Dab-KNEE? Gui-KNEE? Hi-KNEE? No, my knee. (Part II)

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, I command you to go and read the first part of my knee saga - the prelude to what's going on with my knee..

Go ahead, I'll wait for you.

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Ok, ready?

So when we left off not too long ago, I was saying that I am going to require surgery in two and a half weeks on the same ACL that was torn that fateful spring of 2000. Here's what happened.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I was shooting around at the gym on a Saturday. I was jogging between shots to get the ball, make layups, etc... but no running around. After I was done, I put the ball down and walked down the hall to go upstairs to lift. After a few steps, my knee suddenly felt very strange. It hurt, and with every step I felt a clicking. It may seem incorrect to say that one "felt" a "clicking", but that's the best way I could describe it. With every step my knee kind of did a slip-and-stick thing.

I gave it a few minutes, walked up the stairs, and tried to do things. My knee certainly did not feel right. I went home and relaxed for a while. Let me give this some time, I thought, and see how it feels. A couple of days later, the knee was visibly swollen and still clicking. Shit. It felt similar to when the ACL was torn initially.

A couple of doctor's visits later (and a couple of weeks later - the good ones are always so busy!), I found a good one down here in South Jersey. He examined me physically and ordered an MRI. After several questions about the history of my knee,
he asked, "Was there a time since your original surgery that you remember feeling any kind of pain down there... maybe where you hurt it but then it went away after a couple of days..."

My memory drifts... flashback: Wow, yes, there was. Flashback about 5 years (I was about 27). I was playing at the courts at Teaneck's Votee Park in the summer in a pickup game. I was guarding either Giovanni or Christian Hernandez - apologies, Hernandez Brothers, but I can't remember which - but I remember because they are both more athletic than me and resemble each other. Anyway, in trying to keep up with Mr. Hernandez, I remember tweaking my "bad" knee and having to stop playing and limping around for a couple of days with crutches. But quickly, I was able to walk around normally again, and I declared myself better and commenced with normal activity for the next 5 years.

So I related this story to my doctor. We looked at each other in a long gaze. Never has somebody known me so well without me even saying a word. Comforted that somebody finally understood me, I smiled and sobbed at the same time. "Doctor, you make me feel good. To be honest, it's been so long that a man has made feel this good," I said. He smiled knowingly, with the patience and wisdom that an older man can only possess. Dimming the lights, he said, "Yes, Walt, I know. It's ok, you're safe now." He caressed my shoulder gently....

... just kidding! Daffy, put your pants back on! He is a professional, for God's sake!

But seriously, yes, I did relate this story to him. He said (and I paraphrase), "I thought so. What happened is when you did that, you tweaked and stretched your ACL. It's still intact, but it's been stretched. And since it's not connected to a steady blood supply, think of it as a rubber band that still attached but is stretched to the point where, for activities like tennis or basketball, it's not effectively tight enough and it never will be."

Fuck. I kind of knew it. We waited for the MRI. After a week, we examined it together...

"... yeah, your ACL is only loosely attached, but what's giving you this pain is the fact that your meniscus is torn and arthritis is developing in your bone where the meniscus is torn. So I definitely need to go on and fix up the meniscus and the piece of bone that is developing arthritis..."

"... and? Tell me Doc, what about the ACL? What's your recommendation?"

"... Well, given your age and the fact that I assume you don't want to give up on activities like basketball, you should probably get the ACL redone."

"Was it not done properly the first time? Or do you think I reinjured it?"

"... well, you stretched it out. It wasn't done 'improperly' the first time per se, but it's been 10 years and since then advances have been made with ACL reconstructions. We do them a little bit differently now..."

... and boring details commence. But yes, so here I am. Not wanting to alter my level of activity for the next 50 or 60 years, I've decided to get my left-knee-ACL re-reconstructed (and hopefully for good this time!)