Anyone had meniscus repair surgery on knee?

[LOBALOT]

Wow - that seems long. I had menisectomy at the age of 52 and was playing doubles in 4 weeks, singles in 5 weeks and playing everyday after 2 months. I’ve heard of other club members who returned to tennis after 3-4 months when they did a meniscus repair - one guy had to rest for 5 months and that’s the longest I’ve heard of. All the best.

Maybe he is being cautious. I hope I am back sooner. My physician is the team doctor for an NFL football team.

I think my pals are feeling sorry for me. A pal just came over for dinner tonight and we had a few bourbons and beer as I had my knee in the cooling and compression machine.

 

[socallefty]

A pal just came over for dinner tonight and we had a few bourbons and beer as I had my knee in the gizmo cooling and compression machine.

In my opinion, he is not being a pal encouraging you to drink alcohol so soon after surgery. Almost any doctor or hospital would recommend abstaining from alcohol as long as you are taking painkillers, anti-inflammatories and other post-surgery drugs - most would recommend abstaining for two weeks after surgery with anesthesia.

 

[LOBALOT]

In my opinion, he is not being a pal encouraging you to drink alcohol so soon after surgery. Almost any doctor or hospital would recommend abstaining from alcohol as long as you are taking painkillers, anI-inflammatories and other post-surgery drugs - most would recommend abstaining for two weeks after surgery with anesthesia.

I agree although I am not taking any pain killers other than Naproxen. They sent me with Oxy Pills and Valium but I refused to take them.

I had a pretty rough night last night and did not sleep with the pain but am doing much better today. We will see what tonight brings.

 

[ollinger]

Almost any doctor or hospital would recommend abstaining from alcohol as long as you are taking painkillers, anI-inflammatories and other post-surgery drugs - most would recommend abstaining for two weeks after surgery with anesthesia.

There are no interactions between antiinflammatories (NSAIDs, specifically) and judicious amounts of alcohol. Very heavy drinking may have an additive effect with a NSAID such that gastritis and some GI bleeding might be a risk, but not reasonable amounts of alcohol. Likewise analgesics and a drink or two so long as you don't promptly get behind the wheel. Some people grossly overstate the risks.

 

[LOBALOT]

There are no interactions between antiinflammatories (NSAIDs, specifically) and judicious amounts of alcohol. Very heavy drinking may have an additive effect with a NSAID such that gastritis and some GI bleeding might be a risk, but not reasonable amounts of alcohol. Likewise analgesics and a drink or two so long as you don't promptly get behind the wheel. Some people grossly overstate the risks.

Well I agree with Social lefty it is not the best and am glad my son is not home to see it but I am certainly not driving. I am at the dinning room table and sleeping on our living room sofa a few yards away tonight.

I have a pretty big project for work to complete in the morning as I am helping with IT planning on a hospital merger. I then hope to naviaged the stairs to the basement in the morning as a couple of pals brought racquets for me to replace grommets and restring.

 

[Stujames]

I tore my meniscus and strained my MCL over 3 months ago playing tennis. It was very painful and I was having trouble sleeping for 8 weeks or so. I'm on the waiting list for an operation. In the mean time I've been going hard on strengthing and stretching as per my physios guidance ( and lots of icing). Out of nowhere, after 3 months, it started feeling pretty good again. I've had a few light hits of tennis and will go back to comp night next week. Its not 100 percent but I may not need an operation at all .... fingers crossed

 

[LOBALOT]

I tore my meniscus and strained my MCL over 3 months ago playing tennis. It was very painful and I was having trouble sleeping for 8 weeks or so. I'm on the waiting list for an operation. In the mean time I've been going hard on strengthing and stretching as per my physios guidance ( and lots of icing). Out of nowhere, after 3 months, it started feeling pretty good again. I've had a few light hits of tennis and will go back to comp night next week. Its not 100 percent but I may not need an operation at all .... fingers crossed

Good luck!

 

[LOBALOT]

Well I agree with Social lefty it is not the best and am glad my son is not home to see it but I am certainly not driving. I am at the dinning room table and sleeping on our living room sofa a few yards away tonight.

I have a pretty big project for work to complete in the morning as I am helping with IT planning on a hospital merger. I then hope to naviaged the stairs to the basement in the morning as a couple of pals brought racquets for me to replace grommets and restring.

Man @socallefty had me feeling all guilty last night as I tossed as I slept. Seriously, I am not taking any of the pain meds but yes I should be setting a better example for my son even if he is away at college and not aware.

 

[socallefty]

Man @socallefty had me feeling all guilty last night as I tossed as I slept. Seriously, I am not taking any of the pain meds but yes I should be setting a better example for my son even if he is away at college and not aware.

Sorry!

 

[LOBALOT]

Sorry!

That is OK I deserve it with my bad behavior. You are 100% spot on.

 

[Injured Again]

@LOBALOT The very best to you in your recovery!

I do have to say that seems like such a long recovery, especially the long weeks of non-weight bearing. It seems that you would be best off maintaining leg strength to help use the muscles to cushion your walking, but maybe there is something about possibly entrapping a piece of the meniscus if you bend the knee with weight bearing.

On our way home after my knee replacement, I asked my wife to stop off at Taco Time, a local fast food Mexican place, for their fried tater tots. A man’s gotta live! Don’t feel bad about your bourbons and beer!

 

[LOBALOT]

@LOBALOT The very best to you in your recovery!

I do have to say that seems like such a long recovery, especially the long weeks of non-weight bearing. It seems that you would be best off maintaining leg strength to help use the muscles to cushion your walking, but maybe there is something about possibly entrapping a piece of the meniscus if you bend the knee with weight bearing.

On our way home after my knee replacement, I asked my wife to stop off at Taco Time, a local fast food Mexican place, for their fried tater tots. A man’s gotta live! Don’t feel bad about your bourbons and beer!

Thank you! I agree on the leg strength and I need to get stronger as a learning from this. I am finding my core/stomache muscles are not strong enough and are getting a workout as well.

My wife has been awesome. She helped me upstairs for a shower and then I had a couple of racquets to restring for some customers that dropped them off and she helped me downstairs to my machine and she learned a few things about stringing racquets as I learned to restring a racquet while sitting down.

My wife and I were talking today that my doctor could have taken the easy way out and just hacked out my meniscus but he knows what a tennis nut I am and he chose a route he probably would do with someone younger. I do admire that. I haven't talked to him to thank him.

Thank you for all your support all of you.

 

[LOBALOT]

Thank you! I agree on the leg strength and I need to get stronger as a learning from this. I am finding my core/stomache muscles are not strong enough and are getting a workout as well.

My wife has been awesome. She helped me upstairs for a shower and then I had a couple of racquets to restring for some customers that dropped them off and she helped me downstairs to my machine and she learned a few things about stringing racquets as I learned to restring a racquet while sitting down.

My wife and I were talking today that my doctor could have taken the easy way out and just hacked out my meniscus but he knows what a tennis nut I am and he chose a route he probably would do with someone younger. I do admire that. I haven't talked to him to thank him.

Thank you for all your support all of you.

Sorry for the delay in providing an update but my cable provider appears to have assigned me an IP Address that Talk Tennis is blocking. We have turned off our cable modem (and mesh router) and waited a couple of hours and turned it back on hoping that my IP would get reassigned but it has not. I am on here now by turning off the wifi on my phone and using the cellular connection and using the cell phone as a hot spot.

Things are going better day-by-day. My knee swelling is subsiding but oddly have quite a bit of swelling and pain in the ankle of the knee that was repaired and a good bit of swelling in the right ankle as well. I have one of those cooling/compression machines I have been using and wonder if perhaps while all that compression between the brace/machine have been good for my knee they have not been good on my ankle (Note, I am not diabetic and this was confirmed in pre-surgical testing).

PT is killer but I just keep telling myself if I want to get back out on the court I have to do it. I have my first follow up appointment next week.

Attached is a picture of the surgical repair.

https://imgur.com/mCWpaCp

 

[Injured Again]

@LOBALOT Hope everything is going well! How are things progressing?

 

[LOBALOT]

@LOBALOT Hope everything is going well! How are things progressing?

That is so nice of you to check in. Things are going well.

I had my 2 week follow up procedure with the surgeon and he showed me the video of the procedure and explained what was done.

He explained that when they got in they saw that the tear was worse than what they saw in imaging and had they proceeded with their plan to cut around the tear I would have hardly had any meniscus left. They said the rest of my knee is in really good shape so they decided to repair it as they knew how much playing tennis meant to me both from a physical activity and social standpoint (You guys knew that already ).

They said the procedure is not without risk of failure as after 40 even the "red" portions of the meniscus receive very little if any blood flow. Thus after the repair they drilled 2 holes in my knee so that the repair was bathed in blood hopefully to aid in heeling. I could see the blood whoosh out of the holes and into the fluid in my knee in the video (All this in layman's terms). This has lead to additional swelling of the knee and foot.

They said as it is risky they are being extra cautious so no weight for another 3 weeks and then they may let me gradually apply weight to my left leg.

PT is killer and I am doing all the exercises as I really really want to get back. I have had a couple of rough nights sleeping after PT.

My wife has been a saint as I am not a great patient. My pals have been awesome. They came over and moved my Alpha Ghost II stringing machine from the basement to our family room and my wife bought me an old school spin top stool to sit on as I string.

Thanks again!

 

[mctennis]

cooling and compression machine.

These machines are great! Glad your recovery is going well.

 

[LOBALOT]

These machines are great!

Yeah, mine is called a Recovery+. It works pretty well.

 

[mctennis]

Yeah, mine is called a Recovery+. It works pretty well.

I just had knee replacement surgery. I used the same machine I had when I had my knee cleaned out from Chondromalacia in the back of my knee back in 2008ish. I kept it in a cubbyhole down in the basement. Worked great. They aren't that expensive, per say, but it was still something useful and I did not have to buy yet one more thing to use for rehab. One thing I did not do last time was use frozen water bottles in the container with water around it. I used ice last time and had to keep buying bags of ice. Once someone at the Ortho office showed me the machine they had to sell I looked at the brochure. It mentioned frozen water bottles to keep the water cold that circulates around the knee. DUH!

 

[LOBALOT]

I just had knee replacement surgery. I used the same machine I had when I had my knee cleaned out from Chondromalacia in the back of my knee back in 2008ish. I kept it in a cubbyhole down in the basement. Worked great. They aren't that expensive, per say, but it was still something useful and I did not have to buy yet one more thing to use for rehab.

Wow, good luck with the replacement. My pal "the raccoon" had his knee replaced a couple of years ago and he is playing better than he has in years.

He was dragging his leg around the court for a while so it is great to see him playing so much better.

He played D1 college football and that just took a toll on his knee and it just kept getting worse and worse.

 

[mctennis]

Wow, good luck with the replacement. My pal "the raccoon" had his knee replaced a couple of years ago and he is playing better than he has in years.

He was dragging his leg around the court for a while so it is great to see him playing so much better.

He played D1 college football and that just took a toll on his knee and it just kept getting worse and worse.

Thanks. It has been a chore and a half. Lots of issues and I hope I am on the mend and over those hurtles. Still painful and doing PT. It is painful but necessary to do PT.

 

[LOBALOT]

Thanks. It has been a chore and a half. Lots of issues and I hope I am on the mend and over those hurtles. Still painful and doing PT. It is painful but necessary to do PT.

Keep up the fight. I believe firmly that tennis is so important for us from both from a fitness and social perspective. There is no sport like it for athletic older adult.

Good luck!

 

[mctennis]

Keep up the fight. I believe firmly that tennis is so important for us from both from a fitness and social perspective. There is no sport like it for athletic older adult.

Good luck!

I agree with what you said here. Keep up the fight as well. Get back to what we love soon.