Meniscus Viscous

As my old neighbor, Sam Rouleau, use to say, “well shit a God damn“. Sue does not like me using that phrase but I feel it is totally appropriate here.

The first week in November, after working in the wood pile for several days, I woke up in the middle of the night with my right knee throbbing and I was unable to bend it. My first thought was total knee replacement and then I am going to leave the first week of January in Shiny even if I’m on crutches.

On the 10th of November I limp into my primary care physician’s office. Doc Badman orders up some x-rays which I had done the same day.  His office called the next day saying no bone damage and the next step would be an MRI. Like 90 weight oil (hence the word viscous) it took nearly a stinkin’ month for Federal Blue Cross and Blue Shield to approve the MRI! I have read that opponents to a single payer healthcare system say the Canadian system is too slow. Ya right.

Meanwhile my damn knee is killing me! Out of desperation I did some knee brace research online. I found a website called betterbraces.com.  They had a little tree that you went down asking which knee, where it hurt and so on. At the end they recommend a certain brace for your problem. It happened to be Black Friday and there was 45% off  that day so the brace was only going to cost me $47. I took a chance, bought the brace and added 2nd day shipping for $5.

It was the best $52 I’ve ever spent!! Immediate relief. It didn’t cure anything but it supported my knee enough so I could go on short walks and walk around the house.

Finally I get the approval for the MRI on December 1st. The insurance company called and asked me to have it done at Huggins Hospital instead of another hospital that was closer because it was half the price. I was ok with that and it turned out to be a Godsend because everything happened so quickly at Huggins. Did I mention we’re leaving in Shiny in January?

In very quick succession, everything taking place at Huggins Hospital, MRI on the 4th, diagnosis of medial meniscus tear on the 5th, appointment with the Orthopedic surgeon on the 8th, and Arthroscopic surgery on the 15th.

Now here I am on the 16th writing this blog post with my very sore knee elevated and iced. My loving wife waiting on me hand and foot.

Maybe I won’t need crutches after all. But if I do, shit a God damn, we’re hooking up Shiny the first week in January and we are heading south.

I am a lucky guy.