ACL Surgery, Surgeon References, Recovery advice?

krazd_kat

krazd_kat

Help "Invisible Dogs"
The ACL in my left knee is totally and completely gone, Surgeon says try the brace, therapist says do the surgery.... They have both told me recovery time (to be where I was before the injury) is months to a year and that I will wish I was someone else the first two weeks....

I would love to hear what others have gone through and what surgeons you have used (I did a search but the threads were from 08, unless I did something wrong).

Thanks in advance.
 
Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
krazd_kat said:
The ACL in my left knee is totally and completely gone, Surgeon says try the brace, therapist says do the surgery.... They have both told me recovery time (to be where I was before the injury) is months to a year and that I will wish I was someone else the first two weeks....

I would love to hear what others have gone through and what surgeons you have used (I did a search but the threads were from 08, unless I did something wrong).

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Totally gone?...I must be mis-reading what you mean there. I was lucky..my ACL was still connected by enough of a thread of its former self that a long and excrutiating period of therapy and braces was successfull in getting to heal itself. But it was made very clear to me at the outset by the doctor (who would eventually do the surgery if required) that there was so little left (saw the MRI..he wasn't kidding) that it was only a 50-50 chance that it could repair itself.

So 'totally gone'??..based on what I understand, if you mean completely torn/separated then you need to consult with a different doctor and never speak again to the one ya got now. That or..you mean something else by 'totally gone' as in 'it hurts when I walk'......
 
R

retiredweaxman

Guest
krazd_kat said:
The ACL in my left knee is totally and completely gone, Surgeon says try the brace, therapist says do the surgery.... They have both told me recovery time (to be where I was before the injury) is months to a year and that I will wish I was someone else the first two weeks....

I would love to hear what others have gone through and what surgeons you have used (I did a search but the threads were from 08, unless I did something wrong).

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

My ACL was completely gone as well - only stubs left. I had the surgery about 15-18 years ago while I was in the Navy. Yes, the first couple of weeks really sucked. Ex-wife used to roll around in bed and had no problem bumping against knee.

I was basically fit to resume light sporting activities after 6 months but did not have full strength in knee/leg until 9 months after surgery. This was with twice a week rehab with physical therapy.

I will not go into the gory details about the surgery (I did wake up on the table and saw the tv on the wall), suffice it to say that my repaired knee - to this day - feels stronger than the non-operative knee.
 
krazd_kat

krazd_kat

Help "Invisible Dogs"
Gilligan said:
Totally gone?...I must be mis-reading what you mean there. I was lucky..my ACL was still connected by enough of a thread of its former self that a long and excrutiating period of therapy and braces was successfull in getting to heal itself. But it was made very clear to me at the outset by the doctor (who would eventually do the surgery if required) that there was so little left (saw the MRI..he wasn't kidding) that it was only a 50-50 chance that it could repair itself.

So 'totally gone'??..based on what I understand, if you mean completely torn/separated then you need to consult with a different doctor and never speak again to the one ya got now. That or..you mean something else by 'totally gone' as in 'it hurts when I walk'......
Click to expand...

From the MRI, it shows it's totally torn, nothing left, never repair itself.... For now they said a few weeks of therapy and the new brace see if that gives me enough support to keep doing what I do... According to the therapist that means wearing the brace whenever I'm active, which means all the time in my life (except when I'm sleeping) and to me that's not an acceptable reality, so I'm trying to find out what to expect, it seems like everyone I talk to says I was up and walking in a couple of days with no problems, when I asked the therapist about that, he said it was different problems...
 
Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
krazd_kat said:
From the MRI, it shows it's totally torn, nothing left, never repair itself.... For now they said a few weeks of therapy and the new brace see if that gives me enough support to keep doing what I do... According to the therapist that means wearing the brace whenever I'm active, which means all the time in my life (except when I'm sleeping) and to me that's not an acceptable reality,..
Click to expand...

Gotcha..and sure don't blame you for deciding that relying on a brace for the rest of your life is unacceptable given the alternatives. Seems a very sorry opinion for a surgeon to give though...just sayin.

If I recall correctly, my doctor told me that it would take longer for mine to heal without surgery than if he had just popped on in there and fixed it surgically. It was pretty much my call at the time. In hindsight..I would probably elect surgery the next time. The PT is gonna hurt the same regardless...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top