I thought I'd write up the story of Claude's knee. Especially for any of
you that may end up having to have this done also. My husband Claude has
been my running companion for years now. But he's almost always had
small, nagging knee pains. He went to the podiatrist, who found that his
leg bones are a bit misaligned and got custom orthotics. That helped,
but the pain wasn't completely gone.
A couple of years ago, he tripped on the Thanksgiving CC Classic and
hurt his ankle and knee. The ankle was worse, but healed. The knee
quit hurting as much but never quite was the same. But he was still
able to run, up to half-marathons. And then, this last April, while
we were in Germany he slipped going down a steep, muddy hill. His
knee hurt quite a bit then, but did get better over time. However,
after this incident there was a "clunking" on the the inside, and
you could feel a lump of something. But still, he was able to run
fairly well with only occaisional pain. Until a few weeks ago.....
He was working, and tripped going up the stairs to the cafeteria. It
wasn't much more than a toe snag, but he torqued the knee outward.
From then on, the knee was acutely painful. I suggested that he call
the sports med clinic, and he did. They saw him pretty quickly. The
doctor manipulated the knee, and thought he probably tore the lateral
meniscus. But first it had to be verified by MRI. That, of course, took
another week to schedule, then a few more days to get the results
and the consultation. It was a torn meniscus. So surgery was scheduled
for the following week.
We had to be there at 6AM for the surgery, Claude without having eaten
or drank for 12 hours. I tried not to eat anything or complain until
he was in for surgery (though I was starving). They of course shaved
the knee area, and marked a large "X" on it. Both the doctor and the
anesthesiologist came out and talked to us. Then they took him away.
I ofcourse raided the hospital kitchen. It was only half an hour later
that the doctor came out to say he was done with the surgery, and
had brought the pictures he took through the arthroscope. He'd trimmed
back 3mm of torn out meniscus. But the really great news was that the
surfaces of Claude's bones looked super, absolutely smooth yet without
any signs of arthritis. And the ligaments also all looked excellent.
Claude came out of the anesthesia about a half hour later, and we were
able to leave to go home a while after that. He was able to walk on it
immediately. The bandaging was incredible, all the way from his groin
to his ankle!
Tomorrow will be one week. The bandages all came off last Friday,
revealing just two small slits where the arthroscope went in. The area
has some discoloration and swelling. But Claude has been walking on
it, and said it's the first time in years he's been able to go up and
down stairs without pain. The followup appt was yesterday, and the doc
wants him to do as much walking, biking, or swimming as he wants. But
no running until December. (What, a week away!) After that, slow
buildup, then basically as much running as he wants, as long as it
doesn't hurt. Doc thinks it will be fine. And Claude is already
amazed at how much better it is. Seems there may have been a little
tear in there for awhile. I'm very thrilled that it looks like he may
be able to be pain-free!
Sorry if this rambled a bit, but I'm trying to crank it out rather
quickly....
Teresa in AZ