Patient Experiences:

By the time I was in my forties, I had already had six surgeries on my right knee—probably because I skied competitively for more than twenty of those years.  My right knee has had experiences—ACL’s meniscus repairs and removals, and cartilage repairs.  Still, about every tenth step a searing pain would shoot up my femur and into my hip-bone-on-bone, I figured.  I was still doing sports, but jumping off and landing on the other leg did not always work so well.  I had learned to live with almost constant pain due to my multiple injuries as a competitive skier.  

In 2003, I found Dr. Stone and flew to California with new hopes.  We both figured that even though I was a difficult candidate with so much damage and so few options, that I had nothing to lose.  Consequently, Dr. Stone put in a cadaver meniscus allograft, another new ACL, and more articular cartilage.

While rehab was very slow and painful, I kept persevering.  Keys for me were lots of physical therapy biking, and yoga.  A setback occurred at six months when I crashed mountain biking (yes, too much too soon).  Good news was that an MRI showed no obvious damage to my tweaked knee.  But there was better news: the MRI proved the meniscus graft had taken!  At two years, I began to feel like a new person—with an end to the random shooting pains and lack of stability.  Four years from when I hobbled into The Stone Clinic, I now live my life without massive knee pain and weakness.  I remember what I felt like before the X Games in 1999.

 I still lack complete range of motion on my right knee, due to the new cartilage, but this would only be obvious to those who practice yoga as much as I do.  This small concession is nothing compared to what it is now like to live my life—walking, skiing, surfing, biking—without constant pain.  I can return to my life of competitive sports.  I even did a four-hour run last week, without any knee issues.

Thanks, Dr. Stone, for saving my knee, my life!