Need advice on surgery

[yosemiddysam]

Hello to all. I am just wondering if anyone has had surgery on their knee. I am being told that I have pulled the ACL,PCL, AND MENISCUS in both of my knee's. I have also been told that i have to go through 3 months of physical therapy before I can have surgery. Hearin lies the problem with that. I will go about a month and then my knee's will feel better but then one wrong step and they are swollen twice the normal size and hurt bad enough to make a grown man cry lol. Just wondering any help will be appreciated.

[jason2004gt]

About 1 1/2 years ago I had to have surgery on my knee! I dislocated my right knee and ended up tearing the muscle on the inner part of my leg that attaches to my knee cap. The doctors said that it was a medial meniscus tear! They told me when I went into surgery that they were just going to do orthoscopic surgery to repair the tear. RIGHT! When I woke up they did the orthoscopy and also cut down the side of my leg because they couldn't repair the damage just doing the orthoscopy! The day after surgery I had to go back to the doctors office to have the bandages changed, I got to see the mess. 3 cuts and 22 staples in my leg! I am 6' 4 1/2" tall and weigh about 340 lbs, so me wearing a knee imobilelizer(?) was not a good thing. I had to go through several weeks of physical therapy to learn how to walk on it and bend it. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have had the surgery. Before the surgery I could still play sports (with little pain), now I have problems playing sports and can't run on it, but there is a lot of pain in it. So, this has been my experience with knee surgery, I always tell people that have to have it, to think about my experience and always get a second opinion.

If you do get the surgery, good luck! Also, if you are in a state that has high humidity, like I do, Florida, when it gets cold it hurts like a B**ch now!!!!!!!!! :nutkick:

[HerNastyNotch]

i had to have knee surgery 4 years ago... six weeks before my wedding! ack!

anyways, i went through numerous x-rays and mri's and the ortho couldn't find the cause of my excruciating knee pain, so he sent me home to do 6 weeks of physical therapy - basically he said i needed to strengthen my leg muscles.

after three weeks of physical therapy i could barely walk. i went back to the ortho and he told me that i must not be doing the exercises right. there was nothing wrong with my knee. he sent me back home to finish the 6 weeks of therapy.

after six weeks go by, i go back to the ortho again (! - at $25 a pop, the little crapsack thief) and when he sees that my range of motion and motor control have actually DECREASED, he finally agrees to do arthroscopic exploratory surgery.

when i wake up from surgery... my oh my how the ortho's tune changed. he showed me pictures of a torn acl and a bone chip that had to be removed.

muddafugga

in the end, the pain is not as excruciating, but it is still there. with the extra weight of my pregnancies, i could barely move around in the later stages of the pregnancy.

just be careful and don't take everything the doctor says as gospel. get a second opinion.

[yosemiddysam]

Sure will thanks for the advise. I am in soooo much pain right now that I want the surgery. Even Vicodine isnt helping.

[stone_turp]

I blew my knee out on a leg press on The George Washington about halfway through a persian gulf cruise. The docs kept telling me it was a severe sprain. Nine months of this and finally a call to the SMO(senior medical officer of the boat) an MRI was authorized. 75% damage to the lateral meniscus and 65% damage to the menial meniscus. After surgery my knee took some time but it is better than what it was before the surgery.

[blueponygirl]

sounds like you really need the surgery-- better now than waiting until your knees are worse and harder to recover from the surgery.

[crimsonblack]

In most cases the knee is never the same. The knee will have good and bad days. Just make sure you do the work to get them back into shape.

[NoSlo5.0]

Hmmm, Therapist kinda sounds more like The Rapist to me. I've heard some bad stories from a couple of buddies who both had the surgery, but it seems that foregoing the surgury is not really an option.

[My Cobra]

i played high school football i got tackeled from the side and snapped one of my knees tore a whole ton of stuff. needless to say they said it was on an i played the rest of the game then later on that night i could not sleep the pain was so bad the next morning i woke up and went to the medical center and they said i tore a whole ton of stuff and i had to get it drained right then that hurt soooo bad but then i had the surgery thing and it was not too bad at all just go with it and get it done. my knees crack an pop now still but they have not hurt since. you will be glad you did it

[yosemiddysam]

Thanks to all. I am in Japan right now and they are making me stay here so I will have to wait atleast around 3 more months to get them cut on. I just hope they dont screw me up. Remember Military cant sue for Malpractise. I also have to worry about being discharged after a 10 and a half year career. I guess i would get paid though. Hmmm....Can I say Supercharger....lol

[yosemiddysam]

UPDATE I am getting my MRI's done on both knee's friday. Hopefully I will get some good news. Maybe even get sent home to the states. Wont be able to shift the stang after surgery though. Bummer

[jason2004gt]

After my knee surgery, I couldn't and wasn't cleared by the doctors to drive for almost 9 weeks! The bad thing is, once I was able to drive, I couldn't dead battery. My wife knows absolutely nothing about 5spd, so I had to buy a new battery!

As for the MRI, make sure they do it in one of the enclosed ones and not an open one. They did my first MRI in an open one, they told me there is just minimal damage and the surgery will cost about $7000. I went and got a second MRI done just days prior to surgery in an enclosed one and they found tons of damage. They say the magnet in the enclosed one is stronger. The surgery ended up being $27000. Goes to show you that the MRI machine can make a big difference! :nailbite:

[lxexpress]

good luck to you.i had shoulder surgery from a snowmobile accident in '99 4 1/2 hours worth of it...rotater cuff,scope my shoulder and cut,repair, relocate and screw down my bicep tendon...didnt find out until after the surgery that it was only a 60% chance of it getting better,20 % worse,20% no change...make sure you get all the angles,how it will be afterwards,recovery rate etc...my therapy after was horribly painful(with the shoulder they want you to get it moving as soon as possible)...but if you get someone really good for a therapist who knows his stuff...it will be the best thing for you...

[wildthing]

i have had lots of knee surgey and will get both knees replaced in time. thats what happens when you bounce a bike off the side of a van at 40mph.
i split both knee caps and have limited movement in both knees. they hurt and acke if iam on my feet to long. so get it done , do the the excerizes and everything you can to get them back in shape it makes a big difference.

[badass03ragtop]

Hmmm, been in medicine for more than 20 years now and was recently in charge of the Musculoskeletal Department at the Naval Hospital here. I have a couple of things to say about this: 1) Start out with a second opinion. Yes, even in the military you can get one. 2) If surgery is indicated, get it, and then make sure that you follow-up with the surgeon and you go to all of your PT appointments afterward. 3) Knees are like backs. Once you damage them, they will never be the same as what they were before you injured them. Your knees support a lot of weight and take a lot of shock on a daily basis, so they take a long time to heal. Don't try to rush it. If you follow ALL of the guidlines that the surgeon and PT give you, there is no reason why you can't recover fully, be placed back on full duty, and not have to face a Med Board.

[yosemiddysam]

Thats great news Ragtop. I am getting antsy for tommorro. I guess we will see.

[yosemiddysam]

Well Rag top I guess i can say I have good and bad news for ya. Good I know whats wrong now. Bad is that all the doc's worse fears are true. No ACL's in either knee, And tore both meniscus, One of which twice and the other so bad he called it a panhandle tear and if it flips upside down it will lock my knee out. They want me back in the states by jan to get ortho surgery before the actual repair surgery. I guess we will see. If you want the actual med terms just pm me and ill tell ya but I figure you already know.