dislocating knee cap surgery

i dislocated my knee cap august of 2005 playing baskeball. i've had knee problems since i was in 6th grade, mostly genetic, but the year round sports didn't help either. the first time i did it, i thought it was the worst pain that i'd ever felt, or so i thought. i went to my sports doctor and he said that there was a 5% chance that it would ever happen again, so i was relieved. a couple months later, when i finished physical theropy, i went back to basketball for pre-season training. i was playing and dislocated it again. i went back to my doctor, and he gave me two options. stop playing sports or get surgery. i chose the surgery. he gave me an orthopedic surgeon, and i started going in. i had a tibial tubercle transfer, which is when they take the patella tendon which runs right over your knee cap and attaches right below on your tibia and cut it and screw it back in. they also did some more stuff, but i really don't understand what he was talking about. i just think that he looked around in my knee and did some minor "cleaning up".nearly two months later i found myself with an IV in my arm and strapped to an ice cold operating table. i woke up, not feeling anything, in a warm bed. i had a full leg cast all up my left knee. for two weeks i was out of school on morphine and vicodin. even with the pain medacations, the worst pain was right after. it got better day by day. i slept on the couch for a week, because i couldn't move. it hurt to stand, and it hurt to sit. it was to this day the worst pain that i've ever gone through. i had it right before christmas, so i could get it done with. i'm still not fully healed, although i am playing basketball. i was on crutches for 4 months with a full cast. crutches aren't fun, but i did what i had to do. to this day i don't regret what i had done. my knee is like new, even though i have a 4 inch scar running vertical right below my knee cap, and 3 other 1 inch scars bordering my patella. this is my expieriance, and i hope everything turns out okay for you, i just thought that you would want to know how things went for me, a person who went through the whole procedure. i did physical theropy for 4 months and now i'm back running again. it's one of the best feelings in the world.

hope everything turns out okay!
-katie

Hi Anne, I think what they will do, is surgery according to elmsi, where the patella tendon will be relocated. I have the same problems you have and I had several surgeries such as slocum larson, elmsi and the lastest one was insall on both legs. The first two surgeries didn't help at all. because of dislocation the kneecap so often, I have arthrosis in both knees. I can not tell you what to do, but the problem is, that after every surgery the muscle has to be trained a lot, otherwise you will have the same problems again. If you have any questiosn you can contact me. Yours Julia