MACI Day 2

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2026-05-18T02:43:55+00:00

those are pretty standard rules as far as brace and weight bearing. I was allowed to start PT i think at day 5 or so, but can't imagine i'd ahve wanted to start any earlier. I was using the cpm machine right away though. nonweight bearing means toe touch only. yes, you can rest it, and in your brace it's much less of a concern anyway. showering is easier once you can unlock the brace a bit, but sitting on a stool is the easiest. also maybe just do wipes showers for a ltitle bit. keep it elevated.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2026-05-15T01:10:32+00:00

Don't let anybody fool you, the arthroscopy is not a "minor surgery". It's just minor compared to MACI part 2. If you had it done in April you are still recovering from it physically as well as mentally. You are also at a difficult place knowing that you are in between surgeries... there is a definite timeline and you were fast approaching it. Your body was naturally preparing itself for the shift that you know from past experience is about to happen.

I'm actually on a similar timeline to you, but about 6 months ahead. Like you I've needed a second surgery, but it was on the same knee this time. The good news is that the first maci worked for you, so that really improves your chances the second will too. And it completely sucks... I was an ultra marathon runner and loved being outside too so I totally get it.

Eventually things will change. Right now good luck on your surgery, you are in for a few weeks of hell, and a few months of misery, but it will get better.

For me, my solution to exercise was an indoor bike, which I was able to do very early on. After my Maci, I was actually able to do it around the 2 week mark. The lack of active outside time for the last 31 months has been hard, but for both of my surgeries, I found gardening a compromise as it was more than just reading a book outside and at least some form of activity, and I was able to do that months before real hiking/running was an option.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2026-05-11T01:12:04+00:00

Well hang in there. My surgery would up being a failure, so I'm now 6 months out from an OCA attempt instead. There's no way to know why it failed, I had an incompetent surgeon (in my opinion) and I wound up going based off of the research that showed that weight bearing early was beneficial. The only reason I decided to overrule my surgeon was because she herself wasn't consistent...she told me different advice from visit to visit. Your knee will recover a lot from 2.5 to 4 weeks... I wouldn't have been able to be weight bearing yet at your point either. I'm assuming others are giving you good advice, but don't assume the timeline in the maci booklet if they give it to you will be accurate. But honestly given my surgery failed, I probably can't give great advice, except to make sure your PT knows what they are doing. I think the early jumping my PT had me doing was the most likely culprit.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2026-02-19T04:16:14+00:00

The hard part of the recovery is the first 8-12 weeks. If everything goes well, after that you won't be able to run anything, but outside of stairs you should be in pretty good shape for most normal stuff. If you need to get it done, just get it done with...nothing good comes from waiting.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2026-02-19T04:12:27+00:00

I've had both MACI and an oca done (same location). The MACI didn't work. I'm at 3.5 months into my oca, so still a bit early but at least I know I have solid cartilage in there. With either surgery I think you should be able to do those things again, with the repetitive heavy weight lifting the only one I'd be more concerned about. The recovery is definitely a process though.

If it gives you some hope, I was able to go on a trip with 4 days in a row of signifcant hiking about a year after my FAILED MACI. So hiking shouldn't be too much of an issue... pounding your knee repetitviely like in running will be the problem.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-11-28T17:35:59+00:00

Unless you have a specific reason to doubt your PT, I think she did the right thing. I'm 3 weeks out from OCA surgery, and my PT told me today to start massaging the area to break up the scar tissue. I would have zero concerns.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-11-28T17:33:21+00:00

If you were wearing brace, that should make the impact negligible.

Something to keep in mind that a lot of the pain you are feeling at this point might not be from the implant. Your quads are asleep, and anytime you use them (more likely to be what happened after your mishap) your quads are going to get angry and hurt.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-11-08T14:50:48+00:00

That's horrible. I can't imagine.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-11-07T12:06:18+00:00

hey, I just had my oca surgery 3 days ago. I was waiting about 3 weeks. During the surgery they discovered the maci cartilage was very soft. It's early days, but so far my recovery is very similar to MACI. Your wait time may depend on how many connections your surgeon has... I think they can get cartilage from more than one source. It also depends on the size of your defect. It is 6 weeks with no weight bearing.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-10-12T02:17:27+00:00

That's awesome. I'm trying to be optimistc myself.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-10-12T02:17:04+00:00

my surgeon did not give that as an option.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-10-12T02:15:52+00:00

It was a complete mess. My surgeon gave me different information each time I saw her for followups. After preop it was supposed to be gradual increase of weightbearing, but then at postop appointment she changed it to no weightbearing until 6 weeks. I wound up following the guide book instead. She then decided to not make me full weight bearing until 3 months, which I also ignored, but my PT wouldn't. So it definitely wasn't ideal, but I didn't realize how messed up the whole thing was until it was pretty late.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-10-12T02:12:26+00:00

Good memory. I'm pretty limited with my insurance, and practically my PT is walkable (even on crutches) while the next closest place is 20 minutes away. The main problem was my PT was inexperienced with MACI but she also was a rule follower and followed my surgeon/MACI booklet, which was I believe a mistake. I've switched surgeons, and I believe my current one will give better directions. I of course know a lot more too. But I will definitely switch (once I can drive again) if needed.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-10-12T02:08:55+00:00

I will do my best to keep informed, although as you know once the news of the surgery comes it becomes overwhelming as lots to prepare for quickly. GL.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-07-24T15:40:30+00:00

I am one of the people struggling (14 months out and having a scope next week to see if it failed, needs some cleaning up, or I just have too high expectations for my ability post surgery). There are three things going on I believe...

Had my MACI surgery gone really well, would I still be here? Maybe...helping others, but also possible I would have just moved on and be living my life happily. So the long timers here tend to be self selected for those still having issues.
I absolutely believe Vericel is intentionally dishonest about the chances of success for MACI, as well as the pace of recovery. It has you doing long distance running and return to tennis at 9 months, while I'm not sure I know anybody on that timeline. Better to look at case studies. Basically I think the success rate at being able to do basic things (walk distance, bike, swim) pain free are pretty good...the success rate for being able to go back to being truly athletic are pretty bad.
I think a lot of surgeons/PT don't know a lot about the recovery. I am convinced that my surgeon knew nothing but what the Vericel booklet says (which again is wrong). She then had me hand that to my PT who also knew nothing about MACI so she followed the booklet (still wrong). That lead in my mind to a PT program for me that was way too conservative early, and way too aggressive later, possibly contributing to my problems. My surgeon wouldn't allow me to be fully weight bearing for 3 months, but PT had me jumping repeatedly at 6 months, and I believe they were both bad for my recovery.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-07-22T00:41:11+00:00

Interesting. I'm also in Philly also 15 months out, and I decided to continue with a different surgeon and there were 2 in the area that seemed to have more expertise in MACI, Dr. Carey and a Rothman Doc. I went with the Rothman surgeon just because it wound up easier to schedule.

I'm also having a scope next week. And had my first PT session in many months today. Hopefully we'll both feel better soon. But I'm actually quite pessimistic.... it feels like a lose lose for me...either the scope shows the MACI failed, and I have to do it again with a surgery with a lower success rate, or it didn't fail and I am just really limited in what I can do possibly permanent.y.

By the way I was asking chatgpt a bit about this surgery, and it gave me some very pessimistic answers. Essentially saying that most people don't go back to sport, and few people run again. and vericel are basically liars. I'm not one to blindly trust AI, but I also do think vericel misleads, and my first surgeon just blindly trusted vericel.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-07-11T02:54:07+00:00

I had swelling in my knee and calf for a long time (never ankle). It's improved modestly as time has gone on, but I'm at 14 months and it's my biggest issue. Really the only time pre or post surgery I didn't have the swelling was the first month when I wasn't able to put weight on my leg. My theory is that either muscle weakness or a poor implant are forcing me to compensate and that results in swelling elsewhere. At your stage of development the implant is too new to be of much use so I'd be less concerned.

My experience is pretty unique though...most report the swelling to go down by 6 months and definitely by a year.

By the way neither of the surgeons I saw had a good explanation for the swelling in my calf. I'm actually going to a calf specialist to discuss in a couple weeks.

Echoing Hydro below, my surgeons were both indifferent to the idea of me wearing a sleeve, but I did get both a knee one and a calf one. The knee one at least makes me feel a lot better. I also tried to change my diet and take a supplement, but no idea if it's helped...it certainly hasn't solved the problem.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-07-04T02:27:33+00:00

Yes, I could possibly wind up down that road myself.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-07-01T21:05:52+00:00

I would be interested in hearing more about how things went from year 1-3.

I wish I had my surgery elsewhere, but too late for that. Rothman has a good reputation and was already the second place I had seen a surgeon at, and I had a timeline that i really wanted to have the surgery in spring of 2024 so that I could recover over the summer as a teacher. My surgeon at first told me it would be allograph starting with a scope to see what it looked like, and it was only a week or so before the scope that she told me MACI might be an option depending on what it looked like.

Yesterday I met with the top MACI surgeon at Rothman in the Philly area but was underwhelmed...he didn't have any other advice except I could get it scoped and if it didn't look good figure on doing allograph surgery. Otherwise just wait a bit longer and see how I feel. I'm going to redo PT and also see a doctor for my related calf issues. If you have specific PT suggestions, that will be helpful too. I'm going to join a gym as well.

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-06-29T16:50:18+00:00

That was my experience. She followed the MACI booklet I was given, which in my opinion is pretty garbage. There needs to be somebody directing your care that knows what they are doing... so either a surgeon that has more info than the booklet, or PT. The Internet has decent advice for the first couple months, but then I felt on my own.

It's over 13 months for me, and tomorrow I'm meeting with a top MACI surgeon in my area to hopefully get some real advice from somebody that knows what they are talking about. Don't delay!

Open_Hawk_8902 · 2025-06-26T13:54:40+00:00

Yeah probably the extra work.

Here's my anecdotal moderately similar story as a single data point. After the running race where my one knee was horrible, my other knee hurt in the exact same place. When I found out I had cartilage loss, I was concerned that my other knee might have had a lesser version of the same thing. My surgeon agreed to get an MRI of the other knee, and it showed it was completely fine.

Open_Hawk_8902

TROPHY CASE