Tag Archives: injury

MRI results

Posted in bread, California, husband by

So it is a posterior root ligament tear of the meniscus. Basically, the meniscus is torn, and the knee muscles are damaged. It is common in older patients( me)! Also, it can happen spontaneously, which mine did as I stepped off the patio step, and it went pop.

I will contact the ortho department. They have my referral, but haven’t called, and I think probably because the MRI hadn’t come back yet, so I’ll call today. It’s back to rehab, and working on strengthening the knee muscles. It’s so depressing since I HAD been working my legs and knees at the gym, but I guess it wasn’t enough.

As I mentioned before, one of the oncology nurses who had a torn meniscus started taking up biking and said biking( or that motion) is one of the best rehabs for knees. This is still just the 3rd week, so I want to wait till next week and then I plan on getting on the stationary bike and start with 5 minutes.

It sure sucks getting old, is all I have to say.

Yesterday was jam-packed. I took B for the immuno and that went well. Afterwards, he even felt like a bagel, so we went to Noah’s and he ate the whole thing. That may not sound like much, but since he hasn’t been eating at all, I was thrilled.

While he was there, I got gas at Costco and then went into the ‘old Costco’. I didn’t like it at all. It’s much bigger than the one I go to now, and I couldn’t remember where half the stuff I needed was. But I managed. Then I went into WinCo for all the salad stuff. This all ended up with a lot of walking on a bum knee, so I was a little concerned. But it seemed ok when I got home, and I did ice it.

Today is a home day, and I plan on sourdough bread making, mopping the floors, and whatever other little stuff I need to do.

Does anyone out there have a torn meniscus because of age or otherwise?? And what did you do for it? I will get through this and be stronger for it.

Sort of good news.

Posted in knee injury, Uncategorized by

So I saw the PA in Ortho yesterday and she was very informative. She explained things very well although I probably only really understood half of the medical terms.

But the jist is NO SURGERY!! She explained that with a torn ACL you can still do most of the things you want in terms of walking etc. and even light jogging which I did find a little incredulous. Because my meniscus IS INVOLVED ( which the PC doctor said it was only age related degrading) and is actually what is causing the instability.

She also said even down the road if all else fails and they did do a surgery it would be knee replacement not repair of an ACL.

Basically, it will be physical therapy to strengthen the ligaments on both sides of my knee. She also said there was no acute trauma to the bones which is what the x-ray showed. In other words, no fractures etc. So I guess that’s good.

I just got back from my first PT appt and it was also very good. The PT was excellent in explaining the meniscus tear and ACl tear. Basiclly it boils down to strengthen the muscles around the knee to create stability. She advised not walking for a while yet since I’m walking favoring my right leg and so it offsets my gait and can cause other problems( hip) etc. She did say swimming is ok but start slow which I was planning on doing anyway.

All in all I’m encouraged and glad to have a full picture of the problem and what can help me. There is no healing of a torn ACL or meniscus so it’s a matter of living with it and getting my knee stable and strong.