Fix My Knee

Now that my doctor knew the location, size and shape of the tear, he suggested that I may be able to recover with physical therapy, and not have to have surgery. Tears at the outer edge of the meniscus have a better chance of healing than tears in the inner part, and the type and shape of the tear also makes a difference.

I agreed that I’d prefer to avoid surgery if possible, and I was glad to learn that my doctor didn’t head straight for the operating room until trying other less-invasive treatments first. We started a course of PT, but after a few weeks it became apparent that it wasn’t helping. We ended up scheduling knee surgery.

My doctor brought in another surgeon to assist with the actual surgery, one who did have some experience with arthroscopic surgery, which was then in its infancy. They attempted — but failed — to repair or remove the meniscus using an arthroscope. Remember, this was almost 30 years ago; arthroscopic surgery wasn’t nearly as commonplace or as advanced as it is today. They ended up doing a conventional surgery, making a 4-inch incision in the outer (lateral) part of my knee. For many years, I thought they had simply cut away the torn part, but years later I was told that I had no meniscus there, so they must have removed it altogether, or enough of it that my later doctor considered it to be non-existent.

I’m a little hazy on the exact details; remember, I was only 17, and it was a long time ago. But I know for sure an arthroscopic surgery was attempted, because I had 3 tiny little “scope hole” scars on my knee, in addition to the scar from the large incision. My knee is such a Frankenstein’s monster today, I can’t distinguish those scope scars from the later scope scars, but for years they were readily apparent on my knee, if you knew where to look.

Here I’m going to take the time to write a little rant about a 17-year-old’s first surgery.

After the surgery, I was back on crutches for several weeks, and had physical therapy exercises to do. Over the coming months and years, my knee recovered to the point where I paid it no attention at all. I could do everything I wanted to do. About the only thing I could not do was run or jog, but I hated running and jogging, so the knee was a handy excuse for not doing that. But I could water ski and snow ski, and ride my bicycle, and do pretty much everything I liked to do and wanted to do. I considered it to be a closed book, a done deal.

Until 20 years later, one day in the fall of 1999, when my knee locked up on me again.

Tags: General Knee Surgery //