Change of Plans

I called off my Friday surgery. It was too soon and I had some reservations about this surgery. I have confidence in my Nashville Dr. but I think I am going to go out of network to seek the treatment of one of the world experts on this procedure at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Co. Dr. R. LaPrade has apparently treated masters sprinters successfully before and has numerous published articles and clinical trials on this specific procedure. I sent him a personal email asking him if I could contact the masters sprinter he worked on cited in this article. I was surprised that he responded personally to me and said he couldn't remember the guy's name but he may have been from the NY area and if he is still competing would be M60 now.

Telling Dr. LaPrade I was going to have this surgery in Nashville he said this surgery is "pretty complicated" and ... "-make sure he does a big release and pulls your meniscus back into the joint or the surgery may not restore your cushion well enough to return back to running."

 From what I have read, if anyone can do this surgery successfully, LaPrade can. So, I am trying to arrange a date for the week of Jan 14 to see him and have it done. Not to say my Dr. in Nashville can not, but I think LaPrade has researched this procedure perhaps a bit more extensively. He certainly has published a lot on it. And the fact that he has treated masters sprinters before is a plus. I was pretty much a basket case about having surgery tomorrow. Wasn't mentally prepared.

 I do feel a huge debt of gratitude toward Steve, Burton, and the team at Elite Sports Medicine in Nashville for their understanding, expertise, care, and scheduling me so quickly.

 I do not want to do anything at all that might contribute to a poor out come so I'm going to shut down all workout activities involving legs, save for some casual bike riding. I don't need to extrude the meniscus any worse than it is.