Knee News is Good News!

I have just picked up the films from the knee MRI I had last week.

I decided I would pick them up myself as I was told that the Orthopaedic Surgeon would probably not even look at them and I didn’t feel like paying another $165 for 10 minutes anyway, so I have got the report right here.

Here’s what it says.

The menisci are normal with no changes to suggest a meniscal tear. There is a signal alteration present centrally within the fibres of the posterior cruciate ligament consistent with minor myxoid degeneration. Ligament fibres remain intact with no changes to suggest a ligament tear. The anterior cruciate ligament and medial and lateral collateral ligaments remain intact. Articular cartilage is of normal thickness and signal characteristics. No bone marrow oadema is seen.

Got that?

Here’s what I think it translates to.

There is a partial tear to the PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) which has lead to a little mucoid substance (myxoid degeneration). Everything else is sweet.

Ok..so I’m making that up, but I am looking up these terms on the net trying to figure it out. Any Orthopaedic Surgeons out there who’d like to help?

In any case, the knee is feeling a heap better, which seems consistent with the PCL injury that footy players get who are usually back on the paddock after 6 weeks. It has just been around 6 weeks since the last time the pain occurred.

I am still a little confused as to why my knee hurt once in January and then went away, only to re-occur a month later. Here’s hoping it stays away for good!

I have some cool images of my knee now letting me see all the way through from top to bottom and side to side. I’ll try and get photos of them somehow…

He seemed nice enough…

“So, do you ever want to run a marathon again?”, he asked.

“Well, no…not really. Once is enough”, I said.

He was younger than I thought he would be. Seemed very mobile and active and asked lots of questions.

“Well, after you have surgery, you should feel fine with a bit of physio”, he added nonchalantly.

“Right. Ummm. Surgery?”

“Well, there’s something wrong with your knee so we’ll have to fix it.”

And so it is, that I am booked in for arthroscopic knee surgery next Thursday.

…

My knee has been better. Still not 100%, but I can walk without limping. I can even run, but have not done so very much. So much for self-diagnosis, or even doctor diagnosis. It seems that it is cartilage damage to my knee. I cannot quite straighten the leg out completely without pain, and I occasionally get the feeling that my knee is giving way.

The surgery will cost $1800. I get $450 back from medicare, but then I have to add on anesthetists fees, assistant surgeons and hospital fees, plus an MRI. I dare say it will end up being $2000 at least.

Having thought about it overnight, I am inclined to get the MRI and hold off on the surgery. I really cannot afford it right now and it seems overly presumptuous that surgery is the only way to fix the problem.

Not that I’m a knee specialist, but hey…

I know knee injuries are common, but I’ve never had a problem with mine. Does anyone have any stories or wisdom to share in regards to these sorts of things?

Should I postpone the surgery?
Should I seek a second opinion?
Should I live with it?

MRI is booked in for Wednesday. Thursday for Surgery. Wouldn’t most doctors look at the MRI and then decide what to do from there? He said that the MRI would not determine whether or not he did surgery at all.

I am hopeless when talking to doctors. I never ask the right questions. I get flustered and not know what to ask. My mind races and I just accept what they say.

Help?

It’s official. I’m falling apart.

Ever woken up in the middle of the night to take a piss  and then find yourself on the floor?

No No, not when you’ve had one too many tequilas!

This happened to me Monday morning last week at around 3am. I was then unable to put any pressure on my leg, or straighten it or bend it properly for about 3 days.

Luckily on the Thursday it was good enough for me to drive up to Sydney and go to the Big Day Out.

There has been a pain in my knee the whole time though, although the worst of it was in the first couple of days. I physically couldn’t straighten my leg out because it hurt so much.

I saw a friend who is a doctor and I went to the Emergency Room, but there was no definitive answer. I was presuming it was some sort of arthritic condition similar to what had happened in my foot.

Anyway, I went to see a doctor yesterday as recommended by LaLa. He’s had..umm..quite a lot to do with her in the past…if you get my drift.

I was there about 2 minutes. He made me lie back and bend my legs and he knew what it was straight away.

Apparently, I dislocated my kneecap (patella) whilst asleep, but it popped straight back in. It would have been worse if it had stayed dislocated for longer. It hurt enough as it was, but I have read of some horror stories where people have had to keep their knee immobilised for weeks.

So anyway, I guess I’m just falling apart.