United StatesHello everyone! My name is Scott and I have been lurking and reading everything this wonderful site offers for a while now. I decided to chime in and add my thread so here I am.
My Story: About twenty years ago I ruptured my right ACL in a skiing accident. I had ACL replacement surgery not long after with considerable menisectomy as well. Shortly after the surgery, the pain became increasingly unbearable and I was pretty sick. Ten days after the ACL surgery I was back in for emergency debridement of the wound after they determined I had a massive infection in the joint. I had to have a PIC line installed and received 6 weeks of IV antibiotics (Vancomycin and something else). I lost 25 pounds and needless to say this set my recovery way back.
I did eventually recover. I am an avid cyclist who has competed on occasion. I average 5K-7K miles a year on the bike. I did return to skiing and cycling and, for the most part, did so with impunity for years. But alas, in time, I started having more and more pain in the knee. When I turned 50 I decided to train and race in the National Ultra-Endurance Series, a national MTB competition series racing 100KM courses. In 2017 I won the series in the Masters category! But as time went on I started having more and more pain as a result of activities. I gave up skiing three years ago and this year I started limiting some cycling. Meanwhile, I was taking cortisone every three months to keep going but it was really not working anymore.
My local ortho saw me again and said I was ready for a knee replacement. I was bone-on-bone in the lateral compartment. The good news was, that my medial compartment looked good in imaging. He referred me to a surgeon in Boston as my surgeon did not do LPKRs.
My Surgery: I had surgery on 8/29 in Boston. The procedure went very well I am told. The surgeon had warned me that he could not guarantee a partial was possible until he was inside my knee and able to evaluate the medial compartment as well. He reported afterward that the medial side looked great, especially considering what it had been through with the infection. I went home the same day and have been recuperating since. I am of course super paranoid of infection and they did prescribe antibiotics as a precaution. I can flex a bit past 90 with no pain now, just discomfort. I have in-home PT twice a week and they say I am doing very well. I am walking without assistance around the house.
My Recovery: I am following the recovery guidelines laid down here closely! Swelling has seemed fairly low all things considered. Today, day 7, I woke up with a fairly swollen knee. I had a rough night of sleep with background pain daily constant but not too severe. I walked a bit more yesterday but didn't do anything out of the ordinary in the past 6 days. I am hoping it's nothing much but I am super paranoid of infection!
The knee in general feels extremely tight, but again the PT feels my ROM is excellent at this stage. I am taking just Tylenol and Alleve and Gabapentin during the day. At night if I wake up with pain I am adding Tramadol and/or Hydromorphone, but they honestly don't seem to bring a ton more relief.
I hope to return to cycling and skiing full bore! I welcome any feedback and am very grateful for this wonderful resource! Cheers.
My Story: About twenty years ago I ruptured my right ACL in a skiing accident. I had ACL replacement surgery not long after with considerable menisectomy as well. Shortly after the surgery, the pain became increasingly unbearable and I was pretty sick. Ten days after the ACL surgery I was back in for emergency debridement of the wound after they determined I had a massive infection in the joint. I had to have a PIC line installed and received 6 weeks of IV antibiotics (Vancomycin and something else). I lost 25 pounds and needless to say this set my recovery way back.
I did eventually recover. I am an avid cyclist who has competed on occasion. I average 5K-7K miles a year on the bike. I did return to skiing and cycling and, for the most part, did so with impunity for years. But alas, in time, I started having more and more pain in the knee. When I turned 50 I decided to train and race in the National Ultra-Endurance Series, a national MTB competition series racing 100KM courses. In 2017 I won the series in the Masters category! But as time went on I started having more and more pain as a result of activities. I gave up skiing three years ago and this year I started limiting some cycling. Meanwhile, I was taking cortisone every three months to keep going but it was really not working anymore.
My local ortho saw me again and said I was ready for a knee replacement. I was bone-on-bone in the lateral compartment. The good news was, that my medial compartment looked good in imaging. He referred me to a surgeon in Boston as my surgeon did not do LPKRs.
My Surgery: I had surgery on 8/29 in Boston. The procedure went very well I am told. The surgeon had warned me that he could not guarantee a partial was possible until he was inside my knee and able to evaluate the medial compartment as well. He reported afterward that the medial side looked great, especially considering what it had been through with the infection. I went home the same day and have been recuperating since. I am of course super paranoid of infection and they did prescribe antibiotics as a precaution. I can flex a bit past 90 with no pain now, just discomfort. I have in-home PT twice a week and they say I am doing very well. I am walking without assistance around the house.
My Recovery: I am following the recovery guidelines laid down here closely! Swelling has seemed fairly low all things considered. Today, day 7, I woke up with a fairly swollen knee. I had a rough night of sleep with background pain daily constant but not too severe. I walked a bit more yesterday but didn't do anything out of the ordinary in the past 6 days. I am hoping it's nothing much but I am super paranoid of infection!
The knee in general feels extremely tight, but again the PT feels my ROM is excellent at this stage. I am taking just Tylenol and Alleve and Gabapentin during the day. At night if I wake up with pain I am adding Tramadol and/or Hydromorphone, but they honestly don't seem to bring a ton more relief.
I hope to return to cycling and skiing full bore! I welcome any feedback and am very grateful for this wonderful resource! Cheers.
. Humans naturally tend to report negatives more than positives. Thanks for sharing!
