So the verdict on my knee, revealed by the MRI, is that it’s broken, and generally F’d up. Insufficiency fracture – a type of stress fracture; meniscus tears; arthritis; deteriorated cartilage; and some kind of cyst where the knee lube fluid is draining to.
The results showed up in my MyChart Thursday evening while I was on the 80 bus home from my volunteer book selecting shift for the UW Libraries Friends book sale – one of the things I think I might have to NOT do for a few weeks to heal the knee. Also my volunteer shifts stocking the food pantry on Tuesday mornings. Both jobs have I think too much lifting and walking and carrying. More on that in a minute.
I’m glad to finally know what’s really going on – ha, no wonder the orthotics and stretching exercises didn’t work … but I can’t say I’m super happy about the care I’m getting.
I liked the sports med doc, Dr. A., who I saw, and foolish me, I thought he’d be my doctor for awhile. Since the first MRI results are from UW Health, where I got referred for the MRI, I didn’t get the “new test results posted to your MyChart” message with a reply button on Thursday. That came Friday morning, with the reply going to Dr. A. So I replied, asking if should schedule an appointment to come in to discuss treatment and also asking if I could do yoga, since my new session of MSCR virtual yin yoga was going to start Saturday AM. One of the nurses replied saying Dr. A was out for the day and the rest of next week so I would hear back from one of his colleagues.
Said colleague said,
Message from MD Jan 13 at 12:33 PM Debra, I reviewed your MRI findings which show an insufficiency fracture on the inside of the knee/femur bone. This is typically caused by underlying arthritic cartilage thinning and/or mensicus tears reducing the cushioning of impact while walking and being active. The MRI does show severe arthritis behind your knee cap and moderate arthritis on the inside of your knee.
Treatment requires a significant reduction in activity. This is best achieved with being non-weight bearing on crutches for 4-6 weeks. Thus no walking for exercise and also no yoga. Once the fracture has healed completely healed, you will be cleared to slowly resume activity such as walking.
In some cases a knee brace is used to offload the joint to reduce risk of another fracture . If you need crutches, please contact the office to schedule to get them from one of nurses. (Nurse visit). I also recommend scheduling a follow up with Dr. A. in 4-6 weeks to recheck your knee and make sure it has healed prior to resuming activity.
Message from Debra S Shapiro, sent January 13 at 12:42 PM OK thanks – I’ll contact the nurses about the crutches.
But then I thought about it a little more – I mean, basically they’re saying stay off it, get crutches, call me back in 6 weeks. But realized I don’t really know what stay off it means. Am I allowed to walk without the crutches inside the house? Go up and down stairs? Stand in the kitchen and cook? Should I plan to work remotely for this 4-6 weeks? Should I discontinue my volunteer gigs? Can I go to Chicago for the special Chicago Symphony jazz with Wynton Marsalis Mark just bought tickets for?
So I wrote back:
Message from Debra S Shapiro, sent January 13 at 1:02 I’m feeling a little left adrift here – who do I talk to to find out more about what I should be doing to help my knee heal beyond get crutches & stay off it and schedule a follow up in 4-6 weeks. Please tell me who to contact. I’ve had the knee pain since August and multiple PT visits with different treatments based on their thinking it was a tendon injury, so I really want more advice about what to do. Thanks
One of the nurses called me and she made it sound like I’m not even supposed to be walking across the room in the house w/o crutches, and that I could do non-weight bearing exercises, and quickly described some things, which totally didn’t stick in my head, although I do remember she said quadriceps. We made the 4 weeks appointment with Dr. A, and then I asked if I could come get the crutches from PT and get more advice about what I can and cannot do and get the exercises printed out. So, and this might’ve been a grave tactical error on my part, it means I’m not getting the crutches until Tuesday, when I have an appointment with the PT who referred me to sports med. And I have to drive to the east clinic which is almost all the way to Sun Prairie. But, oh well. I’ll just do the best I can till then.
I mean overall this has been a mess. My doctoring hell began back in late August when I tried to see a regular doctor about my knee, but ended up getting sent to urgent care to get an ultrasound (which cost me $175, BTW, but who’s complaining) because they thought, old lady + leg pain, maybe it’s a blood clot. There was no blood clot but my blood pressure was high – I am sure due to me being terrified (white coat syndrome), stress – like everyone 3 years into pandemic, not to mention chronic pain and guzzling Advil. But lead to me having to monitor my blood pressure at home for weeks (where it returned to normal once I stopped taking Advil and learned how to relax before strapping on the monitor). And I also got blood work done and that got my regular doc all exercised about not only my blood pressure, but also cholesterol and A1C. And I’ve looked at my records, and my cholesterol and A1C are only on the high side of normal, and not that different than in my past. We had a tele-med in early September where she was like “we have to talk about your blood pressure & cholesterol” and I was like “NO, we have to talk about my knee”. And she was just so offhand about the knee – you can self refer to PT anytime. Which lead to 5 months of PT thinking it was a tendon injury.
I really wonder what things would’ve been like if way back in August they hadn’t freaked out that it might be a blood clot and I’d been able to keep the appointment I had made with one of GHC’s nurse practitioners and gotten an x-ray back then ….
I think the worst part is that this has really messed with my personal sense of well-being. I’ve always thought of myself as a healthy person with a healthy diet and good amounts of exercise, and it’s like all fall the doctors have been telling me. “no, you’re not. Look at all these problems you have that your habits have caused.”
Well, I have to get healed because my regular granny day care shifts start late February. I think that’s still 5 week out, thank goodness. I did a little test run Friday morning, and I still haven’t changed his diaper solo – Emma’s mom & I did one together on a visit back between Thanksgiving & Christmas – but I have given him a bottle and put him to sleep.
And if all I can do is sit, I guess that’s help me get my online courses up & running by Jan 24. One is ready, the other not so much.
Here’s Friday and Saturday breakfasts because every post needs food pics.
After babysitting brekkie, Friday the 13th
Saturday brekkie before
Saturday brekkie last bites