I went through the workout normally. The leg felt great after the workout. That day, at work, the knee began to stiffen up and become painful. I limped out of work around 6:00pm in significant pain. After climbing two flights of stairs to get to my living room, the knee went hyper-critical. It swelled up to twice the size of its companion, and locked in a bent position. I could not straiten the joint. Putting weight on my right leg was excruciating, and mean crucifixion excruciating. I have a high tolerance for pain also. Climbing one flight of stairs to get to my bedroom was pure murder. My blood pressure was totally elevated by the time I got there. I was sweating.
I saw a bit of footage the next day which indicated that Troy Palamalu was going to return to action for the Steelers after his dreadful injury. I saw footage of him walking off the field after the injury occurred. I was no where near as ambulatory as he was. It was at that point that I knew that Dr. Bachner was going to perform some sort of surgery.
I spent about 24 hours on the couch doing heat a cold treatments. I pressed my steam cleaner into use for something the engineers had never intended it for. I steamed my knee joint. All of this helped. The inflammation steadily decreased, and I was able to begin limping with an improvised walking stick. When yesterday (Thursday) morning came, I was able to make it down the stairs to my car and drive to my appointment with the doctor. It sure as hell wasn't easy.
Sure enough, Dr. Bachner set the date for 10/23/2009 at the West Hills Surgical Center. 1:30pm is Propofol time. The surgery is scheduled for 1 hour. At the moment we don't know precisely what will happen. Bachner is uncertain as to what the damage is, although he suspects a burst cyst or floating bone spurs. The previous MRI stated that I had both components necessary for this condition. His basic plan is to investigate and clean out the knee. If there is a full tear of the meniscus, another surgery will have to be scheduled.
I always knew it would come down to this. I have known for decades that I would have a date with the A-Scope sooner or later. It is not the O-Scope as some people call it. Basically, I am optimistic. I think I am going to get a big gain out of this. When Dr. Bachner gets in there, I suspect he will find a lot of little bone spurs he can get rid of. I suspect that that cyst burst also, and he can flush the fragments out of there. If this is the case, I will make big improvements.
