I am 2 months and 4 days post-op. Gonna keep this as short as possible. Pre-op: I did lots of PT trying to avoid surgery, and it became clear that if I wanted to keep playing hoops, I probably should have the surgery.

I was told by my surgeon that there was a 90% chance that it would be a clean up. I'd be driving after 5 days and back to normal in 2 months. Well, I wake up with a brace from my ankle to my upper thigh. The 10% that I didn't really consider came to rear its head. That lack of consideration for that 10% led to depression for the first 2 weeks.

I had to sleep in the brace, correction-- tried to sleep. I couldn't drive for a month. I don't like asking people to do things for me, and I was in a position where I needed to do so. I couldn't imagine I'd be able to walk up steps without crutches, let alone play basketball. To compound my feelings, all I could think about was the NBA player who had meniscus surgery and was back on the court in a couple of months. A friend had to remind me that I wasn't an NBA player nor the age of an NBA player.

Don't be like me. I needed 21 year old JJ McCarthy to have his rookie season ended because of a meniscus repair to wake up. You will get back to where you were as long as you put the work in and do your PT. And don't forget it could be a clean up OR a repair.