I have decided to write about my most recent knee surgery. I last had knee surgery in December of 2002 and I almost completely forgot what it all entailed. So, this seems like a good way to remember it for the future. I do hope I don't need another one but who knows??

Sometime in February of 2007 I was taking off my knit pants and caught the leg on my sock and fell over. I am pretty sure this is when I first hurt my left knee. I do remember the pain. Then at the end of February I went to Amy's to see Josh Groban in Chicago. (A whole other story - never did get to see or hear him due to ice storms.) Coming out of a restaurant, I fell on the ice, pretty much right on my left knee. So, I wasn't surprised by the fairly constant pain from then on in my knee. Before we went to Key West in March for Spring Break, I went to Urgent Care because of the pain. They did an x-ray and said it was probably bursitis...wrap it and take tylenol or aspirin. We went to KW and I was able to bike ride so was fine there. Walking any distance wasn't easy though. The day we came back I was taking things upstairs and my knee completely "went out." It popped and I fell on the stairs. Bob came flying and landed on top of me. He says it was because I was sliding down the stairs! I couldn't move and it was unbelievably painful. We put it in a knee stabilizer and I did nothing for the rest of the weekend but sit with it up. On Monday, I went to Urgent Care again but was directed to make an appointment with the Sports Medicine doctor, Dr. Eccles. That happened about a week later. She set up an MRI, I went back to see her again and she said I had a torn meniscus. So, then on I went to the Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Huibregtse, at Dean Riverview Clinic.

There really weren't a lot of options, it seemed. I just wanted it to be better! There were way too many things to do in the next few months to just sit around and hope it got better. So, I scheduled arthroscopic surgery on Thursday, May 3rd. That was last Thursday and all seems to have gone well so far. Getting ready for surgery involved not eating after midnight and no liquids after 5 am. Bob took me in at 8 am and my blood pressure was pretty high. Just the way it is, I guess. I was home by 1 pm and pretty much just slept all day and evening that day. Oh, and took a lot of Vicodin, too. It was a rather uncomfortable night of interrupted sleep. I used both crutches and just hobbled wherever I had to go. By the way, bathroom trips involve a lot of fancy manuvering and a bit of pain, too. Friday and Saturday were more of the same.

I have set up in the living room on the couch --a table next to the couch, the ottoman for my two pillows for my knee and pillows behind me and ice as needed. The ice seems to be needed fairly regularly (a half an hour every couple hours...), it seems. I am trying to do the exercises that are on the sheet given to me at the Surgery Center. The straight leg raise is very difficult to do --and I am more than ready to get the wrap and dressing off...and shower... I have an appointment tomorrow morning with the surgeon and, hopefully, all will go well and I will be really on the way to a good recovery!

I am off work for the next week and that is a good thing, I think. But sitting around gets pretty old and very quickly, too. If the weather isn't good, that actually might help me stay put. If it is nice outside, I could be drawn into yard work of some sort. And that might not be the smartest thing I could be doing right now. Guess I will be reading, watching really bad TV and surfing the net. Having the laptop handy is a wonderful thing!