October 26, 2007

S&*% D@&% H#!!

There was one thing in particular that I didn’t want to hear when I saw the orthopedic surgeon/sports medicine doctor today. ONE THING. One thing was all I asked NOT to hear.

I heard it.

I have a torn ACL.

Here’s the weird part. According to the doctor, when someone tears their ACL for the first time, there is an artery in the ACL that bleeds profusely into the knee. Usually, the doctor said, he has to use a needle to take the blood out because there’s just so much of it in there. I don’t have that problem. He must have asked me at least three times, while he was wiggling my knee around and showing how it’s not supposed to move, if I ever had a knee injury before, if I had torn my ACL before.

I haven’t. He said that when someone tears their ACL for the second time, it’s like mine (very little swelling), so he thinks that maybe I had already torn my ACL in the past. He also said that it’s a possibility that I will wake up tomorrow with a lot more swelling and pain.

I’ve never really had knee problems though. I remember a couple years ago when we were moving out of our third floor apartment. My knee was bothering me at the end of the day, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be fixed with a couple ibuprofen and a night of rest.

Mr. BBM went with me and asked all kinds of questions. I heard him ask about a partial versus a full tear. The doctor said that it’s not a partial tear, not with the way my knee was moving during his exam. It’s torn, plain and simple. It’s sort of feels like things just aren’t connected in there anymore which is exactly what a torn ACL is, I guess.

He talked about surgery options, and rehab options. It seemed to me like he was leaning more strongly towards rehab, especially since I don’t have all the swelling and I didn’t tear the meniscus too. He said that no matter what, I’ll be fitted for a good knee brace and that will be part of my karate uniform from now on.

He asked if I had any questions and I could only think of one: "I was hoping to maybe test for my black belt in February. Any possibility of that still happening?" I think I cringed while waiting for the answer.

"With surgery, no way," he said, "with rehab and a good brace, it’s still a possibility."

Doctors orders are to put no weight on it, keep it elevated, and ice it over the weekend; and then call them on Monday to tell them how I’m feeling, and plan the next steps.

I’m out for a minimum of a couple weeks. Grouchy BBM posts to follow for the foreseeable future.

Hanshi told me last night that injuries always happen in three’s.

Whiplash,

Sore wrist,

Torn ACL.

I am SO done. I hope he’s right.