Geluk bij een ongeluk ~ A Personal Update #TrueStory #Itdoesnotgetmorerealthanthis
I’ve been more than a bit upset with life lately. I’m talking crying jags where snot runs out of your nose and you make that scary hiccupping noise, followed by eating copious amounts of sugary sweats and pizza while drowning my sorrows in vats of wine. (When I fall off the drinking/dieting wagon, I like to do a swan dive straight into sinner heaven.)
What has got me all twisted up in knots? Being told at the not-quite-young-but-definitely-not-old-enough-age that my knee is beyond messed up and there is nothing the doctors can do about it. Cue: crying jag. I haven’t had a great knee for a long time. I had an ACL repair when I was fourteen (quick translation: there’s a screw and button in my knee to sew one of the ligaments back into place along with a piece of bone). I always have pain in my knee, but recently the pain’s been unbearable. So, off to the doctor I limped. Turns out I tore my meniscus (in two because I don’t like to do anything half-ass). After two months of tests and doctor visits, the decision was final: Nothing to be done. WHAT? Cue: drowning sorrows in vats of wine.
After it’s all said and done, however, I’m actually glad I ripped my meniscus. Before you scream I’m crazy (although that’s not entirely untrue), let me explain. The doctors didn’t only discover a rip in my meniscus, they also discovered I have hardly any cartilage left in my knee. Turns out you need that cartilage stuff. Without it, your bones rub together creating bone spurs. Bone spurs limit your range of motion, which means you start limping and eventually walking with a cane. Yikes!
In addition to being addicted to tennis, I’m a runner. My therapist explained that if I continue to run on the knee I have, I’ll have bone spurs within a few years. At my age? No thanks! Thanks to the MRI I had because of my torn meniscus, that won’t happen. That’s what we call Geluk bij een ongeluk (luck by an unlucky occurrence). So, I’m drying my eyes (mostly) and putting away the wine glasses. I also bought a butt ugly brace for my knee, so I can continue to play tennis. The doctor may say ‘no’ to tennis, but my therapist said yes. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out which advice I followed.
*You may now return to your regularly scheduled program*
Sorry this happened to you. Would knee replacement surgery allow you to run again?
Ouch! … don’t mess with your knees, they’ve got to keep you upright for at least another forty-fifty years. 🙂