To confirm Laura's comment, I did go into detail about my arthroscopic surgery in one of your first posts right after you injured your knee (I haven't looked, but I think it was steps into your basement). I said I suspected a bucket-handle torn mensicus like I got from stepping on an angled flat rock with my full weight when I assumed it was actually flat--it was as dark as a cave in Waynes Cave where I did it--well sort of. We all had our headlamps on, but the passage was large and white LEDs hadn't been invented, so the lighting was very yellow and not at all adequate for near-sighted me to notice the rock. Step--crunch--Oww! Then 1200 foot crawlway back after 8 further hours in the back passage--ran out of water, too! I don't do well dehydrated with an injured knee. My group leader thought I'd cracked, and never wanted to go into a cave again with me--well at least for the final two months at Indiana University before my doctoral examination and departure for the West Coast. At least I managed to exit the cave, including the final 16 foot vertical climb at the end, under my own power.
It was my left knee. It swelled up for several weeks, and after the swelling went down my knee would jamb and feel 'wrong' as if something was in the way when it otherwise didn't hurt. In November 1993, between the end of my Post-Doc at WSU, and start of teaching at CSI, Idaho, I had arthroscopic surgery by Dr. Goldstein, and the results were so good that 15 years later I have no sign of any trouble using my left knee. My right one is still good, too (Thank You God!), so I often end up walking so briskly at times I even tire the kids out, and have to turn around and go back for Laura or at least take a break (which I appreciate--gives me a chance to stop and smell the roses--as it were.)
So, get the surgery done, Bob, as the benefits far outweigh the risks and discomfort of a prosthetic knee. I can kneel with both feet against my bottom, can get on and off the floor without my arms (impressed my physical therapist that I could do that 4 days post OHS), and do deep knee bends. If you wait too long, arthritis my set in and make the need for the artificial knee much more urgent, plus you'll have to endure that feeling of something getting stuck sometimes in your knee joint for the duration between now and when the whole knee starts to go. My injury was in April 1992 and the surgery was in November 1993, so my knee had time to settle down from the swelling and trauma of its initial injury to a non-inflamed knee prone to getting 'jammed' and me having to hit the bulge to get the cartilage back into place so I could straighten my leg. Usually it happened when I would bend my knee extremely like described above. After surgery, all freedom of movement returned and still remains to this day. Laura, in my opinion, waited far too long for her first surgery. The first injury took place before I even knew her (perhaps even the same year I injured my knee) and was aggravated by a bad fall on black ice by the Doctor's Lounge (sort of like my rock with its invisible slant). Even then she waited several years before proceeding with the surgery described.
In my opinion, get the cartilage snipped and smoothed before the irritation of the torn bits cause other deleterious changes in the knee. Mine was caught in time; Laura's wasn't. One robin doesn't mean Spring, and one study doesn't mean you should cancel your appointment.
Final point is this, if you do get a total knee replacement, you will never fully crouch again or feel the heel of that leg touch your bottom, as you're forbidden to bend it beyond a 90° angle (a few modern ones permit slightly more acute bending, but nothing like a natural knee). My mother had a hurt knee from being hit by a car in the early 1970s and now has an artificial knee despite having virtually no arthritis elsewhere at age 75. My father, 75, injured by a tree limb falling on his left knee did have open knee surgery in the 1970s (my mother didn't). Despite him having arthritis in most of his joints including his right knee, his left knee, which had about half of its mensicus cartilage removed in 1976, is now his most functional knee--all parts original.
Like me, my father got the torn cartilage out in time, and 30 years later still reaps the benefits. Pray about it, too. There are studies (maybe it applies to more severely injured knees with ACL and other ligament damage, too.), and there is my family's experience. It's up to you. I'll pray that God's wisdom guides you as well.
Been there, felt that,
Chris
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