Knee Update: Consultation Results

(Oh good, I remember my password, so I do get to do this update today after all!)

I am away from home for a week to go to a friend's wedding. (The wedding doesn't last the entire week--it's on Saturday.)

I am feeling so much better as the anti-inflamatory leaves my system! In retrospect I can't quite comprehend how badly off I was or how difficult it was for me to self-assess that I was under-par.

It may take me a while to get back into full swing (especially since my primary access point to the web is 800 miles away right now) but I'll make a go of visiting blogs this week and dropping in to say "hi." ... except that my access to the net is significantly limited as I am borrowing time on my husband's work computer. We'll see how it goes.

Speaking of husbands.. I hear that the shower has stopped and can assume he will soon be taking the computer away. I may need to write this post in installments.

Short assessment: If all that were going on with my knee were a torn ACL, I should not be feeling pain at this point. The fact that I still have pain of any measure and the fact that my knee is still swollen indicates that something else is going wrong. Whatever it is isn't evident on the MRI's, and the orthopedist suspects that my patella is slipping instead of staying in its proper groove.

He would like me to wait a while before surgery: to get a second opinion, to work with a physical therapist (who might be able to help assess what's going on with my knee through it's movements), and to try a set of custom orthodics to help align my knee movement and keep the patellar track properly grooved.

Oh, also-- he says that the MRI's also indicate that there was some damage to the miniscus. He said the damage was in a place that might heal on its own (might have already healed on its own) but if not, then if/when I choose surgery to fix things it will get fixed too. Not a huge problem in itself, but it makes a big change to the post-surgical healing span. If it's just the ACL that gets repaired, I should be up and walking a bit (I'm not expecting much) within a week or two. .. but if the miniscus also gets repaired, then I can expect to be forbidden from any weight-bearing on that leg for a full 4 weeks.

The idea that there would be a quick repair in early June after my first fiber conference, and that I would then heal well enough to enjoy the second fiber conference in late June seems, in light of this new information, unrealistic.

With all of that, plus the things on my personal calendar, I am looking at delaying the surgery until August.

In the meantime, there is Advil. Lots and lots of Advil.

If you are wondering what you could possibly do to help from so far away... yarn. ;) Get-Well yarn is greatly appreciated!! (grin!) ... or get-well cookies. ... or postcards... anything, really. Get-well e-mail, for instance! :)

Thank you to everyone who has posted encouraging comments and asked any kind of questions on the topic. I really do appreciate your concern and your support!

Hugs, all!
--Tahlia