Fulkerson Osteotomy Questions

[aylabee123]

Hi, my name is Ayla and I'm 18 years old. I've had an operation on each knee concerning patella dislocation. The operation on my left knee was successful, but the one on my right knee... Not so much. It still sublexes every couple months.

I'm having a Fulkerson Osteotomy done on Dec 10th and I'm rather curious about pain and such.
How long will I have to stay in the hospital? On average, how severe was the pain during recovery?
I own a full leg brace, will that do, or will I have to have a cast?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Ayla

[Leentje]

Hey Ayla (nice name btw)

I had a Fulkeron TTT 6 years ago when I was 25. It has been very succesfull, as you might have seen from my other posts on KG.

I dunno if can be much of a help, but I'll anwser your questions anyway.

How long will I have to stay in the hospital?
A TTT can both be done outpatient or with an overnight stay. Seems most are done outpatient, wich means you can be in hospital for a few hours, or overnight, like mine was. I went home the day after surgery at 3pm, OS wanted me to stay in for pain management but I didn't need it!

On average, how severe was the pain during recovery?
Pain was never unbearable, and I didn't have any narcotic meds or painpumps or nervenlocks or such. I just had 2 doses of IV paracetamol and an IM diclofenac. Be awere that you can have blood rushes, where the blood rushes down and can give you immense pain, luckily they forgot me! haha As long as I was in cast, there was mostly no pain, except for the cast rubbing against my screws but that wwas never a big issue. In PT I suffered more, but a painkiller before PT can do a lot!

I own a full leg brace, will that do, or will I have to have a cast?
I was in a full leg cast for 3 weeks, most people have a post-op kneebrace. Will depend on your OS post-op protocol. I am pro casting, but a brace is more comfortable. So ask you OS what he will give you post-op, and if the brace is suitable.

Don't worry too much, but read as much as you can to be prepared, that way you'll know what to expect. 6 years later my knee is in better shape than it has ever been. Again yesterday one of my badmintonclub mates asked "hey what happened to your knee?" and again I could mak him like whoooo that's an awfull lot!! Guess when I would have let him touch my screws he would've been unconsious on the floor... which would mean I had to work, so I didn't let him! I was there to play haha

Hugs Helena