So here I am in the waiting room when the corpsman came out and asked me who told me I had a "Baker's Cyst" - kinda snotty, you know. I rattled off my doc's name & UT Hospital, Knoxville. I had not even finished when he was gone. (guess he thought I had diagnosed myself via internet). Then he takes me for x-rays and puts me in an exam room. The doc comes in and barely looks at my knee, goes to check the x-ray and comes back to tell me he can give me a shot. So, I ask, isn't there a reason my cyst has gotten larger. He proceeds to tell my I should take the shot, the cyst is of no real consequence as it has been at least 20 years since he had to aspirate one. I took the shot and left, knowing I would never go back if I could help it.
I got a recommendation that Celebration Orthopedics was good. Celebration is about 30 min from us, so figured it wasn't too far. Made an appt., picked up my x-rays, and away we go. Dr. Crumbie at Celebration actually looked at my knee!! Even moved it around!! Then he aspirated a lot of fluid off and told me I probably had a torn meniscus membrane and would most likely need surgery' but let's see how things go since he pulled the fluid off. What a relief to have a knee I could bend again. A couple weeks or later, I began to have shooting pains and my knee would would buckle. Back to Dr. Crumbie and an MRI. Yep, need surgery. After looking a the MRI he told me that he could do this surgery or go ahead and send me to joint replacement. Eek, that shook me! Was not mentally prepared for that. I declined replacement and elected the surgery to repair the meniscus, clean the "junk" out of my join and smooth down the "feathering" of the bone caused by arthritis.
Surgery on March 17 went well. They sent me home with an ice machine. Oh, what a wonderful invention that is! It's like this ice chest with a pump in it and 2 tubes attached. There is a "glove that fits on the knee and cold water is pumped thru this glove to keep the surgery site cold. They told me to keep it on for the next 48 hrs. TM kept the cooler full of cold water and ice - really only had to do anything about ever 8 hrs or so - and I was a comfy camper. I had no swelling or pain- yah-hoo! Went back to the doc in 2 days, he was happy with the progress, rewrapped the joint, told me to walk as normally as possible and to start my physical therapy Sheila had brought some crutches, but I didn't need them.
Every thing is going fine now. If I sit too long, it gets really stiff - but that was happening anyway. I have been assured that I don't have but 2 or 3 yrs before replacement is necessary due to the arthritis damage. We'll deal with that when the time comes.
That's my story and I am sticking to it!
We are having a good time here in Knoxville with A & J, hooking up with old friends, and being with our brethren at Laurel. Went today to Rogersville to see family and had a great time.
God Bless
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