orthoscopic knee surgery yesterday - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 04-26-2008, 06:44 AM

I had my left knee cleaned of a flap in my meniscus (SP?) yesterday at 1130 am. As soon as the spinal block wore off and I could walk it hurt less than it did on the way into the surgical center.

Since I had a spinal tap instead of a genearal, when I got home I ate pizza for supper and had two popcicles and a bowl of strawberries, ice cream and whoop cream.

The sheet they sent home with me said it might take up to 12 hours for the medicine to all wear off so I kept waithing for it to begin hurting.

So far it does not. I can barely feel any pain at all.

There is a little pool of some kind of liquid in there though that squishes from one place to another if I bend it just right. It squeeks rather loudly almost like a dog's squeaky toy. I hope that does not mean anything.

I'm going to go eat breakfast and read the paper. I wonder now why I didn't have this done fifteen years ago when I first started having knee pain.

Tom W

Medmech · #2 04-26-2008, 07:26 AM

Good to hear you are OK, arthroscopic knee surgery is usually a piece of cake. In the early 70's the insurance companies would not pay the pioneering doctors because it had no medical benefit in their opinion.

t walgamuth · #3 04-26-2008, 08:47 AM

You gotta love those insurance companies, don't you?

not.

tom W

Medmech · #4 04-26-2008, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

You gotta love those insurance companies, don't you?

not.

tom W

It's a strange machine for sure, its ran by people with no medical expertise who rely on low grade doctors whom cannot fathom the research and expertise of the doctors in the field.

aklim · #5 04-26-2008, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howitzer

Good to hear you are OK, arthroscopic knee surgery is usually a piece of cake. In the early 70's the insurance companies would not pay the pioneering doctors because it had no medical benefit in their opinion.

Maybe it wasn't as proven at that time as a therapy and they are waiting for it to get more "knife time" before they approve it as a proven therapy. IF that is that case, I don't have an issue with it. Now if it were a run of the mill surgery that they don't approve, that is a different story.

Medmech · #6 04-26-2008, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aklim

Maybe it wasn't as proven at that time as a therapy and they are waiting for it to get more "knife time" before they approve it as a proven therapy. IF that is that case, I don't have an issue with it. Now if it were a run of the mill surgery that they don't approve, that is a different story.

Thank god you're OK with it.

Kuan · #7 04-26-2008, 09:41 AM

Heh, it's a torn meniscus, not some undefined "knee pain."

Good to hear it went well Tom. I know mine is just waiting around some corner.

Chad300tdt · #8 04-26-2008, 09:44 AM

Glad to hear you're doing OK Tom.

So ... do you think your good knee health will help you with racing. I'm sure wrenching will be easier.

t walgamuth · #9 04-26-2008, 09:50 AM

It had bothered me for about 16 years off and on. Usually when it flared up I just took it easy on it for a bit and it would settle down.

Recently it felt so good I was jogging to my car in a rainstorm and when it started raining harder I sped up. Suddenly I had a very big and sharp pain and ended up hopping the rest of the half block to the car. It felt as if my meniscus (though I did not know the name of it then) had split in half.

I decided to get it checked out. The mri showed the torn miniscus.

So it should help some on the wrenching, but truthfully it never seemed to hurt that much until about a month ago.

But if I feel really good I imagine I will feel motivated to do more.

I am beginning to get itchy to hit the autocross circuit.

Tom W

aklim · #10 04-27-2008, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howitzer

Thank god you're OK with it.

Well, I'm ok with it because I don't want my insurance to be paying for every hairbrained scheme out there that is experimental. Yes, you could say it sucks if it were me that was in trouble. However, to keep things fair for all, I'd rather they don't do experimental surgeries that are not proven otherwise it would raise the rates for everybody. Now if I don't want them paying for experimental surgeries for others, could I ask for it if I were the one that wanted to try some hairbrained surgery?

POS · #11 04-26-2008, 08:56 AM

Glad to hear all went well, Tom. I had that done about ten years ago (I'm 39), and it didn't fix squat. Did some research and found out that the arthoscopy is commonly overdone by Drs want to make a buck. Eventually, all my knee problems went away with a set of $300 custom orthotic inserts for my shoes. Turns out, I was walking too much on the outside of my foot and it was misaligning my knee making it hurt during long walks. Still use those inserts today and never had a knee problem since.

I tell people that story because I want them to look into the orthotic inserts for their shoes prior to the knee surgery. Get up and walk, Tom - you're healed!