Knee Surgery

This past Monday I had surgery to repair a large section of missing cartilage in my left knee. I have been on a cartilage donor list since the beginning of January, so I was surprised when my doctor's office called on March 2nd to say a donor had been secured. I had ten days to get things in order before my surgery - this procedure will have me on crutches until the end of May.

The OATS procedure went as planned. As my doctor put it, it was a perfect match. Both the size and curvature of the donor cartilage fit perfectly into my bad spots. However, as with all of my knee surgeries, there was a new area of missing cartilage that is difficult to repair. My doctor did a microfracture procedure, which is supposed to stimulate cartilage growth, and we'll cross our fingers that it works.

Meanwhile, I am lounging around on the couch, frequently icing my knee and making sure I stay on top of my pain medications. I will start physical therapy next week - even though I cannot put weight on my leg, I still need to keep my knee moving so the new cartilage has fluid moving around it. I'm going to try my best to be an awesome patient!