I have another knee, why not have surgery on it?

I learned at the tail end of last year that I have knees of an old man.

I have been having problems in my right knee with swelling and pain after strenuous activity.  I guess volleyball is a pretty strenuous activity on the knee, especially when playing indoor ball.  I was actually taking a break from indoor volleyball because of the tendonitis in my left knee from my ACL surgery, but it ended up my right knee doing me in this time.

My initial visit with Dr. Aschenbrener showed arthritis in my right knee, with a few bone spurs here and there and obvious indications of less than ideal amounts of cartilage.  With that finding, I was sent to the imaging center to get an MRI on my knee.

A few weeks later, I had my followup with the Doc, where I learned that I had a lateral meniscus tear.  I don't know exactly when this tear occurred.  It could have been a months ago, to years ago.  I have a feeling it was way back when I was living in Santa Clara and was playing indoor soccer when it actually happened.

Along with that news, I found out that my patella doesn't track correctly, which is causing additional wear and tear behind my patella that can be the cause of more pain and inflammation.  Ugh.

I actually went in for the surgery on the 2nd of the New Year.  I went in telling the doc that I didn't want the lateral release done on my patella (which can fix the tracking problem) unless it was absolutely necessary.  Thankfully, he didn't do the release and just snipped out the torn meniscus and performed any other cleaning that was necessary to get me on my way.

4 days later, I am doing pretty well with the recovery.  It is nothing like the ACL surgery.  I was able to put full weight on the knee right away, and it's just taking the time for the surgical area to heal before I can really get into my physical therapy.  The physical therapy will concentrate on working the needed muscles to improve my knee function and also work on fixing my patellar tracking.

It should be a fun next 4 weeks or so!  I'm just hoping that things turn out for the better in regards to the pain and swelling.  I don't want to have to give up on playing ball...