Get It All

I'm a bit calmer today after resigning myself to the fate of another incision. I now know what to completely expect: the pain, the stiffness, the swelling. This time should be different. This time it should turn out better (or so I am told). What I am finding out this time is that I'm not that afraid of the surgery, it is the rehab that has my stomach in a knot.

I'm returning to the site of my last clinical for my rehab. I stopped over there yesterday because after contacting Dale he told me to rule out a meniscal injury. I really didn't think it was that because I didn't have the symptoms in the right place. Everything that is clicking and grinding is right underneath the kneecap. Right now, scar tissue looks like the culprit. My patella has adhered down and is not moving well. And if your kneecap doesn't move, neither does the rest of the knee.

So I've been told, if the surgeon is going in, make sure he gets EVERYTHING and that I get full flexion and extension with surgery. Remind him several times, if need be. Apparently, my body likes to make scar tissue so removal of the offending stuff is crucial along with early mobility of the knee. Remembering from last time, it is going to kill. However, I am hoping that the pain tolerance I have developed from rehab after my last surgery is going to carry over to this time.

Later on, I got my MRI taken. This time, they made me wear a gown (no safety pins flying out of my pocket this time!) and I didn't get any music to listen to. Just ear plugs. I only had to go in partway because it is my knee that they were looking at. I spent my time trying to figure out all the buttons on the machine. I found the emergency stop buttons. Those were bright red. The whole thing was done in about 30 minutes and I got to leave with a copy of the images. I tried to look at them this morning but I can't see much. It looks like there is some tissue under the kneecap. I found my new ACL. It was near the PCL. The reason I found it is because it doesn't look "normal". It is where the ACL would be but it looks different and there are suture lines in it. Or something like that. As long as it holds, I'm fine with it.

I head back to the doctor in a week. I don't expect him to change his mind on surgery. And unless there is a way to take a chisel to it, I don't expect the scar tissue to disappear on its own.