"Unbelievable Trauma"...

When Kendra came to the waiting room to get me, she asked, "So how are you feeling?"

I looked at her and stifled a laugh, "You have no idea..."

I then told her what was going on (previous post) and she started examining the knee. This is basically me sitting on a table while she grabs and contorts the knee to feel around and ask where it hurts.

Then she hit it...

On the outside of the knee, she poked a spot that definitely resembled the "excruciating pain" I felt a few weeks ago when Dr. Ramsey did his examination. But, that was on the inside... this was on the outside.

Which led her to say, "You may also have a tear in your lateral meniscus."

Awesome.

She then said, "Your knee has undergone unbelievable trauma. There is probably a lot of internal damage that still needs to be fixed when he goes back in."

Which probably makes sense... let's recap: When I had my MRI, the images were difficult to look at - this is what I heard from both the MRI technician and Dr. Ramsey - due to the flashes from the drill bit.

So it doesn't surprise me that he said I have a tear in my medial meniscus when the lateral one could be torn, too.

From what Joel tells me, he'll go in and check everything. He even provided a photo of Joel's ACL to prove that it's fine and he checked it. Sounds like a good doctor, right?

Today's session was the same as the others except because of my pain she had me ride backwards on the bike. That's a weird sensation!

Anyway, I finished up and said my goodbyes because the next time I return will be post-surgery.

Her statement, "unbelievable," stuck with me throughout the session and this afternoon. I was talking with someone at work last week and he said, "I had no idea how bad a break of a knee could be so devastating." He went on to say that he thought it was (a.) Have Surgery (b.) Physical Therapy and (c.) Return to Normal Life.

Which, I told him, I thought as well. For those that have been reading this, you knew my goal was to run again. I really thought that would happen. Unfortunately, I can see now that it's not in my future. Seeing the X-Rays and knowing that I don't have any protection (cartilage) just assures me that my future athletic endeavors are on wheels.

So yeah... my knee took the brunt of incredible and unbelievable trauma... but hopefully one year from now I can be in a better "place" than I am now.

Ready for this all to be over!