Had my scope today. Went very well. The posterolateral corner that the doc and I were worried about looked pretty good. There was a tear in the lateral meniscus which he trimmed out, without too much loss of tissue. Fair amount of scar tissue in a few sites which got excised, along with some fraying here and there. Was some minor signs of arthritis in the medial condyle. Weirdest thing was that the acl allograft that was put in back in 2005 never revascularized. The ACL is a bit lax but not too serious --but the doctor was completely confounded. Said he'd never see that before.
My concern going forward is the obvious one: will this still-dead allograft last or remain reasonably stable? Should I just schedule a revision for next summer? Can some good exercise and a brace carry the day? If anybody has any experience with a similar situation, I'm all ears.
Oh, had a local anesthesia for the first time. What a difference in recovery time and post-op condition. Should I ever have to do this again (minor procedure), it will be my first choice. If I need the ACL out, it's back to slumberland I think.
Thanks for listening and for the support.
Tom
> I'm coming up on surgery in a few days and not sure what
> I'm in for. No, not what knee surgery is like -- this is my
> eighth (or ninth -- I've lost count) since 1988. The most
> recent MRI wasn't clear because of the screws from my acl
> replacement in 2004, but my doc (and I) suspect meniscus
> tears on both lateral and medial sides. But, as I've
> mentioned before, I have a fair amount of posterolateral
> instability; maybe it's really just the lateral meniscus
> tear that's causing the problem. There's a bit of ACL
> laxity but the OS seems not too concerned. Just not sure
> what's what.
> And that's the rub, as it were. I asked the doctor about
> best case and worst case scenarios. He said, best case was
> just clean up some minor meniscus trouble and be done with
> it. Moving down the scale, repair some meniscus. But what
> if he finds ligament damage? Not sure I want to face that
> right now.
> Question (for patients and docs): have you ever gone into
> surgery expecting one thing and come out having faced
> another? Sure, in the end you just have to deal with
> things, but I'm just not interested right now in having to
> do that.
> Any comments or advice are certainly welcome.
> Thanks,
> Tom
