TTT-Fulkerson Procedure...Any help?

[jbone]

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Going in for some major knee surgery this upcoming Thursday (March 23) and want to know if any of you know what’s about to happen to me. I’m having 3 things done: They will scope my knee to clean out all the scar tissue etc, then perform a lateral release; this will be followed by a TTT (tibial tubercle transfer) via the Fulkerson method. Ouch. 🙁

I know what it all entails and what I’m in for but was wondering if any of you have either had the procedure done on yourself or watched the procedure being performed on someone else (through physician shadowing, or employment). (Can’t seem to find any pics...have any?) Going to be down for about 5 weeks but should be able to handle it.
Any comments? Thanks. 😀 👍

 

[kel_ut09]

Going in for some major knee surgery this upcoming Thursday (March 23) and want to know if any of you know what’s about to happen to me. I’m having 3 things done: They will scope my knee to clean out all the scar tissue etc, then perform a lateral release; this will be followed by a TTT (tibial tubercle transfer) via the Fulkerson method. Ouch. 🙁

I know what it all entails and what I’m in for but was wondering if any of you have either had the procedure done on yourself or watched the procedure being performed on someone else (through physician shadowing, or employment). (Can’t seem to find any pics...have any?) Going to be down for about 5 weeks but should be able to handle it.
Any comments? Thanks. 😀 👍

I’ve been lurking on here for some time and this is finally a question I feel qualified to chime in on. I had that same exact procedure in July 2003. I’ve had four knee surgeries (all on my right knee) and I won’t lie—it was fairly painful after surgery (they’re breaking your tibial tuberosity after all!!) but it is certainly manageable. I had my surgery before my senior year of high school so I had about 2-3 weeks before classes started back up to get everything under control. I don’t know if you are taking classes or working or whatever, but the first week or so was kinda hard for me to get around…..i was in an immobilizer for 6 weeks ( I HATED that thing) and non-weight bearing so things were slow going for awhile. I think I was on crutches for about 9-10 weeks after the surgery.
I also watched my surgery….i convinced my surgeon to let me have spinal anesthesia so I was awake for the entire procedure…he explained everything that was going on (surgical instruments, anatomy, etc) and had the circulating nurse hold the arthroscopy camera so I could see the Fulkerson part on the screen….it was an amazing experience and one of the major reasons why I’m pre-med.
Is this your first knee surgery? I would tend to assume it’s not because a Fulkerson isn’t really first round knee surgery, but then again I could be wrong. Is the surgery mainly for instability/mal-tracking or pain/cartilage damage? Mine was for both....but mainly tracking issues that caused deep gouges in my cartilage. Just remember that ice and elevation are your friends. I have a tendency to swell….to the point that the sutures pop and the incision spreads back open so I learned to love elevation and ice very quickly. Rehab is different for everyone but I was in physical therapy for about 4-5 months and I’m still trying to re-gain all of my strength. The biggest lesson I learned was patience. I wanted to be back to my previous activity level (volleyball and running) and pushed things too much. I ended up having the screws taken out because they were backing out of the bone and causing pain and I got to keep the screws as a souvenir of sorts! 😀 I also fell post-op (after the screw removal) and tore my lateral retinaculum up the rest of leg...well what wasn't surgical released....so now my patella dislocates medially…but that’s a whole different story…. 👎
I wish I could find my pics from the surgery but I’m at school and they are most likely somewhere buried in a box back home. If you have any other questions or whatnot, ask away and i'll try my best to answer!
Good Luck with Everything!!