Knee Surgery For Sara Lungren

[WuDrWu]

I didn't mean to downplay the support of the WSU faithful as a top 20 attendance figure is nothing to sneeze at but rather the overall support of the sport in general.


Glad to hear that about Sarah but I shouldn't really expect anything less from such an outstanding student athlete, should I?

[shockershow]

hope she recovers well.

[dregn]

I'm looking forward to next fall as the volleyball season will be my first time owning season tickets after years and years of school. I plan on buying several sets as they are a steal for first time buyers at $29 bucks each and giving several of them away at my new place of employment to try and recruit new fans.

[The Mad Hatter]

I'm looking forward to next fall as the volleyball season will be my first time owning season tickets after years and years of school. I plan on buying several sets as they are a steal for first time buyers at $29 bucks each and giving several of them away at my new place of employment to try and recruit new fans.

I'm glad to hear it. Technically it will be my first year of season ticket buying, since I'm graduating, so I'll be taking advantage of that deal as well.

[dregn]

My niece said she was back in class post surgery. Said the back of her leg was black and blue from thigh to calf. She's on crutches. Nothing definitive. The rehab begins.

Saw her walking around at baseball game tonight. Ace wrap type bandage on the knee, no crutches or brace on.

[1972Shocker]

I saw Sarah at the Baseball Regionals last weekend. She was motoring up and down the stairs in good shape.

No braces or knee supports, no limp. Looked strong.

I think Sarah will be ready to go full blast this fall.

:goshocks:

[SpanglerFan316]

Repairing meniscus is a pretty common procedure now days and depending on the person they can recover quickly. I've known people who take 2-3 weeks to go back to normal activity and I've known people who it takes 2-3 months. I don't think it will be a huge deal as we still have 5 months till volleyball season.

I guess I could be the SN guinea pig for meniscus surgery since I had my surgery on my right knee on Friday (6/8/07) except that there are different types of meniscus surgery. In my case, there was a tear in the thin, middle part of the meniscus and this had flipped over; the surgeon removed some of the meniscus and told my son that the surgery went extremely well. I should be able to run in 3-4 weeks (I hope). This was a Partial Meniscectomy.

A different type of meniscus surgery (Meniscal Repair) is required when people, often athletes, get a tear in the thick part of the meniscus near the edge. In this case, there is a blood supply and a surgeon can stitch up the tear. I don't know if this "stitching up" always works and I suspect that it fails sometimes. I also suspect that recovery time is much longer because I assume the meniscus has to heal. If part of the thick edge of the meniscus has to be removed, I think that this is much more serious than removing some of the thin, inner part of the meniscus.

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/meniscusinjuries1/a/meniscusrepair.htm

http://images.google.com/images?q=meniscus+surgery&hl=en&um=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

In my case, no healing is needed or possible (other than for the swelling to go down and the holes in my knee to heal). If Sara had this kind of surgery, then she would be fine after a few weeks (unless infection set in). If she had a tear in the thick part of her meniscus, I don't know how long recovery would take.
"If the meniscus repair fails (i.e. the repaired cartilage falls apart), which happens between 20 to 40% of the time, a second surgery may be necessary to remove the re-torn meniscus."

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/meniscusinjuries1/a/meniscusrepair.htm

[SpanglerFan316]

My niece said she was back in class post surgery. Said the back of her leg was black and blue from thigh to calf. She's on crutches. Nothing definitive. The rehab begins.

Saw her walking around at baseball game tonight. Ace wrap type bandage on the knee, no crutches or brace on.

I was at the super regional with crutches on Saturday and without crutches on Sunday (two days after surgery - maybe my surgeon should not read this part? :shock: :lol: ). If Sara still had an ace bandage on after three weeks, she might have had a Meniscal Repair rather than a Partial Meniscectomy. I'm not a surgeon and might be wrong. Still, three weeks later and "black and blue from thigh to calf" sounds rather serious and much more serious than my surgery (i.e. no black & blue at all). Is it possible that she had her ACL repaired? I don't think arthroscopic surgery would leave black and blue marks at all, even with Meniscal Repair. If they had to cut open her kneee, this could affect the structural strength of her knee and sounds very serious. I wonder who her surgeon was?


ADDED: I may have been wrong. They use a tourniquet when they do arthroscopic surgery on the knee (I didn't know this) and some people do bruise, including bruising black and blue from thigh to calf.