Knee day
I feel as worn out as if I'd worked today.
Last night, my iffy knee (the left) went south. It's been bugging me more and more the last several days, clicking into and out of pain. It's my weak knee, and it was aggravated by a yoga class in which all-too-many pounds of me were briefly balanced on a feet-together squat. A silent scream from my left knee convinced me to give that up, perhaps too late. For a couple of days, I'd be walking just fine, hear a click, and I'd suddenly be limping. Then, just as randomly, a bit later I'd hear and feel another click, and I'd be fine again. Saturday, it wouldn't click back.
Sunday night I was sifting through papers at my desk when a small bit escaped from the pile and floated down toward my feet. I clenched to grab it, in the process doing something unusual with my left leg. KAPOW!!!! Unbearable pain!!!
Now my left leg could bear almost no weight, not even enough to limp badly unless I could grab something solid and use mostly the strength of my arms. I ended up crawling on all fours to find those great pain pills from Ireland with codeine. This morning I was still having to crawl. So I played hooky and saw the doc.
The doc said I need arthroscopic surgery to clean up a torn meniscus. What bothers me is that I remember cutting out a newspaper article to use in my classes about a study of this type of surgery in which the placebo group (the ones who thought they'd had the surgery but didn't) got as much pain relief as the ones who got the real surgery. So I'm leery enough to stick my nose back into Egoscue's book instead.
Meanwhile the doc sent me to buy an expensive knee brace. It's fantastic. I'm cured! I'm walking!!
I dunno, maybe I'll get the surgery. This damn knee has been a real pain-in-the-knee. I'm tired of having to be so careful of it. I hear they use MRI now to actually see the torn bit that needs to be removed so it will quit floating around and getting stuck in the wrong places. However, I will definitely discuss that article with the knee-doc before I go ahead.
Last night, my iffy knee (the left) went south. It's been bugging me more and more the last several days, clicking into and out of pain. It's my weak knee, and it was aggravated by a yoga class in which all-too-many pounds of me were briefly balanced on a feet-together squat. A silent scream from my left knee convinced me to give that up, perhaps too late. For a couple of days, I'd be walking just fine, hear a click, and I'd suddenly be limping. Then, just as randomly, a bit later I'd hear and feel another click, and I'd be fine again. Saturday, it wouldn't click back.
Sunday night I was sifting through papers at my desk when a small bit escaped from the pile and floated down toward my feet. I clenched to grab it, in the process doing something unusual with my left leg. KAPOW!!!! Unbearable pain!!!
Now my left leg could bear almost no weight, not even enough to limp badly unless I could grab something solid and use mostly the strength of my arms. I ended up crawling on all fours to find those great pain pills from Ireland with codeine. This morning I was still having to crawl. So I played hooky and saw the doc.
The doc said I need arthroscopic surgery to clean up a torn meniscus. What bothers me is that I remember cutting out a newspaper article to use in my classes about a study of this type of surgery in which the placebo group (the ones who thought they'd had the surgery but didn't) got as much pain relief as the ones who got the real surgery. So I'm leery enough to stick my nose back into Egoscue's book instead.
Meanwhile the doc sent me to buy an expensive knee brace. It's fantastic. I'm cured! I'm walking!!
I dunno, maybe I'll get the surgery. This damn knee has been a real pain-in-the-knee. I'm tired of having to be so careful of it. I hear they use MRI now to actually see the torn bit that needs to be removed so it will quit floating around and getting stuck in the wrong places. However, I will definitely discuss that article with the knee-doc before I go ahead.
posted by Cranky Ol' Lady at 8:41 PM
3 Comments:
Oh I share your pain! I have two arthritic knees, am destined for two replacements. My Doc says I'm a terrible patient so he's trying to put it off as long as possible. :-) I've had arthroscopic surgery on both my knees. I've never quite gotten all the range of motion back, and the healing time is sure longer than you expect it to be! Knees are tricky, complicated joints when they're working we don't think about them until (as you say) KAPOW! Best of Luck to you!!
How nice to find others complaining about extremities same as mine. Good to have company. My water aerobics for arthritics is a big help and I don't miss a single chance to exercise in the water. If you can get to a pool and a teacher, try this.
Nice to find your blog.
Hmmm, well, mine is thought to be the meniscus, not arthritic, but I won't really know for sure until I see the specialist Monday. Arthritic knee problems involve the cartilage that covers the ends of the long bones. A meniscus is one of the little semi-circular shock absorbers inserted where the ends of the long bones meet. They can get torn with twisting. I finally had to give up rollerblading when all the padding in the world could not keep me from twisting a knee in a fall.
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