I thought I was done with the crutches - I got the stink eye from 2 docs last week for still using one. So Thursday I just decided I was done. By last night the spasms in my low back/butt decided I wasn’t. Thank God for rum.
[QUOTE=red mares;7014123]
I thought I was done with the crutches - I got the stink eye from 2 docs last week for still using one. So Thursday I just decided I was done. By last night the spasms in my low back/butt decided I wasn’t. Thank God for rum.[/QUOTE]
lol- the stink eye! perfect image too. =) have you tried a TENS unit for your back? any chance the crutches are exacerbating the back spasm?
i just had a re-evaluation by PT today which showed zero improvement from 5 weeks ago…so I have to stop. Since I am new out here, he give me the name of the Seattle Seahawks orthopod for a 2nd opinion. I called, said I was in the biz and have an appointment in 2 wks. Also, going to start acupuncture to see if it helps.
The crutch helped today. I’m not leaning on it heavy, but more for balance. It limits the limp, squares me up a bit. I had a trade off, the couple days not using it helped my shoulder, but then back spazzed. When at it with tennis ball this morning. Rum really does work wonders, and not even a lot of it. My good foot is kind of giving out, too. I didn’t realize how tight it was until Torquemada started working on. He had the OMG/holy crap look. I had the holy crap look. :lol: But I was able to stand on my toes. First time. It was pretty funny. The intern suggested it, T & I weren’t overly optimistic, and were kind of shocked that I could do it.
Good luck with your new ortho. At least it’s only 2 weeks away. I know how frustrating it is to do PT with no result.
Well I went for my MRI results to day, and well, I didn’t get the news I was expecting. The orthopedic surgeon went over them with me and told me that I have some form of bone cancer. I have a lesion on my tibia, and a large chunk of the bone is really sad around it. I am familiar with interpreting xrays and what not, and I could clearly see the abnormality on the MRI. The good news is that the Dr said it does not look like osteosarcoma.
I have an appointment with an orthopedic oncologist in two weeks and I will find out more about what’s going on then. Sucks. I had to stop riding because of the concern over pathological fractures. I had been riding up until today.
My young horse is going to go into training with my trainer, and I’ll have her show him and maybe take him to FL depending on how things go with me. I am so bummed.
And of course I had to tell my parents, thank god I got my dad on the phone instead of my mom LOL. As soon as I stopped crying at the appointment this am, my first thought was ugh gonna have to talk to my mom and listen to her hysterics ugh.
What a day. I am sooooo glad I finally went to the Dr about the knee. I had just had been dealing with the pain, chalking it up to wear and tear. Thank god I went.
Hahahaha, guys, this really is a brigade. I did my other knee in!
But first, JM, Oh my lord! I was reading your updates and thinking you sounded like me with the undiagnosed pain, and then wow, I am SO SORRY to hear about what’s really going on. What does this mean for the future - how is it treated? Do you like your doctor enough to stay with him for now? How urgent is your situation? How do you even get what you have? My thoughts are with you.
As for me, my “bad knee” eventually came back on, after a lot of PT. It still carries inflamm., but I was swimming, cycling, moderate hiking, and not able to ride to my satisfaction, so I put off the riding and concentrated on the other sports. Then I started a new job and the conditions were really hard for it, and I fell on my other “good knee” and injured it! I’ve been on crutches for a few weeks and will get an MRI at the end of the month if I’m not feeling better then. I’m wearing a brace and have slowly started to be more weight-bearing. As you can imagine, asking my naughty knee to compensate for my good knee was something I felt nervous about, but I am pushing through with a ton of PT at home. I think I know what is wrong with the injury to my former good knee, (I think it’s a meniscus tear that is pretty significant but that is just my gut) and I am hoping it stays a lot more simple and I hope I don’t need surgery. But we’ll see! Whhhheeeeeeeeeeeee isn’t this fun, guys!!!
EA - You thought you could get out of this group didn’t you? Ha! I think you get a lifetime membership or nothing at all.
JM- I’m sorry about your situation, but I laughed when I got the part about your mother. I so get that.
[QUOTE=red mares;7031784]
JM- I’m sorry about your situation, but I laughed when I got the part about your mother. I so get that.[/QUOTE]
LOL so true isn’t? I even asked the Dr. what I should tell her. I called her today and she was reasonable. Letting my dad deal with her worked well I think.
Thanks for the good thoughts 
EA- sorry about your good knee! I have one of those hinged braces and I like it. It helps.
I don’t have any answers to the big questions yet, although I’m getting a feeling this is going to be quite a ride. The orthopedic oncologist will do the biopsy, and I’ll know when that will happen after I see him.
I do feel so very lucky to live in a city with so many top hospitals.
JM-I hope everything ends up okay. That sounds tough.
Do you guys think I should see a doctor for the knee pain? It’s been on/off for several years now. Some days it hurts too bad to walk, others jus mild pain while riding. Icing helps a little bit, as does switching things up and using a Back on Track knee brace. Am I jus a wimp with pain? I do tend to overreact.
RM - I am sorry but you are right - we are both lifetime members, apparently. =( Now don’t you dare go bilateral on me with your other foot!!!
JM - well, the hinged brace was seeming to work, but it hasn’t done anything the last few days. I finally took it off (see below).
Keira - if I were you, I’d at least want a picture of it (MRI) but then again, if treatment options are limited or if you’re not willing to have surgery, you might save yourself some trouble and not see anyone. But there could be alternative therapies which could help you, so if you want to investigate it, I would try to find what it is that is causing your pain and then decide how you will react (or not react) to that information. FYI, it doesn’t sound like this is the case for you, but in my experience, a wee little bit of knee pain can blow up in your face like an angry herd of bulls, without much warning.
Update on end: has anyone else ever experienced this? I am starting to feel fine in the morning, as in I feel like I could go running or something (no worries, I am not deluded). But within 5 mins-a few hours later, if I stand or walk so much as even around my house, localized pain flares up and I am back on my butt. It’s really weird because there’s not much inflamm. and no ROM issues.
I am scheduled to see a new ortho next week…I don’t want to see anyone but I have to for work reasons, and I would like an MRI so at least I know what is going on in there.
Are their any armchair Drs here who want to make an internet diagnosis? A few months ago my left knee started hurting on the outside. It hurts the most when I go to stand up after sitting for a long time, if I walk a long ways, and when I ride.
I may or may not eventually go to the Dr, but it sure is putting a damper on things.
FB - I think the best thing the internet can sometimes do is help give you an idea of what could me causing it, not a diagnosis but help educate you about the possibilities. But you have to be more detailed. Such as, what kind of pain do you experience? Is it getting worse over time? Does your knee make any unusual noises? Is there inflamm.? Is your ROM the same in both knees? Do you need new shoes? How do you walk/wear your shoes? Do you have pain anywhere else and/or a history of problems anywhere else? What other sports do you do? Etc. These and other things could be factors. Your pain could simply be from compensation or something not being aligned, or it could be something more serious, like a meniscus tear or OA. Without more info, it’s hard to say. A good doctor will ask you these kinds of questions, too, so it’s good to start thinking about them. Lastly, if your pain is worsening, I would definitely get it checked out. In my experience, knee pain can go from “bothersome” or “nagging” to “surprisingly unbearable” very quickly, and the inverse is NOT TRUE, in my exp, ever. =/ So be careful, that’s my best advice. Continuing to ride and do other things on knee pain is something I would think twice about-- if my current me could have told my past me just one thing, that would have been it.
Good luck and please report back!
@ Judy’s Mom- what did Ortho onc say? There are lots of benign bone tumors out there, hoping yours is one of them. Fingers crossed for you.
Not that it’s anything in comparison to a tumor, but I had a second opinion with a hotshot NFL surgeon re: my knee, had a stat second MRI. Told I def fractured the articular cartilage, post-traumatic arthritis, he was pissed i wasnt completely nonweigtbearing right after I hurt myself and the hyaluronic acid injections may help. In meantime no riding…
also managed to cut the shit out of my hand with a knife & got my first ever stitches on Sat. A walking (hobbling) calamity esp since I can’t use my crutch on the correct side thanks to my knife incident. Geez.
Thanks for the good thoughts
La Chasse, the Ortho Oncologist was very nice. Oddly enough, he resembled physically and in his mannerisms Detective Goren from Law and Order Criminal Intent (Vincent D’onofrio) LOL. It would have been funny but it was too serious!
I still don’t know what’s going on. He wanted his radiologist to look at the MRI and films before making any decisions. I’ve been waiting for a call from him all day, he was supposed to call me and tell me what’s up.
So I got a call from a different Dr. tonight, who told me they had a radiology conference about my MRI and films, and I am getting a biopsy this week sometime yet to be scheduled when radiology calls me. Sucks.
La Chasse, that sucks too. Are they going to send you to PT? Can they clean it up surgically?
Freebird- luxating patella maybe? PT helps that. Worth a Dr visit IMO.
EA- ya go for the MRI. Maybe you have a bone bruise or something.
Keep us updated Judysmom - I’ve been thinking about you!
Count me in to this group now. Took an unintentional rodeo ride two and a half weeks ago, and the knee still doesn’t feel right! Its still sore, and feels really unstable, so I’m headed to the Dr.'s on tuesday. Hopefully its nothing too bad, I’ve still got to ride 5 horses a day, and am headed to Germany on vacation at the end of July.
Does anyone here have experience with workman’s comp? I’m leaning strongly towards not using it, although my mom thinks I should. If anyone has any suggestions or opinions, I welcome them.
Sending good thoughts to everyone else on here.
Hey Petra how’d you make out? I saw your OT Day thread, hope you got the MRI.
So my needle biopsy results were inconclusive. They saw abnormal cells on there but they still don’t know what’s going on. I’m going for an open bone biopsy on Tuesday. Full anesthesia, surgeons etc. Not looking forward to it.
FWIW, “needle biopsy” wasn’t as non-invasive as it sounds lol. They did it with a local, and it was CT guided, but they drilled a small hole in the bone and stuck a very, very large needle about 2 inches into the bone to get samples with. It was interesting to watch on the CT monitor, but rather painful.
Do you all KNOW how delighted I am to have found this thread? Tore my ACL years ago, which I dealt with, but a fall from a horse several months later really jacked things around. Put me off riding for more than two years, out of paranoia that something would go wrong.
Am now marrying into some great insurance and I’m already covered, so I came back to riding just a month ago… and sure enough, I overexerted my knee like a big doofus. I suspect a torn meniscus, but I have an appointment for the official verdict today. I’m using reassuring deep-breathing exercises right now, telling myself that IF I need surgery and IF I get in right away, I may have just enough time to get back on my feet and walk down that aisle.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences! They settle my mind right now.
My MRI results are in…I have ANOTHER WEIRD SYNDROME, now in my formerly good knee. My other knee also had a [different] weird syndrome. The good news is that it’s not cartilage like we thought (although that was not entirely clean). I may still need surgery, but it’s too soon to tell. At least they know what is causing my pain now, which feels like a relief…my other syndrome took them 18 months/til surgery to figure out and fix. I must have really terrible tracking and I indulge in too many sports for my terribly conformed body to handle, while other people 20 & up years older than me do just fine, including my parents, who are past retired age and they run & ski. If I was a horse, I would be a breeding nightmare. =(
Great, you have an answer! OK so it’s a weird one, but it’s answer.
Nothing like being bested by the geriatric set, is there? I was scared to death when I went to the barn a couple weeks ago and ended up helping bringing in the mare while the TR got the foal. Not like I could say anything since the he is 72 and still slightly limping from a gout attack. Look at it this way, has your dad offered to pin fire your knee yet? :lol:
I did eventually get an mri ( long story short, couldn’t get the first Dr to get the paperwork though, and was told my insurance probably wouldn’t pay anyways because I didn’t go the the er), so I went to the er to get an mri. Talked to a very knowledgeable seeming dr there who said I have fraying and edema in my acl and that if any of the fibers in my acl were disrupted it would explode. ER doc said I’d definitely need surgery, and said to get into an ortho surgeon as soon as they had any opening. Went to an ortho surgeon the next day who said my acl was fine, but when I read my mri report it states there were diffusion issues due to signal loss. I looked at my mri images compared to a bunch online, and mine is extremely grainy and difficult to see anything whereas the ones online were very clear to me.
Both Drs agree that I badly hyperextended my knee and have serious bone bruising. Rather than being kissing bruises, the front of my tibia collided with the back of my femur, and even the surgeon said it was strange to see that without ligament damage.
I’m set up to get a second opinion, but in the mean time I’ve pretty much had to stop riding due to pain, and I should be getting an unloading brace next week, I had hoped to get it earlier but I don’t fit in the stock sizes. I also, unfortunately had a horse jump on top of me on Saturday, so my good one is pretty bruised up, swollen, and sore with a good sized hard lump below my patella. The er doc spent more time looking at that knee than my bad knee, then gave me a look that clearly stated she knew this brand of horse krazy. :lol:
What confuses me most right now is that my knee is unstable to the point of being non-weight-bearing, so how could that happen with no ligament damage? Unless I have a brace in, I feel like I’m standing on one of those balance boards, and I know that’s not normal.
Sorry to hear the needle biopsy was so unpleasant Judysmom. I’ll send jungles you’re way to hope that you’re next procedure goes better.
