I am going mental.. Please help me out guys..

[keremakaln]

Hello everyone!

I had a serious bike accident on 26th of May, and after that I had Multiple Ligament Injury (MLI) of;

Medial Meniscus
MCL (not torn but elevated)
ACL (completely torn)

and of course after the initial swelling went away, I had surgery on 13rd of June, 2018. The meniscus had 6 sutures (outside-in method) , the MCL has an internal brace (I dont know what it is), and the ACL had reconstructed with an Hamstring Graft (taken from the other leg.. ) . It is 14th day now, the operated leg had a brace now locked to 30 degrees extension, 90 degrees flexion. I can fully walk with two crutches (full weightbearing is possible due to the meniscus repair method) and started PT yesterday with CPM machine, and some electric stuff to my quads.

Now my problems.. I hope you guys could help me out at least mentally I am about to go crazy. Some thoughts come every day about not getting a surgery at the first place, about how my life ruined, etc.

1- I am having SEVERE SHIN BURNING FEELING whenever I want to improve my ROM, flex after 65 degrees (with CPM machine). Without CPM I am thinking about 45-50 degrees idk. Or whenever I want to sit back up from bed, I had this extreme burning feeling like someone waxing inside of my leg. I want to cut my leg!!

2- Due to this sh*tty shin pain, I am scared to improve my ROM in terms of flexion. When will it end? Or how can I improve my ROM? It's been 2 weeks, when can I bend my knees to 90 degrees or more?

3-My surgeon said that I should not extend my knee because of MCL. When should I start extension? Approx. when the MCL heals? I am screwed..

4-I started to cut back painkillers. I only take them at night. Is it a good sign? And since when should I have to sleep with this f***ing brace? It's too uncomfortable and I can't even sleep on my side (so no sleep at all since 14 days )

5- And the most important.. I work as a baker, I bake bread everyday. And it is a hard job (physically); lifting 50lbs of flour sacks, and 20lbs doughs, etc.. Am I able to bake bread again? If yes, how long does it take to be able to work again? I just want to go there, first months my boss let me off from lifting anything (such a boss), I just need to stand like 5-6 hours. The PT said I might be ready at the middle August, but I do not think that's possible (am I being too negative or what?)

Thank you so much for your answers, and may the god be with you to overcome this injury. I feel incredibly sad. I am about to go mental.

[Frenchknee]

Hi man. Welcome in the forum.

About your situation, I'm 6 months post meniscus surgery and I'm in the shit too.

Burning sensations (I have it all days?) is nerve pain, when they cutted your skin for the arthroscopy, they probably cutted a small nerve. I have this pain all day (in the quad and near the tibia). When I wear pants I feel it more.

Dunno what to say but knee is more about luck than other thing...
You should be patient and wait and see. But working in midd August seems hard.

Good luck.

[keremakaln]

Hi man. Welcome in the forum.

About your situation, I'm 6 months post meniscus surgery and I'm in the s**t too.

Burning sensations (I have it all days?) is nerve pain, when they cutted your skin for the arthroscopy, they probably cutted a small nerve. I have this pain all day (in the quad and near the tibia). When I wear pants I feel it more.

Dunno what to say but knee is more about luck than other thing...
You should be patient and wait and see. But working in midd August seems hard.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply Frenchknee, I wish other members support this thread as well.. Mid August seems hard to me as well but the PT team is the best in the country so they told me that if I give some effort we can do this. Actually I can not be able to give effort because of the pain and insecurity. I feel down everyday and don't know what to do.

[AndrewC]

Hi man. Welcome in the forum.

About your situation, I'm 6 months post meniscus surgery and I'm in the s**t too.

Burning sensations (I have it all days?) is nerve pain, when they cutted your skin for the arthroscopy, they probably cutted a small nerve. I have this pain all day (in the quad and near the tibia). When I wear pants I feel it more.

Dunno what to say but knee is more about luck than other thing...
You should be patient and wait and see. But working in midd August seems hard.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply Frenchknee, I wish other members support this thread as well.. Mid August seems hard to me as well but the PT team is the best in the country so they told me that if I give some effort we can do this. Actually I can not be able to give effort because of the pain and insecurity. I feel down everyday and don't know what to do.

Hi!
Relax , you are very very soon after what is major surgery and are expecting too much too soon.
Your recovery sounds good from where I am listening, pain is part of the deal in recovering from surgery like that unfortunately.

What is your physiotherapist saying?

I think to be walking at this stage is a big achievement and you may well recover to a condition you never dreamed of. But it will be months, not weeks in my experience.

As for working, I don't know about that. I went back to an office job 4 weeks after my injury and I was in total agony for some time, in fact pain became my friend, I had to invite it in lol

Mid August may well be possible, you need to listen to what your PT and surgeons are telling you, not the internet to be honest. Keep up with the physio, stay positive and don't rush your recovery. You will get where you need to be but it will take some time. good luck!

[keremakaln]

Hi man. Welcome in the forum.

About your situation, I'm 6 months post meniscus surgery and I'm in the s**t too.

Burning sensations (I have it all days?) is nerve pain, when they cutted your skin for the arthroscopy, they probably cutted a small nerve. I have this pain all day (in the quad and near the tibia). When I wear pants I feel it more.

Dunno what to say but knee is more about luck than other thing...
You should be patient and wait and see. But working in midd August seems hard.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply Frenchknee, I wish other members support this thread as well.. Mid August seems hard to me as well but the PT team is the best in the country so they told me that if I give some effort we can do this. Actually I can not be able to give effort because of the pain and insecurity. I feel down everyday and don't know what to do.

Hi!
Relax , you are very very soon after what is major surgery and are expecting too much too soon.
Your recovery sounds good from where I am listening, pain is part of the deal in recovering from surgery like that unfortunately.

What is your physiotherapist saying?

I think to be walking at this stage is a big achievement and you may well recover to a condition you never dreamed of. But it will be months, not weeks in my experience.

As for working, I don't know about that. I went back to an office job 4 weeks after my injury and I was in total agony for some time, in fact pain became my friend, I had to invite it in lol

Mid August may well be possible, you need to listen to what your PT and surgeons are telling you, not the internet to be honest. Keep up with the physio, stay positive and don't rush your recovery. You will get where you need to be but it will take some time. good luck!

Hello Andrew first of all thank you for your response.

I also had a bucket handle tear on my meniscus. I would prefer menisectomy rather than the sewing method, but my OS said that I am young and he had to repair it at the first place. My physio said that I was a rare case in the country (felt me lucky and unlucky both lol) and they will take good care of me. I had 3 exercises as a homework (wall heel slides, extension with towel under knee, and squeezing a towel between my knees) I suffer in heel slides, because from a point the burning in shin starts and I got completely lost and angry. Do you know anything about this burning fucking sense in my shin because everyone says different things.

I don't want to walk too soon. I am trusting the process, but sometimes I miss walking without crutches
In my dreams I always running and walking since my operation and it gives me chills when I wake up. I will start seeing a psychologist and get support because I sometimes can't get out of negative thoughts. I had a kitchen job, I told my PT and he told me that normally I can walk without crutches on the beginning of August, but in terms of kitchen job he postponed to mid-August. (I still can't believe how but I will post if that happens lol)

Pain now is my friend, not best friend but a friend for sure lol. And ice packs are my girlfriends now lol. Thanks again for your response, have a great day!

[AndrewC]

Hello Andrew first of all thank you for your response.

I also had a bucket handle tear on my meniscus. I would prefer menisectomy rather than the sewing method, but my OS said that I am young and he had to repair it at the first place. My physio said that I was a rare case in the country (felt me lucky and unlucky both lol) and they will take good care of me. I had 3 exercises as a homework (wall heel slides, extension with towel under knee, and squeezing a towel between my knees) I suffer in heel slides, because from a point the burning in shin starts and I got completely lost and angry. Do you know anything about this burning fucking sense in my shin because everyone says different things.

I don't want to walk too soon. I am trusting the process, but sometimes I miss walking without crutches
In my dreams I always running and walking since my operation and it gives me chills when I wake up. I will start seeing a psychologist and get support because I sometimes can't get out of negative thoughts. I had a kitchen job, I told my PT and he told me that normally I can walk without crutches on the beginning of August, but in terms of kitchen job he postponed to mid-August. (I still can't believe how but I will post if that happens lol)

Pain now is my friend, not best friend but a friend for sure lol. And ice packs are my girlfriends now lol. Thanks again for your response, have a great day!

Hi, happy to help.
I missed that you had a bucket handle tear also with the ligaments, My surgery was 1 month after the injury with a locked leg all the time (thanks NHS...) so that is what made my recovery so hard I believe.

Trust me, it is MUCH MUCH better that you have a repair , and with acl recon at the same time the success rates are very high! I wish I was young again lol

My meniscus repair gave me 14 years of lots of sports (like competitive squash 4x per week plus other sports) and at MRI last week the lateral one is still in good condition (the repaired meniscus), it is the other side of my knee that now has issues lol, the medial meniscus.

So dont rush the recovery, stay positive, It took me over 12 months to be able to be active and I was on crutches for 10 or 11 weeks post op, I forget which. Not because I wanted to protect it but because walking was toooo painful. So you are doing well. Be religious with physio, as soon as you are able work to strengthen your quads and the rest of your leg and this will help protect your knee for the long term.
good luck

[Audice]

I'll play devil's advocate & say that 13 years ago I did considerable damage to my right knee & was told by the orthopod I was seeing that I was too old to have ACLr. I was 67 at the time. That being the case, I had the custom Townsend brace made & wore it when I wasn't riding my horse. It was just a month after the injury that I was back on my horse. A few months later I discarded the brace completely.

Forward to today...My right leg has become the weight bearing leg because so much damage to my back affects my left leg. The knee is still holding up just fine albeit a bit swollen every day. I can live with that.

I wish you relief PDQ.

[vickster]

My knee was locked for 5 months, that was private. My excellent surgeon wanted to exhaust Physio first as I wasn't in extreme pain. Waiting hasn't done any lasting damage. That was done to the bone (weight bearing condyle defect) in the accident that tore the meniscus. If the surgeon had gone in sooner, I likely would have needed a microfracture with a longer more uneasantpost op on crutches and rehab. In the event, the defect had filled itself with fibrocartilage so no drilling needed. So waiting isn't always a bad thing