Tags

, ,

17 March 2024

PT on Friday was hard.

I mean, all PT can be pretty challenging, but I’ve been feeling like I was doing pretty well. Doing everything that’s asked of me – and more. I mentioned to my physical therapist that I’m still avoiding the stairs, and she decided we should start working on that. It’s been three full weeks at 3x/week there and 3x/week with home exercises, and she just booked me for three more weeks at the same frequency.

I did well on the leg press, at a pretty low weight – maybe 85 pounds, which was a pleasant surprise. No real pain. And then she asked me if I was straightening both my legs. So I looked at them and saw that my left knee was higher than my right (i.e., not all the way straight). It was quite clear that my right leg was compensating for my left one, which didn’t want to straighten all the way. This is something I’ve been working on with other stretches. Once I was aware, I was able to concentrate and get my left knee to cooperate.

Then she started me on the low, 4″ step. Stepping up with my right leg and down with my left was a breeze. No pain. Easy peasy. The opposite was a totally different story. I was supposed to do these 12 times on each side.

I tried. I really did. It was clear from the very first “step” up with my left leg/down with my right (this would force my most recently injured knee to bend), that it was not possible for me to do it without pain. Sharp, stabbing pain that I said spiked up to about a 5-6. I kept trying. She asked how I was feeling. I said, “sad,” and the next thing I knew I was weepy at PT. I’m trying so hard and I really, really want to avoid surgery, and all of a sudden, here was my knee just saying, “Nope. Not doing this.” I kept trying, and realized that I was massively compensating with the rail and with my right side while attempting to get my left knee to bend with weight on it.

My physical therapist finally said, “If the pain is more than a 4, I want you to stop.” Every try was more than 4 and I said I’d lost track of how many I’d done, and the other therapist gently said, “You’ve done enough. I think you’re done.” My therapist asked me to sit down and rest. I related this story to my bestie, and she asked me had I mentioned to the therapist that I have had kidney stones. I said yes. We talked a little more and she suggested that I have a real discussion about pain with my physical therapist because I have a pretty high tolerance for pain – what to me is about a 6, to most others is probably closer to an 8. Ugh. She’s likely right. I know we all experience pain on our own, individual scale, but I think I’m going to need to be a little more cognizant of what my knee pain really is. I also – of course – want to be better immediately. Who wouldn’t? And my right knee has responded really well . . .

I reread my MRI results last night. I thought I would share the summaries with you. Here is the right one (injured more than 8 years ago):

  • Complex tearing of the entire lateral meniscus with near complete tearing of the posterior root attachment. Associated lateral compartment predominant osteoarthritis with extensive full-thickness lateral compartment chondral loss.
  • A 13 x 8 x 24 mm cystic lesion along the posterior horn of the medial meniscus is favored to represent a ganglion or less likely parameniscal cyst as no medial meniscal tear is identified.
  • Mild patellar origin tendinosis.

And the left one (injured 1 Nov 23):

  • Horizontal cleavage tear of lateral meniscal body. Complex tear anterior horn lateral meniscus
  • Full-thickness cartilage loss of lateral femoral tibial compartment
  • Partial-thickness cartilage loss of the medial femoral tibial compartment and patellofemoral joint
  • Large joint effusion with mild synovitis. Intra-articular body

I think you can see why my initial reaction to the results was not great. I had to look up a crap-ton of words and terms, and you know, when you Google this stuff it’s never really a great idea . . . and I still don’t understand all of it.

What I know, is that this is certainly a journey. Another one I didn’t ask for, but that I must navigate. Today is my “day off” from PT. It’s not a day off from icing, however. I’ve begun to look forward to freezing my knees. Like I’ve said before, you reach a certain age and ice becomes your new best friend.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and (according to the original Mayor Daley) everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. :-) I thought I’d share a tune that I grew up hearing. Even though Ancestry now says my DNA is more Scottish, I am a first-generation American. My family is from Belfast, Country Antrim, in Northern Ireland. I’ve been lucky enough to visit Northern Ireland. Belfast is compelling city and the people were so friendly to me. The drive up the Antrim coast is the most beautiful drive I have ever taken, bar none. Carmel Quinn was one of my grandmother’s favorites and I know every song by heart on this very old album. I met her at the wedding of a great friend of my mom’s. Both my mom and I were absolutely thrilled and I can’t believe there isn’t a photo of all of us together!

This is Carmel Quinn – The Green Glens of Antrim