Back in November, my knee started hurting me. It felt a little sore the night before Thanksgiving and by Friday I was at Urgent Care with a limp. I was referred to an Orthopedist who didn’t seem overly concerned on my first visit. I returned to him a few weeks later when my knee gave out getting out of the car.

On the second visit to the Orthopedist, he seemed a little more concerned, told me I needed surgery, but to try physical therapy first. He didn’t seem to think physical therapy would work but needed to rule that out. He didn’t say what type of surgery, but that I wouldn’t be able to do much for 2 or 3 months. He was a doctor with very good credentials, he works with professional athletes. While I may have impressed with him on the first visit, I left the second visit ready to see another doctor. I’m far from being afraid of surgery, but anyone who was in that much of a rush to do surgery both mentally and date why wise didn’t seem like my kind of doctor.

I started physical therapy and after about two weeks started to notice a slight improvement. I saw a new Orthopedist who said he could do surgery, but there were a lot of things to try first. I would probably need a knee replacement, but not for a long time. I continued physical therapy.

I had a few setbacks in physical therapy but slowly made progress. After 3 months I was doing well and couldn’t get any more physical therapy approved by health insurance. I started walking a little more and started going back to the gym again. I wasn’t doing 50 minutes on the elliptical, closer to 10 minutes on the bike, but I was slowly getting back to where I was.

Today, almost 6 months since my knee started to hurt I did 17 minutes on the bike. The past week isn’t been raining on and off, my knee hasn’t really bothered me like it had been doing for the past few months ahead of rain. I’m not 100% yet, but today I really felt like I had overcome the odds. I defied the first surgeon who acted like physical therapy would do nothing and that I needed major surgery. I know that if I keep making slow progress I’ll get back to where I was and fend off another round of pain and limping for years.

I may have to have surgery in the future, or maybe science will find a better way to deal with lost cartridge before I have to deal with that.

I’ll need to keep on top of exercising and be careful not to overwork the knee too soon, but I know I can manage this now.

Crissy