advice kneeded (long)

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altaciii

altaciii

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Joined
Jan 17, 2008
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Location
corpus christi, texas, USA.
I've always loved football. I played Pop Warner, Jr. High, High School, and only one year in college. In my senior year in high school I was blocked badly on my right knee. Having been inflicted with polio at a early age, the leg wasn't strong enough to handle the blow, and I had a torn meniscus. I thought it was pretty cool back then. I got a lot of attention from the campus and life was good. It turns out, the standard operating procedure in the dark ages of knee surgery was simply to remove the meniscus, a sort of , "you won't be needing that any more!" attitude. So in 1972 I was suddenly bone to bone on my right knee, and life was good. Two years later, I'm told by another doctor that my left knee is wearing out because of the overwork being done as I favor my right. Remember, we are still in the dark ages of knee surgery. So I enter the hospital and have the same Frankenstein scar and meniscus removal that was done to my right knee, again 1974 and life was good. As the years have passed, and there have been many, my knees have gone through some sort of calcium metamorphosis. Another baby boomer in the, lets just say, Autumn of my life with growing physical problems in his bones. I have never been allergic to anything in my life, I've been healthy for the most part, thanks to God (and my wife). I have just had another clean bill of health, save for the knees, from my doctors on my annual physical, and life is good. I am at the turning point with the knees. Do I continue to endure the constant dull, throbbing, grinding pain daily, or do I go under the knife again, and suffer the trauma of a total knee replacement? Are any of our distinguished IAP members privy to the trials and tribulations of this most unnatural remedy for lingering knee pain? How long is recovery? How long before I go back to working my day job? Will it give me the ability to high jump 6 to 7 feet? It seems that this problem has suddenly popped up but I've known, in the back of my mind, that this time would sooner or later come to the forefront of my life.
All of a sudden, life is not so good.
Any advice from some of the boomers out there that will help me decide what direction I should take.
 
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similiar problem

I had a similiar case to yours. Got through 6 years of football with great injuries. But 3 years after high school playing pick up basketball blew out an ACL and medial neniscus. Had arthroscopic surgery to trim the meniscus but did not have time for 6 month rehab on an ACL tear. Continued with life and a knee that would make grinding sounds that I would make my sick with at night for fun. Then at age 40 playing softball ( trying to get back into shape after getting kids partially raised) rounding 3rd base and blew out the other ACL. Was able to catch the next inning after I was safe but then could not walk back to the dug out. Ouch!. Went down fast from there. 48 and was having trouble getting out of chairs. Afraid to step on the brake for fear my knee would explode. Decided to have repaired. 1st in May 07 and rt in Dec 07. I mainly walk short distance and sit down. Getting up is the hard part. Was off work for 1 week then half days for 2 weeks with PT in the pm. Do the PT very important. There will be pain after. Takes about 6 months to get back to full regular speed. You will have some pain in the knee but different and not disabling. The first question to ortho after surgery was when could I play basketball. answer never. When play softball again. Never. You can not run on the prothesis. Can ride bike. Can ski if do not fall. The other concideration is the repair will last about 10 years. You get 2 with current technology. I betting something better comes out because I do not want to be crippled at age 70 when these wear out. Hope that helps
 
Sounds familiar. I partially tore an ACL playing basketball when I was 30, took up ultra distance running when I was 32, I racked up enough miles to make it around the world almost twice before my final marathon on my 50th birthday. Three arthroscopic surgeries to remove floating chunks of meniscus since then, one additional arthroscopic surgery to install a replacement ACL. Lots of Synvisc over the years to try to make up for the lost meniscus. Glucosamine seems to help if I can remember to take it.

On two of the three arthoroscopic surgeries I came directly back to work after the surgery, it got a little rough when the medication wore off. The ACL replacement took two days away from work. I was scheduled for full replacement two years ago and canceled out a week before the surgery day. Last year I canceled the replacement surgery three days before. The ortho said he expects me to go through with it this year, so I haven't been back to see him.

I understand the constant dull, throbbing, grinding pain and concerns about being away from work. So far I've decided to put up with the pain and not take time away from the job. I can't play basketball, softball or run marathons now. I'm not concerned that I won't be able to when/if I get the replacement. I can still ski much too aggressively, I can bike and swim, so I don't really have any concerns about what I won't be able to do. My orthopedist tells me that the newest and best mechanical parts will easily outlast the rest of my parts, no danger of wearing out and needing to be replaced again. But that might have been while he was making the argument about why I shouldn't cancel the surgery again.
 
Try taking glucosamine/chondroitin supplements. When I blew out my knee in highschool playing football, I was in an imobilizer brace for 6 months. After that I used to be able to tell when the weather was changing because my knee would start hurting. I took high dosage supplements of the glucosamine/chondriotin for about 4 years and it helped bunches. No more grinding noises, no clicks or clacks in the knee, and was able to climb stairs or jog pain free.

I stopped taking it a couple years ago and now and starting to notice the pain again. I plan on starting to take the glucosamine/chondriotin supplements shortly. I buy them in bulk at Sam's club and the price isn't too bad really. I would try that before I agreed to a total knee replacement.
 
I snapped the tendons in my left knee playing softball at 35. After the Frankenstein surgery (3 scars), it took me a year to get back up to about 85% speed. Never did get back to my pre surgery speed. I had arthritis within 5 years but strangely, the more active I was, the less pain I felt. I climbed Mt. Fuji (12000 ft from starting at the 7000 ft level) twice, the last time 5 years ago.

But my knee pain has been getting worse and worse the last 3 years, and we do a LOT of walking over here. My doctor in Memphis (this past spring) told me to go as long as I could before surgery, but that I would need surgery eventually. I told him that I believe it would be easier to recover from that kind of surgery at 65 than at 75. He agreed.

My knee is not as bad as yours sounds, but once past 55, IMO, it gets a little more difficult every year to recover. In other words, the recovery is faster and easier :eek: :rolleyes: the earlier you do it. It still is no piece of cake, from which you already know!

Keep us posted and updated on this.
 
I've had the synvisc in both knees 3 different times. I was told by the doc that the glucosamine/chondroitin supplements would help if I had some usable meniscus. Many years ago, I can't remember how many, I was told that I only had a limited number of steps left and to use them wisely. I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row now for the first or second week in November. I've never really been scared but after watching what they actually do......??:confused::confused:



jleiwig said:
Try taking glucosamine/chondroitin supplements. When I blew out my knee in highschool playing football, I was in an imobilizer brace for 6 months. After that I used to be able to tell when the weather was changing because my knee would start hurting. I took high dosage supplements of the glucosamine/chondriotin for about 4 years and it helped bunches. No more grinding noises, no clicks or clacks in the knee, and was able to climb stairs or jog pain free.

I stopped taking it a couple years ago and now and starting to notice the pain again. I plan on starting to take the glucosamine/chondriotin supplements shortly. I buy them in bulk at Sam's club and the price isn't too bad really. I would try that before I agreed to a total knee replacement.
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altaciii said:
I've had the synvisc in both knees 3 different times. I was told by the doc that the glucosamine/chondroitin supplements would help if I had some usable meniscus. Many years ago, I can't remember how many, I was told that I only had a limited number of steps left and to use them wisely. I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row now for the first or second week in November. I've never really been scared but after watching what they actually do......??:confused::confused:
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They told me the same thing. By chance was the doctor who suggested this the same one that would be doing the surgery? I had a doctor tell me the same thing and try to schedule a surgery for me. I told him that I wanted to check things out on my own and get some second opinions. That was over 10 years ago.

Glucosamine/chondriotin are the building blocks of what your meniscus is made of. As I said I took them in super high doses, I believe it was 4x the recommended amount, and it helped a whole lot.

When I hurt my knee I also spit the kneecap into three pieces which on the xray made it look like a peace sign. I still have a bone spur from the little piece that never fused back properly. I also weigh over 300lbs, so knee pain is nothing new. However as I said before...try everything you can on your own before you commit to knee surgery. Once they grind the bones down to put in the artificial stuff it's all over. I haven't yet seen a replacement knee that stood up to a lifetime of regular abuse.
 
I have no knee problems. Still, my advice is to have your knees fixed, and do them both at the same time if they will do that so you don't have to go through it all again. Science today is incredible. Living with pain is a guy thing we do, but why??? Does it make us more manly? My great grandmother had both knees replaced with plastic when she was 92 yrs old and that was almost 20 yrs ago, and she was up walking on her own 4 months later, so imagine what they can do now! I'm guessing you are around 50 yrs old, that's the new 40, so get the knees fixed and back out onto the dance floor. No excuses.
 
workinforwood said:
I'm guessing you are around 50 yrs old, that's the new 40
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Nope. 64 is the new 40, just ask me.:wink:

Aside from that, having know several people who've been through this, the sooner you get them both done the sooner you'll be back walking around. There was a woman who ran in a 5 mile women's run here this past spring, and she did quite well and had had one knee replaced the previous year.
 
You guys (and those people noted here) who had knee replacement must have had some _good_ doctors and rehab people. My knee surgery at 35 was so painful afterwards and during the rehab, that even today I still cringe thinking about it. That is why I didn't think I or anyone would want to wait until they were in their 70's to have it done. My surgeon and rehab people in the New Orleans area were highly recommended at the time. Still, it was very painful even with medicine. This is from a fellow (me) who took his totally dislocated and broke left hand and wrist - with his right hand, and personally re-set it into place 5 years ago after a fall from a ladder. I can stand pain, but that knee surgery and rehab was memory maker of the worst kind.
 
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As indicated below (in bold print), Hank as made reference to some sort of, errrrr, discomfort for this type of surgery at least 4 times. That tells me quite abit about what to expect. Thus the reason for the thread in the first place. I have felt extreme pain in both knees after every surgery, major or arthroscopic, and can only imagine what this is going to do on a scale of 10. On top of the surgery I also have the good fortune to have recovered somewhat from polio in the right leg, and thats probably what is going to make the rehab much worse. Anxious, maybe, nervous, a little, AFRAID, quite a bit.
Hank, how long was the recovery before you could walk, say with the same level of pain before the surgery?:doctor::doctor::eek::eek::mad:






leehljp said:
You guys (and those people noted here) who had knee replacement must have had some _good_ doctors and rehab people. My knee surgery at 35 was so painful afterwards and during the rehab, that even today I still cringe thinking about it. That is why I didn't think I or anyone would want to wait until they were in their 70's to have it done. My surgeon and rehab people in the New Orleans area were highly recommended at the time. Still, it was very painful even with medicine. This is from a fellow (me) who took his totally dislocated and broke left hand and wrist - with his right hand, and personally re-set it into place 5 years ago after a fall from a ladder. I can stand pain, but that knee surgery and rehab was memory maker of the worst kind.
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Mom and stepdad both had them done. she was walking great in 2-3 months. He was less....both about 10-12 yrs ago and he still milks about 30 cows twice a day and all the other stuff that comes from owning a diary. Both say good decision and the hurt went away. Pick a good doctor. The one mom used only does knees and hips. I could get the name if DFW is Ok.
 
Alex,

Feel free to PM me, or to exchange phone numbers.

I was fortunate enough to see the damage football did to my All State (High school) brother, and left the sport after the ninth grade (still 3 yr Jr high back then) Part of me regrets it since I loved it like no other sport. Later, I blew out my ACL in my right knee. Given my age and the fact that I was in private practice at the time, the doc decided just to clean out the crud and leave me without and ACL which worked fine for a long time. It took awhile to get used to the fact that my "brakes" were gone on that knee.

I inherited osteoarthritis from both of my parents as well as hemochromatosis, a rare blood disorder. My right knee deteriorated to the point that I would be near tears by the time I reached my truck in the parking lot at work. Given my age of 55 at the time, they did not want to replace the knee at that time. I took pounds of Glucosamine and Chondroitin with no change. (Like many things it works for some and not for others) I did the three injection series in both knees with the artificial synovial fluid. My left knee improved a bit, it felt like they put metal shavings in the right one. Then we tried the steroid injections. Finally, one of the kindest surgeons I have ever met said that he had tried everything, surgery was all that was left.

I had a total knee replacement on May 13th of this year. Dr. Bowen told me the usual down time was 3 months, but a "dedicated person" could be back at work in 6 weeks. I beat that time frame by 2 days. The rehab was tough, but not bad. Yep, I took a fair number of Percocets, but still have some left over from the initial prescription. Rehab went well. They told me as long as I worked and did what they asked, there would be no rough manipulation of my leg. I busted my butt and did everything they asked and more. I'm sorry others have had a rough experience with knee replacement, but it is the best decision I have made in a long time. Can I run? Not really, but I'm not chasing much of anything anymore.

Many surgeons prefer replacing knees one at a time to make it more easy to do rehab. My neighbor had both done at the same time and says he wouldn't have it any other way.

Call me if you like. My brother is a surgeon (neuro, not ortho) in Shreveport La, and he knows some good knee docs.

Almost forgot, in my opinion. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 
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