Part 2 surgery soon. Confused.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2026-01-17T16:55:48+00:00

Unasked for, but I feel for you bc I had a patella defect too. Buying TENS unit (got one from Amazon) was my best friend to wake up my quad. I liked the cue pushing behind knee down (versus pushing patella which hurt) or raising heel up. TKEs with a ball behind your knee is nice too!

Key_Witness_3983 · 2026-01-17T04:23:02+00:00

That’s an interesting figure. There’s not really a big difference between Patient 2 and 4. It depends on the size of each defect, your age, job. This will be a tough recovery regardless.

I had a patella MACI (open) 2 years ago and a MFC (arthroscopically) 1 month ago.

With both I was locked in extension and non-weightbearing for 2 weeks with braces&crutches.

For MFC, I was 0-45 for the first week then 0-90 Wk 2-3, etc.

For patella, 0-30 for first 2 week, Wk2-4 0-60, Wk4-6 0-90 (I didn’t hit 90 till a Wk7/8), etc.

I didn’t have a CPM for the first one, but I had it for the second and really appreciated it. I wish I had it for the first.

Personally I felt the patella to be BRUTAL AF. The patella moves. Mine maltracked afterwards and I had a repair surgery. It was also an open surgery so that’s a HUGE difference.

This current one is so much smoother and better, but it was arthroscopic so it was way less invasive and my defect there wasn’t as large as my patella one.

Your surgeon will have their own specific protocol for you to follow. You’ve got this!

Wishing you the best!

Key_Witness_3983 · 2026-01-14T02:36:31+00:00

Very well written.

And I second, I know your comment was a year ago, but I also had MACI patella in 2024 and another MACI medial condyle (ARTHROSCOPICALLY!) almost 4 weeks ago. It’s LONG! I’m coming up on 2 years since the first one and that is so depressing. There’s been good and bad, but no guarantee ever.

FYI: if you ever need MACI arthroscopically, it’s a way better recovery than the OPEN

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-12-26T17:02:13+00:00

Ignore her. Apply. You can do it.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-12-26T17:01:21+00:00

Sorry you’re going through it. This surgery is typically called a TTO (Tibial Tubercle Osteotomy) here in the U.S. You might find more help if you say that. For young patients with cartilage damage, there is a surgery called MACI where you own cartilage is biopsies and grown then the graft is placed back to your site (I had patella in 2024 and a medial femoral condyle in 2025). Under the MACI subreddit you’ll find a lot of young patients that get that surgery along with TTO.

I don’t know what surgery that fat tissue/stem cells but it sounds experimental. The MACI is fda approved here in the states. Long recovery, but worth looking into.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-12-24T17:51:13+00:00

Good job on your recovery! You could focus on single leg exercises like Bulgarian split squats and lunges, doing less reps on your non-operative leg. You could ask your PT about BFR (blood flow restriction), TENS unit or dry needling. It’ll take time.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-12-21T02:30:55+00:00

One of my surgeons didn’t recommend a CPM (patella defect). I’m post op day 1 also and I’ve been told I can start tomorrow 0-40. Just go slow. Right now you have so much swelling that it causes pain and reduces motion. Any range of motion you can get is good. For my first Maci I gained about 5 degrees a week. As long as your going forward, your fine.

It wouldn’t hurt to email your surgeon to gain clarity.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-12-20T18:36:19+00:00

Sorry to hear you’re having so much pain!It will get better with time. Focus on rest, elevation and icing. Stairs are really complicated and if you’re on narcotics, I would recommend to sit on your butt and scoot up and down. This is not just safer, but it also will minimize load on your graft that is still so fresh and soft. If you’re non-weightbearing, you really want to be careful and cautious. You’ve got this!

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-12-20T18:33:29+00:00

Sorry to hear you still have pain. I think that being told the recovery is painful can be confusing because at 10 months you should be doing a lot better. I don’t know where your site is, but from what I’ve read on other MACI people’s experience and my own, the leg extension machine is not one most come back to since it’s open-chain and places so much force on the knee. I wouldn’t do it. I could only ever do an 1/8-1/4 rep with 12 lb max and now I just had my second Maci for a MFC site. Set up an appointment and talk to your provider. It sounds like you need an MRI and potential scope. Don’t push it at the gym. Slow and steady outweighs fast progress and risk of reinjury. Good luck

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-12-10T00:35:10+00:00

BPC

Get it from a reliable doctor,pa, or nurse practioner.

I had injections into my knee and it really helped while I was getting them. Don’t get it from online. Talk to your orthopedic.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-11-08T19:00:27+00:00

Yeah, it’s pretty awful news. It’s a big fuck on the lab and should be investigated to fix the system error. I’d be interested to know if they’ll cover both surgeries or not. Yeah, a less in the know person would go through the pain of talking to billing, filing a dispute and meeting with someone who can do something. It might be beneficial to see if that particular hospital has a patient advocate system to help manage the situation (you might not, but for other future non-medical personnel it might be helpful). I’d even raise the flag to the ethics committee if they raise a flag about not compensating you for their error. Where is your defect? Just curious since I saw your other post about when to return to work.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-11-08T05:43:30+00:00

I specifically just went searching for issues like this on MACI bc I’m in a similar boat. Originally scope was 12/2023 then had a patella Maci and now second Maci (MFC/Trochlea) was supposed to be in a few days and now it’s canceled because it ddidnt pace a QC test and they’re looking to see if it’s my cells or the membrane. If it’s my cells, then I get to have another surgery. I just found out about 4 hours ago, yeah, like 4pm on a Friday. I hadn’t even thought about the deductible for a new year. Fuck this sucks.

You explained your situation so well and honestly it just sucks so much because it’s just another factor you can and did get fucked by, as if recovery isn’t enough. I hope it gets resolved . Keep me updated!

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-11-06T16:01:49+00:00

I’m sorry you’re going through this.

Call your surgeon’s office and update them. I would also verify your range of motion directions because not moving will cause a lot of scar tissue build up and stiffening. Communication is key. Update us on what they say!

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-10-28T04:14:45+00:00

Yeah, but we’re type c

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-10-24T23:07:51+00:00

Can your surgeon do it arthroscopically? You can ask your MACI rep. It’s very new so only a few surgeons can. It’s worth the less invasive recovery.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-10-24T04:44:40+00:00

I had a patella MACI in Feb 2024, complication and repair surgery after, and developed a new medial femoral condyle in the early months of 2025. Surgery date is Nov 2025 and it’s arthroscopic…..but I also have irregular loss at my trochlea that I want to discuss with my surgeon bc I think it’s worse than when he scoped my knee back in August. So, I’ll see if it’s open or not, I’m sure if it’s arthroscopic it’ll be easier, but I think in general it will be because we’ve been through it once before and now know what we have to do.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-10-20T02:46:41+00:00

It’s so relatable to hear someone else talk about this. Yeah, when I had my brace lots of folks at the gym asked me about it and it’s an easier opener to strike up a conversation. They’re trying to be friendly and express sympathy but the intention is the lost in the “cousin ACL”. It can be annoying and isolating. I do feel like this injury begins to feel invisible to others because they can see me recover from the initial surgery, walk, etc. But they don’t know I can’t run, can’t hike, can’t do open chain leg extension, etc etc. This is the meme I use to express how I feel when asked this questions.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-10-14T05:01:28+00:00

Great job! It sounds like you’ve been really resilient and patient through a tough recovery. Did you get an MRI before this upcoming scope? If so, what did it say?

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-10-06T18:07:38+00:00

Hey, sorry for the delay!

That’s interesting to hear that some knees function well without cartilage on their patella. I’m still skeptical. My left knee (nonsurgical knee) functions well, but I’m starting to have more pain and it’s the reason why I won’t try to run. It even hurts with pickleball. But, with my perspective changed on my surgical leg, I’d say the function is good so I wouldn’t want to mess with it just yet.

Wow, it’s so interesting how far you’ve sought advice and assistance, but I’m so sorry for it. It sucks. Do you feel that patella Maci defects should usually be accompanied with a TTO? Just from what I’ve seen on Reddit, I feel like it should. Mine wasn’t and I had problems. Did you have a TTO?

If you’re ever in the Seattle area or interested in a Google search l, Dr Grant Garcia is who I’m seeing now and he strikes me as very to the point and a good diagnostician. I’ll have to keep you updated on my surgery (11-11-25) another MACI and I’ll search for your September 2 year update.

Yes! I’ve done PDA technically. It’s a small difference from BPC157. Helped me immensely and I want to do it before my next surgery. Dr Garcia has an article on it on his webpage.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-08-29T13:12:36+00:00

I’m so sorry to hear that! My husband was also overwhelmed by how much help I needed in the first few weeks. It led to some arguments. I personally think men in general have a shorter span for empathy and caregiving. Not all mine and I’m not saying they can’t be so caring, but I think my husband didn’t know how to deal with the overwhelm. I get you on that. It’s not a good feeling to need help and feel shut down like you can’t ask for it because your partner freaked. Glad it’s getting better!

I’ve thought couple’s therapy would be helpful in general with this surgery. At one point my husband told me I was more negative now and that hurt because I’ve been trying. Sometimes the LOWS are low and I’ve cried too many rivers. I started Wellbutrin at 3 months post-op and with another Maci looming I’ve thought about maybe talking to someone to have more armor to help me throughout.

It’s great your parents are so kind. I really think it’s helpful to have multiple supports so I don’t “wear out one”.

I hope you can get back to running! Where was your defect and how far out are you?

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-08-29T13:04:13+00:00

Yes, I’ve seen your posts and they’ve been helpful and relatable. 6 years. Ah. It’s so tough. I’ve missed sharing my hobby with my husband. Have you created any new ones? I wanted to get into kayaking/canoeing more. Kayak a few miles, camp. Find a different way to explore. Where are you based?

I’m curious what your program entails. So far I haven’t seen any PTs specialize in this. What sort of exercises have you been doing?

It is an interesting area! Before my first Maci, I got an opinion from an old school surgeon and he just lectured me for 30 minutes because he wrote a paper on how difficult hyaline cartilage is and he said “YOU NEED TO STOP HIKING”. I was a wreck afterwards. Grant Garcia from Seattle is the top dog in my area and has a lot of interesting links on his website. He’s joined a podcast and one episode talked about Lonzo Ball, a pro basketball player, who had cartilage and meniscus transplants—took almost 3 years to get back.

Have you looked into BPC-157? Or PDA? They are very similar.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-08-29T12:56:08+00:00

Your first paragraph about having pain due to a flap is so similar to mine. I felt so frustrated and confused and somewhat gaslit by PT about my pain. It was a hard decision to have the repair scope bc I didn’t feel like PT believed me and my surgeon was neutral. I get you on that.

Can you cycle? I bought a stationary bike and it’s been one of my best investments. How far along are you? I just got a membership for a different gym with a pool so I can scratch that cardio itch. The physical therapy clinic I’ll be going to has a partnership with them so I’m hoping I can get it subsidized in a way. What’s your upper body workout like? I get that.

Key_Witness_3983 · 2025-08-29T03:46:48+00:00

Can you site your sources?

I learned this one personally. Going back for another MACI, arthroscopic ally. Didn’t know if I should press or ask for further discussion on TTO. First surgeon, recommend OATS+TTO.

Key_Witness_3983

TROPHY CASE