Yay! Knee surgery is over with

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve been having trouble with my knee. It all started with a dirt bike crash I had in high school roughly 12 years ago. I should’ve went to the doctor then but didn’t. Hell, I was 15. It took a couple of months but seemed to heal completely. However, I’ve reinjured it several times since then doing easy stuff like walking and sometimes it would take weeks or months to heal again. Around Christmas, I injured it playing laser tag and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Well before even going to the doctor, I figured it was going to need surgery to heal completely and this was a good time to do it. I have a decent-paying job with insurance and right now, things are slow. Plus I’m 27. I’m fairly young and able to recover quickly, but that’s starting to go downhill.

So I paid several visits to the orthopediatrist. (Is that the right word?) He checked to make sure it wasn’t something simple like gout or an infection. Then he had me take an MRI but that wasn’t very revealing. So he scheduled me for arthroscopic surgery with a hypothesis that it was a torn meniscus.

So that’s what I did today. I had to be there at 0545. The surgery was at 0645. I was very nervous as this was my first surgery other than having my wisdom teeth pulled. The dentist gave me a twilight sedative which isn’t supposed to make you completely unconscious but just half-asleep. It didn’t really do much of anything for me though so this was the first time I’d really be sedated, and it was general anesthesia. So they wheeled me into the operating room and gave me the anesthesia. My memory went blank a few seconds later. I gradually woke up in the recovery room with my grandfather and girlfriend sitting there. The doctor told me he removed a broken piece of cartilage from my knee. A few minutes after waking up, I left the hospital. All in all, I was there for about 3 hours.

Right now, my knee is just a little sore from the incisions for the scope. I can actually stand on it, but I’m using the crutches so I don’t rip the sutures. I imagine I’ll be off of them in the next 2 or 3 days. I go Friday next week for a follow-up and he said he’s going to give me pictures from the scope. That’s freakin cool. I’m really glad that’s over with. Time for another nap. [smiles]

2

I’m glad you made it through this. I have a phobia about going under the knife (as I’m sure many people do.) When I was 15 and 16, respectively, I had arthroscopy on each knee. I still have the little scars.

My surgeon was a riot. He told me that when you go under it’s possible to implant subliminal messages into the patient’s brain. I very clearly remember him whispering to me as I went under, ‘‘The word is… armadillo.’’

The recovery was not that bad, more painful the second time because the medicine was making me nauseated so I decided to go med free. And physical therapy’s no fun, but it works and you’ll come out tougher in the end. When it comes to surgery, one thing I’ve learned is that it’s never as bad as your mind expects it to be.

I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you get back on your feet very rapidly!

3

I’m a vetran of arthro on both knees, the first at 27 and the second at 35. Life is much better with two knees that don’t get stoved up for long periods at a time.

Speedy recovery!
missred

4

Hoping you have a speedy recovery.

I’ve had problems with my knees “locking” in a bent position for about a year now. I’m just waiting to get decent health coverage before I do anything about it.

5

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

6

Don’t expect this to be a panacea. My knee doesn’t seem all that much better for it, some four years on.

7

I’ve heard various angles on this. However, the way I see it, I have several things going for me. First, he just pulled out a broken piece of cartilage. He didn’t have to cut anything inside my knee. So I can’t imagine it not getting better. Second, I’m fairly young. Third, as he said, I’m not very heavy. (He actually called me skinny but I can’t picture myself skinny at 5’10" and 185 lbs.) I guess really I’ll just have to wait and see, but I can’t imagine things being nearly as bad as they were.

8

My knees, years later are by no means perfect. Sudden weather changes cause pain, being stuck too long with bent legs causes pain, and kneeling causes pain. But the pain is in no way comparable to the excruciating levels of suffering I experienced before the surgery. It was definitely worth it.