SURGERY- TORN LATERAL MENISCUS

I'm on my first full day of recovery after surgery. "Surgery?!" you ask?  well here's how it all happened.

Late August 2012, I was doing lateral burpees in a workout. I didn't hear anything pop, but afterwards I realized that my left knee was hurting considerably. Because I have a rather high pain tolerance, I was thinking to myself "well, i'll just ice it and see how it goes. If it doesn't go away in a few days, I'll go to the doctor. Well, it didn't get better, it got worse:

My normal right knee, vs. my abnormally swollen left knee.

So then I finally decided to see my primary care physician who diagnosed me as having patella tendonitis or "jumper's knee." He wasn't an expert (duh!!) so he #1. ordered an x-ray and #2. ordered me to go see an orthopedist.

On a side note: let me tell you all that if you have an HMO change it to a PPO right now! Sometimes I feel like the ridiculous back and forth and procedural "crap" that had to be followed was by far worse than the surgery itself. 

My best friend works for one of the best orthopedic surgeons in this country. He is the one that fixes problems that were not able to be fixed by other orthopedic surgeons. He also fixes botched orthopedic procedures. I first gave the x-ray to her to have her doctor look at it and went to go see him as well. he told me that I have severe arthritis in my left knee and because of it had probably injured it before and  didn't know about it. My bones looked like that of a little japanese grandmother. He said i had to change my lifestyle immediately. Limit the weight you put on it. Be careful and don't wear stiletto heels. WHAT?1 i can't wear heels anymore?! NO! and then he said platforms might be okay. I sighed a sigh of relief.

I walked out of there with some instruction and a handicap placard.

I had scheduled my appointment with my HMO orthopedist. He did the knee pulling, pushing, etc. test and immediately tells me that i have a torn meniscus. Get an MRI.
After scheduling the MRI, setting another appointment and after 2 weeks go by, I walk into the office again.

He shakes his head "you're gonna have to get surgery."
Yeah, so care to explain why? "...come and see your MRI and i'll tell you what's going on."
He pulls the MRI up on the screen and tells me that there should be a triangle shaped space in between the femur bone and the tibia bone. That would be the space where your meniscus is. Mine is squished and the triangle shape is no longer there. In short, my meniscus is shredded and a lot of the pain is caused by the non-functioning meniscus irritating the bones and area around it.

So then the surgery is scheduled but in the meantime, I tweak my right knee. YUP, this might not be the only surgery that I have this year. Ugh!

Here we are present day. My surgery was yesterday and it went well!
I checked in at 8:15am and my surgery was scheduled for 10:20, but I didn't get in until around 10:45am. After checking in, I was told to put on a blue paper gown. "Take everything off including all jewelry and put it in this bag, You get a locker with your name on it for the time you are here. We also need a urine sample."

After getting into the gown they laid me down in a sort of "waiting room" gurney they hooked the hospital gown to a hose and it would blow hot or cold air to make sure you were comfortable. You also had your own T.V. with controls.

One nurse came in and we signed some consent forms. 15 minutes later, another nurse came in and put an IV in me. "It's just water and electrolytes." she says.
30 minutes later, I'm feeling quite hydrated.

Some time goes by and my orthopedist comes in a takes a marker and draws incision marks on my knee and a few minutes after that, the anesthesiologist comes in and says: "we're gonna give you something in your IV that's gonna make you "relax" and then after we'll give you something that's going to make you fall asleep."

okay that sounds good to me. A few literal seconds later. I feel AMAZING, and by amazing it's like the relaxation you feel when you don't care at all. Everything is kinda fuzzy. I mean it's true, just like in the movies. They wheel me out into the O.R.  and all I see are bright lights in a very bright room. They put an oxygen mask on me and the nurse says "just relax and breathe" and then "poof" i'm out!

It took approximately 1 hour for the arthroscopic procedure which ended up being the least invasive way to take care of the issue.

I woke up in the recovery room very fuzzy and had a nurse monitoring my recovery. Within another 15 minutes, they wheel me out to another waiting-type room where I was greeted by another nurse asking me if I wanted ice chips or juice, etc. I preferred the apple juice. THE BEST thing since sliced bread at that point let me tell you! Especially because I hadn't eaten anything or had any liquids in 24 hours.

I was then greeted by my sis-in-law and my baby nephew. "how are you feeling?" And from then on, I'm feeling better and better every minute.

I had a partial menisectomy. Did you all know that a meniscus never grows back? You just gotta deal with the hand thats given to you.

Hanging out at my brother and sis-in-law's place.
Emi just had her baby boy Luca, and was taking care of this big baby as well.

As I write and blog, I'll be in this position for the next day or 2 and then I should be fine and start walking without any assistance. I was told minimal weight on the leg. I should be as good as new pending the diagnosis on my right leg. SIGH!!!! Headed for a speedy recovery people! :D

In my room and on my bed, typing away...