Meniscus Tear

douglee25

douglee25

m3booooy
Location
South Jersey
Update 7-31-08

I had my final surgery consult today with the surgeon. After a closer review of the MRI results, he said there's a possibility that I have a torn ACL too. If in fact he finds a torn ACL during surgery, he can't fix it because I need to have full range of motion in order for it to heal correctly. Obviously at this point I don't have full range of motion, so he has to correct that by first fixing the meniscus and then scheduling a second surgey to address the ACL. He said hopefully for my sake he's wrong, but he just wanted to give it to me straight. Mentally that's a downer, but I guess it is what it is....

Doug
 
scottie mac

scottie mac

X-
Well, that sucks, Doogie. I hope all goes well. At least you can get it straight over the winter and be ready to rock and roll next year.

Scottie
 
douglee25

douglee25

m3booooy
Location
South Jersey
Update 8-1-08

Surgery is complete. They did a repair and not a trim job. Doc said it was a completely torn through. Not a partial but a full tear. It's no wonder why I was in so much pain before. The good news is no ACL damage. The bad news is they upped my recoverey time due to the extent of the injury. I'm scheduled for 6 weeks in a brace, 6 weeks on crutches, 6 weeks no driving, etc. It's going to be a long couple of months....

Doug
 
Swooperjet

Swooperjet

Bring the brap!!
Location
Dallas, TX
Ouch!! That'll keep you off the water! That sucks, but hey...do what'cha gotta do to make sure it heals correctly.
Sorry to hear that, but good luck with the rehab. Hope it goes smoothly.
 
scottie mac

scottie mac

X-
Doug,

Had my MRI on Monday, then had it read today..... I got the trifecta! 1) torn miniscus 2) torn cartledge 3) arthritis!

Surgery is scheduled for early Septmeber. The Orthro doc said that it was a pretty cut and dry proceedure. He will trim the tear, remove the cartledge, smooth out the area around the knee cap and that should help make the arthritis go away.

How are you feeling?

Scottie
 
douglee25

douglee25

m3booooy
Location
South Jersey
scottie mac said:
Doug,

Had my MRI on Monday, then had it read today..... I got the trifecta! 1) torn miniscus 2) torn cartledge 3) arthritis!

Surgery is scheduled for early Septmeber. The Orthro doc said that it was a pretty cut and dry proceedure. He will trim the tear, remove the cartledge, smooth out the area around the knee cap and that should help make the arthritis go away.

How are you feeling?

Scottie
Click to expand...


Jeez. Nothing like good news huh? How old are you? That usually determines whether or not they repair or trim the meniscus. If you're still in your 30's, ask them about repairing vs. triming. From my research and advice from the doc, it seems to be a better long term option. I'm 27 and they said I was on the cusp (whatever the hell that means). I sorta took offense to that! :biggthumpup: At least they got you scheduled in fairly shortly.

I'm doing pretty well actually. Yesterday I ventured out of the house because I was so bored. I used my crutches all the way around the block. Probably a quarter mile almost. Not too shabby. I then tried to squeeze myself into my truck. I basically scooted myself into the middle seat, swung my leg over, and in I went. Again, my leg is locked straight out so it was kinda tough. I took myself to boater's world to pick up some prop rods for my boat cover. Did I mention I was bored? :chairshot:

I've been continuing on the CPM machine. That's the machine that exercises my leg. See here http://www.arthroscopy.com/sp06001.htm Scottie, I'm sure you'll be on the same machine as well. I'm already up to 50 degrees of flexion today. Make sure you use the machine despite how much it hurts. I'm still on the 4 hours/day schedule. Once I reach 70 degrees (Sunday) of flexion, I believe I start the physical therapy. I'm hoping it won't be too painful. I must say that despite my knee being swollen as hell still (in fact it doesn't even look like a knee yet lol), I feel better than I did prior to surgery. I had so much swelling and pain in the back of my knee/leg previously. At least now it feels concentrated to the front side.

Scottie, thanks for asking again. Continue to keep me in the loop on your schedule.

Doug
 
Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
scottie mac said:
Doug,

Had my MRI on Monday, then had it read today..... I got the trifecta! 1) torn miniscus 2) torn cartledge 3) arthritis!

Surgery is scheduled for early Septmeber. The Orthro doc said that it was a pretty cut and dry proceedure. He will trim the tear, remove the cartledge, smooth out the area around the knee cap and that should help make the arthritis go away.

How are you feeling?

Scottie
Click to expand...

miniscus is cartilage.

http://www.arthroscopy.com/sp05005.htm
 
douglee25

douglee25

m3booooy
Location
South Jersey
Update: 9-12-08

I went in for a follow-up with the surgeon on Tuesday 9-9-08. Today is exactly 6 weeks from surgery. The doc was very pleased with the progress that I made up to this point. I'm currently at ~95 degrees of flexion. For a guy my size they figure somewhere in the 130 - 140 degrees of flexion is full range. The doc finally took my brace off and I was able to apply weight for the first time. Wow, what a weird feeling.

I finished my second full week of physical therapy as well. They are really starting to load me up with a ton of exercises during my session. I'm approaching 1.5 hours of therapy now. Since I haven't had any weight up until this point, my calf muscle has severly shrunk in size (probably 3 inches in circumference). My calf is so tight from therapy and just from walking normally. I'm surmising that this pain should be similar to getting back to a lifting routine with the resultant sore muscles for the first week or so. I continue the home exercises daily so that full flexion will be achieved even faster.

I'll keep you all posted.

Doug
 
Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
douglee25 said:
Update: 9-12-08

I went in for a follow-up with the surgeon on Tuesday 9-9-08. Today is exactly 6 weeks from surgery. The doc was very pleased with the progress that I made up to this point. I'm currently at ~95 degrees of flexion. For a guy my size they figure somewhere in the 130 - 140 degrees of flexion is full range. The doc finally took my brace off and I was able to apply weight for the first time. Wow, what a weird feeling.

I finished my second full week of physical therapy as well. They are really starting to load me up with a ton of exercises during my session. I'm approaching 1.5 hours of therapy now. Since I haven't had any weight up until this point, my calf muscle has severly shrunk in size (probably 3 inches in circumference). My calf is so tight from therapy and just from walking normally. I'm surmising that this pain should be similar to getting back to a lifting routine with the resultant sore muscles for the first week or so. I continue the home exercises daily so that full flexion will be achieved even faster.

I'll keep you all posted.

Doug
Click to expand...

Doug, keep up the therapy........

It is a really weird feeling taking that first step or putting any weight on it, you can feel how weak it is.

My calf never returned to the size it was after my last Scope. I was walking 2 days afterwards, but it still atrophied alot.
 
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