Knee Surgery

When Mary was here for Spring break, I got to work out a little more than usual--Jim was off to spend more time with her, so he was also here to watch the kids while I went to the gym. Our elliptical at home isn't working anymore, so I was thrilled to be able to go workout. I promise, I wasn't overdoing it. I also played volleyball with a group twice while Mary was here at the church. It was great fun. However, at the end of the week--that Friday night, I was starting to feel sore in my left knee and right heel. I just thought I had pulled something and put heat on it and took a few Ibuprofen. After two weeks of real pain (and I have a high pain tolerance, so you know this was real pain), I finally decided it wasn't going away on its own I got a referral and saw a knee doc. I had my first MRI--it wasn't scary, either, though I only had to be in the tube up to my waist. Instead of a meniscus tear as originally thought, the doc told me I had a piece of cartilage about the size of a nickel floating around getting stuck where it shouldn't be and that was causing the pain. So, on Monday, he went in arthroscopically and got rid of not one, not two but three pieces of cartilage that had broken off. Normally, he would have fully repaired teh spot where the cartilage had been, but that would mean a 6-8 week recovery on crutches. Not with three little kids and a teenager! I may be fine with the make-do fix, or when I have a few months to sit and do nothing, I may reconsider the repair. All in all, though, my surgery went well and I only had crutches for 2 1/2 days. Now, I am working on bending. I get stitches out on Wednesday. I'll post some pics then.