When it Rains...

I have had knee problems for just about my whole life. They started in elementary school, when I dislocated my left knee cap during gymnastics. I remember laying there and not having a clue what was happening to me. I was scared, and no one knew what to do or how to help me. I was taken to the ER and they were able to give me some pain medicine and pop my knee back in place. I started physical therapy and thought that was the end of this whole ordeal.

After about the 3rd time of my knee dislocating, the doctors taught me how to pop it back in myself. Nice of them, right?
I became scared of my own shadow when it came to my knee. It popped out at gym twice, at school twice, in the swimming pool, at a friend's house, and playing basketball. The second time it happened at the gym, both of my knees popped out of place at the same time. Talk about painful- luckily, by this time I was able to handle it myself. I had a small surgery on my left knee, but it didn't help.

The last time I had problems with my knee, I was a junior in high school. So, for it to happen 8 years later was surprising and completely unwelcome.

Friday morning I locked the door to our apartment and headed down the stairs. Unfortunately, I only made it down about 2 steps. I'm not 100% sure what happened, but on the 3rd step, my left knee popped out of place and I tumbled down the flight of concrete steps. Luckily, some things you just don't forget, so I was able to put it back in place. I screamed for help and woke everyone... and their dogs... up at 7am. I'm sure the neighbors just love us already. About 5 people came out of their apartments to help me and get Matt. Because this isn't my first rodeo, I immediately got on the couch with my leg propped up and iced it. Matt has waited on me hand and foot the past few days, and I am so thankful for him.

Monday I called to get in to see an orthopedic knee doctor, and they couldn't schedule me until the end of June. After sweet-talking a doctor Matt knows, we were able to get in Monday afternoon. I was a nervous wreck. I HATE going to the knee doctor. They like to wiggle my knee around to see how loose it is, and that makes me sick to even think about it. We talked to the doctor a long time about options, and decided surgery was really the only answer at this point. Like major surgery. Like go in with 3 incisions and basically bust my knee to rebuild it. I'm only freaking out a little. OK. Maybe a lot. I haven't scheduled the surgery yet because I need time to process what's going on and think about the optimal time to do it, since it required 6 weeks of recovery time.
I'm scared and nervous about the surgery, but I'm also optimistic that with it, I will be able to be normal...hahaha.