i never had knee surgery? But, thats likely only because i did not have medical insurance when i got the bad knee injury.
several years back, i was “fighting” and completely destroyed my knee. I say “fighting” because while i was grappling around with a friend of mine that was very large? it wasnt a FIGHT fight… we were laughing, having fun at work. Heck… i made him do it, it isnt like the bigger guy was picking on me or anything, i insisted on roughhousing with my large friend.
fighting was a lifelong… hobby? you know, for working out… for sport.
anyways, i’ll never know exactly what happened, but… there was suddenly a weird noise (it was my knee, lol) the nloise had 2 components… ONE component of the noise? was a high pitched “eeeeeee” squeaking/bearing squeal noise… very eerie… the other noise was like a bite being taken out of an apple… imagine a large man RIPPED an apple in two? thats what that part sounded like.
me and my buddy BOTH heard the “weird noise” and neither of us knew what it was at first. I “tapped him” to indicate to QUIT roughhousing, and he just stood up and put his hands in the air, and i just let myself fall down to the ground… i knew SOMEthing bad happened, i didnt know what, i just knew it was my knee.
i could limp around a little that night? but… after going to sleep (very painful) when i woke UP? I was effectively a complete cripple. I stood up, to see what my knee was like… i tried to put some weight on it, and, well… it just “buckled” and did nothing like a knee should… it could be bent in about any direction i wanted to bend it, lol… I thought i was a cripple, honestly.
I was on a walker for a month or two… then on a cane for another couple months. I had a hip to ankle brace. My mom loaned me a spare walker she had, and, another buddy had a leg brace that happened to fit me, lol… the knee slowly froze up solid with very little movement over the first month. I could only get ONE VISIT to a doctor? In that ONE visit, he forcibly (with another doctor) “broke” my knee free… they FORCED IT to move from straight where it was about locked thru almost full movement.
it popped, it snapped, it squeaked, it felt like wet sand grinding… and it was excruciatingly painful.
this was at the one month point, but, it got me onto a CANE and off the WALKER.
===
i had a cane for another couple months, and my bad limp slowly got better. Took a little over a full YEAR to walk without a limp.
i get around and walk well enough if you didnt KNOW i blew the knee out, you might not know, but… trust me, i know it will never be “right” like it used to.
i slowly gained just about full movement of my knee. I can years later “squat” down and jog and run down the block… but, i avoid too much “climbing” and i am slow to kneel down and get back up… and i can only kneel for VERY short periods without really good knee pads? and even then not a long time… and i pay for it the next week.
the pain for the first couple months was excruciating, getting around limping on walkers and canes. I just kept trying to USE IT, until it figured out it was going to get used, is the only way i can describe it.
doctors best guess, in that ONE VISIT was all i GOT? he said the “eeeeee” sound was the tendons stretching too long, and the apple crunching noise was my meniscus tearing and ripping. Describing what me and the big guy were “doing” wrestling around with our legs? Basically my knee came “apart” and bent “backwards” the wrong way, and sideways too. (ouch!)
i went broke unable to work for months, and i am lucky i can walk without a limp years later. i dont feel “lucky” when the WEATHER changes, but… i guess it was very close to me being a cripple.
really, for not getting any medical help (couldnt afford it, lol) i am amazed with all i CAN do with my knee, to be honest.
you have my 100 percent genuine sympathy, and count your lucky stars you can GET medical help and surgery. Speaking fro experience, from having been ona WALKER and a hip to ankle brace? a year or two from now, you will probably be doing all kinds of stuff you cant do right now, dont sweat it. Give it one YEAR, and see how it goes, i bet its light years better than now.