Geek Habitat

I torqued my knee again, though this time was less embarassing than my “ladder diving” episode. Today, it was a genuine accident — I simply missed the last step on our stairs while carrying a loaded laundry basket, and planted all my body weight on the injured left leg. The pain and accompanying “Snap!” was so intense I can’t even articulate it. I immediately called Justin at work, and I couldn’t even put up a proper fight when he insisted he was coming home a couple hours early to take me for emergency medical care.

They poked and prodded, and initial suspicions are I’ve torn my ACL — an all-important ligament that lends stability, strength and rigidity to one’s knee. So, after we return from a weekend trip to Rockport, I will have an MRI and we’ll go from there. The description of a typical ACL injury (via KneeClinic.info) is spot-on the description of not only today’s injury, but also my initial one caused by the ladder leap:

So, we’ll see where this leads. Ever since the initial injury, I haven’t been able to wholly trust my left knee. Sometimes it fools me into thinking it’s healed, other times it sends me reeling into the nearest solid object because it’s given out just as I’ve pivoted or stopped abruptly.

Now I just need to find a good orthopedic specialist in the San Antonio area, particularly if this may ultimately result in arthroscopic surgery. {sigh}

And, while I understand the necessity to say such things, it gets frustrating having doctors give you the medical equivalent of, “Well, if that hurts, don’t do that!” I heard it in 2003 at the height of my wrist problems (tenosynovitis), and now I hear it in regards to my knee. In the former case, it was “What you need to do is stay off the computer, ideally for two weeks.” Now it’s, “You definitely need to avoid uneven surfaces. Stay on flat, paved surfaces.” He actually asked why I was smiling. “Oh, I was just thinking, ‘So the few times I do manage to get on trails, I’m supposed to stay on the paved “trails” now?”

If I were an avid walker, that would be fine, but there’s a reason there’s a different word for “hiker”! Not that I even get out much as a hiker — too busy spending time pounding away on the computer (thereby exacerbating my other problem!)

If this is what aging is like, I want a recount. I can be 18 again, really, I swear. I don’t want my body to be out of warranty and start developing squeals, groans, knocks and sputters, dammit!