We interrupt your regular web surfing for this important medical update…
<serious tone> Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, we interrupt your regular web surfing for this important medical update.
Well, I went to the orthopedist on Thursday the 13th. I had my dad drive me – I was half expecting the doctor to work some magic and then I wouldn’t be able to drive. So the doctor looks at my knee, pushes here and there, generally causes me misery and says, yup, you have a problem here. He took some x-rays in his office; I waited for 10 minutes and he came back and showed me perfect pictures of my perfect bones. No fragments, no bone bits running around in there – which is good news. He told me due the pain I was in and the lack of issues on the x ray, he was going to send me for an MRI.
Now, I was hoping he was just going to drain my knee and I could go on my merry way. But he was concerned about the cartilage in my knee, and draining would not take care of that. So the MRI was ordered so he could get a good look at the inside of my knee without surgery. (Gotta love a doctor who isn’t ready to cut you up any chance he gets!).
Of course, it is not as simple as just making an appointment for an MRI. It needs to be pre-approved by your insurance. (I hear they are kinda expensive tests, if you can believe that!). So I waited Friday (patiently), Saturday and Sunday (mostly patiently – after all, it is the weekend), and all the way up to Monday afternoon before I called the doctor’s office to check on the status. They were very helpful, but it was still “in process”. I got the call from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, calling to make the appointment. So I guessed it got approved. After setting up the MRI for Friday the 21st, I called the ortho doctor to make an appointment for 3 or 4 days after that. Unfortunately, because of his schedule and the impeding Thanksgiving holiday, the earliest I could get in was Monday DEC. 1. URGGG!! But, at least I have the MRI appointment within the week, so it really is the best I could hope for.
So I had The Hubby drive me to the hospital for the MRI. Now, MRI’s are not invasive – no needles, no medication – so I didn’t necessarily need him to drive me. But I knew I would feel better if I knew he was out there for me if I needed him. Plus, I didn’t know how tired out I would be from holding so still for 30 or more minutes in what I assumed would be a difficult position for my knee.
So we go through all the paperwork junk and are in the waiting area for the MRI. It turns out the MRI is actually in a semi trailer attached to the hospital. It’s my turn to go in (there was someone before me) and I hobble into the enclosed room. Now, since this is a giant magnet, they don’t want you to have anything metallic on your person or in your clothing. I was prepared – yoga pants, sports bra, tshirt, no jewelry or watch – so I laid down on the table and the technicians put my knee into a tube (cut in half horizontally), put a support under my knee, put the top half of the tube on, re-adjusted my knee, wedged some foam in between my knee and the tube and then was put inside the MRI tube.
They told me there would be loud noises, gave me a set of headphones to listen to the radio, gave me the “panic” button if I was in too much pain or freaking out, and left the room. They were right – it is definitely loud. It reminded me of the sound diesel trucks make while they are just waiting at stop lights or parking lots. Then there would be a different set of noises – just as loud, but different, like tapping.
I practiced my tai chi breathing. I breathed in slowly, felt it move up from my feet to my head, and then down again as I exhaled. It was a little distracting with the noise, but not horribly so. My mind wandered a bit – I started to think about things I had to do and how my knee was hurting. Every time I thought about my knee, I refocused on my breathing. About halfway through the MRI, the tech came on the headphone set to tell me it was halfway done and that I was doing fine. It was about this point that I started to have the strangest sensation. I felt my knee muscles twitch. I was sure they were going to tell me to stop moving – but I didn’t hear anything from the techs. I kept feeling the muscles move – spasm is probably a better word for it. It didn’t hurt – it was just like an involuntary muscle movement. I just kept on breathing and picturing my first tai chi section.
So I finished up the MRI, put my shoes back on (man was it chilly in there! my toes were getting numb!) and hobbled back to The Hubby. We drove up to his office, I dropped him off and I ran a few errands before going home. Once I got home, I seemed to have a burst of energy. I cleaned up the kitchen, made the taco meat for The Boy, and made a batch of Rice Krispie treats.
Now, to make the rice krispie treats, I had to go downstairs to get the marshmallows. I have been wanting to bake for over a week now, and I figured rice krispies would be simple enough, but I never got around to going to the basement to get the marshmallows. So I got down there, did some re-arranging of the stockpile, and brought up some things I had been wanting – including the marshmallows.
I got myself set up on the couch to start my work for the day. I generally have my knee up while I work on the couch. The Hubby moved a small table behind the couch and I have the printer, my Scan Snap and a basket of office supplies on it. There is room for the laptop when I am not using it, plus a little spot for a glass if I am thirsty. Overall, it works (but I sure do miss being in my office). So, I got started on some work stuff until The Hubby called and asked me to pick him up at lunchtime. We were going to go pick up his car from getting the oil changed. So I ran up to his office, then up to the car dealership, and then back home.
The afternoon was nothing special – some more work and The Boy came home and then went out with some friends. After dinner, I took him to another friend’s house for a party and he got a ride home from that. We went to bed kind of late (11:30 or so) because we got sucked into our new Netflix account (more on that later on sometime).
I slept for 6 and 1/2 hours straight! NO dogs, no cat, no snoring woke me up. I only woke up because I needed to go the bathroom – and then I fell back asleep for another hour until the dogs woke me up. I can’t remember the last time I slept that long without interruption! It felt so good.
When I did get out of bed, I noticed my knee didn’t seem to hurt as much. I took a closer look, and it doesn’t look at all swollen today! It still hurts to walk on it or bend it, but the swelling seems to be gone (for now anyway!). I can almost see the light at the end of this tunnel – and it may not even be a truck ready to run me over!