Call your doctor and tell him/her about your symptoms. My only main concern would be DVT (deep vein thrombosis). If at any time you get short of breath, go to the ER immediately.

This could be normal- I don't know what surgery you had, but just be careful.

Jodi

Thank-you Jodi for the advice. I will call my doctor's office as soon as they open this morning.

As we talked about earlier this week, I had an arthroscopy on Monday and my knee is about 80% as of now. Best to call the doc!

---

Jonathan Blyer,
ACME Bicycle Co., Brooklyn, NY

What type of knee surgery did you have?

I had my right ACL reconstructed back in 2001. PAINFUL. 10 months later I blew out the left ACL and had to have it reconstructed. For soem reason that one was less painful but still agonizing. Swelling was pretty normal but I don't think to the extent you are mentioning althought it did last for quite a while longer than a few days. More like a few weeks/months and on into the PT.

Good luck.

First off, I am not a doctor or other medical professional. You should definitely call your doctor and/or have him see you asap if you have any concern.

That said, I had reconstructive knee surgery after a bad accident during a training ride this last March, resulting in torn ACL, LCL, PCL, also requiring open meniscus surgery, and screwing together broken fibula. I had a badly swollen ankle for weeks after the surgery, which according to the surgeon is 'expected', as he he has to exert considerable pull on the ankle/lower leg to get it into the positions needed for the various procedures performed. His comment was 'you should see the # of old ladies coming in after ACL surgery complaining about bruised ankles'. During the weeks post-surgery my leg was swollen excessively. I used compression stockings for the whole leg to address the swelling and iced the knee frequently, which helped quite some, in combination with keeping it elevated (above heart level). Painkillers ... I was on Vicadent (sp?) for ~2 weeks, and prescription-strength Tylenol for several more weeks post-surgery. The Tylenol mostly to address the swelling/potential inflammation.


Unless you are experiencing complications or have an infection, I would guess compression stockins, icing and Tylenol would address the swelling. The pain - at least in my personal experience - can also be expected just two days after surgery, but it also depends on the severity of surgery. That all said, please call your doc for qualified medical advice, and all the best for your recovery.

- Stephan