"5"^^ . . "2"^^ . "1"^^ . . "2014-05-20T00:00:00"^^ . "0"^^ . "I had a torn knee meniscus, and had arthroscopic surgery repair. I will describe the surgical experience below; the focus of this review is not on whether the surgery was successful but on the mostly non-surgical things I feel qualified to judge.\n\nA 5 star rating would mean there is little that could have realistically been better while 3 star would mean it was acceptable with lots of room for improvement. I am not considering pricing.\n\nRating is 5 stars. The overall experience felt professional. The waiting room is pleasant, clean and with comfortable seating. The staff was uniformly good with a high level of competence. They did well with follow-up and providing information about what was happening and what the processes would be like, what to expect, etc. Not a criticism, an observation: once you are being seen everything was efficient. Not like they were rushing you but you could tell they have other patients and they know how long exams and presenting information should take. \n\nThey have a related company with an MRI onsite and also a surgery center. I am cautious about such arrangements because it can incentivize unneeded testing. But in this case I did not get that sense and the convenience was well worth it. I checked the MRI pricing and it was very competitive. I also liked that if the image quality was bad, Dr, Bigler could easily order a reschedule without hassle.\n\nCons: On several occasions I had long waits before being seen. Over an hour. The Dr. did apologize without me bringing it up and it felt sincere.\n\nMy interactions with Dr. Bigler were all positive. Call it bedside manner, he conveys confidence and explains clearly balancing quantity of information with your ability to understand. You can tell he has presented the same information many times, but it is not rushed and he is looking for you to show you understand.\n\nMy surgical experience, this is no longer part of the review. I am writing this about 6 weeks after surgery. My injury required removal of 15% of the outside meniscus, which I gather to be one the easiest to recover from. Once I decided to go ahead with surgery, they schedule a pre-operative meeting. A nurse went over day of surgery scheduling and what to expect, lost of paperwork. Dr. Bigler had previously explained the surgery itself, what to expect as far as healing, etc. The anesthesiologist contacted me the day prior to surgery to go over questions (can't remember his name but he was very good, an ex-motorcycle racer). Don't eat night before, day of surgery. Surgery itself was almost anticlimactic, I just relaxed as much as possible and let the team move me along. It was almost a relaxed environment, everyone knowing what they needed to do. Bam I was out, then woke up in recovery with a very bandaged knee. \n\nBandage can't get wet, and it was 3 days until it was removed. Good luck with the sponge bathing. During this time extremely little pain. I stayed on crutches for the first 3 days, although I could put slight pressure on the leg. Icing helped a lot and found that I continued to use ice during the next 6 weeks. The bandage hid things, but there was substantial swelling which is normal. I took one pain pill the first night as I went to bed as a precaution, but after that just the occasional Tylenol. After the bandage was off, I would use one crutch as a kind of cane to get around. It might have been possible to do without the crutch but I was nervous about putting on too much pressure. For much of the first week the leg was elevated and when possible iced. I stopped using crutches after the first week, but as mentioned continued icing which really helped. \n\nI started physical therapy the week after surgery, going twice a week. In my very specific case, twice a week was wasted. The first day of real therapy you go through a bunch of exercises that are outlined on a printout, mostly using your own weight with some supplemental rubber resistance bands. These are very simple exercises that you will continue to do at home. So, when I went back for the next therapy session, almost all of the time was simply doing the same exercise I was doing just fine at home. At the end of the session the therapist came by to evaluate my knee, so there is value in that. I have access to a gym and with the printout felt comfortable reducing therapy and ending it earlier than planned.\nThe first 3 weeks the swelling was very noticeable. Once I started therapy in earnest I had discomfort but no real pain. Icing helped a lot. I lost about 3-4 lbs of muscle on the leg. The biggest challenge was getting into the car; the ability to bend the knee was very limited. I also found driving two footed worked best. I could do a 20 minute walk the dogs, but that was my limit.\nFrom 3-6 weeks progress seemed more rapid."^^ . .