Smashing Kneecaps

As you may remember from an earlier post, the week before Mom got here (at the end of September), I slipped on some wet tile, and came down right on my kneecap. It hurt immensely. I couldn't bend it, I couldn't walk on it, I couldn't do anything. In a few days, however, I was able to drive without too much pain, though I still had to take the stairs one at a time. I couldn't put any weight on it while it was bent, and it would go out every once in a while as I was walking. When Mom got here, she took me to get a brace for Rome, since it still hurt.

Fast forward a month, and it still hurt. I promised Max I would go to the doctor if it still hurt at the end of November. It did. So, I went to the doctor. She sent me for my very first MRI. I must say, I was quite impressed. She called the MRI place for me to set up an appointment (we figured it would be easier, because who knows if we would get an English-speaker), and she got me an appointment that afternoon!

The MRI itself wasn't bad, but the registration & such were a bit of a pain. They wanted to make sure I really was going to pay for it, since they obviously can't charge my insurance. (That's how we have to do all medical here, we pay and then submit our claims to get reimbursed) Luckily for me, there were several people who spoke English who were able to help me.

MRIs are loud and boring.

After the MRI, the doctor there called me back to show me what the MRI had revealed - a broken patella. Fortunately, it wasn't shattered into pieces, or that would have required surgery. He described it as looking like when you crack a hard-boiled egg. The pieces of the shell stay together, though there are little cracks all the way through it.I'm glad I didn't go in right away, though, or I probably would have been in a cast for Rome. I don't know if many of the things that we did would have been possible with me in a cast. Certainly not sitting on that cheap little plane!

My doctor called me the next day and said she wanted me to go to the orthopedist. I could go in at any time that day. So, I did. Max took the morning off to take Em to her German class, and I went to the orthopedist. When she looked at the MRI, she said it looked like it was healing nicely, and that there was really nothing that needed to be done. Her urgency had been due to a mix-up. For some reason, my doctor had told her it happened two weeks ago instead of two months ago. Had she known it was two months ago, she wouldn't have needed to see me at all. She just said to be gentle on it - no jumping, squatting, or basically doing anything that made it hurt.

My kneecap from the front. The big white blob is all the cracks in the bone.

Emma says - Mom was kind of boring when her knee hurt, because she had trouble going up and down the stairs. I had to get a lot of things for her.