I mentioned this in my thread about our DL 50th event trip report and photos, but I'll be going in next Friday, 9-16, for surgery on both knees. I've been battling arthritis for about 20 years, plus I had a couple of really bad slip and fall accidents this year (didn't see clear water on ceramic tile), so I have torn ACLs, meniscus, cartilage, etc. in BOTH knees!

The ortho doc wants to do nothing with the ACLs, since I'm over 50 and not a pro athlete, but will try to fix the knee caps, meniscuses, etc. He won't know for sure what he can do until he gets in there with his arthroscopic toys. I'll have PT afterwards, but I won't know til afterwards, how much or for how long. He said he had the same surgery, tried PT, found it hurt too much, so he stopped going!! Hard to think of a doc doing this, but I'm going to try my best, to do what I can to make the best of my situation.

From my first fall, I had to wear a full-length (crotch to foot!) leg brace, but it was replaced by two slightly shorter matching knee braces, once we changed ortho docs and got the results of both MRIs. I have to rent a wheelchair whenever I need to be walking for a while, like for getting around the parks and the event, since I can't walk or stand for any real periods of time. I also have a walker for trips to the store where they don't have carts to push for support. I don't know what I'll need afterwards, since both knees will be out of commission.

Has anyone on MousePlanet had any experience with knee surgery, to one or both knees? What was your situation and how did it go? I'm praying the surgery is a success and that I have improvement over my current situation. It's always kinda scary with things like this, cos you never know ahead of time how things will be afterwards.

Thanks for any info, advice, whatever, you can give me on this!!

I have had surgery on both knees - for meniscus and cartilage tears and also a lateral release in my right knee. I found that the surgery was pretty easy and I recovered well from both. I went to PT for the alloted time and it was pretty painful at first, but without it you will get scar tissue built up and it will make it evermore painful. Definatley do the PT. It may be hard at first, but it does make a huge difference. I have also had back surgery 1 1/2 years ago and am doing well with that also. My husband has had the acl surgery twice and that was a very long and painful process for him. My knees definately will never be 100 %, but at least I can walk and do other activities without as much pain. I guess I have learned to tolerate it over the years. Good luck! I hope everything goes well!

I say go to DLR just dont walk a lot but instead get a wheel chair

Well, it's almost here. I've been waiting for 9-16 to come forever and it's finally almost here. Thanks for the kind words and advice, Rteneyck, I am definitely planning on giving my all to the PT.

My hubby took the day off last Friday and rented a chair locally again, so we could have a last trip to the parks before the surgery and we had a great time! The weather couldn't have been nicer, sunny and not hot at all, and the parks weren't crowded either, so that made it great! We did everything we wanted to do, including the free VMK tour and had a good time with that too. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I'll be up and going again.