I go in for knee surgery next week. I have needed it for years but I have always put it off (honestly, other people inside my skin scare me). This summer it got so bad I had to use a cane. So I scheduled the surgery.
The doctor told me that I should have no problems and can get back to running which I have missed very much the last couple of years. Still, that’s what doctors are supposed to say, right? I mean, I’m giving him money.
You people are not getting my money (Well, I may leave some to SDMB in my will, but that’s it) so you can be honest.
I know some of you have had knee surgery and others are doctors or nurses and others have had cousins who were related to people who lived next door to someone who had knee surgery…So tell me about it.
Eighteen years ago, I suffered third degree tears of the medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments. I had to have surgery immediately because there was just about zero stability in the joint, preventing me from putting any weight on that leg whatsoever. You say you’ve been putting off surgery for years so my experiences won’t tell you much about you’ll experience. I was in a full-length leg cast for twelve weeks and still on crutches for another month after that while the ligaments healed.
In 1990, I had a follow-up surgery to repair some minor anomalous growth of the medial meniscus (which was also pretty badly damaged in the original incident) and remove the staple that had been securing the medial collateral ligament to my tibia. I was able to walk that evening (in spite of doctor’s orders to the contrary) and fully back to normal (or what amounts to normal in my case) use of the joint within two weeks. The biggest reason for that delay was the two inch incision made to remove the staple. I also had to take it easy for a few weeks while the holes in my tibia healed so that I wouldn’t suffer a fracture between them. YMMV.
sister had both laproscopic surgery on both knees, scraping stuff offa the insides of the kneecaps. It wasn’t fun by any means but the recovery period was pretty short and the results were fabulous. As she put it, she was gimping around badly before so at least the pain was healing pain.
And she hasn’t had an iota of problem since, most importantly.
Good friend had a total knee joint replacement. (She watched the whole procedure, saws and all, which makes me clammy and light headed just thinking about it.) She’d been in constant pain for almost a year–and the recovery period took time. Obviously the improvement wasn’t instant, which is grossly unfair given “nerving up” it took to do it in the first place.
It took about a month, physical therapy included, before she was moving around fairly comfortably–with a cane. But 4 months later and she’s zooming around. (Her one complaint: she can’t quite manage to skip. She’s 68 and ya gotta know her, but yeah, for her–it’s a problem.)
Hint: milk it for all it’s worth. Mrs. TV is probably savvy to the puppy-eyed “peel me a grape” routine but maybe you can wring some outrageous posting time out of it. Which is more to our benefit than yours but hey…
I had my anterior cruciate done in 1986. No full cast, just a wrap-around brace. I think the key to good recovery is in the physical therapy afterwards. They had me on a stationary bike after 4 weeks. At 6 weeks they had me put down the crutches and start doing one legged squats! Plus there were several other robotic computerized implements of torture they attached me to to measure range of motion and strength. It helped that the therapists were way cute! I had a custom brace made that I still use when playing sports like volleyball or tennis.
I had knee surgery last May. I tore the meniscus in my left knee, and there were some bone fragments in there from a previous incident. (Note to self: do not jump off of tall buildings, even if a scary man is chasing you!) It took them about 10 x-rays and 2 MRIs to figure out that I had torn it. But, being the oddball that I am, instead of tearing it from top to bottom, (resulting in a pac-man shape) I tore it from side to side, leaving it to fill up with fluid, and generally make it impossible to walk.
I had orthoscopic surgery, and let me tell you, it rocked. If I ever had to have surgery again, (knock on wood) I would do it that way. The whole procedure took about 2 hours total, from IV to recovery room. When I got in the recovery room, they kept giving me shots of Demerol, because I could still feel my knee. (Repeat after me: Demerol is my friend!)
Recovery took about a week. I kept ice on it, and did the excercises that they told me to do afterwards. I still occasionally have to wear my knee brace, though, because it likes to give out on steps. (Not too good when you wait tables in a 2 story restaurant.) I did not have to do physical therapy afterwards, but I would highly recommend it. (I had just been through 6 months of PT trying to “cure” my knee, and I was tired of it. Doc said I didn’t have to go, so I didn’t.) I think if I had gone to PT, then my knee wouldn’t be as temperamental as it is now.
Good luck, follow orders, and make sure to rest up. Let us know how it goes!
Jeez, thank you people. I just expected someone to say, “Oh, quit your whining and bite on a bullet and take it like a man!”
You have all made me feel much better about this thing. It’s childish, but knowing other people have gone through this (and worse) makes me feel a lot better. Misery loves company?
As I said, the doctor can say all kinds of things, but it’s his job. But you people…It means a lot.
It’s hard to answer your question directly without knowing the specifics of your surgery. I’ve also had 2 scopes done on the same knee. The rehab time for the scopes (especially the most recent scope) was relatively short…I was walking pretty well a couple days after the scope…lots of quad set exercies and the like.
The osteotomy, however, is a different kettle of fish. In terms of recovery, my oseteo said it’s actually worse than the TKR that Veb mentioned with her sis (i’m too young for a TKR, otherwise thats what I would be having).
I wore an imobilizer for 2 weeks afterword…still touch weight bearing with crutches now. I go to PT 3 times a week, including water rehab. Let’s just say vicoden is my friend these days.
I had my left knee scoped in July of 99 to clean out excessive scar tissue that was building up in my knee. They weren’t sure why it was there and why it built up but they figured scoping it was the best way to fix the problem (after 2 years of P.T., a couple different braces, special shoe insoles, about 8 cortisone shots, and a plethora of different anti-inflamatory meds). Good news was the surgery fixed the problem (for awhile) but the amount of time it took to heal was awful. It took 3 months for most of the swelling to disappear and for me to regain complete mobility of the joint. For the next year and a half or so it was fine. Problem is now the knee hurts worse than ever before (they tried to fix it again with P.T., cortisone, and some other meds) and they have no idea what they want to do with it. So for the time being I can’t really ride a bike, go up stairs, run, or do any hard physical activity. I’ve basically given up on the whole thing actually. I don’t expect them to ever be able to fix it.
Hey, Me too! Only they did both knees. I was fourteen at the time. I had been in pain for about two years, and nothing was working, so they tried the surgery, and I haven’t had pain since. The only thing that really sucked was that on the first knee(they did them one at a time) they used some wierd kind of bandage to cover my incisions, and it turned out I was allergic to it. I was itching so much, but I couldn’t get to it becuase the dressing was in the way. It was the most miserable week of my life(so far anyways).
Something I also did was stay awake and watch both of my surgeries. Man did it hurt, but it sure was cool to see them dissolve my scar tissue. That was back in '96, and everything is great now. I even got in a car aaccident and one of my knees hurt a little afterward, but a little physical therapy fixed and now I’m good as new again.
Shera they wanted to do both of my knees but there weren’t really sure if they surgery would have worked. Turns out the right knee got a little better with time and now it’s almost normal. I’ve had this problem with my knee since 1994 I think. It was around that time I first saw a doctor about it and they said it was simply “growing pains” for the first couple of years. Growing pains my ass.
That’s what they did with me, only for me, when it worked for the right knee, they went ahead and did the left knee. I beleive that we were also able to race the cause of my built up scar tissue to a soccer injury I got when I was twelve, but didn’t take care of. Okay. I ignored it, but I was a very rambnctious twelve year old. You can’t expect me to just rest for a couple weeks. Espesially not with the city cup coming up. I think that If I had known that I would have to have surgery laer on, I still would have ignored it. I was a pretty stupid kid.