Friday, September 18, 2015

X-ray Done, MRI Coming Soon...Hopefully

A week ago today, I visited my arm surgery doc to start discussing my left knee issues. In case you haven't followed along at home (if not, I don't blame you!), my left knee has been hurting for about two years now, and has gotten progressively worse. It's usually a sharp pain underneath my kneecap (lower, inner part) that most often shows up when my foot hits the ground when I'm running. Usually, it hurts badly for the first mile or two, then settles down the rest of the way. But if I try to run too often, it seems to last longer and, eventually, I'm forced to take a break from running altogether. Currently, I've been running twice per week, 3-5 miles at a time. Yesterday, during a 5 mile run, the knee hurt for about 3 miles. Getting close to that "take a break" time again, it seems.

Anyway, I had an X-ray last Friday, which showed nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the doc said there was nice spacing around the joint (meaning I haven't totally destroyed my cartilage yet). He also wiggled my kneecap around and didn't feel much grinding or clicking. At that point, he gave me two choices: start physical therapy or get an MRI. I chose the latter, just because I want to know for sure what's going on in there...assuming an MRI will disclose that information. So now I have to wait for approval from my insurance company. I've met my deductible, but due to slow processing by said insurance company, that's not "official" just yet. So, I may not get approved anytime soon. And I'd rather not pay out-of-pocket for this MRI, especially after all of my recent medical expenses.

As for my broken arm, it's coming along fairly well. I'm still wearing the splint, and when it's off (when I'm showering or changing the sleeve under it), my arm feels very fragile and vulnerable. It hurts to bend my wrist in any direction. The incision is healing quite well, though, so I'm hoping that the scar won't be too ugly in the future. I go in for a checkup at the end of this month (Sept.) to possibly schedule my first session of occupational therapy, to try to get some strength and mobility back. I'm looking forward to having two functional arms once again.

Even though I could probably set up my trainer and do some indoor riding, I haven't done it yet. I'm pretty sure my bike needs some attention. Actually, I could probably get it into rideable condition for the trainer, but I'm sure it's not ready to ride outdoors. It'll need a pretty serious tune-up at the shop first.

So, things certainly haven't been boring here in Resurrected Runnerland.

But, honestly, boring sounds pretty good about now...

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