setback

This is the last photo of my knees while they're a matching set...


Back at the beginning of May, I played an outdoor soccer match, as I had done every Wednesday night since the weather started warming up. I played ok, as usual. Drove home, as usual. Took a shower, worked for awhile, went to bed. As usual. When I woke up on Thursday morning my knee would barely support my weight and hurt like hell. I figured I'd managed to tweak something and vowed to stretch more before Sunday's indoor match.

I'm not the most gifted athlete in the world, but I do have a couple things going for me...I have a high tolerance for pain and I heal quickly. So when Thursday came...then Friday...then Saturday...and the knee was only feeling worse, I knew something pretty major was up with it. Of course I kept playing, but the next time out on the pitch, I found that I could go fine in a straight line, but every time I tried to cut or turn, the joint opened up and let out a really horrible pop. That settled it...I called the Shelbourne Knee Center. Dr. Shelbourne had repaired both of Kelly's torn ACLs and having seen him work and seen how seriously they approach rehab and getting the patient back not just to functionality but to 100% competition ready, there was no question who I was calling.

I met with Dr. Urch, the other surgeon in the office, and within 30 seconds he diagnosed my torn meniscus. We thought it was a relatively minor tear, and decided to put off surgery until the fall. Back I went to the soccer pitch. Problem was, the tear was getting worse. I thought i could play through it...I've finished matches on broken legs, after dislocating fingers, and on too many sprained ankles to count. This was different though...I didn't trust the joint, and worse, I couldn't tell from the feel of it when it was going to give out on me. So after two or three matches playing at about 60% I was frustrated and called Dr. Urch back to schedule my surgery.

After meeting with Bill, the rehab coordinator, I learned that the normal recovery time for a menisectomy was six to eight weeks. My goal...four weeks.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad