December 14th

I am having surgery to remove the medial plica from my right knee (arthroscopically) and to repair the semimembranosus tendon (non-arthroscopically, as it's outside of the joint) on December 14th. The plica gets sucked out with a vacuum. The procedure for the tendon is a bit more complicated. In order to determine the extent of the injury to the tendon, the surgeon must pull the tendon away from the bone and then reattach it after he's done his business. Tendon injuries are usually to the inside of the tendon, so any injury is not immediately apparent until the tendon has been cut open. If there's damage to the tendon, then that part of the tendon must be removed. If it's just scar tissue, then it will be debrided. I hope it's the latter, obviously.

I can expect to be on crutches, partially weight-bearing, for 8 weeks. No splint, cast, etc. required. Only band-aids and a compression sleeve over the wounds. Showers are ok. This is all much easier than the recovery from my foot surgery. For that, I was on crutches for 12 weeks and couldn't get the wounds wet. Over 2 1/2 years later, I ran my second marathon. A long road, to say the least--hoping for an easier recovery this time around.