patentcad

Pcad may be heading for knee surgery #3.

Knee operation 1: 1986 arthroscope after I blew out my anterior cruciate ligament playing softball. They removed the ligament and trimmed the cartilage, knee was still stable, no reconstruction needed, I could still run after this operation.

Knee operation 2: 1989 after a motorcycle crash, major cartilage damage, knee was destabilized, Anterior Cruciate Ligament was repaired (allograft) and cartilage trimmed. Not much meniscus cartilage left in the right knee, I had to give up running, started cycling daily.

Nearly 19 years after knee operation 2 my right knee is increasingly arthritic, and cycling bothers it now. Not spinning, but hammering, climbing steep hills, etc. Always has, but not like this. Stiffness, swelling, some pain. They do an arthroscopic 'clean up' that while somewhat controversial in its efficacy, typically works. If my surgeon (one of the best guys on the planet) tells me his clean-ups work and my insurance company will pay for it, under the knife I go. An hour of surgery, a week off the bike and a month of getting back into shape for 5-10+ years of continued hammering. That works for me.

Hell, I'll do it just for the post surgical drugs.

This may F up my plans to race a bicycle in March. Oh well. I may opt for cortisone shots now and surgery in the Fall. I'll discuss all this with Larry (my knee surgeon and I are on a first name basis, I tried to sell him a car under anesthesia in 1989, I was a Mercedes salesman at the time) on Monday.

elgalad

Jesus wept!

That's a long history of knee problems there PCad. I've had some knee difficulties in my past - I played state-level squash up until I was 17 and had to take 18 months off exercise with some tendon problems in both knees, but I've never had to have surgery, touch wood. I'm sure with the abuse I give my knees cycling I'll need it sooner or later, especially seeing as I've got plenty of years of cycling ahead of me (I'm only 23).

Hope you're back to riding on your ksyriums soon!

patentcad

Oh I'm still riding daily. But my knee is awfully cranky. Hell, I've been driving down to the bottom of Mt. Doom so I won't have to hump up the multiple 15%+ grades on the mile long uphill to my driveway. Now that I have a Power Meter I've learned that those steep stretches require a minimum exertion of over 400 watts (easy). That means there is no true 'recovery' day - particularly if you're talking about an arthritic knee joint. Oh well. Hopefully after the surgery (if that's needed, I'm pretty confident it may well be) I'll be back to humping up Long Vista Lane on a daily basis. I've ridden up that hill well over 1000 times in the 10 years I've lived here. I'm amazed my knee held out this long.

prendrefeu

You need float on your pedals. Keep your knees happy.

patentcad

This is the type of informed medical advice only available to us on BF.

Namenda

If you can hold out til fall, do it. Maybe try an injection now to get the inflammation under control. Don't be cowed by the naysayers...the surgery you're contemplating is actually quite successful, especially with an experienced surgeon like yours.

Alright, forget what I said. Do it today.

patentcad

I sold Mercedes 20 years ago right near Giants Stadium. One of our customers was Levy, the team doctor for the Giants at the time. I recall asking him who he would have operate on his knee. He replied 'Livingtson' (my doctor) without hesitation. My two knee surgeries were very successful by any measure, and while at physical therapy (twice) I kept meeting patients who had been fixed by Livingston after being butchered by lousy surgeons. He knows what he's doing. One of the best knee guys anywhere.

rbart4506

That's right Pcad...Didn't you know float solves all knee problems...

patentcad

I don't exactly ride with my shoes super-glued to the pedals. Speedplay X's for 15+ years, Look Keos with 9º*of float recently.

daytonian

PCAD are you taking any prescription grade naproxen or anti - inflammatory's. if not, maybe worth a look for short term. i find they work better than handfulls of aleve. what's recovery time on said surgery?

Hocam

No, pcad just needs a triple. He is an old man after all.

I'm sure that would induce plenty of self loathing too.

patentcad

Prescription grade anti-inflammatories are drugs like Celebrex and Relafen. Ibuprofen and Naproxen only require you to take larger doses of the over the counter meds to get the prescription dosages, I've tried those and they're not helping much. I'm fairly confident only cortisone injections or surgery will work, perhaps physical therapy, but ultimately it's probably postponing the inevitable. If I can put it off until next Fall, I'll try that. Recovery from such a scope would probably be 6-8 weeks from surgery to race condition, give or take. I'm not in bad condition now, I would guess I'd only be off the bike for 7-10 days, but it would be 3 weeks + until I could really hammer again. All speculation (even if somewhat informed) until I see the doctor Monday. If he convinces me to have the procedure, I'd want to have it immediately, but it might take a week to arrange everything.

big john

Good luck, Pcad. I, too, am seeing a surgeon on Monday about my shoulder, which was damaged Oct 20
in a senior moment induced face plant and subsequent tumble down a 40 foot cliff on a mtb ride.
Same shoulder was damaged around 1982 whe I was knocked from my Husqvarna by some bonehead on a KX420 at 45 mph.

wanders

"Hell coach, I love needles."

patentcad

A cortisone shot would be rather like North Dallas 40. Or in my case North Manhattan 50.

Miller2

Have you and Larry discussed Synvisc injections? I've gotten good feedback from folks who have tried it.

patentcad

Do you have a link to any info about Synvisc? I will Google same and ask him about that.

Sounds sinister, yet quackish. I like it.

big john

"It's a brand new knee, Doc".

Miller2

https://www.synvisc.com/

I looked into it for use on my hip, but it isnt suitable for that application. M father has used it on his knees with pretty good results.

patentcad

Thanks for the Synnvisc tip, I'm researching it.

damocles1

Is the much needed lobotomy extra, or are they willing to throw it in?

patentcad

No smiley face necessary. Pcad is beyond lobotomy, largely due to reading too many DocRay posts.

whitemax

Get it fixed and enjoy the percocet, send unused portions to me

damocles1

I think we all may be in that boat...

daytonian

but yet, in Docray's abscence, aren't we now in partial recovery?