Knee update
Apr. 5th, 2013 12:59 pmExcellent news about my knee: I do have a major tear in the left medial meniscus (he called it a bucket-handle tear - basically it's split down the middle) BUT it doesn't need operating on if I can deal with the pain OK, which I can at the moment. If it does start causing trouble down the line it can be operated on at that point just as easily as if it were done now, there are no disadvantages to putting the operation off.
This is better than I had hoped - the only two outcomes I had imagined were likely was
(a) to be told there's nothing wrong, which would trigger my self-doubt and also make me think they'd missed something important because although it's OK now it was *very* painful at the start, or
(b) to be told there's something wrong which would be validating but would mean I needed surgery which is really bad for my general health when I'm this weak/sick to start with.
The surgeon did say that if I was even a regular average adult not into sports he would have recommended it be operated on, but because I can hardly walk anyway that I'm fine to leave it. And at the moment there are other things that limit my walking distance way before my knee does, so that makes sense to me. He did also point out that with a history of CRPS/RSD in my right arm I had a decent chance of triggering it in my leg if it were operated on, which is another problem I had not even thought of and a hideous thing to contemplate.
So yeah, this way I get validated AND I get to avoid surgery! Woot! I am so VERY MUCH relieved and happy about this!! :)
This is better than I had hoped - the only two outcomes I had imagined were likely was
(a) to be told there's nothing wrong, which would trigger my self-doubt and also make me think they'd missed something important because although it's OK now it was *very* painful at the start, or
(b) to be told there's something wrong which would be validating but would mean I needed surgery which is really bad for my general health when I'm this weak/sick to start with.
The surgeon did say that if I was even a regular average adult not into sports he would have recommended it be operated on, but because I can hardly walk anyway that I'm fine to leave it. And at the moment there are other things that limit my walking distance way before my knee does, so that makes sense to me. He did also point out that with a history of CRPS/RSD in my right arm I had a decent chance of triggering it in my leg if it were operated on, which is another problem I had not even thought of and a hideous thing to contemplate.
So yeah, this way I get validated AND I get to avoid surgery! Woot! I am so VERY MUCH relieved and happy about this!! :)