A torn ACL — restored, not replaced.

Life today is pretty great. Most people have forgotten, honestly, that I went through ACL surgery. They probably forgot about six months in because of how well I was moving. My name's Michele DaSilva. I'm a healthcare director here in the New York City marketplace. I'm also really into fitness. I have received several certifications in nutrition, in quadruped movement, as well as functional training, and that's really where a lot of my personal passion lies. I was in Europe, and I was skiing in the French Alps. And I hit a pack of ice, and I fell really badly, and I felt my kneecap pop in and out. That night, my kneecap swelled up as large as my thigh. And so at that point, I knew that I was going to come to HSS. I saw Dr. Gomoll's background, and I love that, you know, he specializes specifically in knees, done a lot of like ACL surgeries, and I really wasn't sure what the MRI was going to show anyway. He walked me through everything. So I had a sprained MCL, torn ACL, and then I had a Baker's cyst. He mentioned this really cool, innovative surgery called the BEAR ACL that just got approved in 2020. And he talked about how you take the bovine from a cow, and you suture it between the two stumps, and it repairs itself. And I was really fascinated by the fact that the body can heal itself, and that I wasn't going to have to have a graft. And he said the first six weeks are going to be really critical, be really strict with the protocol, but generally people do really, really well on it. We kind of talked about just options, and he said, "You know, you could live like this if you like, but you're a really active person, and this is a new treatment where it's repairing itself, and if I was in your shoes, this is exactly something that I would do." So I made the decision. After multiple emails to him, he was wonderful because he answered all my questions directly, and then also the staff also answered questions as well. I had a pretty good experience. You know, when I got home from surgery, I was hobbling around pretty well, just on the crutches. By day eight, I actually took the subway here to his office in New York City. Every week I saw progress. My PT was fantastic. I saw him for about seven months, and I think that was really helpful because it gave me confidence about what I could do every week, and then I would work on those exercises when I would go home. I wanted a very clean diet, which meant no alcohol, high-protein diet that allowed me to have my optimal performance and allowed me to recover at the rate that I did. I'm back to most of the activities that I'm doing. I'm strength training four to five times a week, I'm doing Pilates two times a week, I'm running two times a week, I now am incorporating dance, as well as animal flow. So I'm back to all the activities that I used to do prior to surgery. HSS is the place to come if you have any type of orthopedic issue. The doctors are renowned. My experience has been fantastic. They were just so welcoming, answered so many of my questions, and just really took very good care of me.