Not so successful surgery
Hi,
I had ACI done in Boston (NEMC) in Feb. of 99. It is now Feb. 03 and I regret to say that I am worse off now than before the surgery. I am 31 yrs. old and want to be very active. I played basketball in college and have tried to remain active ever since.
Since my surgury, I slowly worked my way back to being as active as before the surgery (without playing bball - I realize this is a thing of the past). I've done a couple of sprint triathlons and have tried to remain as active as my knee will let me.
Recently, however, my knee seems to have gone downhill fast. I've been seeing a Orthopod here in Maine and he is scoping me next week. MRI seems to indicate that the implant did take to some degree, but may have an irregular surface and now the damage is creeping onto the joint surface of my tibia. My options at this point seem to be:
1) Deal with it.
2) Osteotomy to try to alter the point of impact between my femur and tibia.
3) Bone implant from cadaver (don't recall the medical term for this) to replace the damaged portion of my joint.
4) re-do the ACI procedure.
I'm leaning toward #2, but I'm not real crazy about any of the options. I'm hesitant about the cadaver idea and do NOT want to go through the ACI again, nor do I want to 'deal with it'. I wish there were other options.
Nonetheless, this is very frustrating, as I've been reduced to just bike riding. This is basically the only thing that I can do that is virtually pain free. Anything that is even remotely resembling an impact sport, I cannot do know.
From:
Jeff St. Laurent - jstlau@ci.scarborough.me.us
