Zombie knee? Bionic knee? Opinions are like @$$holes...

Which type of ACL graft is better? Everyone I've talked to has a different opinion, and they all make valid points. Ultimately I think there's no definitive answer. According to the North Carolina School of Science and Medicine, here are some advantages and disadvantages of each:

Hamstring

Advantages: Less disturbance, less pain, more comfortable kneeling.

Disadvantages: Not as strong? Healing is slower; slight loss of hamstring strength (about 10%).

Patellar

Advantages: strong

Disadvantages: knee pain may persist for several years after surgery; takes longer to regain full range of motion.

Allograft (Zombie knee!!)

Advantages: no pain or scars at donor site; shorter operative time

Disadvantages: infection; body may reject cadaver tissue

I'm getting a hamstring graft. Not because I believe it's better, but because that's the only kind the orthopaedic surgeon who's performing my surgery does, and he sounds like he knows his stuff. So basically, they're going to take two tendons out of my hammie and graft them to the ACL site.

I wonder what the ripped ACL remains are doing in there now? I picture it looking like a broken rubber band, the two snapped ends drifting in the current. Who could imagine a teensy-weensy tendon causing soooooo much trouble?

The doc also gave me some ballpark answers to my questions, finally! The orthopaedist I saw at Cornell was completely unhelpful and non-committal. I understand that everyone heals at a different rate so it's hard to give a firm number, but that doc wouldn't even help me out with a ballpark number to give work. The new doc said I should expect to be on crutches for up to a month after surgery, I should be able to jog after about four, and able to return to full activity after about nine. He also gave me a mission for the next month before surgery (cue Rocky song): to regain as much range of motion as I can in my knee and to strengthen my hamstring/quads. I started seeing a physical therapist yesterday, and I'm going to keep going once or twice a week until surgery. She gave me some simple-yet-excrutiating exercises to help with these tasks. So here it goes, Operation Quads of Steel is underway.