Update on my surgery

[BillH]

Well this surgery was by far the most pain free surgery in regards to everything that I ever had. The percocet pain med is also very groovy... Yeh baby yeh!
Well they had to remove a good portion of my lateral miniscus which is the cartiledge pad between the upper and lower leg bones. High impact stuff is out of the question for me like running for the rest of my life. Bike riding is fine, thank god.
Week from today I get to go back for post op meeting, get to see the pictures, I hope they have them in digital format so I can put them up on the web.
There were signs of arthritis in my knee already,I'm only 26 years old. If your over weight, do yourself a huge favor and lose the weight!

[webbch]

To a fast recovery

Was the arthritus attributed to being overweight? Did you tear your ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament IIRC) I tore mine back in HS about 10 years ago and had to finish growing before they were able to put screws in the bones. Cleaning up the meniscus was part of the process. Met my future wife while I was gimping around on crutches. Apparently she felt sorry for me -- now who's laughing, eh

Glad to hear the surgery was a success. Yeah, the percocet is pretty nice stuff.

Chad

[BillH]

the miniscus was torn. It is the cartiledge pad between upper and lower leg bones. It can't heal itself. They had to cut a good chunk of it out so Ive been told. Will get to see the pictures next friday. It was folded over and jamming my leg. I couldn't straighten my leg, like a crowbar in the door jam.

[cadwiz]

Glad to hear the surgery was a success and hope it heals properly. I had a minor tear of my ACL about 30 yrs ago and it wasn't fixed properly. They drained fluid several times and sent me on my way. Re-injured it a few yrs ago and waited too long for surgery, now they can't fix it, meniscus is worn out (too bad I can't machine one of those!). Now I'm just waiting around till I really have to have a total knee replacement. As a result, squatting down for even short periods is very painful. I have to wear a brace most of time and take lots of NSAIDs to keep inflammation down. Moral is, don't neglect what you think is a minor injury. At least with your injury surgery was required quickly so hopefully you'll be good as new for a long time to come.

Cadwiz

[BillH]

Was the arthritus attributed to being overweight?

Chad

It would be my guess, afterall I lost 230lbs, still need to lose another 100. The last 100 will be easy, as soon as I can start riding my bike again. Just takes time. Believe it or not, thats whats on my mind the most right now, not exercising.

[webbch]

230 Lbs???

Holy CRAP!! you LOST 230 Lbs?? That must take some SERIOUS determination and lifestyle changes. Congrats, and keep up the good work.

Chad

[BillH]

Holy CRAP!! you LOST 230 Lbs?? That must take some SERIOUS determination and lifestyle changes. Congrats, and keep up the good work.

Chad

it's 100% a mental game. You just need to want it bad enough. Im not celebrating yet. Thanks.

[mochinist]

I lost 115 lbs once, god was she fun.

[japcas]

Bill, congratulations on the weight loss and keep up the good work. That is something to be proud of. Hope everything gets to feeling better soon also. Take care.

[Your Old Dog]

So what's an ACL? I guy parked his car on my heel August 15th. I've been out of the cast for over a month but my achellies tendon is drum tight. The injury was broken tibia, fibula and all ligaments serveing the foot. Yesterday was my worst day since the accident. Everything tightened up and just touching it caused much pain. After 3 codiene pain pills it's managealble.

Bill is all your injury knee related? I don't know beans about this stuff but after 7 weeks of therapy I'm starting to get nervous as it don't seem to be coming around.

[BillH]

They removed a portion of my Lateral miniscus, as seen here
Its like a rubber pad, very little blood flow, doesn't heel unless your a little kid growing still. So as soon as my swelling goes down, I should be able to walk, nothing else to heal. Only way to totally fix it would be a total knee replacement it appears :O

[Furnace]

I just had arthoscopic surgery the 22nd of October and am still sore. The pain pills they gave me werent worth a piss, I just suffered for the most part. Not that I wanted to be doped up. Good thing is that I can ride my mountain bike, doc said use it as much as I can. He took pictures while he was inside me knee, its just amazing what they can do with 2 little holes cut into your skin. Hope you get well soon BillH.

[billyboy]

BILLH i have had this op too, well 5 times in all, well done on the weight loss.

[Your Old Dog]

Bill,
thanks for posting the pic. That clears it up quite well. I've heard of this before but couldn't spell it well enough to google it !!

Good luck on the recovery. My recovery was coming along fine until a few days ago when it hurt like hell and then I seem to have lost all the progress made in rehab. The ankle will barely move now. I think they wanted me off the crutches too soon.

All the best with your recovery and congratulations on having the inner strength to pull off the weight.

[Gator]

Congrats BillH on the weight loss.
I too have gone through the knee surgery in 1992.
I was into martial arts back then and I think that helped in my recovery.
I then lost 125 lbs in 1995 when I went through a divorce, but man was it a relief to get the #itch off my back .
Knee doesn't bother me anymore unless I leave it in one position for long periods of time such as driving long distances.

What type of bike are you riding?
Bought my Dad (82 yrs. old) a Schwinn stationary bike for his rehab from quadruple bypass surgery, and he loves to ride it while watching TV.