Days of Blue

Brace yourselves for some medical terminology...*Evil Laughter*

I went to the doctor this afternoon, hoping i'd get a opinion that validated the feeling of stupidity for showing up in an orthopedic surgeon's clinic with no apparent swelling of bruising in my knee. "This is nothing. It just needs rest." I reassured myself as I knocked on Dr. Jesse Conjares office. I have to say something about Dr. Conjares clinic manners at this point (I feel like I owe the guy, you know) --- he was incredibly warm and friendly. I wish all doctors had his "aura".

Anyway, after asking me questions to form a detailed account of last Saturday's fall at the ice rink, he made me stand up and try to do certain things with my bad leg. I failed at all three tests of this sort. Then he sat me down and gently performed another three tests by rotating my leg and putting pressure on my knee. It hurt in all but one test.

My diagnosis? Dr. Jesse is sure I've hurt my medial collateral ligament (see picture), found on the inside of the knee joint and spanning the length of the end of the femur to the top of the tibia. I have a Grade II MCl tear which means 3-4 weeks of joint rest i.e. wearing a leg cast to immobilize the leg. He can't diagnose whether the anterior cruciate ligament or the meniscus cartilage have been torn along with my MCL right now. He said we'd have to wait until my MCL has healed to find out. The good news is that my X-rays are cleasn and I have no bone fractures.

So I'm sporting a blue leg cast that covers my left leg from my midthigh to my ankle. They seldom use plaster these days pala. They use fiberglass meshes that need just a bit of wetting to harden. The meshes come in a variety of bright colors. I guess my friends won't be able to doodle on this thing now. Wearing jeans is a problem (anyone have spare jogging pants?). Taking a bath and doing toilet stuff is a bit challenging. But I can still walk without crutches---cause for celebration! Now, if I could get AMP to help me getting to farther places... He does have a car... *Giggles*

In other news, my grandmother's first batch of blood tests are in and they're negative for diabetes. Happy happy happy. We're still waiting for the tests for other blood diseases. Keep her in your prayers. Thanks.

That's all for now. Be careful with your knees kids.