Post Op Visit

On Monday I had my post-operative visit with Dr. Gill, and he was very pleased with my progress. However, he cautioned me not to get back to vigorous activity too fast, and suggested that I only up the cycling to 30 minutes. He did comment that I could try the elliptical machine. 6-8 weeks looks like the timetable for full recovery, which would be early January. Luckily, my training partners (Dana and Aaron) have been complete slackers too and haven't been working out. In both their defense, they have had a lot to do (Aaron has started a grad program at MIT).

Meanwhile my knee continues to improve. I now experience virtually no discomfort at all when walking around, and have a tiny limp that perhaps only Anne and my dad would notice. The swelling, slowly and inexorably, is decreasing. When I cycle I can see my knee joint actually functioning.

The big question is, of course, what are the long term effects. To start, as Dr. Gill's nurse always says, any meniscectomy can increase the chance of arthritis. That being said, this procedure has positioned my knee to be in the best possible shape to avoid such problems, and Dr. Gill seemed confidant that I would experience no future problems - his actual quote was "you know, this might save you from future arthritis because we've removed the discoid portion." I think in the literature I've been reading, some future problems usually come about when the meniscus is both discoid in shape and overly thick; my meniscus was of the normal thickness.

Most importantly, I can downhill ski this season too. No restrictions after 8 weeks.

I think I've managed to attach some pictures to this post - yes, this is the inside of my knee. In the bottom one, you can see the obvious tear, and in the top set, you can see how he trimmed it back (notice the right angle).

Last comment - The MGH Sports Medicine Nurse Practitoner, Deirdre Fleming, is very pretty. She probably knows this, as every guy in the waiting room while I was there subconsciously against their will stopped reading their outdated magazine and acted like an adolescent. This most likely occurs 3-5 times a day, every day.