Freaking out about surgery

[luke4224]

About 3 weeks ago i tore my ACL and both menisci while snowboarding in canada. My insurance company were great initially setting me up with physio, MRI and a knee brace...All up about $2500 worth here in canada. But now that I have results confirming I need surgery they want me to return to Australia. They're willing to bump me up to business class to get home but once i step foot on Aussie soil the cover stops (travel insurance). They say i'll then be covered by Medicare and their responsibility ends.
I don't have private health cover back home and I was planning on being in Canada until the end of 2010.
My question is this, if I stay in Canada for the next 6-9 months and don't have the surgery will I be doing further damage to my knee? I know not to be doing impact activities or sports and I'm ok with that. Is there any advantages to getting the surgery straight away and are there any disadvantages to waiting?

This site has been great and any advice you guys can give me on your experiences would be awesome.
Cheers
LUKE

[kjwilkin]

Hi Luke,

Personally I would come back to have the surgery and then go back to Canada. I did that when I lived in the UK and injured my shoulder when it iced over and slipped.

I know my OS likes to do ACL recos as soon as practical to get the best outcome. There is medicare, but you can wait a long time on the public list. I would personally look at getting it done privately. There are schemes where they will loan you money for the surgery.

What part of Australia are you from ?

[road2recovery]

I think it is good to get it done within a couple of months, but it varies on a case to case basis.
Some people will do a solid pre-op and then go in for surgery, others will not have that luxury due to lack of range of movement, strength etc. and will opt to get it done ASAP.

From what I hear, if you leave it long enough the rest of the joint will also start to degenerate, but don't quote me on that.

[sandlvr]

do whatever you have to do to get it done and out of the way. I just had mine 2 days ago and I am so glad I don't have to think about it anymore. My Dr. told me if I didn't have the surgery I would develope arthritis and eventually need a knee replacement. I had my ski accident in late January but I know people who have waited much longer to have it done.