I’m sat here on a standard non sociable Friday night and sulking over my knee.
Sulking.
I had a second appointment with the Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon today and he confirmed what I have known for the last 8 months. I need keyhole surgery. I have another tear in my meniscus; the small circular cartilage disc in my knee.
This will be my second surgery on my right knee. I tore my cartilage on honeymoon in 2012 and nothing could be done initially, as I was pregnant with the gremlin. As your joints are loose with the pregnant hormone relaxin, the doctors wouldn’t touch me until she was born. Come February 2014, I had my first surgery and a long 8-12 month rehab, until I was back on form.
It was hard work, not helped that I didn’t see a good physio until almost 2 months after the op. Completely dumb, as I had a lot of muscle wastage and need to get it rebuilt and strengthen my right leg. I got there though and was back to normal with my activity.
Piglet was born in 2016 and I knew I need to take it steady. I did too so was completely dismayed when I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my knee when I went to change her nappy. Deep down I knew I had re-torn it. My physio was optimistic and it did feel better in time but not right.
Time passed and I started getting niggles above the knee which I suspected could be related. I knew I had put off seeing the consultant for long enough, so I took myself along for an appointment and an MRI, hoping that maybe my gut was wrong. Sadly no. I also have some quadriceps tendonopathy which is a bit of wear and tear to the tendon attaching the quad muscle to my knee. I’ve been told this is due to hard exercise and overuse, potentially made worse by the cartilage tear.
I know knees are never the same once you have injured them but for me, someone who loves to train, this is a real blow. The only plus is I never really got back into crazy exercise since Piglet was born, so it has been a long time since I went to Insanity or Body Pump and it looks like it will be a little more of a wait again.
It’s not the end of the world. I’m getting older. I’ve gone at it with my high intensity and squatting for a long time now and I guess I need to slow it down a little and take it easy.
I’m not going to let this get in the way. Rehab is slow but steady and if I work hard and stay focused, with physio and support I’ll get there.
I’ll keep you posted with the knee journey…part 2!