u/Admirable-Garage4447

Thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences here. I know that I was more prepared for this surgery by reading this sub than I would have been from just my surgeon.

I had a MACI for a 2cm x 2cm grade 4 lesion on my patella and a lateral release on May 14. (Editing to add: 43/F and my lesion is a result of an acute injury. I bashed my knee on a rock underwater in the Deschutes River last August. Was misdiagnosed as osteoarthritis and a meniscus tear before seeing my new surgeon, Dr. Grant Garcia in Seattle. I tried PT, steroid shots, and hyaluronic acid gel injections over the course of about 6 months with a different doctor. Dr. Garcia has a TON of info about MACI on his website and even has YouTube surgery videos and podcasts about sports medicine if you are interested.)

Things that have helped me:

- forearm crutches in addition to regular crutches.. I go back and forth and like them both for different reasons

- walker (absolutely required this to safely and more easily use the bathroom for the first 4-5 days)

- a mobility safety frame for my toilet

- bidet toilet seat

- shower transfer bench (we have a big, tall jacuzzi tub and there's no other way for me to get in and out safely) and detachable shower head

- small smoothie blender that I use to mix protein powder, collagen, and creatine powder into smoothies every day

- leg lifter

- grabber tool

- ice therapy machine

- knee buddy (Overpriced, but still worthwhile to me. I found it to be the most comfortable elevation pillow compared to a wedge, and the detachable part for regaining range of motion is amazing.)

- padded exercise mat to lay on the floor with the CPM and do PT exercises on

The first week was absolutely brutal. It's very hard to sleep, it's hard to be comfortable at all, and the pain is intense.

I turned the corner and pain became more and more tolerable after about a week and a half. I had my first PT appointment a week in, and have been going once a week since. Every week, my pain has improved and I have left feeling really good about my progress. I sent my CPM back yesterday (So glad to be rid of it. It felt good, but it was also a burden to be stuck in. And it made my back and sit bones hurt. A lot. I averaged about 4 hours/day for 3 weeks, and was up to 105 degrees passive ROM by the time I was done.

When I went to my follow-up appointment at 3 weeks, the doctor allowed me to unlock the brace to 30 degrees, which made sleeping and crutching significantly easier. Hallelujah. She also said that PT would be making the decisions about my ability to bear weight and unlock my brace until my next appointment in July.

At my most recent PT session, we started introducing weight bearing as tolerable. I have no idea what percentage of weight I'm able to tolerate, but I am practicing standing and shifting my weight and doing modified mini squats while holding onto the countertop and it feels OK. Definitely causes soreness and a little swelling later on, but I'm managing my pain with Tylenol as needed.

My active ROM is 0-80ish degrees right now, and my quad finally woke up and started working about 2 weeks ago. Straight leg raises are still super hard, and are definitely the most painful exercise I have to do, but I know I have to get this quad back on track if I want to get out of the brace and crutches.

I'm really impressed by how my scar looks too. Overall, this sucks. Mentally, I'm so over it. I hate being a burden and I'm so very tired of being helpless. I hate the crutches. I am so bad at them. They are exhausting. And my house is full of stairs, making it even more annoying.

But I'm grateful for my progress, and hopeful for the future. Will try to update and share more as time goes on.

How to “avoid stairs and inclines” for 6 months?

Day 23 : So far, so good