. They're kind of monitoring your blood pressure and your pulse to make sure you get back to a point of alertness. They're asking you questions, all those things. And I was honestly feeling great. So at that point, because my mom couldn't come into the surgical center with me, my surgeon came into the room. We called my mom, made sure she was clear on the aftercare instructions that she— I was gonna give her the packet, all that stuff, that we were gonna go pick up any kind of medicine. And it was easy peasy lemon squeezy. So after about maybe 45 minutes of kind of chilling and in the post-op recovery room, I got my crutches and the nurse cleared me to go. And I, you know, crutched on out to the car and my mom picked me up and we were off. We picked up my medications. That was pretty much it. And, you know, followed everything on schedule. But the whole experience felt very much less fear invoking than I thought it was going to be. I felt very comfortable the entire time. And I think a lot of that was because I just practiced open communication with my nursing staff and with the anesthesiologist. Consultation with the surgeon, and I was open about like expressing if I was feeling anxious or not. I even asked the anesthesiologist like, hey, if I start feeling anxious, like before even going to the OR, is there, is there anything you guys can give me in an IV? And he's like, yeah, yeah, that's not a problem. We'll make you as comfortable as possible. So it was great. I had a great experience, you guys. And again, I didn't wake up in severe pain or anything like that. You're still pretty much numbed out from the nerve block and the anesthesia. And then as far as post-operative pain, I can make a separate video on that about how I manage that. But I felt very that I really didn't have any post-op pain whatsoever. Yeah, I had some like discomfort, tightness, swelling, and if I like moved in a weird way or tried to move it too soon in a certain way, yes, I would have discomfort then. But by just kind of laying there, it felt great. I stayed on top of my pain medication schedule. I iced as frequently as possible. I elevated my leg. I did all the things that I needed to do to really like make sure I wasn't going to be in severe pain. And that helped a lot. So I can make a whole separate video on all the things I've done. If you're interested, feel free to drop a comment if that sounds interesting to you. But again, I just wanted to make this video kind of walking you guys through my surgery day so you had more information of what it's like in real life, what it actually feels like to go through those steps, and, you know, just kind of taking away any kind of unknowns from that process. So I really hope that helped. At the end of the day, there's nothing to fear. Your surgical team has done this many, many, many, many, many, many, many times, and they're professionals. You just have to trust them and and, you know, hope for the best and enjoy your nice deep sleep in surgery because it truly was very relaxing. I really liked whatever they put in my IV. That was like super nice. I felt chill. It was great. So hope that helped you guys. And if you have any more ACL-related questions, definitely leave them below in this video. Happy to help answer anything from somebody who's gone through it. And if you liked this video, thought it was educational, helped you a lot, please go ahead and give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel. I would greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate it. It. All right, bye guys!
