I've had knee pain for over 20 years now. It all pretty much started when I was kicked in the left knee when I was in Karate when I was 12 years old. Since then it's been on and off pain. It's never really lasted more than a couple weeks and on a scale of 1-10 was probably never more than a 7 or 8 at it's worst. Of course it would get worse when I would start to work out, if I went to a doctor they would say to stop working out, ice it, take an aspirin, rest it then start working out again slowly and low impact. 20 years of this got old, my knees, both of them really, are creeky, they grind, crack, pop but in January 2010 I noticed it was very painful to straighten my left leg out, it felt like something was getting stuck in the joint and I'd have to break whatever was stuck to straighten it out, it got to the point that I would be nearly in tears, definitely a 10 on the pain scale. After years of going to doctors and being told to rest, take an aspirin and ice it I was hesitant to go to a doctor but the pain got so bad I brought it up when I went to a new patient appointment in July. The new doctor said she felt stuff floating around and that it was swollen and immediately sent me for an MRI, which much to my dismay came back with the result "fluid in the knee but otherwise unremarkable". My doctor said I could go to physical therapy to see if that helped. I was truly disheartened because of the amount of pain I was in, I was just sure the MRI would show something. So I started physical therapy in September, my physical therapist, Jenny, said that the MRI is just a picture in time and at rest so it was not unusual for it to not so anything unusual. So I started PT not able to straighten my leg without a lot of pain. About 4 weeks into my 6 week jaunt of physical therapy I could straighten my leg just fine but suddenly could not bend my leg without excruciating pain and I also noticed that in the morning I had a large bulge on the side of my knee which I can only imagine is the fluid building up over night, I'm guessing throughout the day when walking it disperses throughout my leg and overnight pools in my knee. Even though I would not rate the pain a 10, I'd give it a solid 5-6 most of the time and it can certainly get up to a 10 at times. I cannot sit for more than 10 minutes without my knee and leg hurting. I cannot walk up stairs or inclines without being in pain.
I finally have an appointment with an Orthopedic Specialist (no thanks to my doctors office who has still yet to send over my file) and I will push for surgery, which I know people think is crazy but if you had to deal with the constant pain I deal with I think you'd agree. I think if the Physicians Assistant I'm scheduled to see (since it would be another month before I could get in to see the doctor) suggests a steroid shot I may break down and cry right in the office. I just want them to drain my knee and clean out all the crap in there so I can have a chance at walking and sitting and sleeping pain free. I've never been able to sit on the floor and play with the boys without being in pain, I can't get things off the bottom shelf of a cupboard without pain, I can't clean the bathtub without pain, I can't even sit on the couch or sleep in my own bed without pain.
So now I wait until Wednesday until my Orthopedic appointment to see what the next step is and if I will finally find relief.
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