It’s on NYE, my right knee gave up and I couldn’t stand on dance floor. I felt like someone kicked on my knee outside in twice in split seconds. I couldn’t sit in car without falling down. We drove to emergency at 12:30 in the morning on Jan 1st 2013. I was given immobilizer to stabilize my knee and was asked to use ice pack to avoid swelling. I asked for an x-ray report and it showed nothing.
Follow up appointment with orthopedic:
I was getting better with my walking though little far from being perfect. I booked a follow up to get an orthopedic opinion. If I did not fall down again in my office while walking, I wouldn’t have bothered putting more questions. But I did fall down and Ortho asked for MRI scan.
MRI room:
This is another day. A scary thing without second doubt! You shouldn’t move for 20 minutes. You shouldn’t watch those rays in front of you as they are dangerous. I felt so conscious and moved all my body parts. Technician there said, he is going to try one more time or else he will put me on medication so that I wouldn’t move. I was disappointed and more conscious not to move my body parts. This time I was successful.
Follow up appointment:
Big day! Ortho said my ACL is fully torn and I have to go through surgery. As an alternative I can go through Physiotherapy but no guarantee that I will not need surgery. Ortho took me through the ACL reconstruction surgery video. At this point, I knew they are going to get into my knee and shave torn tissue, open tunnel etc., nothing pleasant. I was warned of severe pain post surgery and no travel. Being fast in decision making, I wanted to schedule surgery appointment for following Tuesday to get the surgery done but I am married. I have to take consensus before making decisions and I had orthodontic appointment following week to check on braces.
Orthodontic appointment:
After 20 months of having braces and restricting myself on biting few food items like burger, I am tired of braces. Doc asked me to keep them for few more weeks. I requested him to take them off to be ready for surgery so that I don’t have to come to this doc post surgery. Thus! Braces are removed. From orthodontics to orthopedics now.
Second opinion:
I am restless between surgery and physiotherapy. Everyone around me had their say. Even people who doesn’t have a clue about ACL and pain had their say. I wanted to get an appointment with Physiotherapist to get his view. I called pro-club and they had orthopedics too but no surgery center. Good one, no business of pushing patients towards surgery. I visited doc for second opinion. He looked into my MRI reports and said, it’s all spaghetti inside now and I have to go through surgery. My question “did dance really do this”, he said it must be skiing or some other activity in December before dance and I did not realize it. He said dance wouldn’t cause such a damage. Alright, it feels reasonable now. I did my first time skiing during X-mas a week before NYE. No second guess on surgery, I can try PT but ACL re-construction wouldn’t happen on its own. I might be able to walk now after PT, but risk of falling down is same even after PT.
Conclusion:
Decided to go on surgery. Couldn’t wait. Called doc on Thursday to check on Tuesday slot but it was booked. I made some reasons to get faster appointment and they said, they will look into it. They did not update me anything later. Some guy who provides rental CPM and other post surgery equipment called me and said, he got an order to deliver this equipment to me by Friday as surgery is on Monday. I said, it’s a news. I did not know that I got surgery scheduled for Monday. Called doctor’s assistant and confirmed. Paid some annual deductible on Friday to get things going. Surgery experience in my next post.
We did not know about my recovery time from bed. We decided to make better week end. We went for a long drive to mountain loop again into snow (accidentally) :) and We watched silver linings. Enjoyed Spartacus.
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