Sam's ACl and Miniscus

by Sam
(California)

In mid-June, I was in a transition. I had switched soccer teams, and I was playing, probably my last game, for my old team during spring soccer. It was just about ten minutes into the game when I had possesion of the ball. I was sheilding the ball from a defender who was pushing me from behind. I tried to plant my right foot, but I stepped in a hole. My knee buckled and I heard the dreaded "POP." I came out of the game and left to go home, with my knee in pain just with walking. It had swelled up, so my mom called the pedriatrician and schelduled an appointment for the next day. When I went, I was able to walk on my injured leg and bear weight. The pediatrician (not a very bright doctor) told me it was just I sprain and that I would be back to normal by the end of the week. A few days later, I played in a baseball game, and the next day I went to soccer practice for my new team. I tried playing, and just a few minutes into practice I pushed off with my right leg and felt a sharp pain in my knee. Since my knee was not getting any better and still swollen, my mom called a knee surgeron who had me take an MRI which revealed that my ACL was torn. However, despite the fact that I was sixteen, the surgeon said that my growth plates were still open, and that he would not be able to do surgery without damaging my growth plates. I asked two other knee surgeons of their opinions, and they also agreed and said it was best to wait until I had finished growing to do my ACL reconstruction. I was a little confused. I was happy because I would continue playing soccer, but scared knowing I was going to be risking more damage to my knee. I was given a knee brace, and a perscription for six weeks of physical therapy. I returned to practicing towards the end of July, but my physical therapy was taking a long time to get authorized by our health insurance company (they can really slow down the whole process of getting you the things you need to recover). When my physical thearapy was finally authorized in early August, the physical therapist was impressed by how my knee was holding up, and said that practicing was fine as long as they were controlled drills. During practice though my knee brace was giving me a false sense of sercurity. In mid to late August, I was practicing in a drill when I pushed off with my right leg and my knee just buckled and I heard several popping sounds all at once. My knee swelled up and I was heartbroken as it returned to the same state when I had first injured it two months ago. I went back to the knee surgeon, who said that my knee was too unstable for me to continue playing without undergoing reconstructive surgery. She said that this time, without my ACL to protect me, I had probably torn my miniscus. She's probably right, because now I hear my knee clicking and clacking sometimes when I walk, a sign of a torn miniscus. I have surgery scheduled for September 1st, and I'm nervous and anxious. It all bad because I probably could have gotten the surgery in June and been two months into rehab, but instead I have to start on September 1st. I'm scared about the first week because people always says that it's the worst. Please comment and tell me what to expect, I want to go into this thing with as much knowledge as possible.