I had my surgical consult today. It went well, as far as, this is an appointment in which a man tells me I have ruined my knee and need surgery goes.
And it is, as I feared, worst case scenario. Both my ACL and meniscus need to be completely reconstructed. After he broke the news he asked me how much he wanted me to sugar coat what that meant.. I said not at all, and in hindsight, I maybe should have let him sugar coat it. I probably would have cried less.
I have been a gigantic baby about this knee injury. I think it is just coming at a bad time. Not that there is ever a good time to cripple yourself, but I decided to do it in the middle of a really big life change so it is complicating that, and also forcing me to put a lot of things on hold I have already put off for way too long. It's insanely frustrating.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand.
After he explained in detail how they go about fixing my knee, he explained that he thinks using a cadaver graft is the way to go. Cadaver graft will be henceforth know as zombie knee. He feels as though harvesting a replacement part from my body will only create a weak spot somewhere else, and being that I am an athlete and harder on my body that the average lady, he doesn't want to potentially create problems where I would otherwise not have them.
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| Zombie Knee |
The only thing that kind of sucks about the zombie knee is that, that kind of surgery can only be done at a hospital and not the surgical center where he would normally do an ACL repair. That is a problem because I could get in next week at the surgical center, and the next available slot at the hospital is November 2nd.
However, he said my knee is so inflamed and angry that he wouldn't be comfortable doing the surgery for another two weeks anyway. So, in realty it means I am going to have to wait 3 weeks longer than I would otherwise I have to wait. Boo.
Then he went on to explain that this surgery has an extremely painful recovery, six months of rehab, and because of how shredded my meniscus is, I will not be able to walk for the first 6 weeks after it is repaired.
I will not be able to WALK for SIX weeks.
No walking. Six weeks.
I can't even wrap my head around that.
My pre op appointment is October 19th at 10am.
Welcome to Team Zombie knee! We will be sending our our membership packet in 2-3 weeks. We tend to get distrac....BRAINZZZZ.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it might not hurt to get a second opinion? I tore my left knee playing soccer a number of years ago, and had my cadaver done in what was basically an office building as outpatient surgery. I've also had a number of friends who had meniscus repair (see also, soccer), and I have never had one told that they couldn't walk at all for six weeks. Some of them had to walk with crutches for a while, but it wasn't more than 3 weeks. I know different doctors have different theories on movement after recovery, so you might want to confirm just because it is such a hassle.
He is right that recovery is a PITA. But, do your rehab, and you will come out fine, best advice I can give.
Obviously every case is different and all, but I'm a big proponent of "Trust, but verify".
I overheard the scheduling nurse complain that this surgery center is fussy about what types of surgery they allow there.
DeleteAnd. I am hoooooooping the six weeks is like worst case scenario. From what I understand its because of how much reconstruction my meniscus needs... But I'm cautiously hoping it won't be that long. 😩
Keep your head up, 2 of my coaches had the dame surgery and they were both back in action in like 6 months.
ReplyDeleteYes, but six months!! lol So long not to roll! *cries*
DeletePoo, sorry to hear that! Though it does sound like you might be able to get some cool zombie knee tattoos, going by the pictures. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhen I've been unable to train (though fortunately I've never been out too long), I did lots of reviews and reading instead. Which is where that massive Gracie Combatives review came from. Or indulge some other interest that doesn't involve much activity: e.g., art galleries, drawing etc. Hopefully there will be something you can do to plug the gap. :)
Sadly, it seems like the thing I want to do is bake... which produces baked goods... which I then eat.
DeleteGetting fat is my new hobby. lol
Heh - well, at least your hobby produces lots of delicious stuff to eat (closest I get to baking is watching this, but fortunately for my taste buds, my girlfriend tends to get inspired to bake stuff after watching it). My hobby of staring at paintings just produces pretentious waffle. Which unfortunately isn't the kind of waffle you can eat. :P
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