More information revealed

In the February 1 "Yogi Berra" post, I mentioned that I had torn the meniscus in my knee. That was from a quick report from a nurse via phone message. Yesterday, I finally got to meet with the surgeon and see the MRI images. A very interesting meeting. First about the surgeon. I had heard that he was very good and worked with university and high school athletes and that he lives "just across the road" from our addition. After meeting him, I also found that his dad and several other relatives are veterinarians, some of whom I have taught. I don't think I told you that because of the pain and lack of time before leaving for Corvallis, I called to make an "emergency" appointment back in January. My regular doctor was booked, but I got in with a physician's assistant who seemed to know what she was talking about.... and scheduled the MRI. Well, her dad is also a veterinarian. I do remember speaking with both of these dads while working at the university.

So what did I learn yesterday? I went into the meeting thinking that there was a small tear in the cartilage which would need to be trimmed up a bit by arthroscopy and I would be "as good as new" in a few days. I got a surprise. This image is very much like that of my knee. The image on the left is "as is" and I have retouched the one on the right. The bright green triangle is the normal lateral meniscus. In these images, fluid is white. You can see that on the medial side fluid has replaced the medial meniscus. Adjacent to the place where the meniscus should be, you see a large white area in the bone. This is bone contusion or edema (fluid and inflamation) in the bone caused by irritation from bone on bone contact. This tells us that the medial meniscus is not just torn, but gone.. It has been destroyed and no longer provides the normal cushion. All options presented for therapy are temporary except a "knee replacement" surgery. I'm guessing that will only be on the medial side, like this image, but will know more at my next meeting. What I do know is that it will be a 3 day hospital stay and lots of physical therapy. They expect me to be "out of commission" for 4-6 weeks. Obviously with Georgia's other foot in the offing, it seems like our home will be a recovery ward for a while.  He does surgery on Thursdays and does about 6 of these each Thursday. He is booked into July, so unless there is a cancellation, I will be pretty much "as is" until late July. Instead of being out of commission for a few days in April, I now expect to be down for several weeks this late summer. Yes, prayers are accepted. Thanks.