KNEE ARTHRITIS - Autologous chondrocyte implantation (A.C.I.) :

When does normal start? - - Posted by kmmbradley (kmmbradley), 21 October 2004

Hi all!
My 17 yr old son had this surgery for a medium size lesion in the medial femoral condyle.  He had the procedure done on June 9, appr. 19-20 weeks ago.  He was doing very well, absolutlely no pain and no swelling.  The last few days he has been having some pain and a little swelling.  We were just beginning to see the light at the end of that tunnel and start thinking about a baseball future again.  Now I am not so sure.  He wants to play ball for his last year in high school.  Practice will be starting in January.  I don't think that is going to happen and he is so heart broken.  
Has anyone else had this problem and would be willing to share their story?
Thanks so much!
Dee
Posted by blue_ezzie (blue_ezzie), 22 October 2004

Hi Dee,

Was there anything in particular which prompted your son's pain and swelling, like an intense work-out? What does his surgeon think about the pain?

The advice I have been given by my surgeon/physiotherapists is that recovery from this surgery will not be in a straight line upwards but will improve, then plateau, then improve, then halt again.

I've definitely found this to be true for my own recovery - I'm almost at the six month mark and every time I stop improving, or have extra fatigue or some pain, I become quite down and think that this will be it. But (so far) after a couple weeks I start to improve again. I am just looking at it as a really long-term rehabilitation. Your son is young and seems to have done really well until now, so he shouldn't despair about not playing sport next year just yet! But if this is the first time he has felt pain he should definitely check it out with the surgeon.

Hope this helps
ezzie


Posted by JulianUK (JulianUK), 22 October 2004

Hi,

I'm 14mths post-op and still can't say that my knee is normal, I still get bad days when I over stress the joint.

My PT says that 18-24 mnths seems to be the time when the knee feels more comfortable and settles down.

Blue_ezzie is so right when talking about the ups & downs. He probably is working it harder now which is why he has soreness and swelling. Mine took 3 weeks to settle down once, but looks good now.

Personally, and I know it's hard, but I would recommend he avoids contact sports. He has had this defect for a reason, probably OCD at my guess. I wish that I had the knowledge I have now when I was 19, as I could have avoided a lot of the operations I've had.

I'm having the other leg done next week, so make sure your son knows what has casued it in the first place as most of us end up having both legs operated on.

Give him my best wishes,

Julian.
Posted by kmmbradley (kmmbradley), 22 October 2004

Thanks guys
He did have OCD and was a pitcher on the varsity team in the 8th grade.  We are sure that is what caused the injury.  He also played football until we found out how good a pitcher he was and made him quit football.  I am sure glad we did because we would probably have already hurt the good knee.
We will see the doc in November and hopefully he will be able to rule out a failure of the transplant.
How many of you had to have an arthro to check everything out 6-12 months after surgery?  I don't think that is done routinely in my sons drs practice.
I really appreciate you all taking the time to try to make me feel better.
Dee

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