Knees

Met with the orthopedic surgeon yesterday and agreed that he’s going to go in and repair or trim the medial meniscus in my left knee. I’m walking around pretty well these days – so there’s some debate on whether cutting on me is justified. However, I live in fear of my knee freaking out. Mornings are solid, but by the evening it’s usually pretty sore. I certainly wouldn’t go running, skiing, or play judo at anything close to full force. I’m 33 years old. I intend to be athletic for 20+ more years. At this point if I can repair my “bum knee” and get back to enjoying my workouts … I intend to.

This is a routine outpatient surgery that takes about 30 minutes There are three possibilities with this surgery, and we won’t know which it is until he gets in there:

(1) The meniscus is screwed up in such a way that all he can do is trim off the ragged bits that are flopping around and getting stuck in my knee joint. In that case he trims it up nice and neat. I’ll be in a knee brace for two weeks, have two more weeks of limited mobility, and then I’ll be back at full strength. Full strength will be slightly reduced because of the removed bits … and I’ll have to be careful to protect the knee over time to prevent arthritis.

(2) The meniscus is “cleanly” torn, in such a way that he can repair it. This is a better situation than (1), because it has a decent chance of healing up completely. However, in order to allow the complete healing, I would be in a brace for 1 to 2 months, and out of action for an extra two months after that.

So, if it’s the “good” possibility, my recovery will be about fourfold longer … but it’ll be a better repair.

Oh yeah: I mentioned that there’s a third possibility. That’s because it’s surgery, and after watching redmeds experience last year … I no longer have much faith in even the most ordinary and routine of procedures. The “consent” form includes infection, loss of limb, and so on. There’s a reason they put that crap on there.

C’mon body – work with me here. We’re in this together.