Carticel Surgery - one man's diary

I stumbled upon this blog (Jim's bionic knee) a few months ago and felt as if I was reading from my own post-surgery diary (if I had kept one). He uses phrases that I have uttered word-for-word during my rehab. If anyone is thinking about having the ACI surgery here is a great overview of everything about this surgery, from the patent's perspective. In hindsight I wish I had followed through with keeping a journal of my rehab. It's hard to believe it's been 9 months since my surgery. I will say again that I have no regrets about my decision to go through with this surgery. My life had gotten to a point where simple daily activities were made harder because of the chronic pain I had. While I am not 100% back to "normal" yet I feel much better than I had before the surgery and know that I will continue to feel better. I did not have a goal of going back to soccer, rugby or triathlons but am looking forward to the next 50 years of my life and instead of saying "I had a total knee replacement at 35-40" I can say...I had this über cool surgery where they grew my own cells to make new cartilage and fixed my knee." (yes I do plan on using the word "über" when I'm 80.)