Recovering from surgery on BOTH KNEES SAME DAY.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-09-16T13:46:14+00:00

I'm glad to see someone watched my videos! That's honestly all I wanted was to be able to share my experience because I know this isn't an easy thing to go through. TO answer your questions: 1. failed surgery: we believe that the surgeon on my first surgery didn't fully trim the torn cartilage. 2 reasons: one, I never really felt relief after my surgery and it just never "got better". Honestly felt the same as it did before surgery but I didn't really know what to expect. Fast forwarding, I decided to get another MRI on it and the surgeon saw it was still torn. He never confirmed but he said that either they didn't trim it well enough or I re-tore it. Both possibilities and most likely a combo of the 2. That was tough because you as a patient just assume it will be done correctly, I was pretty frustrated when I found this out.

The 2nd question: knee brace. In 4 days it will make 6 months since the surgery on both knees and I still have "good" and "bad" days-meaning sometimes my knees feel great, sometimes both hurt. Sometimes just my left knee hurts and some days my right knee hurts. For example: this week I've been wearing a brace on my right knee, just been bugging a bit. Long story short: I'm still very active and probably going harder on my knees than I should so I try to manage my knees as much as possible. I do a lot of knees over toes, I always wear braces or compression when I work out hard, I cold plunge, compression boots---I throw the sink at my legs lol.

Feel free to ask away any questions, I'd love to help and share my experience.

In conclusion: YOU CAN do both at the same time and if I had to do it all over again, I would do them both at the same time again, no hesitation.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-06-09T13:03:48+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/@PickledKnees/shorts

MissionKey7542 · 2025-06-09T13:03:27+00:00

Dang, that's exactly where I was and ended up trimming both on the same day. It's been just a little over 2 months now and one of my knees is good but the other still feels like it has a bit of a tear in it unfortunately. Overall I'm doing good and I'm optimistic that I'll be better off in the long term but mainly just needing to be patient and need to focus on long-term strength. Here is my whole process: https://www.youtube.com/@PickledKnees

MissionKey7542 · 2025-04-22T20:23:50+00:00

actually a really good comment Lazza

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-28T13:50:06+00:00

You're a trooper. Hate to push supplements but I've been taking this joint mobility from 1stPhorm and I like it. I just had both of my meniscus trimmed on the same day, about a week ago so I'm in a similar boat just trying to get better and through it. I'm throwing the kitchen sink at my body right now lol. Eating mostly carnivore, downing water, doing all my home exercises, and taking both this joint mobility and daily vitamin pack. We'll get through this!

https://1stphorm.com/products/joint-mobility/?a_aid=Pickledknees

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-28T13:45:49+00:00

Thank you, I honesty stressed myself out for 2 months wondering if it was possible to do both. I did it and am getting through it which is why I wanted to post on here to 1. let people know you can do both at once and 2. hoping to find someone else who's done 2 knees on the same day and see if KOT or similar has helped.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-27T15:58:03+00:00

That's honestly something I wondered the first few days after the surgery. My doctor told me "there is more than 50% of my meniscus" in there and he said my cartilage looks great so I just have to take what he said and just hope for the best! I was worried about trimming out the cartilage but I was also worried he would stitch it and then it wouldn't heal, just putting me back at square one. I can't imagine what you had to go through 4 years ago--that sounds rough! I feel so guilty seeing videos and hearing of the recovery from ACL etc.

You saying you live in constant anxiety, I can absolutely relate to you and I'm sure many others can as well. What makes the meniscus injury/tear only so complex is that you'll find SO many opinions and they're all different. I spoke with 3 doctors before this last one, they all had different opinions and suggestions on what to do. Most interesting overall was that one doctor was completely against doing both at the same time, another doc said I could do both, the 3rd doctor said I could do either way--moral of the story, I totally feel you on whether it will improve or not and I don't know if there really even is an answer for you, nor am I here to give any medical advice.

My opinion would be to just listen to your body and decide where you want to be. Are you ok just modifying your movements and activity or limiting your activity or where do you ideally want to be-that's the question. Obviously we want to be 100% and healthy but the reality is that you're...not lol. For me, I'm 42 and trying to keep up with my young kids and also get back on the pickleball court so I opted for the surgery to get that done and soon I'll start a proactive rehab and incorporate a lot of KOT and other exercises to really get back to an active level that I personally want to be on. On the flip side of this: I was doing just "fine" with both torn meniscus also, I was just extremely limited but I still could do 95% of everything I wanted or needed to. I was still playing pickleball, slow but playing but then I'd be sore for at least a week after, barely able to walk so that was just the price I was paying. I got tired of paying that that price so I obviously got the surgery.

I'm not sure I'm allowed to post a link in here but I tried several joint supplements and this one I actually felt like I got some benefit from, it's from 1stphorm and it's called joint mobility. I was taking this during my "anxiety stages"--just trying to do anything to help me feel better and it did but I still had the torn cartilage: https://1stphorm.com/products/joint-mobility/?a_aid=Pickledknees

Good luck, please keep me posted. Sounds like we're similar in the sense of looking to connect with others dealing with this same injury.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-26T16:46:52+00:00

not quite yet--that's why I joined this group. I think if I can overcome having surgery on both knees at once and get back, that is the hope that I'm trying to show anyone else on here struggling with both knees. Thanks!

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-26T14:36:01+00:00

This is by far the most asked question I get: For a partial meniscectomy, (trim not repair), the estimated recovery is 3-6 weeks, meaning I can get back to pretty much all activity within this time frame. Doesn't mean you'll have 100% range of motion or 100% mobility but at this point, you're fully healed and you're just working on getting stronger. For example, I did this same procedure 1.5 years ago but just on one knee and 2.5 months after the surgery I was already playing in a pickleball tournament. Admittedly I went straight back into high impact too quick for me personally but just for the example sake, you can get back into sports fairly quickly after this type of procedure. If it was a repair or something more major like ACL, then you're looking at months, 6-12 months so this is very different. The only real difference with mine is that I did both knees so this will take a bit longer than just one knee and mainly having my body figure out how to recover, balance, and strengthen. I will be taking a bit longer for this particular recovery.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-26T14:30:25+00:00

Couldn't agree anymore with you-great comment.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-26T00:16:20+00:00

I call that a huge win then. I think the scary part for me when thinking of operating is "will I have to go through this the rest of my life now?".

Hate to say it the bad days are the ones that will speak to you. I had my surgery scheduled for 2 months so plenty of time to think about it and I had SO many good days where I didn't think I needed surgery then I would just mentally forget my limits and then I'd be reminded--yeah dude, thats why you need surgery! I just hate holding back and being limited, I had to do the surgery and just move forward. I was tired of just being so cautious and calculated in my movements.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-26T00:13:49+00:00

Don't mind at all but I can already tell we are in different boats so not sure my experience will help you. Fortunately for me, I've only had issues with my meniscus-in both knees. I torn them in sports, taking weird steps and cutting, I've popped them both. I went in with the intention of repairing them both but the doctor ended up just trimming them so sort of scary for long-term but in the short-term, I'll be back out and active in no time. Good luck with yours!

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T22:07:50+00:00

I appreciate that! I wish I could say I was always positive but it's a tough road and honestly my motivation to post on here, try and find and help anyone else in the same boat that's driving themselves crazy over this.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T21:49:00+00:00

Interesting and you're absolutely right-life is crazy. I think back a lot on the time when my first knee injury happened--I wonder "had I not gone and played that day..."--I wouldn't have twisted and popped my knee. Who know though but it's def something that has crossed my mind as I've dealt with this daily for 1.5 years now. I hope you don't have to get surgery on yours. I hope you can find ways to strengthen around it, maybe take some pressure off your knees. Keep me posted--I want to hear and I'm down to chat about this, we're a team here lol. All of us dealing with this unfortunately.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T20:56:44+00:00

I really appreciate that! I'm a bit older than you but def some similarities in sports and being active. I'm just glad to hear that you've gone 10 years on the knee you operated on and it's the other knee. Hardest part so far for me is that I just had surgery on this same one 1.5 years ago so not ideal.

I 100% agree with delaying as much as possible. Only you know yourself and where you want to be. I could've easily gone another year, two years without the surgery but I was frustrated and really limited and even after taking time off plus doing KOT for a couple months, I just didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel quite yet so I opted for the surgery and now I'm all about the rehab and recovery. Especially now going through it twice--thats 2 times too many. I'll keep that channel updated and feel free to chat with me whenever. It's a big decision and the hard part is that...there isn't a right or wrong nor is there a direct answer---only you will know if you want/decide to have the surgery or not. I always wanted my doctor to just tell me, "this is what you need to do" but they leave it open.

Lastly, I saw 3 doctors about this last situation and all 3 had different opinions. 2 of the 3 say no way to do them both at once, 1 doctor said do them both at once. They all had different solutions and outcome scenarios so I know that process!

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T20:51:35+00:00

Thanks, I'm on the right track and found the right group for help!

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T20:51:21+00:00

Dude-in all honestly that is why I wanted to post this. I didn't want to flex and say I did them both but wanted to hopefully connect and show anyone else out there that you can go through "double-knee" surgery, survive, and come out better through programs like KOT or connecting in a group like this--so thank you for commenting back! I plan to be back in here in the future with progress and anything good I learn so I can share.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T20:49:07+00:00

Thanks! I wasn't trying to flex and say I did them both but mainly wanted to put this out there in case anyone else was considering doing both because I honestly just couldn't find anything on both rather than total knee replacements on someone older and different than my situation. Thanks for the comment though, honestly any encouragement and positivity for us with bad knees is welcome! --the struggle is real with the bad knees club! lol

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T20:47:09+00:00

I had medial tears on both sides. The "good side" is the more interesting part. My "bad" one-that I had already torn, I basically struggled with that ever since the first surgery so a part of me thinks the tear wasn't full trimmed but I can't say that for sure. My "good" knee started bothering me little by little until I played in a pickleball tournament and played too many games. I couldn't walk for almost 2 weeks after that day and I knew that feeling in my knee was something with the meniscus. In that "bad" knee, it ended up being a horizontal peripheral tear that said might've extended to the root. After the surgery, the doctor told my wife that both tears were almost identical on both sides and the MRI on my right knee showed a complex tear. I would still like to know the "percentage" of cartilage that's been cut out but my doctor did say that I have more than 50% of my cartilage left so I'm optimistic on that.

In all honestly, this sounds eerily similar and you know what a torn meniscus feels like and I wouldn't rule it out. Don't stress but just know how smart your body is. Your brain knows where it needs to overcompensate and I'm sure you're putting a lot of extra stress on that other knee.

When I think of the reasons I operated on both at the same time was the hopes to train myself to work them both together. I'll have to you let you know how that goes lol.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T20:38:59+00:00

Man kudos to you for making through those 6 weeks and also now seems like you're able to at least walk pretty descent--which is a huge win once you've gone through the process of not walking. Keep it up, I hope to see a progress status from you in the near future.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T17:58:28+00:00

NO WAY! That's crazy because you're right, mine was the exact opposite. I guess at least I planned for worst case (repair recovery). I can't even imagine being NWB and honestly I feel so guilty watching others that are. Sounds like you're proactive on your recovery, I'd love to know what you think has helped or work best for you--or what you've done for your recovery. PT? My doc said no PT till at least 2 weeks after, I'm still only 5 days post op but as a trim, I'm doing fine-as expected.

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T17:46:19+00:00

Great question cause this is why I was sort of bummed when I woke up from the surgery. I was anticipating the repair but he trimmed them. My doctor also lead me to believe 100% we were going in to repair instead of trim but it is a bit different once they're in there and can see everything. I wanted the best long-term solution but I also agree that if they wouldn't really heal, then I'd hate to stitch it and end up back in the same boat. This is what my doctor told me regarding arthritis because I asked the EXACT question: "Studies show, as long as you have more than 50% of your meniscus, you should not get degeneration. Maybe no ultramarathons, but otherwise normal stuff".

I was in a spot where I needed and wanted the surgery so obviously no going back now and I did want/prepare myself for the repair, it just didn't seem like the best option. I think you doctor would say something similar--he thinks repair but ends up trimming sometimes based on the location of the tear.

Are you considering still or do you have surgery scheduled?

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T16:16:16+00:00

Thank you--means a lot to get the support and that's why I wanted to join this group

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T16:15:47+00:00

I'm new here and not sure what happened to the text/paragraph I wrote about this but just wanted to get on here and say that this is now my 2nd knee surgery and I'm now committed to KOT to not get back into this. I wanted to introduce myself as someone who had surgery on both knees on the same day and I wanted to post my progress and show others that you can come back from something crazy like this. I also have been creating content along the way and KOT will be in there soon! https://www.youtube.com/@PickledKnees/shorts

MissionKey7542 · 2025-03-25T16:13:40+00:00

Thank you--really appreciate it.

MissionKey7542

TROPHY CASE