My Sister's Miracle Knees

My sister had knee surgery today; the medical team performed an arthroscopic surgery. It is a surgery on joints, but this way is advantageous compared to normal open surgery, because the joint does not have to be opened up fully. This way it reduces recovery time and pain for the patient, or in this, case my sister Abby.

Abby has had knee problems for a long time now. She attended many checkups where the doctors or physicians have taken x-rays to determine what was causing her the excruciating pain. With all of the checkups and scans they had performed they had determined what they had suspected, that the cartilage in her knee was breaking off. They showed her x-rays, pointing to places where the cartilage should be and how much has worn away.

Abby plays collegiate basketball in Lakewood, Colorado for a D2 college called Colorado Christian University. Her plan was that she would suck it up, endure through the pain and have surgery once she was done with basketball. This way she wouldn’t correct her knees and then go back and play more basketball just to ruin them again.

She chose to have a certain type of injection in her knees once every three months, which would reduce the pain. The problem with the shots, though, was that with each one she had, the less affective the next was.

She came home for her spring break this week with the plan to have surgery on her knees. When she arrived she had discovered that her surgeon at the University of Iowa was booked until July and had been falsely told otherwise by an assistant. Fortunately for her though, He knew that she needed it and made room in his schedule while she is home.

He performed the surgery and discovered that there was no broken cartilage, floating around in her knee. The thing that was causing her pain in her knees was extra tissue that had grown inside her knees. The nerve endings were pinched with every step she took, creating the pain she was eager to be rid of. Her knees weren’t permanently damaged at all; she has perfect knees for her age. She was extremely happy when she told me all the things that she was going to do, now that she had good knees. She said she was not going to avoid stairs anymore, start running consistently instead of the alternate biking and swimming, climb mountains with her friends, and be able to play with her future kids.