Torn Labrum (hip) and Torn Meniscus (knee)

In August, I was in the Toronto Western Hospital for an operation to repair a torn labrum in my right hip. This is the cartilage lip on the acetablulum (the socket)that keeps the head of the femur (upper leg bone) in the socket. I had been hobbling around on this for nearly two years before I was finally able to find someone who could handle the operation -- he was great. Instead of having a general anaesthetic, I opted for a spinal block only. This meant I was able to watch the monitor as the arthroscopic operation was carried out. Fascinating. I could see the cutting tool burn its way into the socket. Immediately on entering the area, I could see a large piece of cartilage (Dr. Syed described it as a huge tear) hanging into the socket in three lobes. The tool used to cut the cartilage away was a hollow tube cut at a sharp angle to create a knife blade. As each piece came off the chunk was sucked up into the tube. Simple but amazing.

Then a couple of days ago I was in the same hospital with the same surgeon, this time to repair the torn meniscus in my knee (same accident as the hip, but a different damaged part). The meniscus is a cartilage pad that cushions the femur and tibia (upper and lower leg bones) in the knee. Once again I was able to watch the monitor. This time I was surprised to see so much junk in my knee. "Torn cartilage." remarked Dr. Syed. He must have sucked out 15 chunks of cartilage before he even got to the meniscus. On the way, it was obvious that the top of the tibia was completely exposed, a result of the accident and also the torn meniscus scraping away at the cartilage. Then we could see the tear on the meniscus. He clipped that off, and then it was over.

Each operation took about 3-4 hours from the time I arrived at the hospital, went through the admission, pre-op, and spinal block and ultimately had the operation and finished recovery. Very efficient, very comfortable hospital culture, and very effective.

However the lead up to the final solution was not fun. The first doc was our GP who sent me for xrays. Xrays can not diagnose either a labral tear or a meniscus tear. Instead the diagnosis of the radiologist was arthritis. I told our GP I didn't think arthritis started in one day. She sent me to a specialist who misdiagnosed the knee and didn't know you could repair a torn labrum. I kept insisting that I didn't believe the diagnoses. Finally I was sent to still another surgeon, who understood the problems but could not do the operation in our local hospital. He recommended Dr. Syed, a very good recommendation indeed.