ACL Reconstruction and Meniscus Repair Done

[dmd]

This is a followup of my Unusual ACL Story, any advice? thread from last February. To summarize, I had torn my ACL about 20 years ago in a judo accident, but I seemed to recovered completely without surgery. Then I sprained the same knee skiing last December, and I was trying to figure out what to do.

Eventually, symptoms of meniscus damage appeared, so I decided to have an ACL allograft and meniscus repair two days ago, on the morning of March 20.
The mensicus work was definitely needed, and I figured I was pressing my luck if I didn't have the ACL reconstruction at the same time.

Right before surgery, they gave me a nerve block with an injection in the groin. The surgery took a little over an hour, and they gave me two Oxycodone/APAP capsules in the recovery room.

The nerve block was supposed to last for 24 hours, but it wore off about 8 hours after surgery. Lots of pain that evening, and I took another seven capsules at various times between 4 PM Friday and 9 AM Saturday.

The instructions said no more than 8 capsules in a 24 hour period, so I decided to stop taking them. I did my first set of rehab exercises on Saturday morning.

After my second set of exercises in the afternoon, I developed flu like symptoms. I was flushed with a fever of 100.1, and I had really dry mouth and nasal passages. I think this was due to the oxycodone. Why does this stuff have potential for abuse? I never got a high from it. It was just unpleasant. I was too sick to do my third set and went to bed early.

This morning is day two. My flu like symptoms are gone, and I have not taken any more meds. I just completed my first set of exercises. There's no pain when my leg is at rest, and I am getting around fine with crutches and a walker. Overall, I seem to be doing well.

[amyzilla]

Call your doc right away and let him/her know about the fever. All the other stuff sounds like normal Oxycodone side effects, but I don't think it usually causes fever. That could be a sign of infection. Even if the fever is gone, you should still call the doc about it.

Try taking the Oxycodone right after eating a big meal. I agree - Oxycodone is no fun, but at this point you should probably still be taking it in order to keep your pain under control so you can do your exercises.

Good luck!

[dmd]

The low grade fever was not really unexpected. They said to call if it was over 101. It may have been a post-surgery reaction instead of the OC. But I never took another pill since Saturday morning and am feeling much much better.

Yesterday was day 4. I started moving around the house without crutches or holding on to things. Doing great today. Bandages come off on Friday.

Before doing the surgery, I would sometimes get advice to avoid surgery if possible. This is what I did twenty years ago, and I did great without an ACL.
But if it had been attached, my recent fall might have been only a sprain instead of a torn meniscus. I am glad I finally had the reconstruction done, I will be much better off in the future and the surgery was not nearly as bad as I imagined.

[Hukoslo]

Went to see the surgeon who did an acl repair on my left knee 8 years ago about my right knee which now has a torn acl. Interestingly he's in no hurry to operate (he and his partner do about 150 a year but see about 350 people with torn acls) - increasingly they're avoiding surgery where the patients are fit enough and are slightly older ie around 40+. They're not seeing any significant incidence of further injuries caused by not operating where the other knee structures are not damaged in the original injury. So it's back to the slopes (with a brace initially) and full on training for me.

[forthefest]

I got operated on 16th Apr 09. From the third day onwards I have started the physiotherapy. But from last week onwards whenever I do the physiotherapy, immediately after the physiotherapy, I am getting 100degree fever. if i am not doing the physiotherapy there is no fever.

I have done the blood test to check for infection. My operation wound has healed properly…

Regards,

[fabienzan]

Hi,

I am wondering if you could let me know if you have any OA and how much and which meniscus you have torn ? I am going for knee reco and meniscus trimming next week and my main worry is the onset of OA

Cheers