So what happened with my aunt? Her daughter and son-in-law are both doctors. Dr. Son was in Beth Israel and researched doctors in several hospitals to help mother-in-law (they have a great relationship, no jokes!) regarding a potential knee fracture and meniscus tear. After looking at many, they both decided that Dr. Kelly at Beth Israel was the finest doctor and finest person—all around a great choice.

My aunt’s problem was that Dr. #1 said ‘surgery for sure.” Dr. #2 was Kelly who said “maybe but I’d use the scope.” Dr. #3 who was a friend said “no surgery.” Aunt ended up with Dr. #2 who scoped the knee, said “no real work needed” and touched up slightly and she has been thrilled ever since. Her son also needed elbow surgery and Dr. Kelly was the man of choice. OK, it’s been settled—I’m going to Dr. Kelly!

I arrived at the ISK Institute aka Insall Scott Kelly on 85th and Third and met with Vivian before I met Dr. Michael A. Kelly. He’s a vibrant guy with a smile on his face and seems to joke a great deal with his staff. Here’s what Dr. Kelly told me and it was quite a surprise. He looked at my MRI and told me that everything (but the ACL) looked great and there was a slight light spot on my meniscus which he is worried about but not much. He will check it out with the scope during surgery and it might only need a little “tug” for increased blood flow which seems to promote healing by itself or else it might need to be sutured back. So far so good. Next: The recommendation.

Dr. Kelly said that he performs two kinds of surgeries—auto patellar and allo achillies. In older patients he highly recommends the allo given the lesser trauma and the diminished physical level of activity. I fall in the middle at 36, especially given my being a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a sport that will make great use of the ACL for balance purposes. He recommended… an ALLOGRAFT. Yes, you read correctly. His thoughts were I’m not a tight end for the Giants under contract although he did say I might not be without concern at current sports that would make use. It might feel loose.

I belayed my concerns to him and those of the board. He said that for graft strength and durability he thought them both relatively equal although he had no studies that were longer than 10 years for reliability. There are two primary issues though. He said that the length of the achillies is 1mm longer which can result in slightly looser grafts. Auto Patellar is still his “gold standard” but it comes with certain risks, those being potentially for chronic knee pain in the donor knee, significant compensation in the other knee resulting in further injury. While he said there are patients without knee pain, there are a significant number that experience long term pain and/or *discomfort* and that many of his patients, so it seems, go the way of the allograft, which he only accepts within a certain age bracket. He also uses dissolvable screws, which itself may cause a hassle from what I’ve read but I don’t know anything any more and am frustrated with my own research.

Since I have a lot of appointments I need to take care of and will need to fly to Toronto for a lecture on Oct. 17, the 21st seemed the perfect day. My next lecture is local on November 8-9 and that should be plenty of time to recover. I was told not to fly for 3 weeks, most probably due to discomfort issues although the 1 hour flight could be done slightly earlier.

Well, that’s my saga. I’m currently unsure which surgery to opt for but he told me they can order the allo and then on the day of surgery decide which one to perform. I’m nervous as all get up. My life will change for a significant negative for a period of time… and then we’ll have to wait and see whether I made the right decision and it was worth it.