Last week was a nightmare for me; dealing with doctors, MRIs and physical therapists. I have a deep distrust and dislike of most doctors, due to years of horrible encounters. I remember a few years ago going to a doctor to complain the medicine he’d given me was making me sleepy. You know what he said? Drink some Mountain Dew and you’ll wake up. I kid you not. Geez.
I had a similar experience last week when I was wrongly told my left knee had arthritis and some kind of meniscus tear, needing surgery to fix. When I heard the doc pronounce my doom, I admit I took it badly. Two physical therapy sessions (also unpleasant) into Doc One’s pre-op prescription, I scheduled a second opinion. I couldn’t shake the nagging suspicion this guy didn’t know what he was talking about. The doctor I scheduled a second opinion with was personally recommended by a friend. Anyone was bound to be better than the guy who was ready to put me out to pasture.
Doctor Two knew his stuff. He informed me I did indeed have a tiny horizontal tear in the lateral meniscus, but surgery would make it worse. He was quick to add the pain I experience is not due to the tear but to something called patella femoral syndrome. PFM happened in my case when the knee got wacked outta alignment during taijutsu. I unwittingly made it worse by favoring Leftie, thus decreasing the muscles used to hold the patella in pain-free alignment. Not only was the pain not due to a tear, it wasn’t linked to the arthritis I had because I don’t have arthritis. An x-ray showed my cartilage to be healthy and happy. Doc Two even said, “I wouldn’t operate on those knees.”
So no arthritis and no pain from some gi-normous mystery tear. It makes sense. I always thought something was fishy with the way Leftie felt. Yes, it hurts like a sumabitch, but it doesn’t hurt in the same places Leftie One (my first meniscus tear) hurt. I initially thought it was a horrible meniscus tear due to the popping and the pain, when in reality it’s a tiny tear and the pain is due to something else. I can perform activities a meniscus tear would prohibit but it hurts to kneel, bend or to sit too long. All which point to the patella femoral syndrome. With time and the right help, I’ll be stronger than I was before the injury, how’s that for good news?
Relieved is not a strong enough word for what I felt leaving Doc Two’s office. I’m not going to be crippled, I will get back on the mat, and I will have my spring bike rides! But only after intense physical therapy. A., the friend who recommended Doc Two, warned me this guy’s hardcore with his therapy. Awesome, my kind of guy!
This blog is my confession booth, soapbox and publisher. This is a record past, present and future of my personal journey in becoming a more healthy and spiritually developed individual due to influences from
March 5th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
The fact that the doctor was so good and competent was the best news I’ve heard in a long time! Yay, leftie!
March 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
[...] going to the doctor three weeks ago for my diagnosis for Leftie, I left with a prescription for three weeks of physical therapy. The physical therapy, aka, PT, [...]
May 13th, 2008 at 11:54 am
[...] suck for slacking, but things have been pretty busy lately, what with all the physical therapy and doctors visits. Speaking of, I went back to taijutsu last week for the first time in seven months. Incredible. It [...]
May 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am
[...] Well, Leftie doesn’t need surgery, so that leaves one I know I need for sure, body contouring, and one which is still up in the air, hernia. [...]
May 27th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
[...] me to the insurance company to get the skin removed. I’ll be damned if I work this hard on my knee injury and hip impingement only to have it mean nothing because twenty pounds I couldn’t ever shed [...]