Back in April, 2009, I tripped on a bad section of sidewalk in downtown Glendale, walking back to my office from 24-Hour Fitness. I landed mostly on my right knee, and had a couple of days of minor soreness and bruising, but no big deal.
In July, 2009, the top of my knee began swelling. There wasn't any pain (or very little), so I didn't think to much of it, but after a month or so my family convinced me that it was time to have it checked out.
I went to see the family orthopedist, Dr. Ackerson, up by Huntington Hospital, and he diagnosed it as pre-patellar bursitis. First we tried compression wraps, which helped a little, but not enough. Next he aspirated it — cutting a 5mm incision and squeezing out the gunk. It was fun when he stuck some foreceps up into the incision to root around inside. He inserted a medicated wick, letting the end hang out to make it easy to remove and to prevent the incision from sealing up.
I had to go back literally every business day for almost two weeks, but the treatment seemed to work, and the swelling stayed away - at least for a while.
Back in May, I noticed the swelling was returning, and by late June I knew I had to go in to see Dr. Ackerson. He had told me last year that if it returned I would need to have surgery, and when I went to see him he told me it would have to be done. I asked about doing it arthroscopically, and he referred me to one of his partners, Dr. Panossian, for a consult, and sent me across the street for an MRI.
Dr. Panossian checked the MRI, and said it wasn't possible to do the surgery arthroscopically. We scheduled a full-up, regular bursectomy, and all that comes with it.
I had to go see my GP for some pre-surgery checks - EKG, chest x-ray, blood work, etc., and that all came back fine. (I had just had blood work done a few weeks ago, but the pre-surgery check has to be within 30 days, so I had to repeat it).
Over the last few weeks, the knee has gotten sore, especially after a short walk or doing chores around the house. It's not really pain, but more like the feeling you get a day or two after exercising too much.
I go see Dr. Panossian for a pre-surgery review next Tuesday, and the surgery is Thursday afternoon. My knee will be immobilized for a week, so I arranged to work from home for the week following the surgery. I'll have physical therapy afterwards, and WILL be ready for my Fall Equinox SaddleSore ride on September 21st.
Fun times.
