Moving Forward...life before, during and after a meniscus transplant

Alright, one week down. It’s been worlds easier than my last surgery.  Less pain by 1,000%... Better mobility by 2,000%... Far less swelling... A whole lot easier.  I went to PT yesterday (POD6) for the first time with this surgery. Marty panicked when he saw me and was relieved to hear that it was no damage done, and more of a clean-up procedure. He says he wishes I had more pain. He talked to me for a good 15 minutes about how an easier surgery with minimal pain does not mean that my knee is happy inside. He also reiterated something Dr. Z told me...my knee is not a normal knee. It will take longer to heal internally, no matter how good I feel on the outside.  Point taken, Marty. I will keep reminding myself of this.  It’ll be another 2-3 months before I’m back to exercising without restrictions. I’m starting now with quad sets and hip-flexor exercises. B-O-R-I-N-G! I go tomorrow to see Dr. Z and get my stitches out. Then I can shower normally. Right now I wear a cast cover over my k

It’s not often that you go into surgery hoping the doctor is going to find something wrong. But that is honestly what I wanted, going into the OR yesterday to have a 5th surgery on my L knee.  To refresh anyone who cares to know: I started having trouble, again, around 6 weeks ago. My knee was getting “stuck” either bent or straight.  There was pain.  There was swelling.  The MRI showed maybe something on the lateral side (where the pain was) but nothing definitively wrong. After 4 weeks of rest and ice, it was no better. So surgery was decided on because there was no clear cause and there were worries that my poor walking mechanics would damage all of the work done on the medial side during the big surgery in November 2017.  So I went into surgery yesterday (13 months post-op from surgery #4) nervous and worried.  Nervous that they would find nothing, and that there would be no known reason for the pain and swelling.  Worried that this would be my new baseline after getting a taste of