Well, I've posted about my knee problems in the past, and it looks like they finally may get solved. On Tuesday, I'm going in for a partial meniscectomy to remove a significant, but partial tear of my left medial meniscus. I'm looking forward to getting my knee better for the first time in 4 years. I guess it's just an epidural. I'm not sure yet, but I meet with the doctor tomorrow. I know that it's arthroscopic, and that he wants me walking on it, without crutches, if possible, Tuesday night. He says I can return to sports in two weeks, so that's pretty good. Now, being the nerd that I am, I want to ask and see if he'll video tape the surgery for me. I know that he needs a camera in the arthroscope anyways, so I don't think it'd be too hard to videotape. Has anyone ever requested that? And if so, did the doctor comply? How much did they charge you? Thanks in advance, and I'll be back to the board sometime after Thanksgiving.
Good luck and here's hoping to a speedy recovery. I hate any type of surgery. I had surgery once...and was in rehab for over a month. Never again.....
Can you get the cartlidge removed, frozen? There are a lot of new techniques where they can regrow cartlidge and implant it back in at a later date. Might be good for you to have some ready if needed for later in life. DD
I'm not sure about that, but I have heard of re-implanting the cartilage. From everything I've read though, you function pretty much the same with a little trimmed up cartilage. The one thing that sucks about tearing the meniscus (cartilage of the knee) is that it doesn't get any bloodflow, so it doesn't heal. When they just flap around in the joint space, like mine is doing, the cause your knee to lock up (think of stick something behind a door and trying to close it), and the cartilage can harden, then scrape against your bones, giving you premature arthritis. I'd be interested in just having the cartilage preserved in a jar, too. I guess that makes me a huge nerd. One of my biggest regrets of early childhood was that whenever I had major surgery on my ear, I didn't get it videotaped and/or didn't get the tumor they removed put in a jar.
I hope you've gotten more than one doctor's opinion on this. I nearly gave into ankle surgery to a doctor that is considered "highly professional" in my area. Ended up going to another dr. that has worked with a lot of athletes. He agreed my ankle was very bad off and could result in possible surgery one day, but he considered physical therapy on it first and by doing that I have been able to play basketball again without it swelling up. It is not easy to keep up with though and can be sore sometimes. I also know knee problems are a lot worse, good luck with it either way.
Thank you. I've been to two doctors in the area. Both agreed on surgery. They say usually if you tear cartilage in the knee, you can get by with it (although some doctors do surgery right away), but in some cases, you just can't. In my case, I tore mine 4 years ago, and it's still exhibiting the same symptoms that it did from day 1 (minus the swelling), so they say it's best to go ahead with it. Apparently, I'm almost definitely going to have arthritis, but surgery will help from further complications and possibly avoid arthritis, or worst case, delay it.
I requested a video of my foot surgery.. the doc was reluctant, but he agreed to it. But..I just came off a vacation the night before, and I managed to forget the camera. You'll probably need to bring a tripod and everything..
Good luck man! I had my ACL repaired back in 2000. It's been fine until a few weeks ago, now I have minor in the back of my knee, lower hamstring area. I need to get it checked but just resting it and hope it goes away.
Yeah man... good luck. I had ACL surgery in August, and they had to shave my lateral meniscus as well. Sounds like your recovery is going to be much nicer than mine. I'm still using a brace. (actually I was off the brace for about a month, but I took a fall and suffered a minor reinjury) Knees... can't live without 'em!
Good luck man, I had surgury twice on my knee, In both they removed a part of my meniscus. I hope you recover fast. I never asked for a video, I hate video's of surgeries, I Always look away when they show surgeries on tv.
I've been staying with my girlfriend for the past few days, as all of my family is in Houston for Thanksgiving. Anyways, I'm back home for a while. As far as I know, surgery went well. I'm unimpressed with my doctor's bedside manner, as I have not spoken to him since before my surgery. I woke up, and to my surprise, my knee didn't hurt a bit. I expected it to hurt as my only other surgery (head surgery....ear) felt like someone had beaten me with a baseball bat when I woke up. Anyways, I didn't get to talk to my doctor to request the video (once again...beside manners). I was walking around fine without crutches even when I left the hospital. I'm almost walking normal right now (slight limp). My only concern is this: The whole left side of my knee is completely numb. I think the doctor nicked a nerve. Also, one of my holes that he cut in me is barely starting to close and is bleeding occasionally. I'm gonna call the doctor about this in a minute. I'm more concerned with the hole in my leg, as that leaves it more prone for infection. In my papers that I got before the surgery, the only possible risks the doctor noted was infection, but my other doctor told me that a blood clot, numbness, etc. were possible. I have the paper noting infection as the only complication. I think that if my leg is numb for the rest of my life, that is probably possible grounds for a lawsuit, but I don't want to do that. I don't know. I'm just rambling now.....
I guess it's too late now but I had ACL surgery two springs ago and without me even asking he made a video of it. It's pretty interesting stuff. As far as the numbness goes, I still have a little numbness on my knee and my doctor said it's going to be like that for a while because he had to cut through nerves. He told me that beforehand so I think a little numbness is expected.
I just got a call back from a doctor (a different one was on call...this guy is thought of as one of the worst doctors in town...), and he said numbness sometimes happens around the incisions, and it might be there for a couple of weeks. This guy that called back was a jerk, and I can definitely see why people don't like him. As for the other doctor, I think that if I ever need another surgery like this, I'll take it out of town...
Did the feeling ever come back(numbness go away?) I had surgery on my abdomen and certain particular spots are more numb than others. Its been two months since my operation and I wonder if these nerves regenerate or grow back eventually. Hopefully I get back as close to 'pre-operation' as possible.
Glad the surgery went well. I'm afraid im going to have to see a doctor soon about my right knee. About 3 days ago I was running a 5K cross country circuit (mostly incline) and on about the last quarter mile I started laboring very hard on my right leg and limping significantly. I felt allright shortly after, just some soreness under the kneecap. the next day, or rather, later that night, my leg hurt quite a bit.. now my symptoms are this.. if my leg is bent, I cannot put hardly any weight on it at all... so i can't really push off of it... this really, really sucks when going up and down stairs. the pain is moslty on the outside of my right knee, which sounds like an ACL tear. i hope it isnt though.
No it hasn't yet, and my doctor told me to not expect it to. It's not really a problem to be honest. It doesn't affect me in anyway on a daily basis. The part of my knee that is numb is the part that is below the kneecap and kind of looks like a little bump when the knee is bent.
I have a pretty major bump below my kneecap because of a torn PCL. I can get around ok on the knee, but can't do anything serious like play ball. It was torn for years and I never knew it, but then bumped it pretty severely and it started to sag. That's when I got the mri and they confirmed it. You can google torn pcl and read about it on medical web sites, to see if it sounds like what you have.
No clicking or popping. However, putting pressure on my leg while bent it feels extremely unstable. Going downstairs it feels like at any moment if I step down with my right leg it could buckle to the left or right. The pain has subsided some, but the problem still remains nearly a week later.
