yamaonna

A little update and introspection on my knee.  Yesterday I finally had an MRI, which I have been really excited about as a boffin.  In University we took a subject which was about MRI’s, so I knew how they work and all.  I guess I get a little excited about having things like x-rays and MRI’s, which is good if I ever choose to become an x-ray technician.  Anyhow, a few things surprised me about the MRI.  Firstly, it was really narrow.  I think that if I was having my head scanned I would have freaked out, but luckily for me it was just my knee yesterday.  Secondly was the noise.  I knew it would be very loud, but I didn’t expect the noise to be so constant.  They would start with some bangs, and then it would sound like a sound check.  Overall wasn’t bad, just very very loud.  I wore headphones that were playing music, but I couldn’t hear the music over the machine most of the time.

So yeah, geek!Michele was happy to have an MRI, and it also wasn’t too expensive, just over 22,000 yen paid in full.

From the MRI place it was back to the doctors to look at the images.  The good news – all my ligaments were intact.  The bad news, looks like my meniscus is torn, but they aren’t 100% sure (the MRI was a little inconclusive).  The meniscus is like the cartilage in the knee, and it sort of enables the smooth movement of the knee as you bend.  So it’s not a good thing to damage.  The only way to tell for sure if it’s damaged would be to have surgery, and even then, not all cases are able to be repaired.  However, it is possible to live a regular life with a torn meniscus, which is kinda what the doctor is recommending to me.  He said that if, later in life, I have pain whilst playing sports, then surgery is the best idea, but until that point just live with it.

So, what this means for me is that from now I have to start moving my knee.  I still have pain when bending, but that will probably go away with use.  Walking is still not fluid, and stairs still a big challenge, but I’m optimistic that will improve a lot.  My major worry is that it will affect me while hiking, and I also wanted to take up snowboarding, and I’m not sure that will be an option anymore.  In that respect it’s rather depressing.  Although I am not the sportiest person, I was getting out and doing more. But for the time being most of my active activities have been put on hold.  Plus there’s really no telling how long it will take me to get my knee back ‘up to speed’.

If you are interested in reading more about meniscus check out About.com’s write up – http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/meniscusinjuries1/a/meniscus.htm