Back in August, I went to see an Orthopaedic doctor about my knees. They took some x-rays (which I posted on here) and the doctor showed me where my right knee is in the worse shape of the two. Bone on bone and some serious arthritis. During that visit, I opted to have a cortisone shot. Holy crap. Not the actual injection but the state of my knee 5 hours later. I could barely walk on it, let alone bend it whatsoever. Luckily, that predicament only lasted two days...then on to about 2-1/2 weeks of much less pain - which wasn't very long.
Fast forward to the first of February...my next appointment. I told the doctor that my leg was making a new noise - a really loud click for every step I take. At first, I thought the noise was my shoelaces slapping on the top of my shoe...but I had switched to slip-on shoes (I have a hard time tying my shoes with my gimpy, arthritic right paw) and the noise was still there. Not good. Dr. Heis said that if the cortisone shot had lasted more than 3 weeks, he would have proposed we try another one, but it was pointless to even try. He suggested I have an MRI so he could see what all was going inside there and maybe he could clean up some of the mess.
This past Friday was the MRI. Of course, I schedule everything for the earliest possible appointment, and this time I actually showed up to the building before it was even open. Consequently, I was the very first appointment...and the only person there. I arrived at 8am, changed into shorts, the tech strapped me in, gave me earplugs and headphones, gave me a pillow and sheet and the next thing I know I'm back in my car. AND....all of the sudden...it was 8:50am. Holy crap! I lost about 45 minutes!
Mara had to leave for class at 9am and I was driving the only working car...so I was hauling ass to get home on time - doing about 80mph on the expressway. It was all for naught because she didn't wait for me and went ahead and walked to school. Well, while she was in class, Pappy and I drove down to Claryville to pick up my car and drop off his. His van was making some really weird scratchy/thumpy noises on the front driver's side wheel, so he was having his brakes replaced (after Tire Discounters told him they were fine). Well...when the dude called him back a little later, he informed Pappy that the noises were from the fact that ALL FIVE lug-nuts weren't even tightened to finger tight! And at least one lug-nut on each of the other three tires were the same. I WAS JUST DRIVING 80MPH!! Pappy went back up to Tire Discounters to read them the riot act. Hold crap...I could have had a terrible accident if the tire had fallen off on the expressway! Geez.
Where was I...oh yeah...MRI. Well, this morning was my follow-up visit with Dr. Heis. (I fell asleep there, too, waiting in the examination room.) He had some news for me - don't really know if it's good or bad, though. I do have some tears in what's left of my meniscus in my right knee. About 20% on one side, and a bit worse on the other. There's also some other junk in there he can clear out to help ease the pain. So....surgery for me. He said that I won't feel 20 again (thank GOD), but this will alleviate much of my pain. He also stated even though my knee looks really bad, he doesn't recommend replacement - even though he has seen knees that look much, much better than mine be replaced. Good, because I will go as long as possible before I even consider that option. I told him I'm really, really concerned about the stability of my knees because they buckle all of the time. (This is quite scary when you're walking through the mall - like I was last week with Mara and Emily. It would take 5 grown men to get my fat ass up off the floor.) The doctor explained that this happens because the meniscus tears are flopping around in there and disrupting the joint when I walk. Ya think?
Well...here are photos of my MRI results. You can see the tear on the right side here....
And the one on the left here....
And the big 'ole mess of my knee here...
Look at all of that marbling of fat in my leg! I must be "corn fed"!
USDA Prime!! (I think there may be a smidge more than "fine threads of fat" going on here...)
Bona fortuna et cura ut valeas
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