Knee Surgery

A couple of months I got kicked in the back of the knee during a soccer game. It was extremely painful, but we didn’t have any subs so after limping around for a few minutes I told myself to pull myself together and keep playing.

Over the weekend I went for a couple of runs but ended up cutting them both short and walking as the back of my knee was aching. A black bruise the size of a softball had formed. Time passed and the bruise faded by in it’s place a large puffy bump grew. I had the bump drained once and, to my dismay, a harder bump that remained in it’s spot. It must be swelling, I hoped.

I gave it another three weeks before conceded that the swelling was not going down. “Is there a bump still here?” I asked most anyone who I thought that it wouldn’t gross out. “Yeah, that’s gross,” they would reply consistently.

I went back to see Dr. Dolbeare at Boulder Orthopedics, hoping he would drain it again and I would be on my way. As I sat on the examining table, he said, “I don’t think draining it is going to help. I can try draining it, I can leave it alone, or we can operate.”

I decided I didn’t want to get stabbed again in the knee for no reason, and I didn’t want to leave scar tissue in my knee so surgery was the only option. I made an appointment.

Today, I kept that appointment. I took the bus to the Boulder Surgery Center this morning after picking up some pain medication for later. I checked in, put my bag in a locker and met a lovely woman who’s name I can’t remember who cleaned my knee and put in my IV. She had done the Boulder Half Ironman twice and had also completed three Ironman Triathlons. We had plenty to chat about. I was sorry to see her head out to lunch and leave me to read my book while I waited for someone to come in and knock me out.

The anesthesiologist came in to walk me through what was going to happen. Then, I had a pre-med student visit to as permission to watch my procedure. Finally, Dr. Dolbeare came in to initial my knee. They all seemed concerned they were going to operate on the wrong knee.

Finally, my nurse came in to go over everything one last time. She also slipped some valium into my IV to help me to relax before the rolled me down to the ER. They laid me back and wheeled me into the elevator to take me down to the ER where everyone else was already waiting. They had me scoot from one table to another and I hear myself asking, “This is the ER? Do we have to move again?”

I woke up in the recovery room where I dozed in and out while a recovery nurse took my blood pressure repeatedly. I asked for two apple juices and 3 glasses of water. Jason came to pick me up and take me home. I hobbled out of the hospital holding the hand of the nurse and Jason. I got home and laid down on the couch where I turned on the Food Network and dozed most of the afternoon.

Dr. Dolbeare called tonight, told me that the scare tissue they removed as 4 centimeters by 2 centimeters. He said it was huge. He made me promise, again, that I wouldn’t work out for 48 hours and that I could take off the bandages after three days.

Currently, I’m in very little pain. My leg is still mostly numb. I’m not looking forward to numbing agent wearing off, but as for right now, it’s Netflix and dozing. I can post a picture, would that be gross? Lindsay Brust