In March, 1997, I suffered a knee injury while playing in a softball game. I have been active and playing sports my entire life, and never had even the slightest problem with my knees prior to this day. I went to my primary care physician who referred me to an orthopedic surgeon who was on my insurance plan. I made an appointment, and saw the doctor five days after the injury. She sent me for an MRI, which revealed that I had torn the ACL in my left knee.

I took the MRI results back to my doctor, where she explained my options. She said I was 31 years old, and was not a professional athlete. She also strongly recommended against having surgery to repair the damage. I was told that if I attended therapy and physical rehabilitation, I could return to most of the activities I did prior to the injury. I went to therapy/rehab religiously for three months. I returned to my orthopedic doctor who fit me for a brace and cleared me to return to sports.

I continued my exercise program and tried unsuccessfully to return to sports. My injured knee would give out and buckle when I tried any activity. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life like this, so I decided to ask a second opinion. I made an appointment to see Dr. Reilly in March 1998. I told Dr. Reilly what the other physician had told me and expressed my desire to maintain an active life. He examined my knee and said, it was not stable enough to play sports, and I was putting myself at great risk attempting to do so.

Dr. Reilly recommended that I have reconstructive surgery. He detailed the procedure and set what expectations I should have after surgery. I elected to have surgery later that month. Dr. Reilly said everything went well during surgery. There was one surprise. Sometime after the original injury I had torn the MMC. I am positive this occurred during a softball game, when my knee buckled. This injury was also repaired during surgery. Dr. Reilly said the recovery time was six to nine months for this type of surgery.

I started physical therapy/rehab three days after surgery. Dr. Reilly expressed how important this was. I attended rehab three times a week for two hours for four months. This really helped me in building my knee strength and confidence. I have continued weight lifting and maintaining my knee strength and plan to return to softball this season. It has been ten months since my surgery, and my knee is feeling back to normal. I would definitely recommend this type of surgery to anyone who wants to remain active and/or play sports. I also can’t say enough about Dr. Reilly. He told me exactly what to expect and was very supportive. He and his staff are very knowledgeable and always accessible.

B. Badgley