POP! ...Goes the meniscus!

FRIDAY
This past Friday afternoon, while attending a church Men’s Retreat at Pineywoods camp outside Groveton, Texas, a bunch of us went out to a field to play some touch football. During our first possession, I ran an out pattern – five steps up, planted my left foot, did a sharp right turn, and then toppled to the ground. It seems that my left knee did not care to cooperate with the rest of my body and, instead of completing the route, it decided to dislocate at the knee joint.

Now I have dislocated it a few times in the past and would extend and retract my leg until it slid back into the socket, but this time was different. At first, it did not seem to want to go back into place easily, and it also hurt a lot more than any previous incident. However, not wanting to be the guy that couldn’t ‘play through the pain’, I got back up and attempted to hobble my way around the field playing what I could. After about 10-15 minutes of continued play, I felt my knee ‘sorta’ slide back into place, accompanied by a loud POP! that was audible to all the guys around me.

As it turned out, the reason the knee was not sliding back into the socket was because, when it popped out, it had twisted part of the lateral meniscus into the socket area and that was preventing the bone from moving back in. When the bone worked its way back into the socket, it did so by tearing the meniscus. The loud POP! was the sound of the meniscus being torn.

Since I thought I had just temporarily dislocated it, I didn’t bother to seek professional help, but instead, just tried to stay off of it and keep ice on it in hopes that the soreness would go away. I had hoped that – even though it sounded more damaging – that it was just a slight dislocation and the pain and soreness associated with it would pass with time and Ibuprofen. Unfortunately, the soreness and inability to fully bend or fully straighten my knee did not subside.

SATURDAY
Fortunately, it was my left knee that was injured, so I was still able to drive home Saturday afternoon after the retreat. Upon arrival at home, Kimberly promptly laid me out on the couch with ice and attempted to keep me there the rest of the night.

SUNDAY
When we got up Sunday morning, I was still in pain and unable to fully bend or straighten my knee. Kimberly took me to the Southwest Urgent Care facility to have it looked at by a doctor. After a couple of X-rays and consulting the doctor, they believed it was a torn ligament of some kind. So they scheduled an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image), to get a better look at the inside of the knee, for Monday at 4pm.

MONDAY
Monday morning, we scheduled an appointment with our soon-to-be Primary Care Physician, Dr. Siddarth Dave (Dah-vay), to look over the injury. After meeting with Dr. Dave, he said it sounded like a ligament tear also. So while impatiently waiting for 4pm to arrive, the facility called to cancel the MRI, but then rescheduled it at another facility, One Step Diagnostic, for Tuesday.

TUESDAY
Tuesday, we did the MRI and it was kind of a non-climactic visit. They took me into a room with a machine that looked like a giant hamburger. It had a sliding table that I laid on and slid me into the ‘meat’ area. Then, for the next 40 minutes, I had to lay as still as possible while the machine made all kinds of loud noises - knocking, whirring and vibrating. Once it was all said and done, we left. *yawn*

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday, we scheduled a visit with an Orthopedist (Orthopedic Surgeon) to review all the information. Dr. Pradeep Kodali is a very nice man with lots of information and very willing to answer all questions and explain every aspect of each option available. He has a great ‘bedside manner’ and is very easy to talk with. They took a couple of X-Rays and reviewed them and the MRI with me. It was really fascinating to look at the MRI and be able to move the view down through all the layers of tissue, sinew, muscle and bone. Anyway, he showed me the joint and the lateral meniscus and described how it should look, how it functions, etc. He also showed a part of the meniscus that had torn and moved in between the upper and lower leg bones thus preventing me from being able to fully extend or retract my leg.

In order to relieve the situation, surgery was required. For the surgery, there were two scenarios to consider: a) the meniscus is still in pristine condition, the tear is repairable and on the ‘good blood flow’ side of the meniscus; or b) the tear is on the ‘poor blood flow’ side of the meniscus, it is a bad tear, or it is not easily repaired. In the first situation, they could repair the meniscus, but would result in a long recovery. In the second situation, they could remove the torn part and result in a very fast recovery – can put weight on it soon after recovering from medications. We agreed that he would go in to remove the torn part, but - only with ideal conditions - would he attempt to repair the meniscus.

THURSDAY
Surgery was set for 10:30am Thursday morning and we had to be there at 8:30. Praise God that Dixie Moreau, a member of our weekly small bible study group (and the Nursery and Preschool Director at the church), was willing and able to pick up Evelyn and babysit her while we were at the hospital.

We went in and filled out all the obligatory paperwork and were shuffled into a small waiting room. A few minutes later, a nurse came along to escort us to a bed where they began the pre-op interrogation - seemingly several hundred questions about medical history, allergies, medications, etc. During all this, I slipped into a designer hospital gown with matching hat, met the group of people that were going to play with my innards while I slept, and painfully waited while a nurse probed the inside of my right hand – digging around trying to pierce the correct vein for the IV.

Kimberly soon said a prayer over me and I was wheeled away to the operating room. After two shots of ‘something relaxing’ in my IV, they had barely begun to put the gas mask over my face when I felt myself quickly drifting off into “La La Land”.

I awoke a couple hours later, with my left knee braced and bandaged, in a recovery room with Kimberly and a nurse. As it turned out, the injury was in good condition for the doctor to repair it instead of just removing it – which was good news. Now I just had to work my way through the pain and medication, as well as the nausea from the anesthesia.

After a few hours longer in the recovery room, sipping water and crackers (still had not eaten since 11:30pm the previous evening), I finally felt good enough to head home – with pain prescriptions in hand!

SATURDAY
Thursday night, Friday and today consisted of a rotation of me sitting up, laying down and napping; trying to eat and drink anything that will not ‘come back up’, and popping pills for pain, nausea, and headaches. At the time of me writing this, it has been almost 48 hours since the surgery.

I have an appointment with Dr. Kodali on Monday to change the bandages and get updates on medicines, as well as setting a recovery / rehabilitation schedule. For the first week, I am not supposed to be on my leg at all. But, starting the second week, I will be doing some rehab twice a week for several weeks. The exact schedule isn’t certain because it depends on how well my body is able to heal. But we won’t know for certain how well the body has taken to the repair for possibly 3 months. At that point we will know whether he has to go back in to remove it or, God willing, it will heal well and require no more surgery.

Kimberly has been incredibly steadfast in watching over me – always by my side, always encouraging, always there to steady me on my crutches as I traverse the hall, always ready with the next dosage of medicine. She does it without any hesitation, weariness or displeasure. In fact, she seems to take joy in serving me during my time of great need and only gets upset with me when I attempt to do something without her help. I could not have asked for a better wife and could not have paid for a better nurse. She has also been instrumental in keeping my mind focused on God. We have sent out prayer requests and prayed before surgery and all. We have also looked at the bigger picture and seen how God’s perfect timing has come into play in the surgery. And, even though this will be a financial strain (along with the difficulties that have arisen from our new used car), we hold fast to the fact that God is in control of every part of our lives. He has the power and resources at His disposal to carry out things according to His plan. We continue to pray that the daily steps we take are inline with His plan and that He will continue to direct us in the path He has for us. It may not be easy, but we will praise Him during the good & easy times and we will praise Him during the hard & turbulent times.

God Bless!
Julius