It seems the scope was necessary

Well, I'm one week post-op and feeling a little better today. Last night I slept with a Percoset after awakening to some good pain at 2:30. I did some heavy-duty dreaming but slept through the night (aside from Jerry and Tiger meowing here and there and Frank cursing as he got up to let them out). I'm still pretty swollen but I finally feel like I'm healing. My biggest pains are those caused by limping and not using my leg muscles properly. My calf is really cramped and my lower back feels out of whack. I guess I need to go get cracked soon to line everything back up.

I saw my surgeon today. Turns out I had a one inch tear in my articular cartilage. That is the piece of cartilage on the interior side where the femur (thigh bone) meets the patella (knee cap). No wonder it hurt. In one of my pre-op visits the doc did mention that this is a portion of the knee that is not clearly visible on the MRI. I guess that's why they didn't see anything and why I was in pain after all. The doc also said as an aside on my way out, "By the way, this wouldn't have healed on it's own". I guess he knew about my skepticism as to needing the surgery. Maybe he reads my blog?

So, I'm six weeks away from being properly healed and returning to normal activities. I'm still swollen as a result of them pumping it with fluid. This is also causing the pain in my calf and thigh muscles. I will be starting physical therapy in 2 weeks. Yippee! Bring on the stim! In the mean time, he told me to do whatever feels right. "If it hurts, don't do it," says the doc. So, I'll take it slowly. I'll take walks and bike to begin, swim a little too. I think I'll stay away from the breast stroke for a while though.